1dpkg(1) dpkg suite dpkg(1)
2
6 dpkg - package manager for Debian
7
9 dpkg [option...] action
10
12 This manual is intended for users wishing to understand dpkg's command
13 line options and package states in more detail than that provided by
14 dpkg --help.
15 It should not be used by package maintainers wishing to understand how
17 dpkg will install their packages. The descriptions of what dpkg does
18 when installing and removing packages are particularly inadequate.
19
21 dpkg is a tool to install, build, remove and manage Debian packages.
22 The primary and more user-friendly front-end for dpkg is aptitude(1).
23 dpkg itself is controlled entirely via command line parameters, which
24 consist of exactly one action and zero or more options. The action-
25 parameter tells dpkg what to do and options control the behavior of the
26 action in some way.
27 dpkg can also be used as a front-end to dpkg-deb(1) and dpkg-query(1).
29 The list of supported actions can be found later on in the ACTIONS
30 section. If any such action is encountered dpkg just runs dpkg-deb or
31 dpkg-query with the parameters given to it, but no specific options are
32 currently passed to them, to use any such option the back-ends need to
33 be called directly.
34
36 dpkg maintains some usable information about available packages. The
37 information is divided in three classes: states, selection states and
38 flags. These values are intended to be changed mainly with dselect.
39 Package states
41 not-installed
42 The package is not installed on your system.
43 config-files
45 Only the configuration files of the package exist on the system.
46 half-installed
48 The installation of the package has been started, but not
49 completed for some reason.
50 unpacked
52 The package is unpacked, but not configured.
53 half-configured
55 The package is unpacked and configuration has been started, but
56 not yet completed for some reason.
57 triggers-awaited
59 The package awaits trigger processing by another package.
60 triggers-pending
62 The package has been triggered.
63 installed
65 The package is correctly unpacked and configured.
66 Package selection states
68 install
69 The package is selected for installation.
70 hold A package marked to be on hold is not handled by dpkg, unless
72 forced to do that with option --force-hold.
73 deinstall
75 The package is selected for deinstallation (i.e. we want to
76 remove all files, except configuration files).
77 purge The package is selected to be purged (i.e. we want to remove
79 everything from system directories, even configuration files).
80 Package flags
82 ok A package marked ok is in a known state, but might need further
83 processing.
84 reinstreq
86 A package marked reinstreq is broken and requires
87 reinstallation. These packages cannot be removed, unless forced
88 with option --force-remove-reinstreq.
89
91 -i, --install package-file...
92 Install the package. If --recursive or -R option is specified,
93 package-file must refer to a directory instead.
94 Installation consists of the following steps:
96 1. Extract the control files of the new package.
98 2. If another version of the same package was installed before
100 the new installation, execute prerm script of the old package.
101 3. Run preinst script, if provided by the package.
103 4. Unpack the new files, and at the same time back up the old
105 files, so that if something goes wrong, they can be restored.
106 5. If another version of the same package was installed before
108 the new installation, execute the postrm script of the old
109 package. Note that this script is executed after the preinst
110 script of the new package, because new files are written at the
111 same time old files are removed.
112 6. Configure the package. See --configure for detailed
114 information about how this is done.
115 --unpack package-file...
117 Unpack the package, but don't configure it. If --recursive or -R
118 option is specified, package-file must refer to a directory
119 instead.
120 --configure package...|-a|--pending
122 Configure a package which has been unpacked but not yet
123 configured. If -a or --pending is given instead of package, all
124 unpacked but unconfigured packages are configured.
125 To reconfigure a package which has already been configured, try
127 the dpkg-reconfigure(8) command instead.
128 Configuring consists of the following steps:
130 1. Unpack the conffiles, and at the same time back up the old
132 conffiles, so that they can be restored if something goes wrong.
133 2. Run postinst script, if provided by the package.
135 --triggers-only package...|-a|--pending
137 Processes only triggers (since dpkg 1.14.17). All pending
138 triggers will be processed. If package names are supplied only
139 those packages' triggers will be processed, exactly once each
140 where necessary. Use of this option may leave packages in the
141 improper triggers-awaited and triggers-pending states. This can
142 be fixed later by running: dpkg --configure --pending.
