man > deb-triggers(5)

deb-triggers(5)                              dpkg suite                              deb-triggers(5)

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/spec/triggers.txt.

1.22.6                                       2026-05-06                              deb-triggers(5)