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12 <title>Debian Policy Manual</title>
13 <author><qref id="authors">The Debian Policy Mailing List</qref></author>
14 <version>version &version;, &date;</version>
17 This manual describes the policy requirements for the Debian
18 GNU/Linux distribution. This includes the structure and
19 contents of the Debian archive and several design issues of
20 the operating system, as well as technical requirements that
21 each package must satisfy to be included in the distribution.
26 Copyright © 1996,1997,1998 Ian Jackson
27 and Christian Schwarz.
30 These are the copyright dates of the original Policy manual.
31 Since then, this manual has been updated by many others. No
32 comprehensive collection of copyright notices for subsequent
37 This manual is free software; you may redistribute it and/or
38 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
39 as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version
40 2, or (at your option) any later version.
44 This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
45 <em>without any warranty</em>; without even the implied
46 warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular
47 purpose. See the GNU General Public License for more
52 A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as
53 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL</file> in the Debian GNU/Linux
54 distribution or on the World Wide Web at
55 <url id="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
56 name="the GNU General Public Licence">. You can also
57 obtain it by writing to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
58 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
66 <heading>About this manual</heading>
68 <heading>Scope</heading>
70 This manual describes the policy requirements for the Debian
71 GNU/Linux distribution. This includes the structure and
72 contents of the Debian archive and several design issues of the
73 operating system, as well as technical requirements that
74 each package must satisfy to be included in the
79 This manual also describes Debian policy as it relates to
80 creating Debian packages. It is not a tutorial on how to build
81 packages, nor is it exhaustive where it comes to describing
82 the behavior of the packaging system. Instead, this manual
83 attempts to define the interface to the package management
84 system that the developers have to be conversant with.<footnote>
85 Informally, the criteria used for inclusion is that the
86 material meet one of the following requirements:
87 <taglist compact="compact">
88 <tag>Standard interfaces</tag>
90 The material presented represents an interface to
91 the packaging system that is mandated for use, and
92 is used by, a significant number of packages, and
93 therefore should not be changed without peer
94 review. Package maintainers can then rely on this
95 interface not changing, and the package management
96 software authors need to ensure compatibility with
97 this interface definition. (Control file and
98 changelog file formats are examples.)
100 <tag>Chosen Convention</tag>
102 If there are a number of technically viable choices
103 that can be made, but one needs to select one of
104 these options for inter-operability. The version
105 number format is one example.
108 Please note that these are not mutually exclusive;
109 selected conventions often become parts of standard
115 The footnotes present in this manual are
116 merely informative, and are not part of Debian policy itself.
120 The appendices to this manual are not necessarily normative,
121 either. Please see <ref id="pkg-scope"> for more information.
125 In the normative part of this manual,
126 the words <em>must</em>, <em>should</em> and
127 <em>may</em>, and the adjectives <em>required</em>,
128 <em>recommended</em> and <em>optional</em>, are used to
129 distinguish the significance of the various guidelines in
130 this policy document. Packages that do not conform to the
131 guidelines denoted by <em>must</em> (or <em>required</em>)
132 will generally not be considered acceptable for the Debian
133 distribution. Non-conformance with guidelines denoted by
134 <em>should</em> (or <em>recommended</em>) will generally be
135 considered a bug, but will not necessarily render a package
136 unsuitable for distribution. Guidelines denoted by
137 <em>may</em> (or <em>optional</em>) are truly optional and
138 adherence is left to the maintainer's discretion.
142 These classifications are roughly equivalent to the bug
143 severities <em>serious</em> (for <em>must</em> or
144 <em>required</em> directive violations), <em>minor</em>,
145 <em>normal</em> or <em>important</em>
146 (for <em>should</em> or <em>recommended</em> directive
147 violations) and <em>wishlist</em> (for <em>optional</em>
150 Compare RFC 2119. Note, however, that these words are
151 used in a different way in this document.
