dpkg-maintscript-helper(1) dpkg suite dpkg-maintscript-helper(1)
NAME
dpkg-maintscript-helper - works around known dpkg limitations in
maintainer scripts
SYNOPSIS
dpkg-maintscript-helper command [parameter...] -- maint-script-
parameter...
COMMANDS AND PARAMETERS
supports command
rm_conffile conffile [prior-version [package]]
mv_conffile old-conffile new-conffile [prior-version [package]]
symlink_to_dir pathname old-target [prior-version [package]]
dir_to_symlink pathname new-target [prior-version [package]]
DESCRIPTION
This program is designed to be run within maintainer scripts to achieve
some tasks that dpkg can't (yet) handle natively either because of
design decisions or due to current limitations.
Many of those tasks require coordinated actions from several maintainer
scripts (preinst, postinst, prerm, postrm). To avoid mistakes the same
call simply needs to be put in all scripts and the program will
automatically adapt its behavior based on the environment variable
DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_NAME and on the maintainer scripts arguments that you
have to forward after a double hyphen.
This program was introduced in dpkg 1.15.7.
COMMON PARAMETERS
prior-version
Defines the latest version of the package whose upgrade should
trigger the operation. It is important to calculate prior-version
correctly so that the operations are correctly performed even if
the user rebuilt the package with a local version. If prior-
version is empty or omitted, then the operation is tried on every
upgrade (note: it's safer to give the version and have the
operation tried only once).
If the conffile has not been shipped for several versions, and you
are now modifying the maintainer scripts to clean up the obsolete
file, prior-version should be based on the version of the package
that you are now preparing, not the first version of the package
that lacked the conffile. This applies to all other actions in the
same way.
For example, for a conffile removed in version 2.0-1 of a package,
prior-version should be set to 2.0-1~. This will cause the
conffile to be removed even if the user rebuilt the previous
version 1.0-1 as 1.0-1local1. Or a package switching a path from a
symlink (shipped in version 1.0-1) to a directory (shipped in
version 2.0-1), but only performing the actual switch in the
maintainer scripts in version 3.0-1, should set prior-version to
3.0-1~.
package
The package name owning the pathname(s). When the package is
“Multi-Arch: same” this parameter must include the architecture
qualifier, otherwise it should not usually include the architecture
qualifier (as it would disallow cross-grades, or switching from
being architecture specific to architecture all or vice versa). If
the parameter is empty or omitted, the DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_PACKAGE and
DPKG_MAINTSCRIPT_ARCH environment variables (as set by dpkg when
running the maintainer scripts) will be used to generate an arch-
qualified package name.
-- All the parameters of the maintainer scripts have to be forwarded
to the program after --.
CONFFILE RELATED TASKS
When upgrading a package, dpkg will not automatically remove a conffile
(a configuration file for which dpkg should preserve user changes) if
it is not present in the newer version. There are two principal
reasons for this; the first is that the conffile could've been dropped
by accident and the next version could restore it, users wouldn't want
their changes thrown away. The second is to allow packages to
transition files from a dpkg-maintained conffile to a file maintained
by the package's maintainer scripts, usually with a tool like debconf
or ucf.
This means that if a package is intended to rename or remove a
conffile, it must explicitly do so and dpkg-maintscript-helper can be
used to implement graceful deletion and moving of conffiles within
maintainer scripts.
Removing a conffile
Note: This can be replaced in most cases by the "remove-on-upgrade"
flag in DEBIAN/conffiles (since dpkg 1.20.6), see deb-conffiles(5).
If a conffile is completely removed, it should be removed from disk,
unless the user has modified it. If there are local modifications,
they should be preserved. If the package upgrade aborts, the newly
obsolete conffile should not disappear.
All of this is implemented by putting the following shell snippet in
the preinst, postinst and postrm maintainer scripts:
dpkg-maintscript-helper rm_conffile \
conffile prior-version package -- "$@"
conffile is the filename of the conffile to remove.
Current implementation: in the preinst, it checks if the conffile was
modified and renames it either to conffile.dpkg-remove (if not
modified) or to conffile.dpkg-backup (if modified). In the postinst,
the latter file is renamed to conffile.dpkg-bak and kept for reference
as it contains user modifications but the former will be removed. If
the package upgrade aborts, the postrm reinstalls the original
conffile. During purge, the postrm will also delete the .dpkg-bak file
kept up to now.
Renaming a conffile
If a conffile is moved from one location to another, you need to make
sure you move across any changes the user has made. This may seem a
simple change to the preinst script at first, however that will result
in the user being prompted by dpkg to approve the conffile edits even
though they are not responsible of them.