143 -r, --remove package...|-a|--pending
145 Remove an installed package. This removes everything except
146 conffiles, which may avoid having to reconfigure the package if
147 it is reinstalled later (conffiles are configuration files that
148 are listed in the DEBIAN/conffiles control file). If -a or
149 --pending is given instead of a package name, then all packages
150 unpacked, but marked to be removed in file /var/lib/dpkg/status,
151 are removed.
152 Removing of a package consists of the following steps:
154 1. Run prerm script
156 2. Remove the installed files
158 3. Run postrm script
160 -P, --purge package...|-a|--pending
163 Purge an installed or already removed package. This removes
164 everything, including conffiles. If -a or --pending is given
165 instead of a package name, then all packages unpacked or
166 removed, but marked to be purged in file /var/lib/dpkg/status,
167 are purged.
168 Note: some configuration files might be unknown to dpkg because
170 they are created and handled separately through the
171 configuration scripts. In that case, dpkg won't remove them by
172 itself, but the package's postrm script (which is called by
173 dpkg), has to take care of their removal during purge. Of
174 course, this only applies to files in system directories, not
175 configuration files written to individual users' home
176 directories.
177 Purging of a package consists of the following steps:
179 1. Remove the package, if not already removed. See --remove for
181 detailed information about how this is done.
182 2. Run postrm script.
184 -V, --verify [package-name...]
186 Verifies the integrity of package-name or all packages if
187 omitted, by comparing information from the files installed by a
188 package with the files metadata information stored in the dpkg
189 database (since dpkg 1.17.2). The origin of the files metadata
190 information in the database is the binary packages themselves.
191 That metadata gets collected at package unpack time during the
192 installation process.
193 Currently the only functional check performed is an md5sum
195 verification of the file contents against the stored value in
196 the files database. It will only get checked if the database
197 contains the file md5sum. To check for any missing metadata in
198 the database, the --audit command can be used.
199 The output format is selectable with the --verify-format option,
201 which by default uses the rpm format, but that might change in
202 the future, and as such, programs parsing this command output
203 should be explicit about the format they expect.
204 -C, --audit [package-name...]
206 Performs database sanity and consistency checks for package-name
207 or all packages if omitted (per package checks since dpkg
208 1.17.10). For example, searches for packages that have been
209 installed only partially on your system or that have missing,
210 wrong or obsolete control data or files. dpkg will suggest what
211 to do with them to get them fixed.
212 --update-avail [Packages-file]
214 --merge-avail [Packages-file]
215 Update dpkg's and dselect's idea of which packages are
216 available. With action --merge-avail, old information is
217 combined with information from Packages-file. With action
218 --update-avail, old information is replaced with the information
219 in the Packages-file. The Packages-file distributed with Debian
220 is simply named «Packages». If the Packages-file argument is
221 missing or named «-» then it will be read from standard input
222 (since dpkg 1.17.7). dpkg keeps its record of available packages
223 in /var/lib/dpkg/available.
224 A simpler one-shot command to retrieve and update the available
226 file is dselect update. Note that this file is mostly useless if
227 you don't use dselect but an APT-based frontend: APT has its own
228 system to keep track of available packages.
229 -A, --record-avail package-file...
231 Update dpkg and dselect's idea of which packages are available
232 with information from the package package-file. If --recursive
233 or -R option is specified, package-file must refer to a
234 directory instead.
235 --forget-old-unavail
237 Now obsolete and a no-op as dpkg will automatically forget
238 uninstalled unavailable packages (since dpkg 1.15.4), but only
239 those that do not contain user information such as package
240 selections.
241 --clear-avail
243 Erase the existing information about what packages are
244 available.
245 --get-selections [package-name-pattern...]
247 Get list of package selections, and write it to stdout. Without
248 a pattern, non-installed packages (i.e. those which have been
249 previously purged) will not be shown.
