The DEBIAN_FRONTEND variable is an environment variable that controls the user interface used by the apt-get package manager on Ubuntu and Debian systems. It is used to specify the type of user interface that should be used when running apt-get commands.
There are three main options for the DEBIAN_FRONTEND variable:
- noninteractive: This option tells apt-get to run non-interactively, without any prompts or user input. It is useful for running apt-get commands in scripts or automated processes.
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
- readline: This option tells apt-get to use the readline library for interactive input, which allows the user to use arrow keys, tab completion, and other features. It is the default option.
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=readline
- dialog: This option tells apt-get to use the dialog library for interactive input, which provides a text-based user interface with dialog boxes and other interactive elements.
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=dialog
You can also set the variable in the command line before running an apt-get command. For example, to run an apt-get command non-interactively, you would run:
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y <package>
It’s important to note that if you set the DEBIAN_FRONTEND variable in your shell profile or environment file, it will be set for all future apt-get commands. So if you want to change the frontend for a specific command use the command line instead of modifying your shell profile.