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jobin
Asked: 2013-02-17 07:27:23 +0800 CST

Which system files are updated when you install/update/remove a package?

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When a new package is installed (even from source), or existing ones are updated/deleted/purged, some system files seem to be updated. Which are these?

I want the files which contain the list of these packages and their status, not the packages themselves.

EDIT: A few of the files I came to know are /var/lib/dpkg/status and /var/lib/dpkg/status-old which get updated when you install a new package. I just want an exhaustive list of all these files.

installation

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    dpkg

    dpkg keeps some information in /var/lib/dpkg/:

    • info/PACKAGENAME.* (where PACKAGENAME is the name of the package): file list and control files from the DEBIAN/ folder inside the package
    • diversions: diverted file locations, see dpkg-divert
    • alternatives: information for the Debian alternatives system, see update-alternatives
    • triggers: package triggers, see dpkg-trigger

    apt

    • /var/lib/apt/extended_states: package information not used by dpkg, like the auto-installed flags
    • /var/log/apt/: several log files
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