{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "DPKG", "section": "", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DPKG/json", "generated": "2026-10-22T12:54:58Z", "synopsis": "dpkg [option...] action", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "dpkg - package manager for Debian\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "dpkg [option...] action\n", "subsections": [] }, "WARNING": { "content": "This manual is intended for users wishing to understand dpkg's command line options and\npackage states in more detail than that provided by dpkg --help.\n\nIt should not be used by package maintainers wishing to understand how dpkg will install\ntheir packages. The descriptions of what dpkg does when installing and removing packages are\nparticularly inadequate.\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "dpkg is a medium-level tool to install, build, remove and manage Debian packages. The\nprimary and more user-friendly front-end for dpkg as a CLI (command-line interface) is apt(8)\nand as a TUI (terminal user interface) is aptitude(8). dpkg itself is controlled entirely\nvia command line parameters, which consist of exactly one action and zero or more options.\nThe action-parameter tells dpkg what to do and options control the behavior of the action in\nsome way.\n\ndpkg can also be used as a front-end to dpkg-deb(1) and dpkg-query(1). The list of supported\nactions can be found later on in the ACTIONS section. If any such action is encountered dpkg\njust runs dpkg-deb or dpkg-query with the parameters given to it, but no specific options are\ncurrently passed to them, to use any such option the back-ends need to be called directly.\n", "subsections": [] }, "INFORMATION ABOUT PACKAGES": { "content": "dpkg maintains some usable information about available packages. The information is divided\nin three classes: states, selection states and flags. These values are intended to be\nchanged mainly with dselect.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Package states", "content": "" }, { "name": "not-installed", "content": "The package is not installed on your system.\n" }, { "name": "config-files", "content": "Only the configuration files or the postrm script and the data it needs to remove of the\npackage exist on the system.\n" }, { "name": "half-installed", "content": "The installation of the package has been started, but not completed for some reason.\n" }, { "name": "unpacked", "content": "The package is unpacked, but not configured.\n" }, { "name": "half-configured", "content": "The package is unpacked and configuration has been started, but not yet completed for\nsome reason.\n" }, { "name": "triggers-awaited", "content": "The package awaits trigger processing by another package.\n" }, { "name": "triggers-pending", "content": "The package has been triggered.\n" }, { "name": "installed", "content": "The package is correctly unpacked and configured.\n" }, { "name": "Package selection states", "content": "" }, { "name": "install", "content": "The package is selected for installation.\n" }, { "name": "hold", "content": "A package marked to be on hold is kept on the same version, that is, no automatic new\ninstalls, upgrades or removals will be performed on them, unless these actions are\nrequested explicitly, or are permitted to be done automatically with the --force-hold\noption.\n" }, { "name": "deinstall", "content": "The package is selected for deinstallation (i.e. we want to remove all files, except\nconfiguration files).\n" }, { "name": "purge", "content": "The package is selected to be purged (i.e. we want to remove everything from system\ndirectories, even configuration files).\n" }, { "name": "unknown", "content": "The package selection is unknown. A package that is also in a not-installed state, and\nwith an ok flag will be forgotten in the next database store.\n" }, { "name": "Package flags", "content": "ok A package marked ok is in a known state, but might need further processing.\n" }, { "name": "reinstreq", "content": "A package marked reinstreq is broken and requires reinstallation. These packages cannot\nbe removed, unless forced with option --force-remove-reinstreq.\n" } ] }, "ACTIONS": { "content": "", "subsections": [ { "name": "-i --install _", "content": "Install the package. If --recursive or -R option is specified, package-file must refer\nto a directory instead.\n\nInstallation consists of the following steps:\n\n1. Extract the control files of the new package.\n\n2. If another version of the same package was installed before the new installation,\nexecute prerm script of the old package.\n\n3. Run preinst script, if provided by the package.\n\n4. Unpack the new files, and at the same time back up the old files, so that if\nsomething goes wrong, they can be restored.\n\n5. If another version of the same package was installed before the new installation,\nexecute the postrm script of the old package. Note that this script is executed\nafter the preinst script of the new package, because new files are written at the\nsame time old files are removed.\n\n6. Configure the package. See --configure for detailed information about how this is\ndone.\n\n--unpack package-file...\nUnpack the package, but don't configure it. If --recursive or -R option is specified,\npackage-file must refer to a directory instead.\n\nWill process triggers for Pre-Depends unless --no-triggers has been specified.\n\n--configure package...|-a|--pending\nConfigure a package which has been unpacked but not yet configured. If -a or --pending\nis given instead of package, all unpacked but unconfigured packages are configured.\n\nTo reconfigure a package which has already been configured, try the dpkg-reconfigure(8)\ncommand instead (which is part of the debconf project).