---
name: "dh_upx"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "upx-ucl"
version: "3.05-1"
release: "Debian 6.0 (Squeeze)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dh_upx"
---

# dh\_upx(1)

applies UPX compression on executables

## NAME

dh\_upx - applies UPX compression on executables

## SYNOPSIS

**dh\_upx** \[*debhelper options*\] \[**-X***item*\]

## DESCRIPTION

dh\_upx is a debhelper program that is responsible for compressing executables using the UPX program.

UPX can be applied on any kinds of i386-compatible executable files. Really small files won't be compressed since the compressed version would become bigger then original file.

## IMPORTANT NOTE

dh\_upx must not be executed before dh\_strip and dh\_shlibdeps have done their work.

## HINTS

You should never forget that the compression costs load time. Better don't compress applications that are used frequently.

You should not use UPX on files with special permissions (SUID, SGID). This will fail.

## OPTIONS

- **-X***item*, **--exclude=***item*

  Exclude files that contain "item" anywhere in their filename from being compressed. You may use this option multiple times to build up a list of things to exclude.

## NOTES

UPX will only work on Linux executables for i386. dh\_upx does nothing if the Build-Target is not "i386-linux".

If the DEB\_BUILD\_OPTIONS environment variable contains "nostrip", nothing will be compressed, in accordance with Debian policy.

## CONFORMS TO

Debian policy, version 3.0.1

## SEE ALSO

[*debhelper*(7)](/debhelper/7.md), [*upx-ucl*(1)](/upx-ucl/1.md)

This program is an extension to debhelper.

## AUTHOR

Eduard Bloch \<blade@debian.org\>.