NAME

       deb-triggers - package triggers

SYNOPSIS

       debian/triggers, debian/binary-package.triggers, DEBIAN/triggers

DESCRIPTION

       A package declares its relationship to some trigger(s) by including a triggers file in its control
       archive (i.e. DEBIAN/triggers during package creation).

       This file contains directives, one per line. Leading and trailing whitespace and everything after the
       first # on any line will be trimmed, and empty lines will be ignored.

       The trigger control directives currently supported are:

       interest trigger-name
       interest-await trigger-name
       interest-noawait trigger-name
           Specifies  that  the  package  is interested in the named trigger. All triggers in which a package is
           interested must be listed using this directive in the triggers control file.

           The “await” variants put the triggering package  in  triggers-awaited  state  depending  on  how  the
           trigger  was  activated.   The  “noawait”  variant  does not put the triggering packages in triggers-
           awaited state, even if the  triggering  package  declared  an  “await”  activation  (either  with  an
           activate-await  or  activate directive, or by using the dpkg-trigger --no-await command-line option).
           The “noawait” variant should be used when the functionality provided by the trigger is not crucial.

       activate trigger-name
       activate-await trigger-name
       activate-noawait trigger-name
           Arranges that changes to this package's state will activate the specified trigger. The  trigger  will
           be  activated  at the start of the following operations: unpack, configure, remove (including for the
           benefit of a conflicting package), purge and deconfigure.

           The “await” variants only put the triggering  package  in  triggers-awaited  state  if  the  interest
           directive  is  also  “await”.   The “noawait” variant never puts the triggering packages in triggers-
           awaited state.  The “noawait” variant should be used when the functionality provided by  the  trigger
           is not crucial.

           If this package disappears during the unpacking of another package the trigger will be activated when
           the  disappearance  is  noted  towards the end of the unpack. Trigger processing, and transition from
           triggers-awaited to installed, does not cause activations.  In the case of unpack, triggers mentioned
           in both the old and new versions of the package will be activated.

       Unknown directives are an error which will prevent installation of the package.

       The “-noawait” variants should always be favored when possible since triggering packages are not  put  in
       triggers-awaited  state  and  can  thus be immediately configured without requiring the processing of the
       trigger.  If the triggering packages are dependencies of other upgraded packages, it will avoid an  early
       trigger  processing run and make it possible to run the trigger only once as one of the last steps of the
       upgrade.

       The “-noawait” variants are supported since dpkg 1.16.1, and will lead to errors if used  with  an  older
       dpkg.

       The  “-await”  alias  variants  are supported since dpkg 1.17.21, and will lead to errors if used with an
       older dpkg.

       When a package provides an interest-noawait directive, any activation will  set  the  triggering  package
       into  “noawait”  mode,  regardless  of  the  awaiting mode requested by the activation (either “await” or
       “noawait”).  When a package provides an interest or interest-await directive, any activation will set the
       triggering package into “await” or “noawait“ depending on how it was activated.

SEE ALSO

       dpkg-trigger(1), dpkg(1), /usr/share/doc/dpkg/triggers.txt.gz.

1.21.1                                             2025-09-09                                    deb-triggers(5)