250 --set-selections
252 Set package selections using file read from stdin. This file
253 should be in the format “package state”, where state is one of
254 install, hold, deinstall or purge. Blank lines and comment lines
255 beginning with ‘#’ are also permitted.
256 The available file needs to be up-to-date for this command to be
258 useful, otherwise unknown packages will be ignored with a
259 warning. See the --update-avail and --merge-avail commands for
260 more information.
261 --clear-selections
263 Set the requested state of every non-essential package to
264 deinstall (since dpkg 1.13.18). This is intended to be used
265 immediately before --set-selections, to deinstall any packages
266 not in list given to --set-selections.
267 --yet-to-unpack
269 Searches for packages selected for installation, but which for
270 some reason still haven't been installed.
271 --predep-package
273 Print a single package which is the target of one or more
274 relevant pre-dependencies and has itself no unsatisfied pre-
275 dependencies.
276 If such a package is present, output it as a Packages file
278 entry, which can be massaged as appropriate.
279 Returns 0 when a package is printed, 1 when no suitable package
281 is available and 2 on error.
282 --add-architecture architecture
284 Add architecture to the list of architectures for which packages
285 can be installed without using --force-architecture (since dpkg
286 1.16.2). The architecture dpkg is built for (i.e. the output of
287 --print-architecture) is always part of that list.
288 --remove-architecture architecture
290 Remove architecture from the list of architectures for which
291 packages can be installed without using --force-architecture
292 (since dpkg 1.16.2). If the architecture is currently in use in
293 the database then the operation will be refused, except if
294 --force-architecture is specified. The architecture dpkg is
295 built for (i.e. the output of --print-architecture) can never be
296 removed from that list.
297 --print-architecture
299 Print architecture of packages dpkg installs (for example,
300 “i386”).
301 --print-foreign-architectures
303 Print a newline-separated list of the extra architectures dpkg
304 is configured to allow packages to be installed for (since dpkg
305 1.16.2).
306 --assert-feature
308 Asserts that dpkg supports the requested feature. Returns 0 if
309 the feature is fully supported, 1 if the feature is known but
310 dpkg cannot provide support for it yet, and 2 if the feature is
311 unknown. The current list of assertable features is:
312 support-predepends
314 Supports the Pre-Depends field (since dpkg 1.1.0).
315 working-epoch
317 Supports epochs in version strings (since dpkg 1.4.0.7).
318 long-filenames
320 Supports long filenames in deb(5) archives (since dpkg
321 1.4.1.17).
322 multi-conrep
324 Supports multiple Conflicts and Replaces (since dpkg
325 1.4.1.19).
326 multi-arch
328 Supports multi-arch fields and semantics (since dpkg
329 1.16.2).
330 versioned-provides
332 Supports versioned Provides (since dpkg 1.17.11).
333 --validate-thing string
335 Validate that the thing string has a correct syntax (since dpkg
336 1.18.16). Returns 0 if the string is valid, 1 if the string is
337 invalid but might be accepted in lax contexts, and 2 if the
338 string is invalid. The current list of validatable things is:
339 pkgname
341 Validates the given package name (since dpkg 1.18.16).
342 trigname
344 Validates the given trigger name (since dpkg 1.18.16).
345 archname
347 Validates the given architecture name (since dpkg
348 1.18.16).
349 version
351 Validates the given version (since dpkg 1.18.16).
352 --compare-versions ver1 op ver2
354 Compare version numbers, where op is a binary operator. dpkg
355 returns true (0) if the specified condition is satisfied, and
356 false (1) otherwise. There are two groups of operators, which
357 differ in how they treat an empty ver1 or ver2. These treat an
358 empty version as earlier than any version: lt le eq ne ge gt.
359 These treat an empty version as later than any version: lt-nl
360 le-nl ge-nl gt-nl. These are provided only for compatibility
361 with control file syntax: < << <= = >= >> >. The < and >
362 operators are obsolete and should not be used, due to confusing
363 semantics. To illustrate: 0.1 < 0.1 evaluates to true.
