UPGRADE-SYSTEM.CONF(5)

NAME
upgrade-system.conf - Configuration file for upgrade-system(8)

DESCRIPTION
upgrade-system.conf is the configuration file for the upgrade-system(8) Debian administration utility. This file specifies command options used for calling apt-get(8) and deborphan(1) within upgrade-system(8).

Lines starting with a hash mark ("#") and empty lines are ignored.

ENVIRONMENT
The configuration file may contain any of these environment variables:

  UPDATEOPTS
This variable specifies the apt-get(8) options to use with the update command. Built-in defaults are:

UPDATEOPTS="--quiet --quiet --yes --allow-releaseinfo-change-codename --allow-releaseinfo-change-version"

Consult the apt-get(8) manual page to check which options are available for any particular version, before setting this variable.

  UPGRADEOPTS
This variable specifies which one of dist-upgrade or upgrade to execute as the apt-get(8) upgrade command and the command options. Built-in defaults are:

UPGRADEOPTS="--purge --option APT::Get::Build-Dep-Automatic=true --auto-remove --fix-broken dist-upgrade"

Consult the apt-get(8) manual page to check which options are available for any particular version, before setting this variable.

  ORPHANOPTS
This variable specifies deborphan(1) command options. Built-in defaults are:

ORPHANOPTS="--libdevel --guess-all --no-guess-debug"

Consult the deborphan(1) manual page to check which options are available for any particular version, before setting this variable.

  CLEANOPTS
This variable selects which one of autoclean or clean to execute as the apt-get(8) cleaning command. Built-in default is:

CLEANOPTS="clean"

Consult the apt-get(8) manual page to check which options are available for any particular version, before setting this variable.

  FLAUSCH
Setting this variable enables various extremely pedantic purge options.

This variable has no default value.

This feature is totally experimental; usage is strongly discouraged and should only be attempted by truly experienced Debian administrators. It can be used to sanitize a Debian system after a distribution upgrade or to detect packages that don't conform to the Debian Policy. Setting the variable as a command line environment, only when needed, is considered a safer approach than adding it to upgrade-system.conf variables.

sudo FLAUSCH=jawohl upgrade-system

NOTES
In the absence of a configuration file, upgrade-system(8) will use the above built-in default values. apt-get(8) --purge --option APT::Get::Build-Dep-Automatic=true options roughly correspond to deborphan(1) --find-config --libdevel. Because upgrade-system(8) is an APT front-end, all precautions relating to APT configuration should be observed. Pay special attention to:

/etc/apt/preferences

To prevent untested packages from overwriting stable ones, setting this combination of APT preferences is recommended:

    Package: *
    Pin: release a=stable
    Pin-Priority: 990
    Package: *
    Pin: release a=testing
    Pin-Priority: 500
    Package: *
    Pin: release a=unstable
    Pin-Priority: 100
    Package: *
    Pin: release a=experimental
    Pin-Priority: 1

This enforces a priority on packages from Stable, yet still allows ones from Testing, Unstable or Experimental to get installed via appropriate apt-get(8) options to override the default release.

BUGS
Certain combinations of deborphan(1) options purge a dangerous quantity of packages, potentially leaving a system in a severely crippled state.

AUTHORS
Copyright © 2004-2025 Martin-Éric Racine <martin-eric.racine@iki.fi>
Copyright © 2004,2012 Christoph Schindler <hop@30hopsmax.at>
Copyright © 2003-2004 Martin Zdrahal <martin.zdrahal@konflux.at>

LICENSE
SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later

SEE ALSO
apt-get(8), apt_preferences(5), deborphan(1), upgrade-system(8).