156 Much of the information presented in this manual will be
157 useful even when building a package which is to be
158 distributed in some other way or is intended for local use
164 <heading>New versions of this document</heading>
167 This manual is distributed via the Debian package
168 <package><url name="debian-policy"
169 id="http://packages.debian.org/debian-policy"></package>
170 (<httpsite>packages.debian.org</httpsite>
171 <httppath>/debian-policy</httppath>).
175 The current version of this document is also available from
176 the Debian web mirrors at
177 <tt><url name="/doc/debian-policy/"
178 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/"></tt>.
180 <httpsite>www.debian.org</httpsite>
181 <httppath>/doc/debian-policy/</httppath>)
182 Also available from the same directory are several other
183 formats: <file>policy.html.tar.gz</file>
184 (<httppath>/doc/debian-policy/policy.html.tar.gz</httppath>),
185 <file>policy.pdf.gz</file>
186 (<httppath>/doc/debian-policy/policy.pdf.gz</httppath>)
187 and <file>policy.ps.gz</file>
188 (<httppath>/doc/debian-policy/policy.ps.gz</httppath>).
192 The <package>debian-policy</package> package also includes the file
193 <file>upgrading-checklist.txt.gz</file> which indicates policy
194 changes between versions of this document.
199 <heading>Authors and Maintainers</heading>
202 Originally called "Debian GNU/Linux Policy Manual", this
203 manual was initially written in 1996 by Ian Jackson.
204 It was revised on November 27th, 1996 by David A. Morris.
205 Christian Schwarz added new sections on March 15th, 1997,
206 and reworked/restructured it in April-July 1997.
207 Christoph Lameter contributed the "Web Standard".
208 Julian Gilbey largely restructured it in 2001.
212 Since September 1998, the responsibility for the contents of
213 this document lies on the <url name="debian-policy mailing list"
214 id="mailto:debian-policy@lists.debian.org">. Proposals
215 are discussed there and inserted into policy after a certain
216 consensus is established.
217 <!-- insert shameless policy-process plug here eventually -->
218 The actual editing is done by a group of maintainers that have
219 no editorial powers. These are the current maintainers:
222 <item>Julian Gilbey</item>
223 <item>Branden Robinson</item>
224 <item>Josip Rodin</item>
225 <item>Manoj Srivastava</item>
230 While the authors of this document have tried hard to avoid
231 typos and other errors, these do still occur. If you discover
232 an error in this manual or if you want to give any
233 comments, suggestions, or criticisms please send an email to
234 the Debian Policy List,
235 <email>debian-policy@lists.debian.org</email>, or submit a
236 bug report against the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
240 Please do not try to reach the individual authors or maintainers
241 of the Policy Manual regarding changes to the Policy.
246 <heading>Related documents</heading>
249 There are several other documents other than this Policy Manual
250 that are necessary to fully understand some Debian policies and
255 The external "sub-policy" documents are referred to in:
256 <list compact="compact">
257 <item><ref id="fhs"></item>
258 <item><ref id="virtual_pkg"></item>
259 <item><ref id="menus"></item>
260 <item><ref id="mime"></item>
261 <item><ref id="perl"></item>
262 <item><ref id="maintscriptprompt"></item>
263 <item><ref id="emacs"></item>
268 In addition to those, which carry the weight of policy, there
269 is the Debian Developer's Reference. This document describes
270 procedures and resources for Debian developers, but it is
271 <em>not</em> normative; rather, it includes things that don't
272 belong in the Policy, such as best practices for developers.
276 The Developer's Reference is available in the
277 <package>developers-reference</package> package.
278 It's also available from the Debian web mirrors at
279 <tt><url name="/doc/developers-reference/"
280 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/developers-reference/"></tt>.