364 -?, --help
366 Display a brief help message.
367 --force-help
369 Give help about the --force-thing options.
370 -Dh, --debug=help
372 Give help about debugging options.
373 --version
375 Display dpkg version information.
376 dpkg-deb actions
378 See dpkg-deb(1) for more information about the following
379 actions.
380 -b, --build directory [archive|directory]
382 Build a deb package.
383 -c, --contents archive
384 List contents of a deb package.
385 -e, --control archive [directory]
386 Extract control-information from a package.
387 -x, --extract archive directory
388 Extract the files contained by package.
389 -X, --vextract archive directory
390 Extract and display the filenames contained by a
391 package.
392 -f, --field archive [control-field...]
393 Display control field(s) of a package.
394 --ctrl-tarfile archive
395 Output the control tar-file contained in a Debian package.
396 --fsys-tarfile archive
397 Output the filesystem tar-file contained by a Debian package.
398 -I, --info archive [control-file...]
399 Show information about a package.
400 dpkg-query actions
403 See dpkg-query(1) for more information about the following
404 actions.
405 -l, --list package-name-pattern...
408 List packages matching given pattern.
409 -s, --status package-name...
410 Report status of specified package.
411 -L, --listfiles package-name...
412 List files installed to your system from package-name.
413 -S, --search filename-search-pattern...
414 Search for a filename from installed packages.
415 -p, --print-avail package-name...
416 Display details about package-name, as found in
417 /var/lib/dpkg/available. Users of APT-based frontends
418 should use apt-cache show package-name instead.
419
421 All options can be specified both on the command line and in the dpkg
422 configuration file /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg or fragment files (with names
423 matching this shell pattern '[0-9a-zA-Z_-]*') on the configuration
424 directory /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/. Each line in the configuration file is
425 either an option (exactly the same as the command line option but
426 without leading hyphens) or a comment (if it starts with a ‘#’).
427 --abort-after=number
429 Change after how many errors dpkg will abort. The default is 50.
430 -B, --auto-deconfigure
432 When a package is removed, there is a possibility that another
433 installed package depended on the removed package. Specifying
434 this option will cause automatic deconfiguration of the package
435 which depended on the removed package.
436 -Doctal, --debug=octal
438 Switch debugging on. octal is formed by bitwise-oring desired
439 values together from the list below (note that these values may
440 change in future releases). -Dh or --debug=help display these
441 debugging values.
442 Number Description
444 1 Generally helpful progress information
445 2 Invocation and status of maintainer scripts
446 10 Output for each file processed
447 100 Lots of output for each file processed
448 20 Output for each configuration file
449 200 Lots of output for each configuration file
450 40 Dependencies and conflicts
451 400 Lots of dependencies/conflicts output
452 10000 Trigger activation and processing
453 20000 Lots of output regarding triggers
454 40000 Silly amounts of output regarding triggers
455 1000 Lots of drivel about e.g. the dpkg/info dir
456 2000 Insane amounts of drivel
457 --force-things
459 --no-force-things, --refuse-things
460 Force or refuse (no-force and refuse mean the same thing) to do
461 some things. things is a comma separated list of things
462 specified below. --force-help displays a message describing
463 them. Things marked with (*) are forced by default.
464 Warning: These options are mostly intended to be used by experts
466 only. Using them without fully understanding their effects may
467 break your whole system.
468 all: Turns on (or off) all force options.
470 downgrade(*): Install a package, even if newer version of it is
472 already installed.
473 Warning: At present dpkg does not do any dependency checking on
475 downgrades and therefore will not warn you if the downgrade
476 breaks the dependency of some other package. This can have
477 serious side effects, downgrading essential system components
478 can even make your whole system unusable. Use with care.
479 configure-any: Configure also any unpacked but unconfigured
481 packages on which the current package depends.
482 hold: Process packages even when marked “hold”.
484 remove-reinstreq: Remove a package, even if it's broken and
486 marked to require reinstallation. This may, for example, cause
487 parts of the package to remain on the system, which will then be
488 forgotten by dpkg.
