Debian package management - how are debconf and dpkg-deb related?

austinium · 03-08-2010, 12:29 AM

hi,

I am studying the Debian package management system. I am having trouble figuring out how debconf and dpkg-deb are related.

Heres how i understand the package management system:
dpkg-deb does the actual installation/removal of packages
dpkg is a frontend to dpkg-deb
apt is front end to dpkg
Synaptic,aptitude etc are frontends to apt.

So where exactly does debconf fit in?

thanks in advance

evo2 · 03-08-2010, 12:50 AM

debconf is the tool/system that manages how packages are configured. For example for some pacakges, debconf will ask the user questions, store the answers in a database, and then use that database to write a configuration file.

Cheers,

Evo2.

austinium · 03-08-2010, 01:41 AM

hi Evo2 thanks for the reply.

Does that mean debconf and dpkg are separate entities? with debconf handling the configuration on packages and dpkg handling the actual installation?

evo2 · 03-08-2010, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by austinium

Does that mean debconf and dpkg are separate entities? with debconf handling the configuration on packages and dpkg handling the actual installation?

Yeah, I think that is basically correct. Except that during installation (and perhaps removal), the pre and/post install (remove) scripts that are run by dpkg may trigger debconf to be run, so they are in fact linked.

debconf is very well documented ... hint ;-)

Cheers,

Evo2.

austinium · 03-08-2010, 05:16 AM

thanks again Evo2

I am trying to understand how debconf fits into the Debian-installer. From what i understand so far, debconf configures udebs based on user input and main-menu does the configuration.

Is this correct?

evo2 · 03-08-2010, 05:25 AM

Ohh, I'm not a good person to discuss the installer: the number of years I've been using Debian is probably greater than the number of times I've installed it ;-)

My reference to installation in post #4 was about package, not system installation.

Cheers,

Evo2.