284 <sect id="definitions">
285 <heading>Definitions</heading>
288 The following terms are used in this Policy Manual:
292 The character encoding specified by ANSI X3.4-1986 and its
293 predecessor standards, referred to in MIME as US-ASCII, and
294 corresponding to an encoding in eight bits per character of
295 the first 128 <url id="http://www.unicode.org/"
296 name="Unicode"> characters, with the eighth bit always zero.
300 The transformation format (sometimes called encoding) of
301 <url id="http://www.unicode.org/" name="Unicode"> defined by
302 <url id="http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3629.txt"
303 name="RFC 3629">. UTF-8 has the useful property of having
304 ASCII as a subset, so any text encoded in ASCII is trivially
314 <heading>The Debian Archive</heading>
317 The Debian GNU/Linux system is maintained and distributed as a
318 collection of <em>packages</em>. Since there are so many of
319 them (currently well over 15000), they are split into
320 <em>sections</em> and given <em>priorities</em> to simplify
321 the handling of them.
325 The effort of the Debian project is to build a free operating
326 system, but not every package we want to make accessible is
327 <em>free</em> in our sense (see the Debian Free Software
328 Guidelines, below), or may be imported/exported without
329 restrictions. Thus, the archive is split into areas<footnote>
330 The Debian archive software uses the term "component" internally
331 and in the Release file format to refer to the division of an
332 archive. The Debian Social Contract simply refers to "areas."
333 This document uses terminology similar to the Social Contract.
334 </footnote> based on their licenses and other restrictions.
338 The aims of this are:
340 <list compact="compact">
341 <item>to allow us to make as much software available as we can</item>
342 <item>to allow us to encourage everyone to write free software,
344 <item>to allow us to make it easy for people to produce
345 CD-ROMs of our system without violating any licenses,
346 import/export restrictions, or any other laws.</item>
351 The <em>main</em> archive area forms the <em>Debian GNU/Linux
356 Packages in the other archive areas (<tt>contrib</tt>,
357 <tt>non-free</tt>) are not considered to be part of the Debian
358 distribution, although we support their use and provide
359 infrastructure for them (such as our bug-tracking system and
360 mailing lists). This Debian Policy Manual applies to these
365 <heading>The Debian Free Software Guidelines</heading>
367 The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) form our
368 definition of "free software". These are:
370 <tag>1. Free Redistribution
373 The license of a Debian component may not restrict any
374 party from selling or giving away the software as a
375 component of an aggregate software distribution
376 containing programs from several different
377 sources. The license may not require a royalty or
378 other fee for such sale.
383 The program must include source code, and must allow
384 distribution in source code as well as compiled form.
386 <tag>3. Derived Works
389 The license must allow modifications and derived
390 works, and must allow them to be distributed under the
391 same terms as the license of the original software.
393 <tag>4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code
396 The license may restrict source-code from being
397 distributed in modified form <em>only</em> if the
398 license allows the distribution of "patch files"
399 with the source code for the purpose of modifying the
400 program at build time. The license must explicitly
401 permit distribution of software built from modified
402 source code. The license may require derived works to
403 carry a different name or version number from the
404 original software. (This is a compromise. The Debian
405 Project encourages all authors to not restrict any
406 files, source or binary, from being modified.)
408 <tag>5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
411 The license must not discriminate against any person
414 <tag>6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
417 The license must not restrict anyone from making use
418 of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For
419 example, it may not restrict the program from being
420 used in a business, or from being used for genetic
423 <tag>7. Distribution of License
426 The rights attached to the program must apply to all
427 to whom the program is redistributed without the need
428 for execution of an additional license by those
431 <tag>8. License Must Not Be Specific to Debian
434 The rights attached to the program must not depend on
435 the program's being part of a Debian system. If the
436 program is extracted from Debian and used or
437 distributed without Debian but otherwise within the
438 terms of the program's license, all parties to whom
439 the program is redistributed must have the same
440 rights as those that are granted in conjunction with
443 <tag>9. License Must Not Contaminate Other Software
446 The license must not place restrictions on other
447 software that is distributed along with the licensed
448 software. For example, the license must not insist
449 that all other programs distributed on the same medium
450 must be free software.