489 remove-essential: Remove, even if the package is considered
491 essential. Essential packages contain mostly very basic Unix
492 commands. Removing them might cause the whole system to stop
493 working, so use with caution.
494 depends: Turn all dependency problems into warnings.
496 depends-version: Don't care about versions when checking
498 dependencies.
499 breaks: Install, even if this would break another package (since
501 dpkg 1.14.6).
502 conflicts: Install, even if it conflicts with another package.
504 This is dangerous, for it will usually cause overwriting of some
505 files.
506 confmiss: Always install the missing conffile without prompting.
508 This is dangerous, since it means not preserving a change
509 (removing) made to the file.
510 confnew: If a conffile has been modified and the version in the
512 package did change, always install the new version without
513 prompting, unless the --force-confdef is also specified, in
514 which case the default action is preferred.
515 confold: If a conffile has been modified and the version in the
517 package did change, always keep the old version without
518 prompting, unless the --force-confdef is also specified, in
519 which case the default action is preferred.
520 confdef: If a conffile has been modified and the version in the
522 package did change, always choose the default action without
523 prompting. If there is no default action it will stop to ask the
524 user unless --force-confnew or --force-confold is also been
525 given, in which case it will use that to decide the final
526 action.
527 confask: If a conffile has been modified always offer to replace
529 it with the version in the package, even if the version in the
530 package did not change (since dpkg 1.15.8). If any of
531 --force-confnew, --force-confold, or --force-confdef is also
532 given, it will be used to decide the final action.
533 overwrite: Overwrite one package's file with another's file.
535 overwrite-dir: Overwrite one package's directory with another's
537 file.
538 overwrite-diverted: Overwrite a diverted file with an undiverted
540 version.
541 unsafe-io: Do not perform safe I/O operations when unpacking
543 (since dpkg 1.15.8.6). Currently this implies not performing
544 file system syncs before file renames, which is known to cause
545 substantial performance degradation on some file systems,
546 unfortunately the ones that require the safe I/O on the first
547 place due to their unreliable behaviour causing zero-length
548 files on abrupt system crashes.
549 Note: For ext4, the main offender, consider using instead the
551 mount option nodelalloc, which will fix both the performance
552 degradation and the data safety issues, the latter by making the
553 file system not produce zero-length files on abrupt system
554 crashes with any software not doing syncs before atomic renames.
555 Warning: Using this option might improve performance at the cost
557 of losing data, use with care.
558 script-chrootless: Run maintainer scrips without chroot(2)ing
560 into instdir even if the package does not support this mode of
561 operation (since dpkg 1.18.5).
562 Warning: This can destroy your host system, use with extreme
564 care.
565 architecture: Process even packages with wrong or no
567 architecture.
568 bad-version: Process even packages with wrong versions (since
570 dpkg 1.16.1).
571 bad-path: PATH is missing important programs, so problems are
573 likely.
574 not-root: Try to (de)install things even when not root.
576 bad-verify: Install a package even if it fails authenticity
578 check.
579 --ignore-depends=package,...
582 Ignore dependency-checking for specified packages (actually,
583 checking is performed, but only warnings about conflicts are
584 given, nothing else).
585 --no-act, --dry-run, --simulate
587 Do everything which is supposed to be done, but don't write any
588 changes. This is used to see what would happen with the
589 specified action, without actually modifying anything.
590 Be sure to give --no-act before the action-parameter, or you
592 might end up with undesirable results. (e.g. dpkg --purge foo
593 --no-act will first purge package foo and then try to purge
594 package --no-act, even though you probably expected it to
595 actually do nothing)
596 -R, --recursive
598 Recursively handle all regular files matching pattern *.deb
599 found at specified directories and all of its subdirectories.
600 This can be used with -i, -A, --install, --unpack and
601 --record-avail actions.
602 -G Don't install a package if a newer version of the same package
604 is already installed. This is an alias of --refuse-downgrade.
