---
name: "upgrade-system.conf"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "upgrade-system"
version: "1.9.8"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/upgrade-system.conf"
---

# upgrade-system.conf(5)

Configuration file for upgrade-system(8)

## NAME

upgrade-system.conf - Configuration file for [**upgrade-system**(8)](/upgrade-system/8.md)

## DESCRIPTION

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

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

## ENVIRONMENT

The configuration file may contain any of these environment variables:

### UPGRADEOPTS

This variable specifies which one of **dist-upgrade** or **upgrade** to execute as the [**apt-get**(8)](/apt-get/8.md) 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)](/apt-get/8.md) manual page to check which options are available for any particular version, before setting this variable.

### ORPHANOPTS

This variable specifies [**deborphan**(1)](/deborphan/1.md) command options. Built-in defaults are:

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

Consult the [**deborphan**(1)](/deborphan/1.md) 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)](/apt-get/8.md) cleaning command. Built-in default is:

CLEANOPTS="clean"

Consult the [**apt-get**(8)](/apt-get/8.md) 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)](/upgrade-system/8.md) will use the above built-in default values.

[**apt-get**(8)](/apt-get/8.md) --purge --option APT::Get::Build-Dep-Automatic=true options roughly correspond to [**deborphan**(1)](/deborphan/1.md) --find-config --libdevel.

Because [**upgrade-system**(8)](/upgrade-system/8.md) 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)](/apt-get/8.md) options to override the default release.

## BUGS

Certain combinations of [**deborphan**(1)](/deborphan/1.md) options purge a dangerous quantity of packages, potentially leaving a system in a severely crippled state.

## AUTHORS

Copyright © 2004-2024 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

GPLv2+: GNU GPL version 2 or later \<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html\>.

## SEE ALSO

[**apt-get**(8)](/apt-get/8.md), [**apt\_preferences**(5)](/apt_preferences/5.md), [**deborphan**(1)](/deborphan/1.md), [**upgrade-system**(8)](/upgrade-system/8.md).