dpkg(1) package manager for Debian



  • NAME
           dpkg - package manager for Debian
    
    SYNOPSIS
           dpkg [option...] action
    
    WARNING
           This  manual is intended for users wishing to understand dpkg's command
           line options and package states in more detail than  that  provided  by
           dpkg --help.
    
           It  should not be used by package maintainers wishing to understand how
           dpkg will install their packages. The descriptions of  what  dpkg  does
           when installing and removing packages are particularly inadequate.
    
    DESCRIPTION
           dpkg  is  a  tool to install, build, remove and manage Debian packages.
           The primary and more user-friendly front-end for dpkg  is  aptitude(1).
           dpkg  itself  is controlled entirely via command line parameters, which
           consist of exactly one action and zero or  more  options.  The  action-
           parameter tells dpkg what to do and options control the behavior of the
           action in some way.
    
           dpkg can also be used as a front-end to dpkg-deb(1) and  dpkg-query(1).
           The  list  of  supported  actions  can be found later on in the ACTIONS
           section. If any such action is encountered dpkg just runs  dpkg-deb  or
           dpkg-query with the parameters given to it, but no specific options are
           currently passed to them, to use any such option the back-ends need  to
           be called directly.
    
    INFORMATION ABOUT PACKAGES
           dpkg  maintains  some  usable information about available packages. The
           information is divided in three classes: states, selection  states  and
           flags. These values are intended to be changed mainly with dselect.
    
       Package states
           not-installed
                  The package is not installed on your system.
    
           config-files
                  Only the configuration files of the package exist on the system.
    
           half-installed
                  The  installation  of  the  package  has  been  started, but not
                  completed for some reason.
    
           unpacked
                  The package is unpacked, but not configured.
    
           half-configured
                  The package is unpacked and configuration has been started,  but
                  not yet completed for some reason.
    
           triggers-awaited
                  The package awaits trigger processing by another package.
    
           triggers-pending
                  The package has been triggered.
    
           installed
                  The package is correctly unpacked and configured.
    
       Package selection states
           install
                  The package is selected for installation.
    
           hold   A  package  marked  to be on hold is not handled by dpkg, unless
                  forced to do that with option --force-hold.
    
           deinstall
                  The package is selected for  deinstallation  (i.e.  we  want  to
                  remove all files, except configuration files).
    
           purge  The  package  is  selected  to be purged (i.e. we want to remove
                  everything from system directories, even configuration files).
    
       Package flags
           reinst-required
                  A  package  marked  reinst-required  is  broken   and   requires
                  reinstallation.  These packages cannot be removed, unless forced
                  with option --force-remove-reinstreq.
    
    ACTIONS
           -i, --install package-file...
                  Install the package. If --recursive or -R option  is  specified,
                  package-file must refer to a directory instead.
    
                  Installation consists of the following steps:
    
                  1. Extract the control files of the new package.
    
                  2.  If  another version of the same package was installed before
                  the new installation, execute prerm script of the old package.
    
                  3. Run preinst script, if provided by the package.
    
                  4. Unpack the new files, and at the same time back  up  the  old
                  files, so that if something goes wrong, they can be restored.
    
                  5.  If  another version of the same package was installed before
                  the new installation, execute  the  postrm  script  of  the  old
                  package.  Note  that  this  script is executed after the preinst
                  script of the new package, because new files are written at  the
                  same time old files are removed.
    
                  6.   Configure   the   package.  See  --configure  for  detailed
                  information about how this is done.
    
           --unpack package-file...
                  Unpack the package, but don't configure it. If --recursive or -R
                  option  is  specified,  package-file  must  refer to a directory
                  instead.
    
           --configure package...|-a|--pending
                  Configure  a  package  which  has  been  unpacked  but  not  yet
                  configured.  If -a or --pending is given instead of package, all
                  unpacked but unconfigured packages are configured.
    
                  To reconfigure a package which has already been configured,  try
                  the dpkg-reconfigure(8) command instead.
    
                  Configuring consists of the following steps:
    
                  1.  Unpack  the  conffiles, and at the same time back up the old
                  conffiles, so that they can be restored if something goes wrong.
    
