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📛 NAME

dpkg-reconfigure - reconfigure an already installed package

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
Reconfigure a package	dpkg-reconfigure package	Re‑run all configuration questions
Change the default debconf frontend	dpkg-reconfigure debconf	Permanently switch the frontend (e.g., dialog, readline, gnome)
Use a specific frontend once	dpkg-reconfigure -f dialog package	Override the frontend for this run only
Only ask unseen questions	dpkg-reconfigure -u package	Skip questions that have already been answered
Force reconfiguration	dpkg-reconfigure --force package	Reconfigure even if the package state is broken (⚠️ use with caution)
Change minimum question priority	dpkg-reconfigure -p critical package	Show only critical‑priority questions (or higher)

📋 SYNOPSIS

dpkg-reconfigure [options] packages

📖 DESCRIPTION

dpkg-reconfigure reconfigures packages after they have already been installed. Pass it the names of a package or packages to reconfigure. It will ask configuration questions, much like when the package was first installed.

If you just want to see the current configuration of a package, see debconf-show(1) instead.

⚙️ OPTIONS

• -f type, --frontend=type 🖥️
  Select the frontend to use. The default frontend can be permanently changed by:

  dpkg-reconfigure debconf

  Note that if you normally have debconf set to use the noninteractive frontend, dpkg-reconfigure will use the dialog frontend instead, so you actually get to reconfigure the package.
• -p value, --priority=value 🔢
  Specify the minimum priority of question that will be displayed. dpkg-reconfigure normally shows low priority questions no matter what your default priority is. See debconf(7) for a list.
• --default-priority 📊
  Use whatever the default priority of question is, instead of forcing the priority to low.
• -u, --unseen-only 👁️
  By default, all questions are shown, even if they have already been answered. If this parameter is set though, only questions that have not yet been seen will be asked.
• --force ⚠️
  Force dpkg-reconfigure to reconfigure a package even if the package is in an inconsistent or broken state. Use with caution.
• --no-reload 🚫
  Prevent dpkg-reconfigure from reloading templates. Use with caution; this will prevent dpkg-reconfigure from repairing broken templates databases. However, it may be useful in constrained environments where rewriting the templates database is expensive.
• -h, --help ❓
  Display usage help.

🔗 SEE ALSO

debconf(7)

👤 AUTHOR

Joey Hess <joeyh AT debian.org>

📛 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📋 SYNOPSIS 📖 DESCRIPTION ⚙️ OPTIONS 🔗 SEE ALSO 👤 AUTHOR