\n\nConfiguring consists of the following steps:\n\n1. Unpack the conffiles, and at the same time back up the old conffiles, so that they\ncan be restored if something goes wrong.\n\n2. Run postinst script, if provided by the package.\n\nWill process triggers unless --no-triggers has been specified.\n\n--triggers-only package...|-a|--pending\nProcesses only triggers (since dpkg 1.14.17). All pending triggers will be processed.\nIf package names are supplied only those packages' triggers will be processed, exactly\nonce each where necessary. Use of this option may leave packages in the improper\ntriggers-awaited and triggers-pending states. This can be fixed later by running: dpkg\n--configure --pending.\n", "flag": "-i", "long": "--install" }, { "name": "-r --remove _ -a --pending", "content": "Remove an installed package. This removes everything except conffiles and other data\ncleaned up by the postrm script, which may avoid having to reconfigure the package if it\nis reinstalled later (conffiles are configuration files that are listed in the\nDEBIAN/conffiles control file). If there is no DEBIAN/conffiles control file nor\nDEBIAN/postrm script, this command is equivalent to calling --purge. If -a or --pending\nis given instead of a package name, then all packages unpacked, but marked to be removed\nin file /var/lib/dpkg/status, are removed.\n\nRemoving of a package consists of the following steps:\n\n1. Run prerm script.\n\n2. Remove the installed files.\n\n3. Run postrm script.\n\nWill process triggers unless --no-triggers has been specified.\n", "flag": "-a", "long": "--pending" }, { "name": "-P --purge _ -a --pending", "content": "Purge an installed or already removed package. This removes everything, including\nconffiles, and anything else cleaned up from postrm. If -a or --pending is given instead\nof a package name, then all packages unpacked or removed, but marked to be purged in file\n/var/lib/dpkg/status, are purged.\n\nNote: Some configuration files might be unknown to dpkg because they are created and\nhandled separately through the configuration scripts. In that case, dpkg won't remove\nthem by itself, but the package's postrm script (which is called by dpkg), has to take\ncare of their removal during purge. Of course, this only applies to files in system\ndirectories, not configuration files written to individual users' home directories.\n\nPurging of a package consists of the following steps:\n\n1. Remove the package, if not already removed. See --remove for detailed information\nabout how this is done.\n\n2. Run postrm script.\n\nWill process triggers unless --no-triggers has been specified.\n", "flag": "-a", "long": "--pending" }, { "name": "-V --verify", "content": "Verifies the integrity of package-name or all packages if omitted, by comparing\ninformation from the files installed by a package with the files metadata information\nstored in the dpkg database (since dpkg 1.17.2). The origin of the files metadata\ninformation in the database is the binary packages themselves. That metadata gets\ncollected at package unpack time during the installation process.\n\nCurrently the only functional check performed is an md5sum verification of the file\ncontents against the stored value in the files database. It will only get checked if the\ndatabase contains the file md5sum. To check for any missing metadata in the database,\nthe --audit command can be used. This is only an integrity check and should not be\nconsidered as any kind of security verification.\n\nThe output format is selectable with the --verify-format option, which by default uses\nthe rpm format, but that might change in the future, and as such, programs parsing this\ncommand output should be explicit about the format they expect.\n", "flag": "-V", "long": "--verify" }, { "name": "-C --audit", "content": "Performs database sanity and consistency checks for package-name or all packages if\nomitted (per package checks since dpkg 1.17.10). For example, searches for packages that\nhave been installed only partially on your system or that have missing, wrong or obsolete\ncontrol data or files. dpkg will suggest what to do with them to get them fixed.\n\n--update-avail [Packages-file]\n--merge-avail [Packages-file]\nUpdate dpkg's and dselect's idea of which packages are available. With action\n--merge-avail, old information is combined with information from Packages-file. With\naction --update-avail, old information is replaced with the information in the Packages-\nfile. The Packages-file distributed with Debian is simply named «Packages». If the\nPackages-file argument is missing or named «-» then it will be read from standard input\n(since dpkg 1.17.7). dpkg keeps its record of available packages in\n/var/lib/dpkg/available.\n\nA simpler one-shot command to retrieve and update the available file is dselect update.\nNote that this file is mostly useless if you don't use dselect but an APT-based frontend:\nAPT has its own system to keep track of available packages.\n", "flag": "-C", "long": "--audit" }, { "name": "-A --record-avail _", "content": "Update dpkg and dselect's idea of which packages are available with information from the\npackage package-file. If --recursive or -R option is specified, package-file must refer\nto a directory instead.\n", "flag": "-A", "long": "--record-avail" }, { "name": "--forget-old-unavail", "content": "Now obsolete and a no-op as dpkg will automatically forget uninstalled unavailable\npackages (since dpkg 1.15.4), but only those that do not contain user information such as\npackage selections.\n", "long": "--forget-old-unavail" }, { "name": "--clear-avail", "content": "Erase the existing information about what packages are available.\n\n--get-selections [package-name-pattern...]\nGet list of package selections, and write it to stdout. Without a pattern, non-installed\npackages (i.e. those which have been previously purged) will not be shown.