dpkg-realpath(1)

💖 NAME 💖

dpkg-realpath — print the resolved pathname with DPKG_ROOT support ✨

This is the dpkg-realpath(1) page from the dpkg suite, and yes bestie, it's a whole little tool for resolving paths the dpkg way 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

dpkg-realpath [option...] pathname

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

Okay so dpkg-realpath is a tool to resolve a pathname — and the iconic behavior is that it takes the dpkg(1) root directory into account 🔥 It can get that root implicitly from the DPKG_ROOT environment variable, or from the command-line --root or --instdir options, and then it returns an absolute pathname relative to the root directory. The root directory must not be prefixed to the pathname to be resolved — like, pls don't do that 🙈

This is intended to be used by other dpkg helpers, or by maintainer scripts instead of using realpath(1) or readlink(1) to canonicalize pathnames, because those latter commands do not support canonicalization relative to a different root than /. So if you're canonicalizing against some other root, this is the main character 💅

This program was introduced in dpkg 1.20.1 ⭐

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -z, --zero — use a NUL byte to end output lines instead of a new line character. Supported since dpkg 1.20.6 ✨
• --instdir directory, --root directory — set the root directory to directory, which is the base directory that pathnames get canonicalized against. Defaults to «/» if DPKG_ROOT has not been set 🌈
• -?, --help — show the usage message and exit 🫶
• --version — show the version and exit 💖

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• DPKG_ROOT — if set and the --instdir or --root options have not been specified, it will be used as the filesystem root directory 🦋
• DPKG_COLORS — sets the color mode. The currently accepted values are: auto (default), always and never 🎨
• DPKG_NLS — if set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native Language Support, also known as internationalization (or i18n) support. The accepted values are: 0 and 1 (default). Supported since dpkg 1.22.7 🌸

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Go peek at realpath(1) and readlink(1) 💜

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Source/version 1.23.11-dirty, dated 2026-09-09, and you were reading the dpkg-realpath(1) page — byeee bestie 🫶💖