                  2. Run postinst script, if provided by the package.
    
           --triggers-only package...|-a|--pending
                  Processes only  triggers  (since  dpkg  1.14.17).   All  pending
                  triggers  will be processed.  If package names are supplied only
                  those packages' triggers will be processed,  exactly  once  each
                  where  necessary.  Use  of this option may leave packages in the
                  improper triggers-awaited and triggers-pending states. This  can
                  be fixed later by running: dpkg --configure --pending.
    
           -r, --remove package...|-a|--pending
                  Remove  an  installed  package.  This  removes everything except
                  conffiles, which may avoid having to reconfigure the package  if
                  it  is reinstalled later (conffiles are configuration files that
                  are listed in the DEBIAN/conffiles  control  file).   If  -a  or
                  --pending  is given instead of a package name, then all packages
                  unpacked, but marked to be removed in file /var/lib/dpkg/status,
                  are removed.
    
                  Removing of a package consists of the following steps:
    
                  1. Run prerm script
    
                  2. Remove the installed files
    
                  3. Run postrm script
    
           -P, --purge package...|-a|--pending
                  Purge  an  installed  or  already  removed package. This removes
                  everything, including conffiles.  If -a or  --pending  is  given
                  instead  of  a  package  name,  then  all  packages  unpacked or
                  removed, but marked to be purged in  file  /var/lib/dpkg/status,
                  are purged.
    
                  Note:  some configuration files might be unknown to dpkg because
                  they  are   created   and   handled   separately   through   the
                  configuration  scripts.  In that case, dpkg won't remove them by
                  itself, but the package's postrm  script  (which  is  called  by
                  dpkg),  has  to  take  care  of  their  removal during purge. Of
                  course, this only applies to files in  system  directories,  not
                  configuration   files   written   to   individual   users'  home
                  directories.
    
                  Purging of a package consists of the following steps:
    
                  1. Remove the package, if not already removed. See --remove  for
                  detailed information about how this is done.
    
                  2. Run postrm script.
    
           -V, --verify [package-name...]
                  Verifies  the  integrity  of  package-name  or  all  packages if
                  omitted, by comparing information from the files installed by  a
                  package  with  the files metadata information stored in the dpkg
                  database (since dpkg 1.17.2).  The origin of the files  metadata
                  information  in  the database is the binary packages themselves.
                  That metadata gets collected at package unpack time  during  the
                  installation process.
    
                  Currently  the  only  functional  check  performed  is an md5sum
                  verification of the file contents against the  stored  value  in
                  the  files  database.   It will only get checked if the database
                  contains the file md5sum. To check for any missing  metadata  in
                  the database, the --audit command can be used.
    
                  The output format is selectable with the --verify-format option,
                  which by default uses the rpm format, but that might  change  in
                  the  future,  and  as such, programs parsing this command output
                  should be explicit about the format they expect.
    
           --update-avail [Packages-file]
           --merge-avail [Packages-file]
                  Update  dpkg's  and  dselect's  idea  of  which   packages   are
                  available.   With   action  --merge-avail,  old  information  is
                  combined  with  information  from  Packages-file.  With   action
                  --update-avail, old information is replaced with the information
                  in the Packages-file. The Packages-file distributed with  Debian
                  is  simply  named  Packages.  If  the  Packages-file argument is
                  missing or named - then it will  be  read  from  standard  input
                  (since dpkg 1.17.7). dpkg keeps its record of available packages
                  in /var/lib/dpkg/available.
    
                  A simpler one-shot command to retrieve and update the  available
                  file is dselect update. Note that this file is mostly useless if
                  you don't use dselect but an APT-based frontend: APT has its own
                  system to keep track of available packages.
    
           -A, --record-avail package-file...
                  Update  dpkg  and dselect's idea of which packages are available
                  with information from the package package-file.  If  --recursive
                  or  -R  option  is  specified,  package-file  must  refer  to  a
                  directory instead.
    
           --forget-old-unavail
                  Now obsolete and a  no-op  as  dpkg  will  automatically  forget
                  uninstalled unavailable packages (since dpkg 1.15.4).
    
           --clear-avail
                  Erase   the   existing   information  about  what  packages  are
                  available.
    
