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