1 debian-policy (2.5.1.90) unstable; urgency=low
3 * This is a test version of the policy package, and shall not be
5 * Merged in the packaging manual sources (we still have two separate
7 * Multiple minor packaging tweaks.
8 * [ACCEPTED 1998/05/01] Policy clarification about Standards-Version
9 Added the clarifying paragraph (and the rationale in a footnote).
11 * [ACCEPTED 1999/04/05] Policy note that GPL moved to
12 /usr/share/common-licenses. Again, also added the rationale as a
13 footnote. closes: Bug#28747
14 * [ACCEPTED 1999/05/04] Libtool archive (*.la) files in -dev' packages
15 closes: Bug#37257, Bug#37338
16 * [ACCEPTED 1999/04/28] Logrotation. Standardizer on logrotate.
18 * [ACCEPTED 1999/05/23] Rewrite of section 5.7 (Programs for the X
19 Window System) closes: Bug#38212
20 * [ACCEPTED 1999/05/15] Separate menu policy (like virtual package list)
22 * [ACCEPTED 1999/05/09] Utmp group proposal
24 * [ACCEPTED 1999/05/09] Adopt the FHS in place of FSSTND
25 Changed all references to the proper FHS versions. This was a first
26 scan, so some references may still need to be changed. closes: Bug#37345
27 * Updated the upgrading checklist.
31 debian-policy (2.5.1.0) unstable; urgency=low
33 * Removed double '>' marks from the policy document. closes: Bug#35095
34 * Corrected canonical source for "Csh Programming Considered Harmful"
35 closes: Bug#36286 Bug#32499
36 * Fixed typo in invocation of update-rc.d. closes: Bug#34988 Bug#34543
37 * Fixed misspelling of accessible. Ran ispell over the rest of the
38 document (painful because of the large number of technical terms in
39 there). closes: Bug#34233
40 * Make the binary package contain the version.ent as well. closes: Bug#31033
41 * Fixed typo s/as is/is/. closes: Bug#30302
42 * AMENDMENT 23/04/1999: changed /etc/nntpserver recommendation to
43 /etc/news/server. closes: Bug#21875
44 * Added the current list of policy maintainers. closes: Bug#30148
46 -- Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> Tue, 27 Apr 1999 11:10:29 -0500
48 debian-policy (2.5.0.0) unstable; urgency=low
50 * AMENDMENT: Added in changes in Bug #25911, which rearranged sections
51 to create a new section 4, namely, files. Section 3.3 ("Files") should
52 become Section 4. The Sections that are currently Section 4 and
53 Section 5 should be moved down to become Section 5 and Section 6
56 What is now Section 5.5 ("Log files") should be moved to be a
57 subsection of the new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8,
58 placing it after "Configuration files", moving the would-be Section
59 4.8 ("Permissions and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the
60 current Section 5 after 5.5 should be accordingly moved down to fill
63 This, along with the next amendment, justifies bumping up the version
64 number. closes: BUG#25911
66 * AMENDMENT: Added in changes in Bug #21185, about the naming and
67 compression of changelog files. Now, if the upstream changelog file is
68 HTML formatted, it should be accessible as
69 /usr/doc/<package>/changelog.html.gz It also allows for this to be a
70 symlink, if the upstream file name does not conform to Debian
71 conventions. closes: BUG#21185
73 * AMENDMENT: Added in changes in Bug #7890, to make clear that the HTML
74 documents should be supplied in _some_ package, not necessarily in the
75 main binary package (at the discretion of the maintainer).
78 * AMENDMENT: Added in changes in Bug #26461, which corrects the policy
79 to refer to /usr/doc/<package>/copyright, rather than
80 /usr/doc/copyright/<package>. closes: BUG#26461
82 * AMENDMENT: Added in changes in Bug #25385, which allow the
83 architecture specification strings to be of the form <arch>-<os>,
84 where os is one of linux, gnu. Previously, only linux was allowed, now
85 we also cater to the hurd. closes: BUG#25385
87 * The responsibility of the contents of this package has now passed to
88 the debian-policy mailing list. The packaging details are now being
89 managed by a group of maintainers that do ot won the contents.
91 * Make the package optional, not extra.
