deb-triggers

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.

1.22.21 2025-06-30 deb-triggers(5)