605 --admindir=dir
607 Change default administrative directory, which contains many
608 files that give information about status of installed or
609 uninstalled packages, etc. (Defaults to «/var/lib/dpkg»)
610 --instdir=dir
612 Change default installation directory which refers to the
613 directory where packages are to be installed. instdir is also
614 the directory passed to chroot(2) before running package's
615 installation scripts, which means that the scripts see instdir
616 as a root directory. (Defaults to «/»)
617 --root=dir
619 Changing root changes instdir to «dir» and admindir to
620 «dir/var/lib/dpkg».
621 -O, --selected-only
623 Only process the packages that are selected for installation.
624 The actual marking is done with dselect or by dpkg, when it
625 handles packages. For example, when a package is removed, it
626 will be marked selected for deinstallation.
627 -E, --skip-same-version
629 Don't install the package if the same version of the package is
630 already installed.
631 --pre-invoke=command
633 --post-invoke=command
634 Set an invoke hook command to be run via “sh -c” before or after
635 the dpkg run for the unpack, configure, install, triggers-only,
636 remove, purge, add-architecture and remove-architecture dpkg
637 actions (since dpkg 1.15.4; add-architecture and
638 remove-architecture actions since dpkg 1.17.19). This option can
639 be specified multiple times. The order the options are specified
640 is preserved, with the ones from the configuration files taking
641 precedence. The environment variable DPKG_HOOK_ACTION is set
642 for the hooks to the current dpkg action. Note: front-ends might
643 call dpkg several times per invocation, which might run the
644 hooks more times than expected.
645 --path-exclude=glob-pattern
647 --path-include=glob-pattern
648 Set glob-pattern as a path filter, either by excluding or re-
649 including previously excluded paths matching the specified
650 patterns during install (since dpkg 1.15.8).
651 Warning: take into account that depending on the excluded paths
653 you might completely break your system, use with caution.
654 The glob patterns use the same wildcards used in the shell, were
656 ‘*’ matches any sequence of characters, including the empty
657 string and also ‘/’. For example, «/usr/*/READ*» matches
658 «/usr/share/doc/package/README». As usual, ‘?’ matches any
659 single character (again, including ‘/’). And ‘[’ starts a
660 character class, which can contain a list of characters, ranges
661 and complementations. See glob(7) for detailed information about
662 globbing. Note: the current implementation might re-include more
663 directories and symlinks than needed, to be on the safe side and
664 avoid possible unpack failures; future work might fix this.
665 This can be used to remove all paths except some particular
667 ones; a typical case is:
668 --path-exclude=/usr/share/doc/*
670 --path-include=/usr/share/doc/*/copyright
671 to remove all documentation files except the copyright files.
673 These two options can be specified multiple times, and
675 interleaved with each other. Both are processed in the given
676 order, with the last rule that matches a file name making the
677 decision.
678 The filters are applied when unpacking the binary packages, and
680 as such only have knowledge of the type of object currently
681 being filtered (e.g. a normal file or a directory) and have not
682 visibility of what objects will come next. Because these
683 filters have side effects (in contrast to find(1) filters),
684 excluding an exact pathname that happens to be a directory
685 object like /usr/share/doc will not have the desired result, and
686 only that pathname will be excluded (which could be
687 automatically reincluded if the code sees the need). Any
688 subsequent files contained within that directory will fail to
689 unpack.
690 Hint: make sure the globs are not expanded by your shell.
692 --verify-format format-name
694 Sets the output format for the --verify command (since dpkg
695 1.17.2).
696 The only currently supported output format is rpm, which
698 consists of a line for every path that failed any check. The
699 lines start with 9 characters to report each specific check
700 result, a ‘?’ implies the check could not be done (lack of
701 support, file permissions, etc), ‘.’ implies the check passed,
702 and an alphanumeric character implies a specific check failed;
703 the md5sum verification failure (the file contents have changed)
704 is denoted with a ‘5’ on the third character. The line is
705 followed by a space and an attribute character (currently ‘c’
706 for conffiles), another space and the pathname.
707 --status-fd n
709 Send machine-readable package status and progress information to
710 file descriptor n. This option can be specified multiple times.
