DEBCONF-SET-SELECTIONS(1) Debconf DEBCONF-SET-SELECTIONS(1)
NAME
debconf-set-selections - insert new values into the debconf database
SYNOPSIS
debconf-set-selections file
debconf-get-selections | ssh newhost debconf-set-selections
DESCRIPTION
debconf-set-selections can be used to pre-seed the debconf database
with answers, or to change answers in the database. Each question will
be marked as seen to prevent debconf from asking the question
interactively.
Reads from a file if a filename is given, otherwise from stdin.
WARNING
Only use this command to seed debconf values for packages that will be
or are installed. Otherwise you can end up with values in the database
for uninstalled packages that will not go away, or with worse problems
involving shared values. It is recommended that this only be used to
seed the database if the originating machine has an identical install.
DATA FORMAT
The data is a series of lines. Lines beginning with a # character are
comments. Blank lines are ignored. All other lines set the value of one
question, and should contain four values, each separated by one
character of whitespace. The first value is the name of the package
that owns the question. The second is the name of the question, the
third value is the type of this question, and the fourth value (through
the end of the line) is the value to use for the answer of the
question.
Alternatively, the third value can be "seen"; then the preseed line
only controls whether the question is marked as seen in debconf's
database. Note that preseeding a question's value defaults to marking
that question as seen, so to override the default value without marking
a question seen, you need two lines.
Lines can be continued to the next line by ending them with a "\"
character.
EXAMPLES
# Force debconf priority to critical.
debconf debconf/priority select critical
# Override default frontend to readline, but allow user to select.
debconf debconf/frontend select readline
debconf debconf/frontend seen false
OPTIONS
--verbose, -v
verbose output
--checkonly, -c
only check the input file format, do not save changes to database
SEE ALSO
debconf-get-selections(1) (available in the debconf-utils package)
AUTHOR
Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@hungry.com>
2020-04-18 DEBCONF-SET-SELECTIONS(1)