File `diversions’ are a way of forcing dpkg not to install a file into its location, but to a `diverted’ location. Diversions can be used through the Debian package scripts to move a file away when it causes a conflict. System administrators can also use it to override some package’s configuration file, or whenever some files (which aren’t marked as ‘conffiles’) need to be preserved by dpkg, when installing a newer version of a package which contains those files.

dpkg-divert is the utility used to set up and update the list of diversions. It functions in three basic modes - adding, removing, and listing diversions. The options are –add, –remove, and –list, respectively. Additionally, it can print out the real name for a diverted file. Other options (listed below) may also be specified.

The dpkg-divert command allows you to replace a binary installed upon the system, and have this replacement persist even if you upgrade packages.This is very useful if you want to use an updated version of some application instead of old version existing on your machine.

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