\n", "long": "--clear-avail" }, { "name": "--set-selections", "content": "Set package selections using file read from stdin. This file should be in the format\n“package state”, where state is one of install, hold, deinstall or purge. Blank lines\nand comment lines beginning with ‘#’ are also permitted.\n\nThe available file needs to be up-to-date for this command to be useful, otherwise\nunknown packages will be ignored with a warning. See the --update-avail and\n--merge-avail commands for more information.\n", "long": "--set-selections" }, { "name": "--clear-selections", "content": "Set the requested state of every non-essential package to deinstall (since dpkg 1.13.18).\nThis is intended to be used immediately before --set-selections, to deinstall any\npackages not in list given to --set-selections.\n", "long": "--clear-selections" }, { "name": "--yet-to-unpack", "content": "Searches for packages selected for installation, but which for some reason still haven't\nbeen installed.\n\nNote: This command makes use of both the available file and the package selections.\n", "long": "--yet-to-unpack" }, { "name": "--predep-package", "content": "Print a single package which is the target of one or more relevant pre-dependencies and\nhas itself no unsatisfied pre-dependencies.\n\nIf such a package is present, output it as a Packages file entry, which can be massaged\nas appropriate.\n\nNote: This command makes use of both the available file and the package selections.\n\nReturns 0 when a package is printed, 1 when no suitable package is available and 2 on\nerror.\n\n--add-architecture architecture\nAdd architecture to the list of architectures for which packages can be installed without\nusing --force-architecture (since dpkg 1.16.2). The architecture dpkg is built for (i.e.\nthe output of --print-architecture) is always part of that list.\n\n--remove-architecture architecture\nRemove architecture from the list of architectures for which packages can be installed\nwithout using --force-architecture (since dpkg 1.16.2). If the architecture is currently\nin use in the database then the operation will be refused, except if --force-architecture\nis specified. The architecture dpkg is built for (i.e. the output of\n--print-architecture) can never be removed from that list.\n", "long": "--predep-package" }, { "name": "--print-architecture", "content": "Print architecture of packages dpkg installs (for example, “i386”).\n", "long": "--print-architecture" }, { "name": "--print-foreign-architectures", "content": "Print a newline-separated list of the extra architectures dpkg is configured to allow\npackages to be installed for (since dpkg 1.16.2).\n", "long": "--print-foreign-architectures" }, { "name": "--assert-help", "content": "Give help about the --assert-feature options (since dpkg 1.21.0).\n\n--assert-feature\nAsserts that dpkg supports the requested feature. Returns 0 if the feature is fully\nsupported, 1 if the feature is known but dpkg cannot provide support for it yet, and 2 if\nthe feature is unknown. The current list of assertable features is:\n\nsupport-predepends\nSupports the Pre-Depends field (since dpkg 1.1.0).\n\nworking-epoch\nSupports epochs in version strings (since dpkg 1.4.0.7).\n\nlong-filenames\nSupports long filenames in deb(5) archives (since dpkg 1.4.1.17).\n\nmulti-conrep\nSupports multiple Conflicts and Replaces (since dpkg 1.4.1.19).\n\nmulti-arch\nSupports multi-arch fields and semantics (since dpkg 1.16.2).\n\nversioned-provides\nSupports versioned Provides (since dpkg 1.17.11).\n\nprotected-field\nSupports the Protected field (since dpkg 1.20.1).\n\n--validate-thing string\nValidate that the thing string has a correct syntax (since dpkg 1.18.16). Returns 0 if\nthe string is valid, 1 if the string is invalid but might be accepted in lax contexts,\nand 2 if the string is invalid. The current list of validatable things is:\n\npkgname\nValidates the given package name (since dpkg 1.18.16).\n\ntrigname\nValidates the given trigger name (since dpkg 1.18.16).\n\narchname\nValidates the given architecture name (since dpkg 1.18.16).\n\nversion\nValidates the given version (since dpkg 1.18.16).\n\n--compare-versions ver1 op ver2\nCompare version numbers, where op is a binary operator. dpkg returns true (0) if the\nspecified condition is satisfied, and false (1) otherwise. There are two groups of\noperators, which differ in how they treat an empty ver1 or ver2. These treat an empty\nversion as earlier than any version: lt le eq ne ge gt. These treat an empty version as\nlater than any version: lt-nl le-nl ge-nl gt-nl. These are provided only for\ncompatibility with control file syntax: < << <= = >= >> >. The < and > operators are\nobsolete and should not be used, due to confusing semantics. To illustrate: 0.1 < 0.1\nevaluates to true.\n\n-?, --help\nDisplay a brief help message.\n", "long": "--assert-help" }, { "name": "--force-help", "content": "Give help about the --force-thing options.\n", "long": "--force-help" }, { "name": "-Dh --debug=help", "content": "Give help about debugging options.\n", "long": "--debug", "arg": "help" }, { "name": "--version", "content": "Display dpkg version information.\n\nWhen used with --robot, the output will be the program version number in a dotted\nnumerical format, with no newline.\n", "long": "--version" }, { "name": "dpkg-deb actions", "content": "See dpkg-deb(1) for more information about the following actions, and other actions and\noptions not exposed by the dpkg front-end.\n\n-b, --build directory [archive|directory]\nBuild a deb package.\n\n-c, --contents archive\nList contents of a deb package.\n\n-e, --control archive [directory]\nExtract control-information from a package.\n\n-x, --extract archive directory\nExtract the files contained by package.\n\n-X, --vextract archive directory\nExtract and display the filenames contained by a package.