puppet sysV script lacks Short-Description

As far as I can see, in the current version the "Short-Description" comment is there.

What is the output of the following commands on your system:

uname -a
lsb_release -crid
apt-cache policy puppet
head -n 12 /etc/init.d/puppet

Linux capital-lead 3.19.0-21-generic #21-Ubuntu SMP Sun Jun 14 18:31:11 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Ubuntu 15.04 vivid like i said, which is the puppet_3.7.2-1ubuntu2 package. I don't know what current version means to you, but 15.04 is the version that I'm referring to.

The "current version" that I was referring to, is the version of puppet that is delivered for Ubuntu vivid in the standard Ubuntu repositories. see also http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-branches/ubuntu/vivid/puppet/vivid/view/head:/debian/puppet.init

For verifying the details of your system please provide the output of the commands as requested in my previous message.

I don't think the init file gets updated when you update puppet.

lsb_release -crid
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 15.04
Release: 15.04
Codename: vivid

apt-cache policy puppet
puppet:
  Installed: 3.8.1-1puppetlabs1
  Candidate: 3.8.1-1puppetlabs1
  Version table:
 *** 3.8.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.7.5-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.7.4-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.7.3-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.7.2-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ vivid/main amd64 Packages
     3.7.2-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.7.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.7.0-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.6.2-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.6.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.6.0-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.5.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.4.3-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.4.2-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.4.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.4.0-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.3.2-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.3.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.3.0-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.2.4-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.2.3-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.2.2-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.2.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.1.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.1.0-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.0.2-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.0.1-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     3.0.0-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.25-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.24-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.23-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.22-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.21-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.20-2puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.20-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.19-1puppetlabs2 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages
     2.7.19-1puppetlabs1 0
        555 http://apt.puppetlabs.com/ stable/main amd64 Packages

#! /bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: puppet
# Required-Start: $network $named $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop: $network $named $remote_fs $syslog
# Should-Start: puppet
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
### END INIT INFO

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
DAEMON=/usr/bin/puppet

You are not using the standard Ubuntu version of puppet (which has been adapted to sysV), but a version from some foreign repository.
Please complain at the organization responsible for that repository.
We cannot help with that, because that is foreign software and not part of Ubuntu.
Maybe https://puppetlabs.com/services/customer-support is the right address.

the non-standard version of puppet gets installed (via puppet) after the initial puppet install, from the native Ubuntu source. The init.d config file does not get updated when the new version is installed. Both are pretty standard circumstances.

I can see where the Short-Description was added into the Ubuntu package in the changelog. But that change hasn't made it backwards into http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/puppet/puppet_3.7.2.orig.tar.gz . However you want to define or call that.

So since the init.d puppet startup script doesn't get updated, it keeps that original file by default.

quote "the non-standard version of puppet gets installed (via puppet) after the initial puppet install, from the native Ubuntu source"
I doubt that this is standard behavior respectively standard usage of the Ubuntu version.
Do I understand correctly that you installed the Ubuntu version and then used this one to update it with the puppetlabs version?

You are misunderstanding the source packages in Ubuntu. The *.orig.tar.gz is the real original upstream source as received from the original developer. This one will not be changed by Ubuntu. All Ubuntu modifications are done in *.debian.tar.xz
If you see something missing or wrong in the original source, then you have to contact the provider of the original source.

When you update a package version with another version, and if a configuration file is already there from the old version, in some cases the package manager asks which config file version to use for the new version - the old one, the new one, or a mixture of both to be edited by the user. I do not know whether it is the case here, but in such case it would be possible to keep important additions outside the new config file.

I see the following possibilities:
1. You can revert to the standard Ubuntu version with its init script that is sysV-enabled
2. Or you can stay on the puppetlabs version, and in that case I recommend that you edit the init script and add the missing information yourself
3. And this problem should be forwarded to puppetlabs in any case.