Graceful renaming can be implemented by putting the following shell
snippet in the preinst, postinst and postrm maintainer scripts:
dpkg-maintscript-helper mv_conffile \
old-conffile new-conffile prior-version package -- "$@"
old-conffile and new-conffile are the old and new name of the conffile
to rename.
Current implementation: the preinst checks if the conffile has been
modified, if yes it's left on place otherwise it's renamed to old-
conffile.dpkg-remove. On configuration, the postinst removes old-
conffile.dpkg-remove and renames old-conffile to new-conffile if old-
conffile is still available. On abort-upgrade/abort-install, the
postrm renames old-conffile.dpkg-remove back to old-conffile if
required.
SYMLINK AND DIRECTORY SWITCHES
When upgrading a package, dpkg will not automatically switch a symlink
to a directory or vice-versa. Downgrades are not supported and the
path will be left as is.
Note: The symlinks and directories created during these switches need
to be shipped in the new packages, or dpkg will not be able to remove
them on purge.
Switching a symlink to directory
If a symlink is switched to a real directory, you need to make sure
before unpacking that the symlink is removed. This may seem a simple
change to the preinst script at first, however that will result in some
problems in case of admin local customization of the symlink or when
downgrading the package.
Graceful renaming can be implemented by putting the following shell
snippet in the preinst, postinst and postrm maintainer scripts:
dpkg-maintscript-helper symlink_to_dir \
pathname old-target prior-version package -- "$@"
pathname is the absolute name of the old symlink (the path will be a
directory at the end of the installation) and old-target is the target
name of the former symlink at pathname. It can either be absolute or
relative to the directory containing pathname.
Current implementation: the preinst checks if the symlink exists and
points to old-target, if not then it's left in place, otherwise it's
renamed to pathname.dpkg-backup. On configuration, the postinst
removes pathname.dpkg-backup if pathname.dpkg-backup is still a
symlink. On abort-upgrade/abort-install, the postrm renames
pathname.dpkg-backup back to pathname if required.
Switching a directory to symlink
If a real directory is switched to a symlink, you need to make sure
before unpacking that the directory is removed. This may seem a simple
change to the preinst script at first, however that will result in some
problems in case the directory contains conffiles, pathnames owned by
other packages, locally created pathnames, or when downgrading the
package.
Graceful switching can be implemented by putting the following shell
snippet in the preinst, postinst and postrm maintainer scripts:
dpkg-maintscript-helper dir_to_symlink \
pathname new-target prior-version package -- "$@"
pathname is the absolute name of the old directory (the path will be a
symlink at the end of the installation) and new-target is the target of
the new symlink at pathname. It can either be absolute or relative to
the directory containing pathname.
Current implementation: the preinst checks if the directory exists,
does not contain conffiles, pathnames owned by other packages, or
locally created pathnames, if not then it's left in place, otherwise
it's renamed to pathname.dpkg-backup, and an empty staging directory
named pathname is created, marked with a file so that dpkg can track
it. On configuration, the postinst finishes the switch if
pathname.dpkg-backup is still a directory and pathname is the staging
directory; it removes the staging directory mark file, moves the newly
created files inside the staging directory to the symlink target new-
target/, replaces the now empty staging directory pathname with a
symlink to new-target, and removes pathname.dpkg-backup. On
abort-upgrade/abort-install, the postrm renames pathname.dpkg-backup
back to pathname if required.
INTEGRATION IN PACKAGES
When using a packaging helper, please check if it has native dpkg-
maintscript-helper integration, which might make your life easier. See
for example dh_installdeb(1).
Given that dpkg-maintscript-helper is used in the preinst, using it
unconditionally requires a pre-dependency to ensure that the required
version of dpkg has been unpacked before. The required version depends
on the command used, for rm_conffile and mv_conffile it is 1.15.7.2,
for symlink_to_dir and dir_to_symlink it is 1.17.14:
Pre-Depends: dpkg (>= 1.17.14)
But in many cases the operation done by the program is not critical for
the package, and instead of using a pre-dependency we can call the
program only if we know that the required command is supported by the
currently installed dpkg:
if dpkg-maintscript-helper supports command; then
dpkg-maintscript-helper command ...
fi
The command supports will return 0 on success, 1 otherwise. The
supports command will check if the environment variables as set by dpkg
and required by the script are present, and will consider it a failure
in case the environment is not sufficient.
ENVIRONMENT
DPKG_ROOT
If set, it will be used as the filesystem root directory.
DPKG_ADMINDIR
If set, it will be used as the dpkg data directory.
DPKG_COLORS
Sets the color mode (since dpkg 1.19.1). The currently accepted
values are: auto (default), always and never.
SEE ALSO
dh_installdeb(1).
1.22.6 2025-09-18 dpkg-maintscript-helper(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 15:00:23 CET 2025.