452 <tag>10. Example Licenses
455 The "GPL," "BSD," and "Artistic" licenses are examples of
456 licenses that we consider <em>free</em>.
463 <heading>Archive areas</heading>
466 <heading>The main archive area</heading>
469 Every package in <em>main</em> must comply with the DFSG
470 (Debian Free Software Guidelines).
474 In addition, the packages in <em>main</em>
475 <list compact="compact">
477 must not require a package outside of <em>main</em>
478 for compilation or execution (thus, the package must
479 not declare a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, <tt>Depends</tt>,
480 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends</tt>,
481 or <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt> relationship on a
482 non-<em>main</em> package unless a package
483 in <em>main</em> is listed as an alternative),
486 must not be so buggy that we refuse to support them,
490 must meet all policy requirements presented in this
499 <heading>The contrib archive area</heading>
502 Every package in <em>contrib</em> must comply with the DFSG.
506 In addition, the packages in <em>contrib</em>
507 <list compact="compact">
509 must not be so buggy that we refuse to support them,
513 must meet all policy requirements presented in this
521 Examples of packages which would be included in
522 <em>contrib</em> are:
523 <list compact="compact">
525 free packages which require <em>contrib</em>,
526 <em>non-free</em> packages or packages which are not
527 in our archive at all for compilation or execution,
531 wrapper packages or other sorts of free accessories for
538 <sect1 id="non-free">
539 <heading>The non-free archive area</heading>
542 Packages must be placed in <em>non-free</em> if they are
543 not compliant with the DFSG or are encumbered by patents
544 or other legal issues that make their distribution
549 In addition, the packages in <em>non-free</em>
550 <list compact="compact">
552 must not be so buggy that we refuse to support them,
556 must meet all policy requirements presented in this
557 manual that it is possible for them to meet.
559 It is possible that there are policy
560 requirements which the package is unable to
561 meet, for example, if the source is
562 unavailable. These situations will need to be
563 handled on a case-by-case basis.
572 <sect id="pkgcopyright">
573 <heading>Copyright considerations</heading>
576 Every package must be accompanied by a verbatim copy of its
577 copyright information and distribution license in the file
578 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file>
579 (see <ref id="copyrightfile"> for further details).
583 We reserve the right to restrict files from being included
584 anywhere in our archives if
585 <list compact="compact">
587 their use or distribution would break a law,
590 there is an ethical conflict in their distribution or
594 we would have to sign a license for them, or
597 their distribution would conflict with other project
604 Programs whose authors encourage the user to make
605 donations are fine for the main distribution, provided
606 that the authors do not claim that not donating is
607 immoral, unethical, illegal or something similar; in such
608 a case they must go in <em>non-free</em>.
612 Packages whose copyright permission notices (or patent
613 problems) do not even allow redistribution of binaries
614 only, and where no special permission has been obtained,
615 must not be placed on the Debian FTP site and its mirrors
620 Note that under international copyright law (this applies
621 in the United States, too), <em>no</em> distribution or
622 modification of a work is allowed without an explicit
623 notice saying so. Therefore a program without a copyright
624 notice <em>is</em> copyrighted and you may not do anything
625 to it without risking being sued! Likewise if a program
626 has a copyright notice but no statement saying what is
627 permitted then nothing is permitted.
631 Many authors are unaware of the problems that restrictive
632 copyrights (or lack of copyright notices) can cause for
633 the users of their supposedly-free software. It is often
634 worthwhile contacting such authors diplomatically to ask
635 them to modify their license terms. However, this can be a
636 politically difficult thing to do and you should ask for
637 advice on the <tt>debian-legal</tt> mailing list first, as
642 When in doubt about a copyright, send mail to
643 <email>debian-legal@lists.debian.org</email>. Be prepared
644 to provide us with the copyright statement. Software
645 covered by the GPL, public domain software and BSD-like
646 copyrights are safe; be wary of the phrases "commercial
647 use prohibited" and "distribution restricted".
