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Bug#1125926: kernel-install preinst.d plugin should be installed under /usr/lib/ instead of /etc/ which is reserved for administrators

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Hi,

On Sun, Jan 18, 2026 at 10:29:49PM +0000, John Scott wrote:
> Package: intel-microcode
> Version: 3.20251111.1~deb13u1
> Severity: normal
> X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-kernel@lists.debian.org
> 
> I'm Cc'ing the kernel team so that maybe they can correct me if I'm wrong 🙂
> 
> I'm getting into the innards of kernel-install, dracut,
> systemd-boot, UKIs, and everything else that makes systems boot and
> it's been very confusing. I think that's because a couple packages
> are installing stuff in the wrong place and making it hard for me to
> override things with drop-ins. The kernel-install(8) manual page, in
> the first major paragraph, says
> 
> > kernel-install will run the executable files ("plugins") located
> > in the directory /usr/lib/kernel/install.d/ and the local
> > administration directory /etc/kernel/install.d/.
> > All files are collectively sorted and executed in lexical order,
> > regardless of the directory in which they live.
> > However, files with identical filenames replace each other. Files
> > in /etc/kernel/install.d/ take precedence over files with the same
> > name in /usr/lib/kernel/install.d/.
> > This can be used to override a system-supplied executables with a
> > local file if needed; a symbolic link in /etc/kernel/install.d/
> > with the same name as an executable in /usr/lib/kernel/install.d/,
> > pointing to /dev/null, disables the executable entirely.
> 
> Note: the kernel-install manual page doesn't mention the existence
> of the preinst.d/postinst.d/etc. directories anywhere at all. I
> assume this is probably an omission on their part, and the same
> assumptions hold for them as for install.d?
> 
> Right now, intel-microcode appears to install
> /etc/kernel/preinst.d/intel-microcode, but I think this should be
> /usr/lib/kernel/preinst.d/intel-microcode, because the reasons above
> say /etc/kernel/ should be for administrator overrides. It should be
> double-checked that kernel-install does, in fact, use
> /usr/lib/kernel/preinst.d/. A couple other packages have this issue
> too, so after research is done, it would be nice to ask the Lintian
> folks to add a warning and/or amend the manual page of systemd
> upstream.

I think from my first reading, that you are mixing kernel-install(8)
and linux-run-hooks(1).

Thus, intel-microcode might but does not need to move the postinst.d
snipped to /usr/share/kernel/postinst.d instead of
/etc/kernel/postinst.d. Given the same version is backported back down
to bookworm one needs to consider as well the fact that the
/usr/share/kernel handling is starting from trixie on.

Regards,
Salvatore

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Bug#1125926: kernel-install preinst.d plugin should be installed under /usr/lib/ instead of /etc/ which is reserved for administrators Salvatore Bonaccorso <carnil@debian.org> - 2026-01-24 15:00 +0100

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