\n\n-f, --field archive [control-field...]\nDisplay control field(s) of a package.\n\n--ctrl-tarfile archive\nOutput the control tar-file contained in a Debian package.\n\n--fsys-tarfile archive\nOutput the filesystem tar-file contained by a Debian package.\n\n-I, --info archive [control-file...]\nShow information about a package.\n" }, { "name": "dpkg-query actions", "content": "See dpkg-query(1) for more information about the following actions, and other actions and\noptions not exposed by the dpkg front-end.\n\n-l, --list package-name-pattern...\nList packages matching given pattern.\n\n-s, --status package-name...\nReport status of specified package.\n\n-L, --listfiles package-name...\nList files installed to your system from package-name.\n\n-S, --search filename-search-pattern...\nSearch for a filename from installed packages.\n\n-p, --print-avail package-name...\nDisplay details about package-name, as found in /var/lib/dpkg/available. Users of\nAPT-based frontends should use apt show package-name instead.\n" } ] }, "OPTIONS": { "content": "All options can be specified both on the command line and in the dpkg configuration file\n/etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg or fragment files (with names matching this shell pattern\n'[0-9a-zA-Z-]*') on the configuration directory /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/. Each line in the\nconfiguration file is either an option (exactly the same as the command line option but\nwithout leading hyphens) or a comment (if it starts with a ‘#’).\n\n--abort-after=number\nChange after how many errors dpkg will abort. The default is 50.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "-B --auto-deconfigure", "content": "When a package is removed, there is a possibility that another installed package depended\non the removed package. Specifying this option will cause automatic deconfiguration of\nthe package which depended on the removed package.\n", "flag": "-B", "long": "--auto-deconfigure" }, { "name": "-D_ --debug=_", "content": "Switch debugging on. octal is formed by bitwise-ORing desired values together from the\nlist below (note that these values may change in future releases). -Dh or --debug=help\ndisplay these debugging values.\n\nNumber Description\n1 Generally helpful progress information\n2 Invocation and status of maintainer scripts\n10 Output for each file processed\n100 Lots of output for each file processed\n20 Output for each configuration file\n200 Lots of output for each configuration file\n40 Dependencies and conflicts\n400 Lots of dependencies/conflicts output\n10000 Trigger activation and processing\n20000 Lots of output regarding triggers\n40000 Silly amounts of output regarding triggers\n1000 Lots of drivel about for example the dpkg/info dir\n2000 Insane amounts of drivel\n\n--force-things\n--no-force-things, --refuse-things\nForce or refuse (no-force and refuse mean the same thing) to do some things. things is a\ncomma separated list of things specified below. --force-help displays a message\ndescribing them. Things marked with (*) are forced by default.\n\nWarning: These options are mostly intended to be used by experts only. Using them\nwithout fully understanding their effects may break your whole system.\n\nall:\nTurns on (or off) all force options.\n\ndowngrade(*):\nInstall a package, even if newer version of it is already installed.\n\nWarning: At present dpkg does not do any dependency checking on downgrades and\ntherefore will not warn you if the downgrade breaks the dependency of some other\npackage. This can have serious side effects, downgrading essential system components\ncan even make your whole system unusable. Use with care.\n\nconfigure-any:\nConfigure also any unpacked but unconfigured packages on which the current package\ndepends.\n\nhold:\nAllow automatic installs, upgrades or removals of packages even when marked to be on\n“hold”. Note: When these actions are requested explicitly, the “hold” package\nselection state always gets ignored.\n\nremove-reinstreq:\nRemove a package, even if it's broken and marked to require reinstallation. This may,\nfor example, cause parts of the package to remain on the system, which will then be\nforgotten by dpkg.\n\nremove-protected:\nRemove, even if the package is considered protected (since dpkg 1.20.1). Protected\npackages contain mostly important system boot infrastructure or are used for custom\nsystem-local meta-packages. Removing them might cause the whole system to be unable to\nboot or lose required functionality to operate, so use with caution.\n\nremove-essential:\nRemove, even if the package is considered essential. Essential packages contain mostly\nvery basic Unix commands, required for the packaging system, for the operation of the\nsystem in general or during boot (although the latter should be converted to protected\npackages instead). Removing them might cause the whole system to stop working, so use\nwith caution.\n\ndepends:\nTurn all dependency problems into warnings. This affects the Pre-Depends and Depends\nfields.\n\ndepends-version:\nDon't care about versions when checking dependencies. This affects the Pre-Depends and\nDepends fields.\n\nbreaks:\nInstall, even if this would break another package (since dpkg 1.14.6). This affects\nthe Breaks field.\n\nconflicts:\nInstall, even if it conflicts with another package. This is dangerous, for it will\nusually cause overwriting of some files. This affects the Conflicts field.\n\nconfmiss:\nAlways install the missing conffile without prompting. This is dangerous, since it\nmeans not preserving a change (removing) made to the file.\n\nconfnew:\nIf a conffile has been modified and the version in the package did change, always\ninstall the new version without prompting, unless the --force-confdef is also\nspecified, in which case the default action is preferred.