651 <sect id="subsections">
652 <heading>Sections</heading>
655 The packages in the archive areas <em>main</em>,
656 <em>contrib</em> and <em>non-free</em> are grouped further into
657 <em>sections</em> to simplify handling.
661 The archive area and section for each package should be
662 specified in the package's <tt>Section</tt> control record (see
663 <ref id="f-Section">). However, the maintainer of the Debian
664 archive may override this selection to ensure the consistency of
665 the Debian distribution. The <tt>Section</tt> field should be
667 <list compact="compact">
669 <em>section</em> if the package is in the
670 <em>main</em> archive area,
673 <em>area/section</em> if the package is in
674 the <em>contrib</em> or <em>non-free</em>
681 The Debian archive maintainers provide the authoritative
682 list of sections. At present, they are:
683 <em>admin</em>, <em>cli-mono</em>, <em>comm</em>, <em>database</em>,
684 <em>devel</em>, <em>debug</em>, <em>doc</em>, <em>editors</em>,
685 <em>electronics</em>, <em>embedded</em>, <em>fonts</em>,
686 <em>games</em>, <em>gnome</em>, <em>graphics</em>, <em>gnu-r</em>,
687 <em>gnustep</em>, <em>hamradio</em>, <em>haskell</em>,
688 <em>httpd</em>, <em>interpreters</em>, <em>java</em>, <em>kde</em>,
689 <em>kernel</em>, <em>libs</em>, <em>libdevel</em>, <em>lisp</em>,
690 <em>localization</em>, <em>mail</em>, <em>math</em>, <em>misc</em>,
691 <em>net</em>, <em>news</em>, <em>ocaml</em>, <em>oldlibs</em>,
692 <em>otherosfs</em>, <em>perl</em>, <em>php</em>, <em>python</em>,
693 <em>ruby</em>, <em>science</em>, <em>shells</em>, <em>sound</em>,
694 <em>tex</em>, <em>text</em>, <em>utils</em>, <em>vcs</em>,
695 <em>video</em>, <em>web</em>, <em>x11</em>, <em>xfce</em>,
696 <em>zope</em>. The additional section <em>debian-installer</em>
697 contains special packages used by the installer and is not used
698 for normal Debian packages.
702 For more information about the sections and their definitions,
703 see the <url id="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/"
704 name="list of sections in unstable">.
708 <sect id="priorities">
709 <heading>Priorities</heading>
712 Each package should have a <em>priority</em> value, which is
713 included in the package's <em>control record</em>
714 (see <ref id="f-Priority">).
715 This information is used by the Debian package management tools to
716 separate high-priority packages from less-important packages.
720 The following <em>priority levels</em> are recognized by the
721 Debian package management tools.
723 <tag><tt>required</tt></tag>
725 Packages which are necessary for the proper
726 functioning of the system (usually, this means that
727 dpkg functionality depends on these packages).
728 Removing a <tt>required</tt> package may cause your
729 system to become totally broken and you may not even
730 be able to use <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to put things back,
731 so only do so if you know what you are doing. Systems
732 with only the <tt>required</tt> packages are probably
733 unusable, but they do have enough functionality to
734 allow the sysadmin to boot and install more software.
736 <tag><tt>important</tt></tag>
738 Important programs, including those which one would
739 expect to find on any Unix-like system. If the
740 expectation is that an experienced Unix person who
741 found it missing would say "What on earth is going on,
742 where is <prgn>foo</prgn>?", it must be an
743 <tt>important</tt> package.<footnote>
744 This is an important criterion because we are
745 trying to produce, amongst other things, a free
748 Other packages without which the system will not run
749 well or be usable must also have priority
750 <tt>important</tt>. This does
751 <em>not</em> include Emacs, the X Window System, TeX
752 or any other large applications. The
753 <tt>important</tt> packages are just a bare minimum of
754 commonly-expected and necessary tools.
