Manual: debconf-apt-progress

DEBCONF-APT-PROGRESS(1)					   Debconf				     DEBCONF-APT-PROGRESS(1)

NAME
       debconf-apt-progress - install packages using debconf to display a progress bar

SYNOPSIS
	debconf-apt-progress [--] command [args ...]
	debconf-apt-progress --config
	debconf-apt-progress --start
	debconf-apt-progress --from waypoint --to waypoint [--] command [args ...]
	debconf-apt-progress --stop

DESCRIPTION
       debconf-apt-progress installs packages using debconf to display a progress bar. The given command should be any
       command-line apt frontend; specifically, it must send progress information to the file descriptor selected by the
       "APT::Status-Fd" configuration option, and must keep the file descriptors nominated by the "APT::Keep-Fds"
       configuration option open when invoking debconf (directly or indirectly), as those file descriptors will be used for
       the debconf passthrough protocol.

       The arguments to the command you supply should generally include -y (for apt-get or aptitude) or similar to avoid the
       apt frontend prompting for input. debconf-apt-progress cannot do this itself because the appropriate argument may
       differ between apt frontends.

       The --start, --stop, --from, and --to options may be used to create a progress bar with multiple segments for
       different stages of installation, provided that the caller is a debconf confmodule. The caller may also interact with
       the progress bar itself using the debconf protocol if it so desires.

       debconf locks its config database when it starts up, which makes it unfortunately inconvenient to have one instance
       of debconf displaying the progress bar and another passing through questions from packages being installed. If you're
       using a multiple-segment progress bar, you'll need to eval the output of the --config option before starting the
       debconf frontend to work around this. See "EXAMPLES" in the EXAMPLES section below.

OPTIONS
       --config
	   Print environment variables necessary to start up a progress bar frontend.

       --start
	   Start up a progress bar, running from 0 to 100 by default. Use --from and --to to use other endpoints.

       --from waypoint
	   If used with --start, make the progress bar begin at waypoint rather than 0.

	   Otherwise, install packages with their progress bar beginning at this "waypoint". Must be used with --to.

       --to waypoint
	   If used with --start, make the progress bar end at waypoint rather than 100.

	   Otherwise, install packages with their progress bar ending at this "waypoint". Must be used with --from.

       --stop
	   Stop a running progress bar.

       --no-progress
	   Avoid  starting,  stopping,	or  stepping  the progress bar. Progress messages from apt, media change events, and
	   debconf questions will still be passed through to debconf.

       --dlwaypoint percentage
	   Specify what percent of the progress bar to use for	downloading  packages.	 The  remainder	 will  be  used	 for
	   installing packages. The default is to use 15% for downloading and the remaining 85% for installing.

       --logfile file
	   Send the normal output from apt to the given file.

       --logstderr
	   Send	 the  normal  output  from apt to stderr. If you supply neither --logfile nor --logstderr, the normal output
	   from apt will be discarded.

       --  Terminate options. Since you will normally need to give at least the -y argument to the command  being  run,	 you
	   will usually need to use -- to prevent that being interpreted as an option to debconf-apt-progress itself.

EXAMPLES
       Install the GNOME desktop and an X window system development environment within a progress bar:

	debconf-apt-progress -- aptitude -y install gnome x-window-system-dev

       Install	the  GNOME, KDE, and XFCE desktops within a single progress bar, allocating 45% of the progress bar for each
       of GNOME and KDE and the remaining 10% for XFCE:

	#! /bin/sh
	set -e
	case $1 in
	  '')
	    eval "$(debconf-apt-progress --config)"
	    "$0" debconf
	    ;;
	  debconf)
	    . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
	    debconf-apt-progress --start
	    debconf-apt-progress --from 0 --to 45 -- apt-get -y install gnome
	    debconf-apt-progress --from 45 --to 90 -- apt-get -y install kde
	    debconf-apt-progress --from 90 --to 100 -- apt-get -y install xfce4
	    debconf-apt-progress --stop
	    ;;
	esac

RETURN CODE
       The exit code of the specified command is returned, unless the user hit the cancel button on the progress bar. If the
       cancel button was hit, a value of 30 is returned. To avoid ambiguity, if the command returned 30, a value of  3	will
       be returned.

AUTHORS
       Colin Watson 

       Joey Hess 

							 2026-02-16				     DEBCONF-APT-PROGRESS(1)