711 The information is generally one record per line, in one of the
712 following forms:
713 status: package: status
715 Package status changed; status is as in the status file.
716 status: package : error : extended-error-message
718 An error occurred. Any possible newlines in extended-
719 error-message will be converted to spaces before output.
720 status: file : conffile-prompt : 'real-old' 'real-new'
722 useredited distedited
723 User is being asked a conffile question.
724 processing: stage: package
726 Sent just before a processing stage starts. stage is one
727 of upgrade, install (both sent before unpacking),
728 configure, trigproc, disappear, remove, purge.
729 --status-logger=command
731 Send machine-readable package status and progress information to
732 the shell command's standard input, to be run via “sh -c” (since
733 dpkg 1.16.0). This option can be specified multiple times. The
734 output format used is the same as in --status-fd.
735 --log=filename
737 Log status change updates and actions to filename, instead of
738 the default /var/log/dpkg.log. If this option is given multiple
739 times, the last filename is used. Log messages are of the form:
740 YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS startup type command
742 For each dpkg invocation where type is archives (with a
743 command of unpack or install) or packages (with a command
744 of configure, triggers-only, remove or purge).
745 YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS status state pkg installed-version
747 For status change updates.
748 YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS action pkg installed-version available-
750 version
751 For actions where action is one of install, upgrade,
752 configure, trigproc, disappear, remove or purge.
753 YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS conffile filename decision
755 For conffile changes where decision is either install or
756 keep.
757 --no-debsig
759 Do not try to verify package signatures.
760 --no-triggers
762 Do not run any triggers in this run (since dpkg 1.14.17), but
763 activations will still be recorded. If used with --configure
764 package or --triggers-only package then the named package
765 postinst will still be run even if only a triggers run is
766 needed. Use of this option may leave packages in the improper
767 triggers-awaited and triggers-pending states. This can be fixed
768 later by running: dpkg --configure --pending.
769 --triggers
771 Cancels a previous --no-triggers (since dpkg 1.14.17).
772
774 0 The requested action was successfully performed. Or a check or
775 assertion command returned true.
776 1 A check or assertion command returned false.
778 2 Fatal or unrecoverable error due to invalid command-line usage,
780 or interactions with the system, such as accesses to the
781 database, memory allocations, etc.
782
784 External environment
785 PATH This variable is expected to be defined in the environment and
786 point to the system paths where several required programs are to
787 be found. If it's not set or the programs are not found, dpkg
788 will abort.
789 HOME If set, dpkg will use it as the directory from which to read the
791 user specific configuration file.
792 TMPDIR If set, dpkg will use it as the directory in which to create
794 temporary files and directories.
795 PAGER The program dpkg will execute when displaying the conffiles.
797 SHELL The program dpkg will execute when starting a new interactive
799 shell.
800 COLUMNS
802 Sets the number of columns dpkg should use when displaying
803 formatted text. Currently only used by --list.
804 DPKG_COLORS
806 Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5). The currently accepted
807 values are: auto (default), always and never.
808 Internal environment
810 DPKG_ROOT
811 Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to indicate
812 which installation to act on (since dpkg 1.18.5). The value is
813 intended to be prepended to any path maintainer scripts operate
814 on. During normal operation, this variable is empty. When
815 installing packages into a different instdir, dpkg normally
816 invokes maintainer scripts using chroot(2) and leaves this
817 variable empty, but if --force-script-chrootless is specified
818 then the chroot(2) call is skipped and instdir is non-empty.
819 DPKG_ADMINDIR
821 Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to indicate
822 the dpkg administrative directory to use (since dpkg 1.16.0).
823 This variable is always set to the current --admindir value.
824 DPKG_SHELL_REASON
826 Defined by dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to
827 examine the situation (since dpkg 1.15.6). Current valid value:
828 conffile-prompt.
829 DPKG_CONFFILE_OLD
831 Defined by dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to
832 examine the situation (since dpkg 1.15.6). Contains the path to
833 the old conffile.