93 * Re did the SGML markup. Normalized the document, and undid the omitted
94 and shor tags. Personally, I use too many DTD's in real life to be so
95 converssant with each one to be clever with tag omissions, and, since
96 I have a smart editor, omitting tags does not byuy one much. In the
97 process, I discovered a few errors in the markup (one of my
98 predecessors hasd the unfortunate habit of treating <p> as a "create
99 some space here" tag, and more often than not put it at the end of a
100 paragraph, rather than using is as a container element (which is what
103 * Re did the control files, making them more robust
105 * re did the rules file, making it more general, and easier to maintain
106 by putting in a layer of abstractions.
109 -- Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> Thu, 29 Oct 1998 15:16:52 -0600
111 debian-policy (2.4.1.4) unstable; urgency=low
113 * New Maintainer <debian-policy@lists.debian.org>
115 -- Philip Hands <phil@hands.com> Sat, 5 Sep 1998 02:41:35 +0100
117 debian-policy (2.4.1.3) unstable; urgency=low
119 * New maintainer (with changes from Adam P. Harris' proposed NMU)
120 * policy.sgml: some awkward phrasings fixed (closes Bug#22006)
121 * policy.sgml: s/depreciated/deprecated (closes Bug#21831)
122 * debian/control: added conflict doc-base (<< 0.6), which I still am not
123 sure why we need this but hey (closes Bug#21554)
124 * policy.sgml: use new <url> tag where appropriate
125 * policy.sgml, debian/control: always dynamically self reference the
126 current version of policy, that is, do not hard code policy revision
128 * debian/rules: use dpkg-gencontrol -isp
129 * bugs fixed in some unknown previous version (closes Bug#23177)
131 -- Philip Hands <phil@hands.com> Tue, 11 Aug 1998 09:54:17 +0100
133 debian-policy (2.4.1.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
135 * non-maintainer release
136 * rebuild package to fix truncated Chapter 3 (Bug#23408, not marked as
137 important but should be, since a gaping hole in policy is very
139 * bumped version of policy, within the document, to this version number,
140 but not the date, indicating nothing really changed since then
142 * debian/rules: clean is a little cleaner
144 -- Adam P. Harris <aph@debian.org> Tue, 16 Jun 1998 03:15:22 -0400
146 debian-policy (2.4.1.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
150 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Thu, 14 May 1998 21:54:50 +0200
152 debian-policy (2.4.1.0) frozen unstable; urgency=low
154 * Changes to the Debian Policy Manual:
156 - Updated section 3.1.2 Site-specific programs
157 and section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
158 + improved wording (fixes:bug#20129)
160 - Updated section 2.1.7 Subsections:
161 + fixed typos (fixes:bug#18145)
163 - Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:
164 + symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
165 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
166 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
168 - Updated section 3.4 System run levels:
169 + Intro: mention /etc/rcS.d (links to boot time scripts)
170 + Notes: include rationale why /etc/init.d scripts have to be tagged
171 as conffiles (fixes:bug#16199)
172 + Example: changed example init.d script to handle force-reload
173 and restart options and to comply with the console message
174 standard (fixes:bug#19216)
176 - Updated section 4.8 Emacs lisp programs:
177 + Replaced old section about lisp programs with a reference to
178 the file debian-emacs-policy.gz, installed by the emacsen-common
181 - Updated section 4.9 Games:
182 + manpages for games should be installed in /usr/man/man6
183 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
185 - Removed one example reference to the current standards version
186 - Include manual's date as plain text in the .sgml source so that
187 a recompiled manual uses the same release date
189 * Changes to the authoritative list of virtual package names:
190 - Removed obsolete virtual package `emacs'
192 * New version numbering scheme:
194 - The version numbers are independent of dpkg now, but all policy
195 manuals (the Debian Policy Manual, the Debian Packaging Manual, and
196 the Debian Developer's Reference) share the same version numbering
199 - The first three digits of the version number specify the
200 `Standards-Version.' This number is incremented with each policy
201 change. The fourth digit represents the `patch-level,' which may
202 differ between the manuals.
204 If only the patch-level digit is incremented, no changes in policy
205 have been made, except bug fixes and clarifications. Packages only
206 have to specify the first three digits of the version number in the
207 `Standards-Version' field of their source packages.
211 - Uploaded to frozen and unstable. This is a documentation-only
212 package and the changes to the manual are relevant for hamm.
