12 thoughts on “Force apt-get to reinstall config files”

1. Anonymous September 25, 2008 at 19:50

   Great ! I saved many times !
2. Anonymous March 10, 2010 at 13:33

   great. but even so, apt-get seems to only install the missing config files
3. skanx Post authorMarch 10, 2010 at 15:08

   Thanks, I updated the “post”. You can still use dpkg --purge <package> to remove config files from a package, before reinstalling the package with --force-confmiss.
4. anonymous January 20, 2013 at 07:52

   apt-get -o DPkg::options::=–force-confmiss –reinstall install pulseaudio

   not work for me.
   /etc/pulse/default.pa still have my changes.
   Ubuntu 12.10

   Try yourself.
5. skanx Post authorJanuary 22, 2013 at 10:07

   Hello,

   /etc/pulse/default.pa still have my changes.

   Did you try uninstalling completely pulseaudio and all its files?
   dpkg --purge pulseaudio

   Is the file /etc/pulse/default.pa owned by the pulseaudio package?
   I don’t have an Ubuntu system atm to try this on, sorry.
6. 林博仁 (@pika1021) April 30, 2013 at 20:53

   Hi,
   have you got a way to reinstall config files from packages can’t be purged(e.g. base-files)?
7. skanx Post authorJune 4, 2013 at 16:13

   Sorry, I don’t know how to do that automatically.
   Maybe download the deb file and extract the configuration files manually?
8. Ratchanan Srirattanamet October 1, 2013 at 17:16

   Is it possible to just delete config file and reinstall package using above command?
9. Skippy February 23, 2015 at 19:02

   It appears some of the other solutions won’t work if the configuration files of the package are managed with ucf.

   In this case you can use :

   UCF_FORCE_CONFFMISS=1 apt-get –reinstall install [pkgname]
10. Mike January 15, 2016 at 00:53

    Hey thanks,

    Trying to reinstall bacula-server. I am not getting the configuration files. Everything from your page does not work. I will continue to seek a solution and will get back with you if/when I find the solution.

    Thanks again,

    Mike
11. Mike January 15, 2016 at 02:19

    # apt-get purge bacula-server

    # apt-get install aptitude

    # cd /var/cache/apt/archives/

    # ls
    …find your .deb

    # aptitude install -o Dpkg::Options::=–force-confmiss bacula-server_5.2.6+dfsg-9.1ubuntu3_all.deb

    # apt-get install bacula-server

    Whamo all config files are back! Royal pain. Next time I will make a .bak file before I start mad configs!

    regards,

    Mike
12. Esteban November 29, 2017 at 16:17

    UCF_FORCE_CONFFMISS=1 apt-get –reinstall install [pkgname]
    don’t work on Debian 9.

    apt-get -o DPkg::options::=–force-confmiss –reinstall install
    OK