deb-conffiles(5)

📦
version 1.23.11 · 21 versions
, in arch rolling

💖 deb-conffiles — package conffiles, bestie edition 💖

Okay so welcome to deb-conffiles(5) from the dpkg suite — literally the glow-up guide to how a package declares which of its files are conffiles. Yes, we're doing this. Sit down, hydrate, let's go 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

DEBIAN/conffiles

That's it. That's the whole vibe. A whole file with one job and it ate. 💅

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

So a package declares its list of conffiles by including a conffiles file in its control archive — that's DEBIAN/conffiles during package creation, iykyk. 📦✨

This file contains a list of files, one per line, with an optional leading flag separated by whitespace. And listen — the conffiles must be listed as absolute pathnames. No shortcuts, no relative nonsense, we're being grown here. 🧚

Trailing whitespace will be trimmed, but empty or whitespace-only lines are not accepted — so don't try it, bestie, dpkg is not playing 🙈

Files without a flag should exist in the binary package, otherwise dpkg(1) will ignore them. Yeah, ignore — not even a dramatic exit, just ghosting. 👻

Okay now the fun part, there is currently only one flag supported:

  • remove-on-upgrade — marks that a conffile needs to be removed on the next upgrade (since dpkg 1.20.6). 🧹✨
⚠️ But these files must not exist in the binary package, because both dpkg(1) and dpkg-deb(1) will not accept building nor processing such binary packages. That's a hard no, no cap. 💀

🌸 EXAMPLE 🌸

Like, here's exactly what it looks like, keep it verbatim babe:

 /etc/alternatives/README
 /etc/cron.daily/dpkg
 /etc/dpkg/dpkg.cfg
 /etc/logrotate.d/dpkg
 remove-on-upgrade /etc/some-old-file.conf

See how they're all absolute paths? See the flag leading that last one? Gorgeous. Iconic. Main character energy. 👑🌈

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Go read those too, they're fr fr part of the lore. 📖💜

✨ and that's the whole page, bestie ✨

Cute lil sign-off: this was from the dpkg suite, version 1.23.11-dirty, dated 2026-09-09 — yes the version really says dirty, she's a little messy but she works slay 💅🎀💖

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