214 - Fixed FSF's address in copyright file (detected by Lintian)
216 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 14 Apr 1998 10:08:09 +0200
218 debian-policy (2.4.0.0) unstable; urgency=low
220 * Changes to the Debian Policy Manual:
222 - Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:
223 + /bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
224 + scripts including bashisms have to specify /bin/bash as
226 + scripts which create files in world-writable directories
227 (e.g., in /tmp) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
230 - Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:
231 + symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
232 file extension as the referenced file
234 - Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:
235 + /dev/tty* serial devices should be used instead of /dev/cu*
237 - Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts [in /etc/init.d]:
238 + all /etc/init.d scripts have to provide the following options:
239 start, stop, restart, force-reload
240 + the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
243 - Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
244 + cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
245 be installed into /etc/cron.d
247 - Updated section 3.7 Menus:
248 + removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
249 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
250 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
253 - New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
254 + details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
257 - New section 3.9 Environment variables:
258 + no program must depend on environment variables to get a
259 reasonable default configuration
261 - New section 4.6 News system configuration:
262 + /etc/news/organization and /etc/news/server should be supported
263 by all news servers and clients
265 - Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Windows system:
266 + programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
267 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
268 + if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
269 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
271 - Updated section 4.9 Games:
272 + games for X Windows have to be installed in /usr/games, just as
275 - Lots of typos fixed (thanks to Ray Dassen for the patch!)
277 * Changes to the authoritative list of virtual package names:
278 - added `libc-dev' and `emacsen'
280 * Merged `/usr/doc/debian-policy/changelog-policy.gz' into this
283 * Included `Policy checklist for upgrading your packages' from the
284 Policy Home Page as /usr/doc/debian-policy/upgrading-checklist.text.gz
286 * Added support for doc-base to register the Policy Manual to the
287 online documentation systems dwww and dhelp (fixes:#15710)
289 * Upgraded to standards version 2.4.0.0 (no changes)
291 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:58:25 +0100
293 debian-policy (2.3.0.1) unstable; urgency=low
295 * Changes in the Debian Policy Manual:
296 - X library package is now called xlib6g
297 * Changes in the authoritative list of virtual package names:
298 - Added emacs, c-compiler, fortran77-compiler, lambdamoo-core,
300 * Conflict with old dpkg-dev version that included policy manual
302 * Removed `tentative-opt-draft' from package since people considered
303 the draft official policy (which is not the case)
304 * Don't use debstd anymore
306 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 21 Oct 1997 23:03:52 +0200
308 debian-policy (2.3.0.0) unstable; urgency=low
310 * Changes in the Debian Policy Manual:
311 - reworked chapter `The Debian Archive' to cover new
312 contrib/non-free policy
313 - call "contrib" and "non-free" a `section' (not `distribution')
314 - refer to license files (GPL, LGPL, etc.) as uncompressed files
315 - changed `/etc/news/server' into `/etc/nntpserver' in example of
316 maintainer scripts (fixes #11517)
317 - new section about `Daemons'
318 - updated section about `Configuration files'
319 - MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile
320 - fixed typos and grammatical errors
321 * Changes in the authoritative list of virtual package names:
322 - renamed tcl/tk virtual package names to `tclsh' and `wish'
323 * Paper about libc6 migration:
324 - fixed typos (fixes #11641), thanks to James Troup for the patch!
325 * SGML source code included in package
326 * don't use `2-up' style for PostScript version (fixes #11095)
328 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 2 Sep 1997 00:54:31 +0200
330 debian-policy (2.2.0.0) unstable; urgency=low
332 * Changes in the Debian Policy Manual:
333 - completely reworked structure
334 - moved sections about new maintainers, upload procedure, interim
335 releases, and mailing lists into the Developers Reference Manual
336 - moved a few (small) sections into the Debian Packaging Manual
337 - removed all those ugly footnotes
338 - new example for "reload" in section about console messages
339 - mention Artistic License (fixes #9793)
340 - don't mention dpkg's version number in Policy Manual
341 - rewrote abstract and section introductions
342 - mention "orphaned packages"
343 - maintainer is responsible for a package license to comply with the
344 distributions' policy