756 <tag><tt>standard</tt></tag>
758 These packages provide a reasonably small but not too
759 limited character-mode system. This is what will be
760 installed by default if the user doesn't select anything
761 else. It doesn't include many large applications.
763 <tag><tt>optional</tt></tag>
765 (In a sense everything that isn't required is
766 optional, but that's not what is meant here.) This is
767 all the software that you might reasonably want to
768 install if you didn't know what it was and don't have
769 specialized requirements. This is a much larger system
770 and includes the X Window System, a full TeX
771 distribution, and many applications. Note that
772 optional packages should not conflict with each other.
774 <tag><tt>extra</tt></tag>
776 This contains all packages that conflict with others
777 with required, important, standard or optional
778 priorities, or are only likely to be useful if you
779 already know what they are or have specialized
780 requirements (such as packages containing only detached
787 Packages must not depend on packages with lower priority
788 values (excluding build-time dependencies). In order to
789 ensure this, the priorities of one or more packages may need
798 <heading>Binary packages</heading>
801 The Debian GNU/Linux distribution is based on the Debian
802 package management system, called <prgn>dpkg</prgn>. Thus,
803 all packages in the Debian distribution must be provided
804 in the <tt>.deb</tt> file format.
808 A <tt>.deb</tt> package contains two sets of files: a set of files
809 to install on the system when the package is installed, and a set
810 of files that provide additional metadata about the package or
811 which are executed when the package is installed or removed. This
812 second set of files is called <em>control information files</em>.
813 Among those files are the package maintainer scripts
814 and <file>control</file>, the <qref id="binarycontrolfiles">binary
815 package control file</qref> that contains the control fields for
816 the package. Other control information files
817 include <qref id="sharedlibs-shlibdeps">the <file>shlibs</file>
818 file</qref> used to store shared library dependency information
819 and the <file>conffiles</file> file that lists the package's
820 configuration files (described in <ref id="config-files">).
824 There is unfortunately a collision of terminology here between
825 control information files and files in the Debian control file
826 format. Throughout this document, a <em>control file</em> refers
827 to a file in the Debian control file format. These files are
828 documented in <ref id="controlfields">. Only files referred to
829 specifically as <em>control information files</em> are the files
830 included in the control information file member of
831 the <file>.deb</file> file format used by binary packages. Most
832 control information files are not in the Debian control file
837 <heading>The package name</heading>
840 Every package must have a name that's unique within the Debian
845 The package name is included in the control field
846 <tt>Package</tt>, the format of which is described
847 in <ref id="f-Package">.
848 The package name is also included as a part of the file name
849 of the <tt>.deb</tt> file.
854 <heading>The version of a package</heading>
857 Every package has a version number recorded in its
858 <tt>Version</tt> control file field, described in
859 <ref id="f-Version">.
863 The package management system imposes an ordering on version
864 numbers, so that it can tell whether packages are being up- or
865 downgraded and so that package system front end applications
866 can tell whether a package it finds available is newer than
867 the one installed on the system. The version number format
868 has the most significant parts (as far as comparison is
869 concerned) at the beginning.
873 If an upstream package has problematic version numbers they
874 should be converted to a sane form for use in the
875 <tt>Version</tt> field.
879 <heading>Version numbers based on dates</heading>
882 In general, Debian packages should use the same version
883 numbers as the upstream sources.
887 However, in some cases where the upstream version number is
888 based on a date (e.g., a development "snapshot" release) the
889 package management system cannot handle these version
890 numbers without epochs. For example, dpkg will consider
891 "96May01" to be greater than "96Dec24".
895 To prevent having to use epochs for every new upstream
896 version, the date based portion of the version number
897 should be changed to the following format in such cases:
898 "19960501", "19961224". It is up to the maintainer whether
899 they want to bother the upstream maintainer to change
900 the version numbers upstream, too.