           -C, --audit [package-name...]
                  Performs database sanity and consistency checks for package-name
                  or  all  packages  if  omitted  (per  package  checks since dpkg
                  1.17.10).  For example, searches for  packages  that  have  been
                  installed  only  partially  on your system or that have missing,
                  wrong or obsolete control data or files. dpkg will suggest  what
                  to do with them to get them fixed.
    
           --get-selections [package-name-pattern...]
                  Get  list of package selections, and write it to stdout. Without
                  a pattern, non-installed packages (i.e. those  which  have  been
                  previously purged) will not be shown.
    
           --set-selections
                  Set  package  selections  using  file read from stdin. This file
                  should be in the format “package state”, where state is  one  of
                  install, hold, deinstall or purge. Blank lines and comment lines
                  beginning with ‘#’ are also permitted.
    
                  The available file needs to be up-to-date for this command to be
                  useful,  otherwise  unknown  packages  will  be  ignored  with a
                  warning. See the --update-avail and --merge-avail  commands  for
                  more information.
    
           --clear-selections
                  Set  the  requested  state  of  every  non-essential  package to
                  deinstall (since dpkg 1.13.18).  This is  intended  to  be  used
                  immediately  before  --set-selections, to deinstall any packages
                  not in list given to --set-selections.
    
           --yet-to-unpack
                  Searches for packages selected for installation, but  which  for
                  some reason still haven't been installed.
    
           --predep-package
                  Print  a  single  package  which  is  the  target of one or more
                  relevant pre-dependencies and has  itself  no  unsatisfied  pre-
                  dependencies.
    
                  If  such  a  package  is  present,  output it as a Packages file
                  entry, which can be massaged as appropriate.
    
                  Returns 0 when a package is printed, 1 when no suitable  package
                  is available and 2 on error.
    
           --add-architecture architecture
                  Add architecture to the list of architectures for which packages
                  can be installed without using --force-architecture (since  dpkg
                  1.16.2).  The architecture dpkg is built for (i.e. the output of
                  --print-architecture) is always part of that list.
    
           --remove-architecture architecture
                  Remove architecture from the list  of  architectures  for  which
                  packages  can  be  installed  without using --force-architecture
                  (since dpkg 1.16.2). If the architecture is currently in use  in
                  the  database  then  the  operation  will  be refused, except if
                  --force-architecture is  specified.  The  architecture  dpkg  is
                  built for (i.e. the output of --print-architecture) can never be
                  removed from that list.
    
           --print-architecture
                  Print architecture  of  packages  dpkg  installs  (for  example,
                  “i386”).
    
           --print-foreign-architectures
                  Print  a  newline-separated list of the extra architectures dpkg
                  is configured to allow packages to be installed for (since  dpkg
                  1.16.2).
    
           --assert-feature
                  Asserts  that dpkg supports the requested feature.  Returns 0 if
                  the feature is fully supported, 1 if the feature  is  known  but
                  dpkg  cannot provide support for it yet, and 2 if the feature is
                  unknown.  The current list of assertable features is:
    
                  support-predepends
                         Supports the Pre-Depends field (since dpkg 1.1.0).
    
                  working-epoch
                         Supports epochs in version strings (since dpkg 1.4.0.7).
    
                  long-filenames
                         Supports long filenames in deb(5)  archives  (since  dpkg
                         1.4.1.17).
    
                  multi-conrep
                         Supports  multiple  Conflicts  and  Replaces  (since dpkg
                         1.4.1.19).
    
                  multi-arch
                         Supports multi-arch  fields  and  semantics  (since  dpkg
                         1.16.2).
    
                  versioned-provides
                         Supports versioned Provides (since dpkg 1.17.11).
    
           --compare-versions ver1 op ver2
                  Compare  version  numbers,  where  op is a binary operator. dpkg
                  returns success (zero result)  if  the  specified  condition  is
                  satisfied, and failure (nonzero result) otherwise. There are two
                  groups of operators, which differ in how  they  treat  an  empty
                  ver1  or  ver2. These treat an empty version as earlier than any
                  version: lt le eq ne ge gt. These  treat  an  empty  version  as
                  later  than  any  version:  lt-nl  le-nl  ge-nl gt-nl. These are
                  provided only for compatibility with control file syntax:  <  <<
                  <=  = >= >> >. The < and > operators are obsolete and should not
                  be used, due to confusing semantics. To illustrate:  0.1  <  0.1
                  evaluates to true.
    
