According to man dpkg I can use DPKG_HOOK_ACTION to get the current dpkg action being run in my dpkg hook script--pre-invoke=command--post-invoke=command      Set an invoke hook command to be run via sh -c before or after the dpkg run for the unpack, configure, install, triggers-only, remove  and  purge  dpkg  actions.  This      option  can be specified multiple times. The order the options are specified is preserved, with the ones from the configuration files taking precedence.  The environment      variable DPKG_HOOK_ACTION is set for the hooks to the current dpkg action. Note: front-ends might call dpkg several times per invocation, which might run the hooks  more      times than expected.but it doesn't seem to work in this hook command. Any idea what is wrong here?$ cat /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99testhookDPkg::Pre-Invoke {echo This is testhook. Current action is $DPKG_HOOK_ACTION; exit 0;};$ sudo apt-get install screen...Fetched 628 kB in 0s (4,366 kB/s)This is testhook. Current action isSelecting previously unselected package screen.
Dpkg env variable DPKG_HOOK_ACTION is not set in hook script
debian;ubuntu;apt;dpkg;hook
This only applies to commands specified by the --pre-invoke and --post-invoke options, not when the commands are set in the configuration.This can be demonstrated by putting your echo command into a script:# cat > /tmp/pre-invoke.sh <<'EOF'#!/bin/shecho This is testhook. Current action is $DPKG_HOOK_ACTION; exit 0EOF# chmod +x /tmp/pre-invoke.sh# dpkg --pre-invoke=/tmp/pre-invoke.sh -i /var/cache/apt/archives/rsync_3.1.1-2+b1_amd64.debThis is testhook. Current action is install(Reading database ... 113857 files and directories currently installed.)Preparing to unpack .../rsync_3.1.1-2+b1_amd64.deb ...Unpacking rsync (3.1.1-2+b1) over (3.1.1-2+b1) ...Setting up rsync (3.1.1-2+b1) ...Restarting rsync daemon: rsync.Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1) ...