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dpkg-realpath(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | ENVIRONMENT | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON 

dpkg-realpath(1)                dpkg suite               dpkg-realpath(1)

NAME         top

       dpkg-realpath - print the resolved pathname with DPKG_ROOT support

SYNOPSIS         top

       dpkg-realpath [option...] pathname

DESCRIPTION         top

       dpkg-realpath is a tool to resolve a pathname, that takes the
       dpkg(1) root directory into account, either implicitly from the
       DPKG_ROOT environment variable or from the command-line --root or
       --instdir options, and returns an absolute pathname relative to
       the root directory.  The root directory must not be prefixed to
       the pathname to be resolved.

       This is intended to be used by other dpkg helpers, or by
       maintainer scripts instead of using realpath(1) or readlink(1) to
       canonicalize pathnames, as these latter commands do not support
       canonicalization relative to a different root than /.

       This program was introduced in dpkg 1.20.1.

OPTIONS         top

       -z, --zero
           Use a NUL byte to end output lines instead of a new line
           character.

           Supported since dpkg 1.20.6.

       --instdir directory
       --root directory
           Set the root directory to directory, which is the base
           directory that pathnames get canonicalized against.  Defaults
           to «/» if DPKG_ROOT has not been set.

       -?, --help
           Show the usage message and exit.

       --version
           Show the version and exit.

ENVIRONMENT         top

       DPKG_ROOT
           If set and the --instdir or --root options have not been
           specified, it will be used as the filesystem root directory.

       DPKG_COLORS
           Sets the color mode.  The currently accepted values are: auto
           (default), always and never.

       DPKG_NLS
           If set, it will be used to decide whether to activate Native
           Language Support, also known as internationalization (or i18n)
           support.  The accepted values are: 0 and 1 (default).

           Supported since dpkg 1.22.7.

SEE ALSO         top

       realpath(1), readlink(1).

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the dpkg (Debian Package Manager) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/⟩.  If you have a bug report
       for this manual page, see
       ⟨http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=dpkg⟩.  This
       page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository ⟨git
       clone https://git.dpkg.org/git/dpkg/dpkg.git⟩ on 2026-08-03.  (At
       that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
       the repository was 2026-08-01.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
       a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

1.23.7-216-gff7e9               2026-03-07               dpkg-realpath(1)

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