           -?, --help
                  Display a brief help message.
    
           --force-help
                  Give help about the --force-thing options.
    
           -Dh, --debug=help
                  Give help about debugging options.
    
           --version
                  Display dpkg version information.
    
           dpkg-deb actions
                  See   dpkg-deb(1)  for  more  information  about  the  following
                  actions.
    
                  -b, --build directory [archive|directory]
                      Build a deb package.
                  -c, --contents archive
                      List contents of a deb package.
                  -e, --control archive [directory]
                      Extract control-information from a package.
                  -x, --extract archive directory
                      Extract the files contained by package.
                  -X, --vextract archive directory
                      Extract and display the filenames contained by a
                      package.
                  -f, --field  archive [control-field...]
                      Display control field(s) of a package.
                  --ctrl-tarfile archive
                      Output the control tar-file contained in a Debian package.
                  --fsys-tarfile archive
                      Output the filesystem tar-file contained by a Debian package.
                  -I, --info archive [control-file...]
                      Show information about a package.
    
           dpkg-query actions
                  See dpkg-query(1)  for  more  information  about  the  following
                  actions.
    
                  -l, --list package-name-pattern...
                      List packages matching given pattern.
                  -s, --status package-name...
                      Report status of specified package.
                  -L, --listfiles package-name...
                      List files installed to your system from package-name.
                  -S, --search filename-search-pattern...
                      Search for a filename from installed packages.
                  -p, --print-avail package-name...
                      Display details about package-name, as found in
                      /var/lib/dpkg/available. Users of APT-based frontends
                      should use apt-cache show package-name instead.
    
    OPTIONS
           All  options  can be specified both on the command line and in the dpkg
           configuration file /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg or  fragment  files  (with  names
           matching  this  shell  pattern  '[0-9a-zA-Z_-]*')  on the configuration
           directory /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/. Each line in the configuration file is
           either  an  option  (exactly  the  same  as the command line option but
           without leading hyphens) or a comment (if it starts with a #).
    
           --abort-after=number
                  Change after how many errors dpkg will abort. The default is 50.
    
           -B, --auto-deconfigure
                  When a package is removed, there is a possibility  that  another
                  installed  package  depended  on the removed package. Specifying
                  this option will cause automatic deconfiguration of the  package
                  which depended on the removed package.
    
           -Doctal, --debug=octal
                  Switch  debugging  on. octal is formed by bitwise-orring desired
                  values together from the list below (note that these values  may
                  change  in  future  releases). -Dh or --debug=help display these
                  debugging values.
    
                      Number   Description
                           1   Generally helpful progress information
                           2   Invocation and status of maintainer scripts
                          10   Output for each file processed
                         100   Lots of output for each file processed
                          20   Output for each configuration file
                         200   Lots of output for each configuration file
                          40   Dependencies and conflicts
                         400   Lots of dependencies/conflicts output
                       10000   Trigger activation and processing
                       20000   Lots of output regarding triggers
                       40000   Silly amounts of output regarding triggers
                        1000   Lots of drivel about e.g. the dpkg/info dir
                        2000   Insane amounts of drivel
    
           --force-things
           --no-force-things, --refuse-things
                  Force or refuse (no-force and refuse mean the same thing) to  do
                  some  things.  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.
    
                  downgrade(*):  Install a package, even if newer version of it is
                  already installed.
    
