wpkg --no-force-overwrite | --refuse-overwrite ...

Submitted by Alexis Wilke on Wed, 12/05/2012 - 07:45
All Force Options
--force-all --no-force-all
--refuse-all
--force-architecture --no-force-architecture
--refuse-architecture
--force-breaks --no-force-breaks
--refuse-breaks
--force-configure-any --no-force-configure-any
--refuse-configure-any
--force-conflicts --no-force-conflicts
--refuse-conflicts
--force-depends --no-force-depends
--refuse-depends
--force-depends-version --no-force-depends-version
--refuse-depends-version
--force-distribution --no-force-distribution
--refuse-distribution
--force-downgrade --no-force-downgrade
--refuse-downgrade
--force-file-info --no-force-file-info
--refuse-file-info
--force-hold --no-force-hold
--refuse-force-hold
--force-overwrite --no-force-overwrite
--refuse-overwrite
--force-overwrite-dir --no-force-overwrite-dir
--refuse-overwrite-dir
--force-remove-essential --no-force-remove-essential
--refuse-remove-essential
--force-rollback --no-force-rollback
--refuse-rollback
--force-upgrade-any-version --no-force-upgrade-any-version
--refuse-upgrade-any-version
--force-vendor --no-force-vendor
--refuse-vendor

 

The --no-force-overwrite option cancels the effect of the --force-overwrite option wherever it appears on the command line (before or after the --force-overwrite option). It prevents the installation of packages if any one of their files would overwrite a file that already exists on the target.

Note that this option uses a simple if file exists test. It does not check whether another package already installed a certain file. This is a lot safer since a program or a user may create a file that could also be installed by a package1.

The --refuse-overwrite option is an exact equivalent.

 
  • 1. Note that this only applies to files that the packager is to unpack from a .deb package. If the package maintainer creates files using a script, the package is not responsible for those and thus a package may still end up overwriting some files!