904 Note that other version formats based on dates which are
905 parsed correctly by the package management system should
906 <em>not</em> be changed.
910 Native Debian packages (i.e., packages which have been
911 written especially for Debian) whose version numbers include
912 dates should always use the "YYYYMMDD" format.
919 <heading>The maintainer of a package</heading>
922 Every package must have a Debian maintainer (the
923 maintainer may be one person or a group of people
924 reachable from a common email address, such as a mailing
925 list). The maintainer is responsible for ensuring that
926 the package is placed in the appropriate distributions.
930 The maintainer must be specified in the
931 <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field with their correct name
932 and a working email address. If one person maintains
933 several packages, they should try to avoid having
934 different forms of their name and email address in
935 the <tt>Maintainer</tt> fields of those packages.
939 The format of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field is
940 described in <ref id="f-Maintainer">.
944 If the maintainer of a package quits from the Debian
945 project, "Debian QA Group"
946 <email>packages@qa.debian.org</email> takes over the
947 maintainer-ship of the package until someone else
948 volunteers for that task. These packages are called
949 <em>orphaned packages</em>.<footnote>
950 The detailed procedure for doing this gracefully can
951 be found in the Debian Developer's Reference,
952 see <ref id="related">.
957 <sect id="descriptions">
958 <heading>The description of a package</heading>
961 Every Debian package must have a <tt>Description</tt> control
962 field which contains a synopsis and extended description of the
963 package. Technical information about the format of the
964 <tt>Description</tt> field is in <ref id="f-Description">.
968 The description should describe the package (the program) to a
969 user (system administrator) who has never met it before so that
970 they have enough information to decide whether they want to
971 install it. This description should not just be copied verbatim
972 from the program's documentation.
976 Put important information first, both in the synopsis and
977 extended description. Sometimes only the first part of the
978 synopsis or of the description will be displayed. You can
979 assume that there will usually be a way to see the whole
980 extended description.
984 The description should also give information about the
985 significant dependencies and conflicts between this package
986 and others, so that the user knows why these dependencies and
987 conflicts have been declared.
991 Instructions for configuring or using the package should
992 not be included (that is what installation scripts,
993 manual pages, info files, etc., are for). Copyright
994 statements and other administrivia should not be included
995 either (that is what the copyright file is for).
998 <sect1 id="synopsis"><heading>The single line synopsis</heading>
1001 The single line synopsis should be kept brief - certainly
1002 under 80 characters.
1006 Do not include the package name in the synopsis line. The
1007 display software knows how to display this already, and you
1008 do not need to state it. Remember that in many situations
1009 the user may only see the synopsis line - make it as
1010 informative as you can.
1015 <sect1 id="extendeddesc"><heading>The extended description</heading>
1018 Do not try to continue the single line synopsis into the
1019 extended description. This will not work correctly when
1020 the full description is displayed, and makes no sense
1021 where only the summary (the single line synopsis) is
1026 The extended description should describe what the package
1027 does and how it relates to the rest of the system (in terms
1028 of, for example, which subsystem it is which part of).
1032 The description field needs to make sense to anyone, even
1033 people who have no idea about any of the things the
1034 package deals with.<footnote>
1035 The blurb that comes with a program in its
1036 announcements and/or <prgn>README</prgn> files is
1037 rarely suitable for use in a description. It is
1038 usually aimed at people who are already in the
1039 community where the package is used.
1048 <heading>Dependencies</heading>
1051 Every package must specify the dependency information
1052 about other packages that are required for the first to
1057 For example, a dependency entry must be provided for any
1058 shared libraries required by a dynamically-linked executable
1059 binary in a package.