                  Warning: At present dpkg does not do any dependency checking  on
                  downgrades  and  therefore  will  not  warn you if the downgrade
                  breaks the dependency of  some  other  package.  This  can  have
                  serious  side  effects,  downgrading essential system components
                  can even make your whole system unusable. Use with care.
    
                  configure-any: Configure  also  any  unpacked  but  unconfigured
                  packages on which the current package depends.
    
                  hold: Process packages even when marked “hold”.
    
                  remove-reinstreq:  Remove  a  package,  even  if it's broken and
                  marked to require reinstallation. This may, for  example,  cause
                  parts of the package to remain on the system, which will then be
                  forgotten by dpkg.
    
                  remove-essential: Remove, even  if  the  package  is  considered
                  essential.  Essential  packages  contain  mostly very basic Unix
                  commands. Removing them might cause the  whole  system  to  stop
                  working, so use with caution.
    
                  depends: Turn all dependency problems into warnings.
    
                  depends-version:   Don't   care  about  versions  when  checking
                  dependencies.
    
                  breaks: Install, even if this would break another package (since
                  dpkg 1.14.6).
    
                  conflicts:  Install,  even if it conflicts with another package.
                  This is dangerous, for it will usually cause overwriting of some
                  files.
    
                  confmiss:  If  a  conffile  is  missing  and  the version in the
                  package did change, always install the missing conffile  without
                  prompting.  This  is  dangerous, since it means not preserving a
                  change (removing) made to the file.
    
                  confnew: If a conffile has been modified and the version in  the
                  package  did  change,  always  install  the  new version without
                  prompting, unless the  --force-confdef  is  also  specified,  in
                  which case the default action is preferred.
    
                  confold:  If a conffile has been modified and the version in the
                  package  did  change,  always  keep  the  old  version   without
                  prompting,  unless  the  --force-confdef  is  also specified, in
                  which case the default action is preferred.
    
                  confdef: If a conffile has been modified and the version in  the
                  package  did  change,  always  choose the default action without
                  prompting. If there is no default action it will stop to ask the
                  user  unless  --force-confnew  or  --force-confold  is also been
                  given, in which case it  will  use  that  to  decide  the  final
                  action.
    
                  confask: If a conffile has been modified always offer to replace
                  it with the version in the package, even if the version  in  the
                  package   did  not  change  (since  dpkg  1.15.8).   If  any  of
                  --force-confmiss,    --force-confnew,    --force-confold,     or
                  --force-confdef  is  also  given,  it will be used to decide the
                  final action.
    
                  overwrite: Overwrite one package's file with another's file.
    
                  overwrite-dir: Overwrite one package's directory with  another's
                  file.
    
                  overwrite-diverted: Overwrite a diverted file with an undiverted
                  version.
    
                  unsafe-io: Do not perform safe  I/O  operations  when  unpacking
                  (since  dpkg  1.15.8.6).   Currently this implies not performing
                  file system syncs before file renames, which is known  to  cause
                  substantial   performance  degradation  on  some  file  systems,
                  unfortunately the ones that require the safe I/O  on  the  first
                  place  due  to  their  unreliable  behaviour causing zero-length
                  files on abrupt system crashes.
    
                  Note: For ext4, the main offender, consider  using  instead  the
                  mount  option  nodelalloc,  which  will fix both the performance
                  degradation and the data safety issues, the latter by making the
                  file  system  not  produce  zero-length  files  on abrupt system
                  crashes with any software not doing syncs before atomic renames.
    
                  Warning: Using this option might improve performance at the cost
                  of losing data, use with care.
    
                  architecture:   Process   even   packages   with   wrong  or  no
                  architecture.
    
                  bad-version: Process even packages with  wrong  versions  (since
                  dpkg 1.16.1).
    
                  bad-path:  PATH  is  missing important programs, so problems are
                  likely.
    
                  not-root: Try to (de)install things even when not root.
    
                  bad-verify: Install a package  even  if  it  fails  authenticity
                  check.
    
           --ignore-depends=package,...
                  Ignore  dependency-checking  for  specified  packages (actually,
                  checking is performed, but only  warnings  about  conflicts  are
                  given, nothing else).
    
           --no-act, --dry-run, --simulate
                  Do  everything which is supposed to be done, but don't write any
                  changes. This  is  used  to  see  what  would  happen  with  the
                  specified action, without actually modifying anything.
    
                  Be  sure  to  give  --no-act before the action-parameter, or you
                  might end up with undesirable results. (e.g.  dpkg  --purge  foo
                  --no-act  will  first  purge  package  foo and then try to purge
                  package --no-act,  even  though  you  probably  expected  it  to
                  actually do nothing)
    
           -R, --recursive
                  Recursively  handle  all  regular  files  matching pattern *.deb
                  found at specified directories and all  of  its  subdirectories.
                  This  can  be  used with -i, -A, --install, --unpack and --avail
                  actions.
    
