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