varlibdpkgstatus

varlibdpkgstatus refers to the Debian package status database used by the dpkg package manager. On Debian-based systems, the main database is stored in the file /var/lib/dpkg/status. The file is a plain-text catalog that records information about packages known to the package system, including those currently installed, unpacked but not configured, or removed, as well as transitional or failed-state entries. It serves as the authoritative source for the current state and metadata of packages on the system.

The file contains a sequence of package records. Each record begins with a line such as Package: name and is followed by fields like Version, Installed-Size, Architecture, Maintainer, Description, Depends, and Status. The Status field conveys the package’s current state, for example: install ok installed, deinstall ok config-files, or deinstall remove; these values help dpkg and higher-level tools determine what actions are permissible or required. Other common fields include Priority, Section, and Provides or Recommends, which help categorize and resolve dependencies.

Utilities such as dpkg-query, dpkg -l, and apt show or inspect the information in this database to report what is installed and to resolve dependencies. APT and dpkg rely on the status file to decide what operations to perform during installs, upgrades, or removals, and to provide status summaries to users and scripts.

Directly editing /var/lib/dpkg/status is discouraged unless necessary, as corruption can destabilize the package manager. It is advisable to manage package states with dpkg and APT tools (for example, dpkg --set-selections, apt-mark) and to back up the status file before making changes. If corruption occurs, verify integrity, restore from a known-good backup, or reinstall packages as needed.