Some simple hints on how to do local testing of cdebconf: ./configure --with-frontend=text --with-conffile=./cdebconf.conf make cd src/test cp ../cdebconf.conf . Edit cdebconf.conf to suit your needs, mine looks like this: - 8< ----- global { module_path { frontend "../modules/frontend"; database "../modules/db"; }; default { frontend "default_fe"; template "templatedb"; config "configdb"; }; }; frontend { instance "default_fe" { driver "text"; }; }; template { instance "templatedb" { driver "rfc822db"; path "./templates.dat"; }; }; config { instance "configdb" { driver "rfc822db"; path "./questions.dat"; }; }; - 8< ----- ../debconf-loadtemplate debian test.templates ../debconf test.config