NAME

       confmodule - communicate with Debian configuration system FrontEnd.

SYNOPSIS

         #!/bin/sh -e
         . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
         db_version 2.0
         db_capb 'backup'
         CAPB=$RET
         db_input 'foo/bar' || true
         db_go || true

DESCRIPTION

       This  is  a  library  of  shell functions that eases communication with Debian's configuration management
       system. It can communicate with a FrontEnd via the debconf protocol. The design is that each  command  in
       the  protocol is represented by one function in this module. The functionname is the same as the command,
       except it is prefixed with "db_" and is lower-case. Call the function and pass in any parameters you want
       to follow the command. Any textual return code from the FrontEnd will be returned  to  you  in  the  $RET
       variable, while the numeric return code from the FrontEnd will be returned as a return code (and so those
       return codes must be captured or ignored).

NOTES

       Once  this  library  is loaded, any text you later output will go to standard error, rather than standard
       output. This is a good thing in general, because text sent to  standard  output  is  interpreted  by  the
       FrontEnd  as  commands.  If you do want to send a command directly to the FrontEnd, you must output it to
       file descriptor 3, like this:
         echo GET foo/bar >&3

       The  library  checks  to  make  sure  it  is  actually  speaking  to  a   FrontEnd   by   examining   the
       DEBIAN_HAS_FRONTEND  variable.  If  it  is  set, a FrontEnd is assumed to be running. If not, the library
       turns into one, and runs a copy of the script that loaded the library connected to it. This means that if
       you source this library, you should do so very near to the top of your script, because everything  before
       the sourcing of the library may well be run again.

SEE ALSO

       debconf-devel(7),  dpkg-preconfigure(8),  dpkg-reconfigure(8), debconf_specification in the debian-policy
       package

AUTHOR

       Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

                                                                                                   CONFMODULE(3)