           -G     Don't install a package if a newer version of the  same  package
                  is already installed. This is an alias of --refuse-downgrade.
    
           --admindir=dir
                  Change  default  administrative  directory,  which contains many
                  files  that  give  information  about  status  of  installed  or
                  uninstalled packages, etc.  (Defaults to /var/lib/dpkg)
    
           --instdir=dir
                  Change  default  installation  directory  which  refers  to  the
                  directory where packages are to be installed.  instdir  is  also
                  the  directory  passed  to  chroot(2)  before  running package's
                  installation scripts, which means that the scripts  see  instdir
                  as a root directory.  (Defaults to /)
    
           --root=dir
                  Changing   root   changes   instdir   to  dir  and  admindir  to
                  dir/var/lib/dpkg.
    
           -O, --selected-only
                  Only process the packages that are  selected  for  installation.
                  The  actual  marking  is  done  with dselect or by dpkg, when it
                  handles packages. For example, when a  package  is  removed,  it
                  will be marked selected for deinstallation.
    
           -E, --skip-same-version
                  Don't  install the package if the same version of the package is
                  already installed.
    
           --pre-invoke=command
           --post-invoke=command
                  Set an invoke hook command to be run via “sh -c” before or after
                  the  dpkg run for the unpack, configure, install, triggers-only,
                  remove, purge,  add-architecture  and  remove-architecture  dpkg
                  actions     (since    dpkg    1.15.4;    add-architecture    and
                  remove-architecture actions since dpkg 1.17.19). This option can
                  be specified multiple times. The order the options are specified
                  is preserved, with the ones from the configuration files  taking
                  precedence.   The  environment  variable DPKG_HOOK_ACTION is set
                  for the hooks to the current dpkg action. Note: front-ends might
                  call  dpkg  several  times  per  invocation, which might run the
                  hooks more times than expected.
    
           --path-exclude=glob-pattern
           --path-include=glob-pattern
                  Set glob-pattern as a path filter, either by  excluding  or  re-
                  including  previously  excluded  paths  matching  the  specified
                  patterns during install (since dpkg 1.15.8).
    
                  Warning: take into account that depending on the excluded  paths
                  you might completely break your system, use with caution.
    
                  The glob patterns use the same wildcards used in the shell, were
                  ‘*’ matches any sequence  of  characters,  including  the  empty
                  string  and  also  ‘/’.   For  example,  «/usr/*/READ*»  matches
                  «/usr/share/doc/package/README».   As  usual,  ‘?’  matches  any
                  single  character  (again,  including  ‘/’).   And  ‘[’ starts a
                  character class, which can contain a list of characters,  ranges
                  and complementations. See glob(7) for detailed information about
                  globbing. Note: the current implementation might re-include more
                  directories and symlinks than needed, to be on the safe side and
                  avoid possible unpack failures, future work might fix this.
    
                  This can be used to remove  all  paths  except  some  particular
                  ones; a typical case is:
    
                  --path-exclude=/usr/share/doc/*
                  --path-include=/usr/share/doc/*/copyright
    
                  to remove all documentation files except the copyright files.
    
                  These   two   options  can  be  specified  multiple  times,  and
                  interleaved with each other. Both are  processed  in  the  given
                  order,  with  the  last rule that matches a file name making the
                  decision.
    
           --verify-format format-name
                  Sets the output format for  the  --verify  command  (since  dpkg
                  1.17.2).
    
                  The  only  currently  supported  output  format  is  rpm,  which
                  consists of a line for every path that failed  any  check.   The
                  lines  start  with  9  characters  to report each specific check
                  result, a ‘?’ implies the check  could  not  be  done  (lack  of
                  support,  file  permissions, etc), ‘.’ implies the check passed,
                  and an alphanumeric character implies a specific  check  failed;
                  the md5sum verification failure (the file contents have changed)
                  is denoted with a ‘5’ on  the  third  character.   The  line  is
                  followed  by  a  space and an attribute character (currently ‘c’
                  for conffiles), another space and the pathname.
    