\n\nconfold:\nIf a conffile has been modified and the version in the package did change, always keep\nthe old version without prompting, unless the --force-confdef is also specified, in\nwhich case the default action is preferred.\n\nconfdef:\nIf a conffile has been modified and the version in the package did change, always\nchoose the default action without prompting. If there is no default action it will\nstop to ask the user unless --force-confnew or --force-confold is also given, in which\ncase it will use that to decide the final action.\n\nconfask:\nIf a conffile has been modified always offer to replace it with the version in the\npackage, even if the version in the package did not change (since dpkg 1.15.8). If any\nof --force-confnew, --force-confold, or --force-confdef is also given, it will be used\nto decide the final action.\n\noverwrite:\nOverwrite one package's file with another's file.\n\noverwrite-dir:\nOverwrite one package's directory with another's file.\n\noverwrite-diverted:\nOverwrite a diverted file with an undiverted version.\n\nstatoverride-add:\nOverwrite an existing stat override when adding it (since dpkg 1.19.5).\n\nstatoverride-remove:\nIgnore a missing stat override when removing it (since dpkg 1.19.5).\n\nsecurity-mac(*):\nUse platform-specific Mandatory Access Controls (MAC) based security when installing\nfiles into the filesystem (since dpkg 1.19.5). On Linux systems the implementation\nuses SELinux.\n\nunsafe-io:\nDo not perform safe I/O operations when unpacking (since dpkg 1.15.8.6). Currently\nthis implies not performing file system syncs before file renames, which is known to\ncause substantial performance degradation on some file systems, unfortunately the ones\nthat require the safe I/O on the first place due to their unreliable behaviour causing\nzero-length files on abrupt system crashes.\n\nNote: For ext4, the main offender, consider using instead the mount option nodelalloc,\nwhich will fix both the performance degradation and the data safety issues, the latter\nby making the file system not produce zero-length files on abrupt system crashes with\nany software not doing syncs before atomic renames.\n\nWarning: Using this option might improve performance at the cost of losing data, use\nwith care.\n\nscript-chrootless:\nRun maintainer scripts without chroot(2)ing into instdir even if the package does not\nsupport this mode of operation (since dpkg 1.18.5).\n\nWarning: This can destroy your host system, use with extreme care.\n\narchitecture:\nProcess even packages with wrong or no architecture.\n\nbad-version:\nProcess even packages with wrong versions (since dpkg 1.16.1).\n\nbad-path:\nPATH is missing important programs, so problems are likely.\n\nnot-root:\nTry to (de)install things even when not root.\n\nbad-verify:\nInstall a package even if it fails authenticity check.\n\n--ignore-depends=package,...\nIgnore dependency-checking for specified packages (actually, checking is performed, but\nonly warnings about conflicts are given, nothing else). This affects the Pre-Depends,\nDepends and Breaks fields.\n\n--no-act, --dry-run, --simulate\nDo everything which is supposed to be done, but don't write any changes. This is used to\nsee what would happen with the specified action, without actually modifying anything.\n\nBe sure to give --no-act before the action-parameter, or you might end up with\nundesirable results (e.g. dpkg --purge foo --no-act will first purge package “foo” and\nthen try to purge package ”--no-act”, even though you probably expected it to actually do\nnothing).\n", "long": "--debug", "arg": "_" }, { "name": "-R --recursive", "content": "Recursively handle all regular files matching pattern *.deb found at specified\ndirectories and all of its subdirectories. This can be used with -i, -A, --install,\n--unpack and --record-avail actions.\n", "flag": "-R", "long": "--recursive" }, { "name": "-G", "content": "This is an alias of --refuse-downgrade.\n\n--admindir=dir\nSet the administrative directory to directory. This directory contains many files that\ngive information about status of installed or uninstalled packages, etc. Defaults to\n«/var/lib/dpkg» if DPKGADMINDIR has not been set.\n\n--instdir=dir\nSet the installation directory, which refers to the directory where packages are to be\ninstalled. instdir is also the directory passed to chroot(2) before running package's\ninstallation scripts, which means that the scripts see instdir as a root directory.\nDefaults to «/».\n\n--root=dir\nSet the root directory to directory, which sets the installation directory to «dir» and\nthe administrative directory to «dir/var/lib/dpkg».\n", "flag": "-G" }, { "name": "-O --selected-only", "content": "Only process the packages that are selected for installation. The actual marking is done\nwith dselect or by dpkg, when it handles packages. For example, when a package is\nremoved, it will be marked selected for deinstallation.\n", "flag": "-O", "long": "--selected-only" }, { "name": "-E --skip-same-version", "content": "Don't install the package if the same version and architecture of the package is already\ninstalled.\n\nSince dpkg 1.21.10, the architecture is also taken into account, which makes it possible\nto cross-grade packages or install additional co-installable instances with the same\nversion, but different architecture.\n\n--pre-invoke=command\n--post-invoke=command\nSet an invoke hook command to be run via “sh -c” before or after the dpkg run for the\nunpack, configure, install, triggers-only, remove and purge actions (since dpkg 1.15.4),\nand add-architecture and remove-architecture actions (since dpkg 1.17.19). This option\ncan be specified multiple times. The order the options are specified is preserved, with\nthe ones from the configuration files taking precedence. The environment variable\nDPKGHOOKACTION is set for the hooks to the current dpkg action.