834 DPKG_CONFFILE_NEW
836 Defined by dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to
837 examine the situation (since dpkg 1.15.6). Contains the path to
838 the new conffile.
839 DPKG_HOOK_ACTION
841 Defined by dpkg on the shell spawned when executing a hook
842 action (since dpkg 1.15.4). Contains the current dpkg action.
843 DPKG_RUNNING_VERSION
845 Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the
846 version of the currently running dpkg instance (since dpkg
847 1.14.17).
848 DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE
850 Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the
851 (non-arch-qualified) package name being handled (since dpkg
852 1.14.17).
853 DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE_REFCOUNT
855 Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the
856 package reference count, i.e. the number of package instances
857 with a state greater than not-installed (since dpkg 1.17.2).
858 DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_ARCH
860 Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the
861 architecture the package got built for (since dpkg 1.15.4).
862 DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME
864 Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the name
865 of the script running, one of preinst, postinst, prerm or postrm
866 (since dpkg 1.15.7).
867 DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_DEBUG
869 Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to a value
870 (‘0’ or ‘1’) noting whether debugging has been requested (with
871 the --debug option) for the maintainer scripts (since dpkg
872 1.18.4).
873
875 /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/[0-9a-zA-Z_-]*
876 Configuration fragment files (since dpkg 1.15.4).
877 /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg
879 Configuration file with default options.
880 /var/log/dpkg.log
882 Default log file (see /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg and option --log).
883 The other files listed below are in their default directories, see
885 option --admindir to see how to change locations of these files.
886 /var/lib/dpkg/available
888 List of available packages.
889 /var/lib/dpkg/status
891 Statuses of available packages. This file contains information
892 about whether a package is marked for removing or not, whether
893 it is installed or not, etc. See section INFORMATION ABOUT
894 PACKAGES for more info.
895 The status file is backed up daily in /var/backups. It can be
897 useful if it's lost or corrupted due to filesystems troubles.
898 The format and contents of a binary package are described in deb(5).
900
902 --no-act usually gives less information than might be helpful.
903
905 To list installed packages related to the editor vi(1) (note that
906 dpkg-query does not load the available file anymore by default, and the
907 dpkg-query --load-avail option should be used instead for that):
908 dpkg -l '*vi*'
909 To see the entries in /var/lib/dpkg/available of two packages:
911 dpkg --print-avail elvis vim | less
912 To search the listing of packages yourself:
914 less /var/lib/dpkg/available
915 To remove an installed elvis package:
917 dpkg -r elvis
918 To install a package, you first need to find it in an archive or CDROM.
920 The available file shows that the vim package is in section editors:
921 cd /media/cdrom/pool/main/v/vim
922 dpkg -i vim_4.5-3.deb
923 To make a local copy of the package selection states:
925 dpkg --get-selections >myselections
926 You might transfer this file to another computer, and after having
928 updated the available file there with your package manager frontend of
929 choice (see https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/FAQ for more details),
930 for example:
931 apt-cache dumpavail | dpkg --merge-avail
932 or with dpkg 1.17.6 and earlier:
933 avail=`mktemp`
934 apt-cache dumpavail >"$avail"
935 dpkg --merge-avail "$avail"
936 rm "$avail"
937 you can install it with:
938 dpkg --clear-selections
939 dpkg --set-selections <myselections
940 Note that this will not actually install or remove anything, but just
942 set the selection state on the requested packages. You will need some
943 other application to actually download and install the requested
944 packages. For example, run apt-get dselect-upgrade.
945 Ordinarily, you will find that dselect(1) provides a more convenient
947 way to modify the package selection states.
948
950 Additional functionality can be gained by installing any of the
951 following packages: apt, aptitude and debsums.
952
954 aptitude(1), apt(1), dselect(1), dpkg-deb(1), dpkg-query(1), deb(5),
955 deb-control(5), dpkg.cfg(5), and dpkg-reconfigure(8).
956
958 See /usr/share/doc/dpkg/THANKS for the list of people who have
959 contributed to dpkg.
9601.18.25 2018-06-26 dpkg(1)