           --status-fd n
                  Send machine-readable package status and progress information to
                  file  descriptor n. This option can be specified multiple times.
                  The information is generally one record per line, in one of  the
                  following forms:
    
                  status: package: status
                         Package status changed; status is as in the status file.
    
                  status: package : error : extended-error-message
                         An  error  occurred.  Any  possible newlines in extended-
                         error-message will be converted to spaces before output.
    
                  status:  file  :   conffile-prompt   :   'real-old'   'real-new'
                  useredited distedited
                         User is being asked a conffile question.
    
                  processing: stage: package
                         Sent  just before a processing stage starts. stage is one
                         of  upgrade,  install  (both  sent   before   unpacking),
                         configure, trigproc, disappear, remove, purge.
    
           --status-logger=command
                  Send machine-readable package status and progress information to
                  the shell command's standard input, to be run via “sh -c” (since
                  dpkg 1.16.0).  This option can be specified multiple times.  The
                  output format used is the same as in --status-fd.
    
           --log=filename
                  Log status change updates and actions to  filename,  instead  of
                  the  default /var/log/dpkg.log. If this option is given multiple
                  times, the last filename is used. Log messages are of  the  form
                  ‘YYYY-MM-DD   HH:MM:SS  startup  type  command’  for  each  dpkg
                  invocation where type is archives (with a command of  unpack  or
                  install)   or   packages   (with   a   command   of   configure,
                  triggers-only, remove or  purge);  ‘YYYY-MM-DD  HH:MM:SS  status
                  state  pkg  installed-version’ for status change updates; ‘YYYY-
                  MM-DD HH:MM:SS action pkg  installed-version  available-version’
                  for  actions where action is one of install, upgrade, configure,
                  trigproc, disappear, remove or purge; and  ‘YYYY-MM-DD  HH:MM:SS
                  conffile  filename decision’ for conffile changes where decision
                  is either install or keep.
    
           --no-debsig
                  Do not try to verify package signatures.
    
           --no-triggers
                  Do not run any triggers in this run (since  dpkg  1.14.17),  but
                  activations  will  still  be recorded.  If used with --configure
                  package  or  --triggers-only  package  then  the  named  package
                  postinst  will  still  be  run  even  if  only a triggers run is
                  needed. Use of this option may leave packages  in  the  improper
                  triggers-awaited  and triggers-pending states. This can be fixed
                  later by running: dpkg --configure --pending.
    
           --triggers
                  Cancels a previous --no-triggers (since dpkg 1.14.17).
    
    ENVIRONMENT
       External environment
           PATH   This variable is expected to be defined in the  environment  and
                  point to the system paths where several required programs are to
                  be found. If it's not set or the programs are  not  found,  dpkg
                  will abort.
    
           HOME   If set, dpkg will use it as the directory from which to read the
                  user specific configuration file.
    
           TMPDIR If set, dpkg will use it as the directory  in  which  to  create
                  temporary files and directories.
    
           PAGER  The program dpkg will execute when displaying the conffiles.
    
           SHELL  The  program  dpkg  will execute when starting a new interactive
                  shell.
    
           COLUMNS
                  Sets the number of  columns  dpkg  should  use  when  displaying
                  formatted text. Currently only used by -l.
    
       Internal environment
           DPKG_SHELL_REASON
                  Defined  by  dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to
                  examine the situation (since dpkg 1.15.6).  Current valid value:
                  conffile-prompt.
    
           DPKG_CONFFILE_OLD
                  Defined  by  dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to
                  examine the situation (since dpkg 1.15.6).  Contains the path to
                  the old conffile.
    
           DPKG_CONFFILE_NEW
                  Defined  by  dpkg on the shell spawned on the conffile prompt to
                  examine the situation (since dpkg 1.15.6).  Contains the path to
                  the new conffile.
    
           DPKG_HOOK_ACTION
                  Defined  by  dpkg  on  the  shell  spawned when executing a hook
                  action (since dpkg 1.15.4).  Contains the current dpkg action.
    
