DPKG-RECONFIGURE(8)

✨ DPKG-RECONFIGURE ✨

okay bestie, welcome to dpkg-reconfigure — that's section 8 of the Debconf manual, so you know it's the sysadmin-flavoured one 💅

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🌸 NAME 🌸

dpkg-reconfigure — reconfigure a package that's already installed. no reinstall, no drama, just vibes 🦋

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

dpkg-reconfigure [options] packages

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so here's the tea ☕ — dpkg-reconfigure reconfigures packages after they've already been installed. you hand it the name of a package (or like, several packages, go off 👑) and it goes back and asks you all the configuration questions again, basically the same way it did when the package first got installed. it's giving "let's run that back" ✨

if you literally just wanna peek at the current configuration of a package and not change a thing? that's not this. go see debconf-show(1) instead, she's the one for that 🙈

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🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

• -ftype, --frontend=type — pick which frontend to use, bestie. and no, you don't have to do it every single time — you can permanently change the default frontend with this iconic little move:

dpkg-reconfigure debconf

heads up 💀 if you've normally got debconf set to use the noninteractive frontend, dpkg-reconfigure will use the dialog frontend instead, so that you actually get to reconfigure the package. it's not being shady, it's being helpful 🫶

• -pvalue, --priority=value — sets the minimum priority of question that's gonna get displayed. and here's the thing — dpkg-reconfigure normally shows low priority questions no matter what your default priority is. for the full list of priorities, check debconf(7) ⭐
• --terse — turns on terse output mode ✨ (ngl, this only affects some frontends, so don't come for me if nothing changes)
• --default-priority — uses whatever the default priority of the question actually is, instead of forcing the priority to low. let the question be its authentic self 💜
• -u, --unseen-only — by default, all questions are shown, even the ones you already answered (yes, even those, we're being thorough). but if you set this, only the questions that haven't been seen yet will get asked. no repeats, periodt 💅
• --force — forces dpkg-reconfigure to reconfigure a package even if the package is in an inconsistent or broken state 😭

use with caution, fr fr. this is main character energy and main character energy has consequences 🚨

• --no-reload — stops dpkg-reconfigure from reloading templates.

use with caution too!! this will prevent dpkg-reconfigure from repairing broken templates databases 🫣 however, it may be useful in constrained environments where rewriting the templates database is expensive. so like, situational queen 👑

• -h, --help — displays usage help. the classic. the icon. the moment 🎀

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

debconf(7) — go read her, she's got lore 🌸

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org> — the moment, the myth, the legend 💖

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one's from the Debconf crew, dated 2026-02-16, and you'll find it filed under DPKG-RECONFIGURE(8) in the manual. slay, go reconfigure something responsibly 🌈✨💅