---
name: "dh_installtmpfiles"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "debhelper"
version: "13.24.2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dh_installtmpfiles"
---

# dh\_installtmpfiles(1)

install tmpfiles.d configuration files

## NAME

dh\_installtmpfiles - install tmpfiles.d configuration files

## SYNOPSIS

**dh\_installtmpfiles** \[*debhelper options*\]\[**--name=***name*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**dh\_installtmpfiles** is a debhelper program that is responsible for installing package maintainer supplied tmpfiles.d configuration files (e.g. for systemd-tmpfiles).

It also finds the tmpfiles.d configuration files installed by a package and generates *postinst* code blocks for activating the tmpfiles.d configuration when the package is installed. These snippets are added to the maintainer scripts by [**dh\_installdeb**(1)](/dh_installdeb/1.md).

In compat 14+, tmpfiles.d files are copied into the *postrm* script, and they are used with systemd-tmpfiles --remove after the package is removed and --purge when the package is purged. This allows one to use the tmpfiles.d mechanism to clean up files that are no longer needed after a package has been removed/purged.

## OPTIONS

- **--name=***name*

  This option controls both a prefix used for looking up maintainer provided tmpfiles.d configuration files (those mentioned in the "FILES" section) and also the base name used for the installed version of the file.

## FILES

- debian/*package*.tmpfiles

  If this exists, it is installed into *usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/* in the package build directory. Note that the `"tmpfiles.d"` mechanism is currently only used by systemd.

- debian/*package*.tmpfile

  Deprecated name for debian/*package*.tmpfiles.

## NOTES

This command is not idempotent. [**dh\_prep**(1)](/dh_prep/1.md) should be called between invocations of this command (with the same arguments). Otherwise, it may cause multiple instances of the same text to be added to maintainer scripts.

## SEE ALSO

[**debhelper**(7)](/debhelper/7.md)