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 2025-09-18 dpkg-statoverride(1)
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