345 - putting a package into base section requires discussion on debian-devel
346 - rewrote sections about "pre-depends", "essential" and, "base" packages
347 - added note that non-us' maintainers have to live outside the US
348 - added crypto-hook statement (fixes #7257)
349 - added section about arch spec strings
350 - rewrote section about "Site specific programs" (/usr/local)
351 - included Ian's suggestions for user IDs
352 - added section about "menus"
353 - removed section about "web menus" since this will be superseded with
354 the new documentation policy soon
355 - incorporated "Debian Free Software Guidelines" (fixes #9024)
356 - removed note that linking with -g produces large a.out binary (fixes
358 - added section about editors and pagers
359 - added note about Package priorities and dependencies
360 - added section about cron jobs (fixes #8814)
361 - added section about device files
362 - don't install shared libraries as executable (fixes #7129)
363 - app-defaults files may not be conffiles (cf. #2717)
364 - lots of minor changes not worth mentioning here (typos, formulations,
366 * Changes in the authoritative list of virtual package names
367 - Removed obsolete virtual packages: xR6shlib, xlibraries,
368 compress, emacs, sgmls, inews, gs_x, gs_svga, gs_both, xpmR6
369 - Added new section about obsolete names
370 * Added Helmut Geyer's paper about libc5-libc6 migration
371 * Fixed package's description
373 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sun, 13 Jul 1997 13:25:51 +0200
375 debian-policy (2.1.3.3) frozen unstable; urgency=low
377 * Mention Artistic License in section 2.5 (bug #9755)
379 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Wed, 14 May 1997 16:53:15 +0200
381 debian-policy (2.1.3.2) frozen unstable; urgency=low
383 * Fixed an email address, an URL, and several typos in chapter 6 (#9358)
384 * Added new virtual package "wordlist" to list (requested by Joey Hess)
385 * Changed wording in section about "non-free" packages as suggested
386 by Kai Henningsen (#7076)
388 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Mon, 5 May 1997 20:05:39 +0200
390 debian-policy (2.1.3.1) frozen unstable; urgency=low
392 * Fixed bug in chapter 7: `-ur' should read `-us' (#8874)
393 * Fixed bug in chapter 7: `-rwhatever' also needed for rebuild (#8874)
394 * Create a PS and HTML version of the Policy Manual and upload it
396 * Install virtual-package-names-list.text in /usr/doc/debian-policy
397 and upload it "byhand" too.
399 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Tue, 29 Apr 1997 18:02:14 +0200
401 debian-policy (2.1.3.0) unstable; urgency=low
404 * New Policy Manager: Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org>
405 * Added section 2.4 about the "non-us" distribution.
406 * Added section 3.1.1 about the "Package" field in the control file.
407 * Added section 3.2.1 about "Binaries": two programs with different
408 functionality must not have the same name.
409 * Changed headline of section 3.2.6 into "Debian changelog and upstream
410 changelog" as suggested by Santiago Vila Doncel <sanvila@unex.es>.
411 * Added log-rotating example to section 3.2.9 that tests with `-sf',
412 as suggested by Boris D. Beletsky <borik@isracom.co.il>.
413 * Added section 3.13: "Webstandard 3.0" by Christoph Lameter.
414 * Added section 3.14: "Standard for Console Messages" by Christian Schwarz.
415 * Split section 4.1 into 4.1.1 (Options for binaries) and 4.1.2 (Options
417 * Added note to 4.1.2: Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'
418 to make them compatible with LinuxThreads, by Rob Browning
419 <osiris@cs.utexas.edu>.
420 * Added note to 4.1.2: Libraries should be stripped with
421 "strip --strip-unneeded", by Guy Maor <maor@ece.utexas.edu>.
422 * Section 5.2: Policy changelog is now
423 "/usr/doc/debian-policy/changelog-policy.gz". This fixes bug #6130.
424 * Section 6.2 renamed to "Uploading your first Debian package". This
427 -- Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org> Sat, 15 Mar 1997 18:08:56 +0100
429 debian-manuals (2.1.2.2) frozen unstable;
431 * Fixed even more typographical and grammatical errors in Policy and
433 * Corrected the contact email addresses again.
434 * Added a paragraph to Policy 6.3 on taking over an old package (Guy Maor)
435 * Added a paragraph to Programmer 4.2.14 on listing distributions to load
436 a package into. (Guy Maor)
437 * Further clarification of use of absolute pathnames in scripts in
440 -- David Morris <bweaver@worf.netins.net> Tue, 3 Dec 1996 23:28:04 -0600
442 debian-manuals (2.1.2.1) frozen unstable;
444 * Many editorial and formatting revisions with suggestions from Ian Jackson,
446 * correction of chiark address in Policy 6.2
447 * footnote in Programmers chapter 2 pointing to deb(5) manpage for
448 description of deb file format.
449 * addition of more dpkg examples in Programmer chapter 2
450 * Replace paragraph in Policy 4.1 outlining compiling parameters for
452 * Added paragraph in Programmer 6.1 on paths in maintainer scripts
454 * Cleaned up language and formatting of Programmer's 12.2, shlibs
455 * Corrected contact addresses for listmaster and override-change
457 -- David Morris <bweaver@worf.netins.net> Wed, 27 Nov 1996 08:17:16 -0600
459 debian-manuals (2.1.2.0) frozen unstable;
461 * Mostly editorial changes in Policy Manual.
