NAME¶

SYNOPSIS¶

DESCRIPTION¶

FILES¶

package.postinst

package.preinst

package.postrm

package.prerm

These maintainer scripts are installed into the DEBIAN directory.

Inside the scripts, the token #DEBHELPER# is replaced with shell script snippets generated by other debhelper commands.

package.triggers

package.shlibs

These control files are installed into the DEBIAN directory.

Note that package.shlibs is only installed in compat level 9 and earlier. In compat 10, please use dh_makeshlibs(1).

package.conffiles

Historically, this file was needed to manually mark files files as conffiles. However, it has become de facto obsolete since debhelper automatically computed which files should be marked as conffiles.

In compatibility level up and including 11, this control file will be installed into the DEBIAN directory. In compatibility level 12 and later, the file is silently ignored.

package.maintscript

Lines in this file correspond to dpkg-maintscript-helper(1) commands and parameters. However, the "maint-script-parameters" should not be included as debhelper will add those automatically.

Example:

    # Correct
    rm_conffile /etc/obsolete.conf 0.2~ foo
    # INCORRECT
    rm_conffile /etc/obsolete.conf 0.2~ foo -- "$@"
    

In compat 10 or later, any shell metacharacters will be escaped, so arbitrary shell code cannot be inserted here. For example, a line such as "mv_conffile /etc/oldconffile /etc/newconffile" will insert maintainer script snippets into all maintainer scripts sufficient to move that conffile.

It was also the intention to escape shell metacharacters in previous compat levels. However, it did not work properly and as such it was possible to embed arbitrary shell code in earlier compat levels.

The dh_installdeb tool will do some basic validation of some of the commands listed in this file to catch common mistakes. The validation is enabled as a warning since compat 10 and as a hard error in compat 12.

SEE ALSO¶

This program is a part of debhelper.

AUTHOR¶