DEBCONF(1)

📦
version 1.5.92 · 9 versions
, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 DEBCONF(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the Debconf manual page, section 1, and no cap this is the one you want 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

debconf — run a debconf-using program

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

debconf [options] command [args]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So here's the vibe: Debconf is a configuration system for Debian packages. If you want the big-picture overview plus the docs written for sysadmins, go read debconf(7) — it lives in the debconf-doc package, iykyk.

The debconf program runs a program under debconf's control, setting it up so it talks with debconf over stdio. Translation: the program you run is expected to spit out debconf protocol commands as its output, and it's expected to read result codes back on stdin. That's the whole handshake. If you want the nitty-gritty details of the debconf protocol itself, debconf-devel(7) has you covered ✨

Also, the command you want run under debconf has to be specified in a way that lets your PATH find it. No full-path mystery, no vibes-only lookup — PATH has to be able to do its thing.

Not me about to tell you the most important part: this command is not the usual way debconf gets used. It's way more typical for debconf to be used through dpkg-preconfigure(8) or dpkg-reconfigure(8). So like, this is the side quest, not the main character 💅

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -opackage, --owner=package — tells debconf what package the command it's running is a part of. Bestie, this one is necessary if you want ownership of registered questions to be right, and if you want the unregister and purge commands to be properly supported. Don't skip it, fr fr.
  • -ftype, --frontend=type — picks which frontend to use. That's it, that's the whole thing.
  • -pvalue, --priority=value — sets the minimum priority of question that will actually get displayed. Low-priority stuff below that line? Not showing up. Periodt.
  • --terse — turns on terse output mode. Heads up though: this only affects some frontends, not all of them. 🙈

🎀 EXAMPLES 🎀

Wanna debug a shell script that uses debconf? You might use:

DEBCONF_DEBUG=developer debconf my-shell-prog

Or, alternatively, you might use this one:

debconf --frontend=readline sh -x my-shell-prog

Both iconic, both valid, pick your fighter 🌈

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

debconf-devel(7), debconf(7)

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🍓 this was the Debconf manual, dated 2026-02-16, and you've officially read the entire thing. slay, go configure something 💖✨🧚

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