462 * Added summary of distribution criteria to Introduction
463 * Added section headings for copyright criteria
464 * Fixed typos (Bugs #4485, #4622)
465 * Added paragraph in Compilation Options related to use of shared and
466 static libraries. (Bug #5299)
467 * Paragraph added about where to find PGP and other export restricted
468 packages in section on Procedure
469 * Change in List administrator and in the contact address for becoming
471 * A paragraph added related to who to contact for package maintainer changes.
472 * Changed where to send upload announcements: uploads destined for unstable,
473 frozen, or experimental go to debian-devel-changes.
475 * Made some mostly editorial changes to Programmers Manual.
476 * Added a recommendation to debmake in Introduction.
477 * A further interpretation of the various Distributions is added with
478 the intent of helping people decide which one to choose. (section 4.2.14)
479 * Section 12 on Shared Libraries expanded with further technical information
480 on various shlib files
481 * Section in 2.2 on format of shlib file moved to new subsection within 12.
482 * Paragraph on adding a symlink without version number added to Shared
483 Library Section (Guy Maor, Bug #5299)
485 -- David Morris <bweaver@worf.netins.net> Fri, 22 Nov 1996 23:41:39 -0600
487 debian-manuals (2.1.1.0) unstable;
489 * Hard links are forbidden in source packages (they didn't work anyway,
490 and can't easily be made to work reliably).
491 * Do not use dpkg-divert or update-alternatives without consultation.
493 * Do not need to declare dependencies on Essential packages.
494 * Restrictions on Pre-Depends stated in policy manual.
495 * debian/substvars file is now almost always auto-generated.
496 * Shared libraries must be installed stripped.
497 * Essential and Pre-Depends put together in policy manual.
499 * Explained component-wise (file-wise) vs. package-wise dependencies.
501 -- Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.greenend.org.uk> Thu, 12 Sep 1996 01:00:41 +0100
503 debian-manuals (2.1.0.0) unstable;
505 * Upstream changelog must be installed too (was just recommended).
507 * Modification to use dpkg-shlibdeps added to conversion instructions.
508 * Packages which are buggy and orphaned but which are preserved for
509 compatibility go in contrib.
511 * Programmers' manual source package section refers to conversion
512 instructions in policy manual.
513 * Make it clear that recommending a non-free or contrib package puts a
516 -- Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> Sun, 1 Sep 1996 17:47:18 +0100
518 debian-manuals (2.0.1.0) unstable;
520 * varargs.h and libtermcap are obsolete - use stdarg.h and ncurses.
521 * Shared library link/library ordering corrected (aargh).
522 * When to byte-compile Elisp files.
523 * Missing final newlines not represented by dpkg-source.
525 * Must post upload announcements to debian-changes.
526 * Moved some sections into new `configuring and building' chapter.
529 -- Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> Sat, 31 Aug 1996 20:07:22 +0100
531 debian-manuals (2.0.0.0) unstable;
533 * Footnote added OK'ing copyrights which require name changes.
534 * More detail about changelog format names.
536 * Problematic licence restrictions are formatted as lists.
537 * Mentioned 822-date utility as way to generate RFC822 format dates.
541 -- Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> Mon, 26 Aug 1996 14:27:34 +0100
543 debian-manuals (0.2.1.1) unstable;
545 * Can't overwrite directories in one package with files in another.
547 -- Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> Sat, 24 Aug 1996 18:44:54 +0100
549 debian-manuals (0.2.1.0) unstable;
551 * Policy says when and how to include original source in upload.
553 * Need -sa on dpkg-genchanges/dpkg-buildpackage when converting.
555 * Use minor patchlevel for meaning changes which don't affect packages.
556 * More verbosity about netiquette.
557 * Reorganised participation and upload policy: merged with mailing lists.
559 -- Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> Fri, 23 Aug 1996 12:48:09 +0100
561 debian-manuals (0.2.0.1) experimental;
563 * Said that system administrators' manual does not exist.
565 -- Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> Fri, 23 Aug 1996 04:05:36 +0100
567 debian-manuals (0.2.0.0) experimental;
571 -- Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> Wed, 21 Aug 1996 15:07:53 +0100
574 mode: debian-changelog
575 add-log-mailing-address: "phil@hands.com"