man > dpkg-statoverride(1)

dpkg-statoverride(1)                         dpkg suite                         dpkg-statoverride(1)

NAME
       dpkg-statoverride - override ownership and mode of files

SYNOPSIS
       dpkg-statoverride [option...] command

DESCRIPTION
       “stat overrides” are a way to tell dpkg(1) to use a different owner or mode for a path when a
       package is installed (this applies to any filesystem object that dpkg handles, including
       directories, devices, etc.).  This can be used to force programs that are normally setuid to
       be install without a setuid flag, or only executable by a certain group.

       dpkg-statoverride is a utility to manage the list of stat overrides.  It has three basic
       functions: adding, removing and listing overrides.

COMMANDS
       --add user group mode path
           Add  an  override  for  path.  path does not need to exist nor be known to dpkg when this
           command is used; the override will be stored and used later.  Users  and  groups  can  be
           specified  by  their  name (for example root or nobody), or by their number by prepending
           the number with a ‘#’ (for example #0 or #65534).  The mode  needs  to  be  specified  in
           octal.

           If  --update  is  specified  and  path exists, it is immediately set to the new owner and
           mode.

       --remove path
           Remove an override for path, the status of path is left unchanged by this command.

       --list [glob-pattern]
           List all overrides.  If a glob pattern is specified  restrict  the  output  to  overrides
           which match the glob.

       --help
           Show the usage message and exit.

       --force-help
           Give help about the --force-thing options (since dpkg 1.19.5).

       --version
           Show the version and exit.

OPTIONS
       --admindir directory
           Set  the  administrative  directory to directory.  This is where the statoverride file is
           stored.  Defaults to «/var/lib/dpkg» if DPKG_ADMINDIR has not been set.

       --instdir directory
           Set the installation  directory,  which  refers  to  the  directory  where  packages  get
           installed (since dpkg 1.19.2).  Defaults to «/» if DPKG_ROOT has not been set.

       --root directory
           Set the root directory to directory, which sets the installation directory to «directory»
           and  the  administrative  directory  to  «directory/var/lib/dpkg»  (since dpkg 1.19.2) if
           DPKG_ROOT has not been set.

       --force-things
       --no-force-things, --refuse-things
           Force or refuse (no-force and refuse mean the same thing) to do some things  (since  dpkg
           1.19.5).   things  is  a  comma  separated  list of things specified below.  --force-help
           displays a message describing them.  Things marked with (*) are forced by default.

           Warning: These options are mostly intended to  be  used  by  experts  only.   Using  them
           without fully understanding their effects may break your whole system.

           all:
               Turns on (or off) all force options.

           statoverride-add:
               Overwrite an existing stat override when adding it (since dpkg 1.19.5).

           statoverride-remove:
               Ignore a missing stat override when removing it (since dpkg 1.19.5).

           security-mac(*):
               Use  platform-specific Mandatory Access Controls (MAC) based security when installing
               files into the filesystem (since dpkg 1.19.5).  On Linux systems  the  implementation
               uses SELinux.

           not-root:
               Try to (de)install things even when not root (since dpkg 1.21.8).

       --force
           Force  an  action, even if a sanity check would otherwise prohibit it.  This is necessary
           to override an existing override.  This option is deprecated (since dpkg 1.19.5),  it  is
           replaced by --force-all.

       --update
           Immediately try to change the path to the new owner and mode if it exists.

       --quiet
           Be less verbose about what we do.

EXIT STATUS
       0   The requested action was successfully performed.

       1   For --list, if there are no overrides or none match the supplied glob.

       2   Fatal  or unrecoverable error due to invalid command-line usage, or interactions with the
           system, such as accesses to the database, memory allocations, etc.

ENVIRONMENT
       DPKG_ROOT
           If set and the --instdir or --root options have not been specified, it will  be  used  as
           the filesystem root directory (since dpkg 1.19.2).

       DPKG_ADMINDIR
           If  set  and the --admindir or --root options have not been specified, it will be used as
           the dpkg data directory.

       DPKG_DEBUG
           Sets the debug mask (since dpkg 1.21.10) from an octal  value.   The  currently  accepted
           flags  are  described  in  the dpkg --debug option, but not all these flags might have an
           effect on this program.

       DPKG_FORCE
           If set and none of the --force-... options have been specified, it will be  used  as  the
           force options to use (since dpkg 1.19.5).

       DPKG_COLORS
           Sets  the  color  mode  (since  dpkg  1.18.5).   The  currently accepted values are: auto
           (default), always and never.

FILES
       /var/lib/dpkg/statoverride
           File which contains the current list of stat overrides of the system.  It is  located  in
           the  dpkg  administration  directory,  along  with other files important to dpkg, such as
           status or available.

           Note: dpkg-statoverride preserves the old copy  of  this  file,  with  extension  “-old”,
           before replacing it with the new one.

SEE ALSO
       dpkg(1).

1.22.6                                       2026-05-06                         dpkg-statoverride(1)