           DPKG_RUNNING_VERSION
                  Defined by dpkg on the  maintainer  script  environment  to  the
                  version  of  the  currently  running  dpkg  instance (since dpkg
                  1.14.17).
    
           DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE
                  Defined by dpkg on the  maintainer  script  environment  to  the
                  (non-arch-qualified)  package  name  being  handled  (since dpkg
                  1.14.17).
    
           DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE_REFCOUNT
                  Defined by dpkg on the  maintainer  script  environment  to  the
                  package  reference  count,  i.e. the number of package instances
                  with a state greater than not-installed (since dpkg 1.17.2).
    
           DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_ARCH
                  Defined by dpkg on the  maintainer  script  environment  to  the
                  architecture the package got built for (since dpkg 1.15.4).
    
           DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME
                  Defined by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to the name
                  of the script running, one of preinst, postinst, prerm or postrm
                  (since dpkg 1.15.7).
    
           DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_DEBUG
                  Defined  by dpkg on the maintainer script environment to a value
                  (‘0’ or ‘1’) noting whether debugging has been  requested  (with
                  the  --debug  option)  for  the  maintainer  scripts (since dpkg
                  1.18.4).
    
    FILES
           /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg.d/[0-9a-zA-Z_-]*
                  Configuration fragment files (since dpkg 1.15.4).
    
           /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg
                  Configuration file with default options.
    
           /var/log/dpkg.log
                  Default log file (see /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg(5) and option --log).
    
           The other files listed below are  in  their  default  directories,  see
           option --admindir to see how to change locations of these files.
    
           /var/lib/dpkg/available
                  List of available packages.
    
           /var/lib/dpkg/status
                  Statuses  of  available packages. This file contains information
                  about whether a package is marked for removing or  not,  whether
                  it  is  installed  or  not,  etc.  See section INFORMATION ABOUT
                  PACKAGES for more info.
    
                  The status file is backed up daily in /var/backups.  It  can  be
                  useful if it's lost or corrupted due to filesystems troubles.
    
           The  following files are components of a binary package. See deb(5) for
           more information about them:
                  control
                  conffiles
                  preinst
                  postinst
                  prerm
                  postrm
                  triggers
    
    BUGS
           --no-act usually gives less information than might be helpful.
    
    EXAMPLES
           To list installed packages related  to  the  editor  vi(1)  (note  that
           dpkg-query does not load the available file anymore by default, and the
           dpkg-query --load-avail option should be used instead for that):
                dpkg -l '*vi*'
    
           To see the entries in /var/lib/dpkg/available of two packages:
                dpkg --print-avail elvis vim | less
    
           To search the listing of packages yourself:
                less /var/lib/dpkg/available
    
           To remove an installed elvis package:
                dpkg -r elvis
    
           To install a package, you first need to find it in an archive or CDROM.
           The available file shows that the vim package is in section editors:
                cd /media/cdrom/pool/main/v/vim
                dpkg -i vim_4.5-3.deb
    
           To make a local copy of the package selection states:
                dpkg --get-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  https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/FAQ for more details),
           for example:
                apt-cache dumpavail | dpkg --merge-avail
           or with dpkg 1.17.6 and earlier:
                avail=`mktemp`
                apt-cache dumpavail >"$avail"
                dpkg --merge-avail "$avail"
                rm "$avail"
           you can install it with:
                dpkg --clear-selections
                dpkg --set-selections <myselections
    
           Note that this will not actually install or remove anything,  but  just
           set  the  selection state on the requested packages. You will need some
           other application  to  actually  download  and  install  the  requested
           packages. For example, run apt-get dselect-upgrade.
    
           Ordinarily,  you  will  find that dselect(1) provides a more convenient
           way to modify the package selection states.
    
    ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY
           Additional functionality  can  be  gained  by  installing  any  of  the
           following packages: apt, aptitude and debsums.
    
    SEE ALSO
           aptitude(1), apt(1), dselect(1), dpkg-deb(1), dpkg-query(1), deb(5),
           deb-control(5), dpkg.cfg(5), and dpkg-reconfigure(8).
    
    AUTHORS
           See /usr/share/doc/dpkg/THANKS for the list of people who have
           contributed to dpkg.
    

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