\n\nNote: Front-ends might call dpkg several times per invocation, which might run the hooks\nmore times than expected.\n\n--path-exclude=glob-pattern\n--path-include=glob-pattern\nSet glob-pattern as a path filter, either by excluding or re-including previously\nexcluded paths matching the specified patterns during install (since dpkg 1.15.8).\n\nWarning: Take into account that depending on the excluded paths you might completely\nbreak your system, use with caution.\n\nThe glob patterns use the same wildcards used in the shell, were ‘*’ matches any sequence\nof characters, including the empty string and also ‘/’. For example, «/usr/*/READ*»\nmatches «/usr/share/doc/package/README». As usual, ‘?’ matches any single character\n(again, including ‘/’). And ‘[’ starts a character class, which can contain a list of\ncharacters, ranges and complementations. See glob(7) for detailed information about\nglobbing. Note: The current implementation might re-include more directories and\nsymlinks than needed, in particular when there is a more specific re-inclusion, to be on\nthe safe side and avoid possible unpack failures; future work might fix this.\n\nThis can be used to remove all paths except some particular ones; a typical case is:\n\n--path-exclude=/usr/share/doc/*\n--path-include=/usr/share/doc/*/copyright\n\nto remove all documentation files except the copyright files.\n\nThese two options can be specified multiple times, and interleaved with each other. Both\nare processed in the given order, with the last rule that matches a file name making the\ndecision.\n\nThe filters are applied when unpacking the binary packages, and as such only have\nknowledge of the type of object currently being filtered (e.g. a normal file or a\ndirectory) and have not visibility of what objects will come next. Because these filters\nhave side effects (in contrast to find(1) filters), excluding an exact pathname that\nhappens to be a directory object like /usr/share/doc will not have the desired result,\nand only that pathname will be excluded (which could be automatically reincluded if the\ncode sees the need). Any subsequent files contained within that directory will fail to\nunpack.\n\nHint: make sure the globs are not expanded by your shell.\n\n--verify-format format-name\nSets the output format for the --verify command (since dpkg 1.17.2).\n\nThe only currently supported output format is rpm, which consists of a line for every\npath that failed any check. These lines have the following format:\n\n\nmissing [c] pathname [(error-message)]\n??5?????? [c] pathname\n\nThe first 9 characters are used to report the checks result, either a literal missing\nwhen the file is not present or its metadata cannot be fetched, or one of the following\nspecial characters that report the result for each check:\n\n‘?’ Implies the check could not be done (lack of support, file permissions, etc).\n\n‘.’ Implies the check passed.\n\n‘A-Za-z0-9’\nImplies a specific check failed. The following positions and alphanumeric characters\nare currently supported:\n\n1 ‘?’\nThese checks are currently not supported, will always be ‘?’.\n\n2 ‘M’\nThe file mode check failed (since dpkg 1.21.0). Because pathname metadata is\ncurrently not tracked, this check can only be partially emulated via a very\nsimple heuristic for pathnames that have a known digest, which implies they\nshould be regular files, where the check will fail if the pathname is not a\nregular file on the filesystem. This check will currently never succeed as it\ndoes not have enough information available.\n\n3 ‘5’\nThe digest check failed, which means the file contents have changed. This is\nonly an integrity check and should not be considered as any kind of security\nverification.\n\n4-9 ‘?’\nThese checks are currently not supported, will always be ‘?’.\n\nThe line is followed by a space and an attribute character. The following attribute\ncharacter is supported:\n\n‘c’ The pathname is a conffile.\n\nFinally followed by another space and the pathname.\n\nIn case the entry was of the missing type, and the file was not actually present on the\nfilesystem, then the line is followed by a space and the error message enclosed within\nparenthesis.\n\n--status-fd n\nSend machine-readable package status and progress information to file descriptor n. This\noption can be specified multiple times. The information is generally one record per\nline, in one of the following forms:\n\nstatus: package: status\nPackage status changed; status is as in the status file.\n\nstatus: package : error : extended-error-message\nAn error occurred. Any possible newlines in extended-error-message will be converted\nto spaces before output.\n\nstatus: file : conffile-prompt : 'real-old' 'real-new' useredited distedited\nUser is being asked a conffile question.\n\nprocessing: stage: package\nSent just before a processing stage starts. stage is one of upgrade, install (both\nsent before unpacking), configure, trigproc, disappear, remove, purge.\n\n--status-logger=command\nSend machine-readable package status and progress information to the shell command's\nstandard input, to be run via “sh -c” (since dpkg 1.16.0). This option can be specified\nmultiple times. The output format used is the same as in --status-fd.\n\n--log=filename\nLog status change updates and actions to filename, instead of the default\n/var/log/dpkg.log. If this option is given multiple times, the last filename is used.\nLog messages are of the form:\n\nYYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS startup type command\nFor each dpkg invocation where type is archives (with a command of unpack or install)\nor packages (with a command of configure, triggers-only, remove or purge).\n\nYYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS status state pkg installed-version\nFor status change updates.