DH_INSTALLINIT(1)

📦
version 14.5ubuntu1 · 12 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 dh_installinit(1) — bestie edition 💖

okay so listen. this is a page from the Debhelper manual, and today we're talking about dh_installinit. it's giving "i handle your init scripts so you don't have to" and honestly? iconic. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

dh_installinit — install service init files into package build directories 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dh_installinit [debhelper options] [--name=name] [-n] [-R] [-r] [-d]
[-- params]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so dh_installinit is a debhelper program, and its whole job — its main character era, if you will — is being responsible for installing init scripts along with their associated defaults files. that's the vibe. 🎀

In compatibility levels up to and including 10, dh_installinit will also install some systemd related files provided by the debian packaging (go check the "FILES" section below, bestie 👀). And in compatibility levels up to and including 11, it will also handle upstart jobs provided in the debian packaging (again, "FILES" has the tea on that one).

It also automatically generates the postinst and postrm and prerm commands it needs to set up the symlinks in /etc/rc*.d/ so your init scripts get started and stopped. no cap. ✨

In compat 10 or earlier: if a package only ships a systemd service file and no sysvinit script is provided, you may want to exclude the call to dh_installinit for that package (e.g. via -N). Otherwise, you may get warnings from lintian about init.d scripts not being included in the package. 😭

🧚 FILES 🧚

  • debian/package.init — if this exists, it is installed into etc/init.d/package in the package build directory. 💫
  • debian/package.default — if this exists, it is installed into etc/default/package in the package build directory.
  • debian/package.upstart — In compatibility level 11, this file will trigger an error with a reminder about ensuring the proper removal of the upstart file in the previous package version. Please consider using the rm_conffile feature from dh_installdeb(1) to ensure the proper removal of previous upstart files.

In compatibility level 10, if this file exists, it is installed into etc/init/package.conf in the package build directory.

  • debian/package.service — if this exists, it is installed into usr/lib/systemd/system/package.service in the package build directory. Only used in compat levels 10 and below.
  • debian/package.tmpfile — if this exists, it is installed into usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/package.conf in the package build directory. Only used in compat levels 10 and below.

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • -n, --no-scripts — Do not modify postinst/postrm/prerm scripts. hands off, bestie 🙈
  • -o, --only-scripts — Only modify postinst/postrm/prerm scripts, do not actually install any init script, default files, upstart job or systemd service file. May be useful if the file is shipped and/or installed by upstream in a way that doesn't make it easy to let dh_installinit find it.
Caveat: This will bypass all the regular checks and unconditionally modify the scripts. You will almost certainly want to use this with -p to limit, which packages are affected by the call. Example:
override_dh_installinit:
       dh_installinit -pfoo --only-scripts
       dh_installinit --remaining
  • -R, --restart-after-upgrade — Do not stop the init script until after the package upgrade has been completed. This is the default behaviour in compat 10.

In early compat levels, the default was to stop the script in the prerm, and starts it again in the postinst.

This can be useful for daemons that should not have a possibly long downtime during upgrade. But you should make sure that the daemon will not get confused by the package being upgraded while it's running before using this option. 🫣

  • --no-restart-after-upgrade — Undo a previous --restart-after-upgrade (or the default of compat 10). If no other options are given, this will cause the service to be stopped in the prerm script and started again in the postinst script.
  • -r, --no-stop-on-upgrade, --no-restart-on-upgrade — Do not stop init script on upgrade. This has the side-effect of not restarting the service as a part of the upgrade.

If you want to restart the service with minimal downtime, please use --restart-after-upgrade (default in compat 10 or later). If you want the service to be restarted but be stopped during the upgrade, then please use --no-restart-after-upgrade (note the "after-upgrade").

Note that the --no-restart-on-upgrade alias is deprecated and will be removed in compat 12. This is to avoid confusion with the --no-restart-after-upgrade option. The --no-stop-on-upgrade variant was introduced in debhelper 10.2 (included in Debian stretch). 💀
  • --no-start — Do not start the init script on install or upgrade, or stop it on removal. Only call update-rc.d. Useful for rcS scripts.
  • --no-enable — Disable the init script on purge, but do not enable them on install. Note that this requires init-system-helpers >= 1.51 as it is the first (functional) version that supports update-rc.d <script> defaults-disabled.

Note that this option does not affect whether the services are started. Please remember to also use --no-start if the service should not be started.

Cannot be combined with -uparams, --update-rcd-params=params, or -- params.
  • -d, --remove-d — Remove trailing d from the name of the package, and use the result for the filename the upstart job file is installed as in etc/init/ , and for the filename the init script is installed as in etc/init.d and the default file is installed as in etc/default/. This may be useful for daemons with names ending in d. (Note: this takes precedence over the --init-script parameter described below.)
  • -uparams --update-rcd-params=params
  • -- params — Pass params to update-rc.d(8). If not specified, defaults (or defaults-disabled with --no-enable) will be passed to update-rc.d(8).
Cannot be combined with --no-enable.
  • --name=name — Install the init script (and default file) as well as upstart job file using the filename name instead of the default filename, which is the package name. When this parameter is used, dh_installinit looks for and installs files named debian/package.name.init, debian/package.name.default and debian/package.name.upstart instead of the usual debian/package.init, debian/package.default and debian/package.upstart.
  • --init-script=scriptname — Use scriptname as the filename the init script is installed as in etc/init.d/ (and also use it as the filename for the defaults file, if it is installed). If you use this parameter, dh_installinit will look to see if a file in the debian/ directory exists that looks like package.scriptname and if so will install it as the init script in preference to the files it normally installs.
This parameter is deprecated, use the --name parameter instead. This parameter is incompatible with the use of upstart jobs.
  • --error-handler=function — Call the named shell function if running the init script fails. The function should be provided in the prerm and postinst scripts, before the #DEBHELPER# token.

🌈 NOTES 🌈

Note that this command is not idempotent. dh_prep(1) should be called between invocations of this command. Otherwise, it may cause multiple instances of the same text to be added to maintainer scripts. 😭 double it and give it to the next person (don't actually do that)

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

debhelper(7), dh_installsystemd(1)

This program is a part of debhelper.

⭐ AUTHORS ⭐

  • Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>
  • Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@canonical.com>
  • Michael Stapelberg <stapelberg@debian.org>

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 this was version 14.5ubuntu1, dated 2026-09-21, and yes it says DH_INSTALLINIT(1) at the top but we already covered that. go forth and install your init scripts responsibly 💖✨🦋

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