preinst is in makedev 2.3.1-89ubuntu2.
This file is a maintainer script. It is executed when installing (*inst) or removing (*rm) the package.
The actual contents of the file can be viewed below.
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 | #!/bin/sh
# Remove a no-longer used conffile
rm_conffile() {
    PKGNAME="$1"
    CONFFILE="$2"
    if [ -e "$CONFFILE" ]; then
        md5sum="`md5sum \"$CONFFILE\" | sed -e \"s/ .*//\"`"
        old_md5sum="`dpkg-query -W -f='${Conffiles}' $PKGNAME | sed -n -e \"\\\\' $CONFFILE'{s/ obsolete$//;s/.* //p}\"`"
        if [ "$md5sum" != "$old_md5sum" ]; then
            echo "Obsolete conffile $CONFFILE has been modified by you."
            echo "Saving as $CONFFILE.dpkg-old ..."
            mv -f "$CONFFILE" "$CONFFILE".dpkg-old
        else
            echo "Removing obsolete conffile $CONFFILE ..."
            rm -f "$CONFFILE"
        fi
    fi
}
case "$1" in
install|upgrade)
    if dpkg --compare-versions "$2" le "2.3.1-87"; then
	rm_conffile makedev /etc/init.d/makedev
	update-rc.d makedev remove
    fi
esac
rm -f /usr/man/man8/MAKEDEV.8 /usr/man/man8/MAKEDEV-C.8 \
	/usr/man/man8/MAKEDEV-C.8.gz
exit 0
 |