\n\nYYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS action pkg installed-version available-version\nFor actions where action is one of install, upgrade, configure, trigproc, disappear,\nremove or purge.\n\nYYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS conffile filename decision\nFor conffile changes where decision is either install or keep.\n", "flag": "-E", "long": "--skip-same-version" }, { "name": "--robot", "content": "Use a machine-readable output format. This provides an interface for programs that need\nto parse the output of some of the commands that do not otherwise emit a machine-readable\noutput format. No localization will be used, and the output will be modified to make it\neasier to parse.\n\nThe only currently supported command is --version.\n", "long": "--robot" }, { "name": "--no-pager", "content": "Disables the use of any pager when showing information (since dpkg 1.19.2).\n", "long": "--no-pager" }, { "name": "--no-debsig", "content": "Do not try to verify package signatures.\n", "long": "--no-debsig" }, { "name": "--no-triggers", "content": "Do not run any triggers in this run (since dpkg 1.14.17), but activations will still be\nrecorded. If used with --configure package or --triggers-only package then the named\npackage postinst will still be run even if only a triggers run is needed. Use of this\noption may leave packages in the improper triggers-awaited and triggers-pending states.\nThis can be fixed later by running: dpkg --configure --pending.\n", "long": "--no-triggers" }, { "name": "--triggers", "content": "Cancels a previous --no-triggers (since dpkg 1.14.17).\n", "long": "--triggers" } ] }, "EXIT STATUS": { "content": "0 The requested action was successfully performed. Or a check or assertion command\nreturned true.\n\n1 A check or assertion command returned false.\n\n2 Fatal or unrecoverable error due to invalid command-line usage, or interactions with the\nsystem, such as accesses to the database, memory allocations, etc.\n", "subsections": [] }, "ENVIRONMENT": { "content": "", "subsections": [ { "name": "External environment", "content": "PATH\nThis variable is expected to be defined in the environment and point to the system paths\nwhere several required programs are to be found. If it's not set or the programs are not\nfound, dpkg will abort.\n\nHOME\nIf set, dpkg will use it as the directory from which to read the user specific\nconfiguration file.\n\nTMPDIR\nIf set, dpkg will use it as the directory in which to create temporary files and\ndirectories.\n\nSHELL\nThe program dpkg will execute when starting a new interactive shell, or when spawning a\ncommand via a shell.\n\nPAGER\nDPKGPAGER\nThe program dpkg will execute when running a pager, which will be executed with «$SHELL\n-c», for example when displaying the conffile differences. If SHELL is not set, «sh»\nwill be used instead. The DPKGPAGER overrides the PAGER environment variable (since\ndpkg 1.19.2).\n\nDPKGCOLORS\nSets the color mode (since dpkg 1.18.5). The currently accepted values are: auto\n(default), always and never.\n\nDPKGDEBUG\nSets the debug mask (since dpkg 1.21.10) from an octal value. The currently accepted\nflags are described in the --debug option.\n\nDPKGFORCE\nSets the force flags (since dpkg 1.19.5). When this variable is present, no built-in\nforce defaults will be applied. If the variable is present but empty, all force flags\nwill be disabled.\n\nDPKGADMINDIR\nIf set and the --admindir or --root options have not been specified, it will be used as\nthe dpkg administrative directory (since dpkg 1.20.0).\n\nDPKGFRONTENDLOCKED\nSet by a package manager frontend to notify dpkg that it should not acquire the frontend\nlock (since dpkg 1.19.1).\n" }, { "name": "Internal environment", "content": "LESS\nDefined by dpkg to “-FRSXMQ”, if not already set, when spawning a pager (since dpkg\n1.19.2). To change the default behavior, this variable can be preset to some other value\nincluding an empty string, or the PAGER or DPKGPAGER variables can be set to disable\nspecific options with «-+», for example DPKGPAGER=\"less -+F\".\n\nDPKGROOT\nDefined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to indicate which installation to\nact on (since dpkg 1.18.5). The value is intended to be prepended to any path maintainer\nscripts operate on. During normal operation, this variable is empty. When installing\npackages into a different instdir, dpkg normally invokes maintainer scripts using\nchroot(2) and leaves this variable empty, but if --force-script-chrootless is specified\nthen the chroot(2) call is skipped and instdir is non-empty.\n\nDPKGADMINDIR\nDefined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to indicate the dpkg administrative\ndirectory to use (since dpkg 1.16.0). This variable is always set to the current\n--admindir value.\n\nDPKGFORCE\nDefined by dpkg on the subprocesses environment to all the currently enabled force option\nnames separated by commas (since dpkg 1.19.5).\n\nDPKGSHELLREASON\nDefined by dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to examine the situation\n(since dpkg 1.15.6). Current valid value: conffile-prompt.\n\nDPKGCONFFILEOLD\nDefined by dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to examine the situation\n(since dpkg 1.15.6). Contains the path to the old conffile.\n\nDPKGCONFFILENEW\nDefined by dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to examine the situation\n(since dpkg 1.15.6). Contains the path to the new conffile.\n\nDPKGHOOKACTION\nDefined by dpkg on the shell spawned when executing a hook action (since dpkg 1.15.4).\nContains the current dpkg action.\n\nDPKGRUNNINGVERSION\nDefined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the version of the currently\nrunning dpkg instance (since dpkg 1.14.17).\n\nDPKGMAINTSCRIPTPACKAGE\nDefined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the (non-arch-qualified) package\nname being handled (since dpkg 1.14.17).\n\nDPKGMAINTSCRIPTPACKAGEREFCOUNT\nDefined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the package reference count, i.e.\nthe number of package instances with a state greater than not-installed (since dpkg\n1.17.2).\n\nDPKGMAINTSCRIPTARCH\nDefined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the architecture the package got\nbuilt for (since dpkg 1.15.4).\n\nDPKGMAINTSCRIPTNAME\nDefined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the name of the script running,\none of preinst, postinst, prerm or postrm (since dpkg 1.15.7).\n\nDPKGMAINTSCRIPTDEBUG\nDefined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to a value (‘0’ or ‘1’) noting\nwhether debugging has been requested (with the --debug option) for the maintainer scripts\n(since dpkg 1.18.4).\n" } ] }, "FILES": { "content": "/etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/[0-9a-zA-Z-]*\nConfiguration fragment files (since dpkg 1.15.4).\n\n/etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg\nConfiguration file with default options.\n\n/var/log/dpkg.log\nDefault log file (see /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg and option --log).\n\nThe other files listed below are in their default directories, see option --admindir to see\nhow to change locations of these files.\n\n/var/lib/dpkg/available\nList of available packages.\n\n/var/lib/dpkg/status\nStatuses of available packages. This file contains information about whether a package\nis marked for removing or not, whether it is installed or not, etc. See section\n\"INFORMATION ABOUT PACKAGES\" for more info.\n\nThe status file is backed up daily in /var/backups. It can be useful if it's lost or\ncorrupted due to filesystems troubles.\n\nThe format and contents of a binary package are described in deb(5).\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "Filesystem filenames", "content": "During unpacking and configuration dpkg uses various filenames for backup and rollback\npurposes. The following is a simplified explanation of how these filenames get used during\npackage installation.\n\n*.dpkg-new\nDuring unpack, dpkg extracts new filesystem objects into pathname.dpkg-new (except for\nexisting directories or symlinks to directories which get skipped), once that is done and\nafter having performed backups of the old objects, the objects get renamed to pathname.\n\n*.dpkg-tmp\nDuring unpack, dpkg makes backups of the old filesystem objects into pathname.dpkg-tmp\nafter extracting the new objects. These backups are performed as either a rename for\ndirectories (but only if they switch file type), a new symlink copy for symlinks, or a\nhard link for any other filesystem object, except for conffiles which get no backups\nbecause they are processed at a later stage.\n\nIn case of needing to rollback, these backups get used to restore the previous contents\nof the objects. These get removed automatically after the installation is complete.\n\n*.dpkg-old\nDuring configuration, when installing a new version, dpkg can make a backup of the\nprevious modified conffile into pathname.dpkg-old.\n\n*.dpkg-dist\nDuring configuration, when keeping the old version, dpkg can make a backup of the new\nunmodified conffile into pathname.dpkg-dist.\n" } ] }, "SECURITY": { "content": "Any operation that needs write access to the database or the filesystem is considered a\nprivileged operation that might allow root escalation. These operations must never be\ndelegated to an untrusted user or be done on untrusted packages, as that might allow root\naccess to the system.\n\nSome operations (such as package verification) might need root privileges to be able to\naccess files on the filesystem that would otherwise be inaccessible due to restricted\npermissions, but should otherwise work normally and produce appropriate messages in those\ncases.\n\nQuery operations should never require root, and delegating their execution to unprivileged\nusers via some gain-root command can have security implications (such as privilege\nescalation), for example when a pager is automatically invoked by the tool.\n\nSee also the SECURITY section of the dpkg-deb(1) and dpkg-split(1) manual pages.\n", "subsections": [] }, "BUGS": { "content": "--no-act usually gives less information than might be helpful.\n", "subsections": [] }, "EXAMPLES": { "content": "To list installed packages related to the editor vi(1) (note that dpkg-query does not load\nthe available file anymore by default, and the dpkg-query --load-avail option should be used\ninstead for that):\n\ndpkg -l '*vi*'\n\nTo see the entries in /var/lib/dpkg/available of two packages:\n\ndpkg --print-avail vim neovim | less\n\nTo search the listing of packages yourself:\n\ndpkg --print-avail | less\n\nTo remove an installed neovim package:\n\ndpkg -r neovim\n\nTo install a package, you first need to find it in an archive or media disc. When using an\narchive based on a pool structure, knowing the archive area and the name of the package is\nenough to infer the pathname:\n\ndpkg -i /media/bdrom/pool/main/v/vim/vim9.0.2018-1amd64.deb\n\nTo make a local copy of the package selection states:\n\ndpkg --get-selections >myselections\n\nYou might transfer this file to another computer, and after having updated the available file\nthere with your package manager frontend of choice (see\n for more details), for example:\n\napt-cache dumpavail | dpkg --merge-avail\n\nyou can install it with:\n\ndpkg --clear-selections\ndpkg --set-selections myselections", "You might transfer this file to another computer, and after having updated the available file", "there with your package manager frontend of choice (see", " for more details), for example:", "apt-cache dumpavail | dpkg --merge-avail", "you can install it with:", "dpkg --clear-selections", "dpkg --set-selections