1063 Packages are not required to declare any dependencies they
1064 have on other packages which are marked <tt>Essential</tt>
1065 (see below), and should not do so unless they depend on a
1066 particular version of that package.<footnote>
1068 Essential is needed in part to avoid unresolvable dependency
1069 loops on upgrade. If packages add unnecessary dependencies
1070 on packages in this set, the chances that there
1071 <strong>will</strong> be an unresolvable dependency loop
1072 caused by forcing these Essential packages to be configured
1073 first before they need to be is greatly increased. It also
1074 increases the chances that frontends will be unable to
1075 <strong>calculate</strong> an upgrade path, even if one
1079 Also, functionality is rarely ever removed from the
1080 Essential set, but <em>packages</em> have been removed from
1081 the Essential set when the functionality moved to a
1082 different package. So depending on these packages <em>just
1083 in case</em> they stop being essential does way more harm
1090 Sometimes, a package requires another package to be installed
1091 <em>and</em> configured before it can be installed. In this
1092 case, you must specify a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> entry for
1097 You should not specify a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> entry for a
1098 package before this has been discussed on the
1099 <tt>debian-devel</tt> mailing list and a consensus about
1100 doing that has been reached.
1104 The format of the package interrelationship control fields is
1105 described in <ref id="relationships">.
1109 <sect id="virtual_pkg">
1110 <heading>Virtual packages</heading>
1113 Sometimes, there are several packages which offer
1114 more-or-less the same functionality. In this case, it's
1115 useful to define a <em>virtual package</em> whose name
1116 describes that common functionality. (The virtual
1117 packages only exist logically, not physically; that's why
1118 they are called <em>virtual</em>.) The packages with this
1119 particular function will then <em>provide</em> the virtual
1120 package. Thus, any other package requiring that function
1121 can simply depend on the virtual package without having to
1122 specify all possible packages individually.
1126 All packages should use virtual package names where
1127 appropriate, and arrange to create new ones if necessary.
1128 They should not use virtual package names (except privately,
1129 amongst a cooperating group of packages) unless they have
1130 been agreed upon and appear in the list of virtual package
1131 names. (See also <ref id="virtual">)
1135 The latest version of the authoritative list of virtual
1136 package names can be found in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
1137 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
1138 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/virtual-package-names-list.txt"
1139 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/virtual-package-names-list.txt"></tt>.
1143 The procedure for updating the list is described in the preface
1150 <heading>Base system</heading>
1153 The <tt>base system</tt> is a minimum subset of the Debian
1154 GNU/Linux system that is installed before everything else
1155 on a new system. Only very few packages are allowed to form
1156 part of the base system, in order to keep the required disk
1161 The base system consists of all those packages with priority
1162 <tt>required</tt> or <tt>important</tt>. Many of them will
1163 be tagged <tt>essential</tt> (see below).
1168 <heading>Essential packages</heading>
1171 Essential is defined as the minimal set of functionality that
1172 must be available and usable on the system at all times, even
1173 when packages are in an unconfigured (but unpacked) state.
1174 Packages are tagged <tt>essential</tt> for a system using the
1175 <tt>Essential</tt> control field. The format of the
1176 <tt>Essential</tt> control field is described in <ref
1181 Since these packages cannot be easily removed (one has to
1182 specify an extra <em>force option</em> to
1183 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to do so), this flag must not be used
1184 unless absolutely necessary. A shared library package
1185 must not be tagged <tt>essential</tt>; dependencies will
1186 prevent its premature removal, and we need to be able to
1187 remove it when it has been superseded.
1191 Since dpkg will not prevent upgrading of other packages
1192 while an <tt>essential</tt> package is in an unconfigured
1193 state, all <tt>essential</tt> packages must supply all of
1194 their core functionality even when unconfigured. If the
1195 package cannot satisfy this requirement it must not be
1196 tagged as essential, and any packages depending on this
1197 package must instead have explicit dependency fields as
1202 Maintainers should take great care in adding any programs,
1203 interfaces, or functionality to <tt>essential</tt> packages.
1204 Packages may assume that functionality provided by
1205 <tt>essential</tt> packages is always available without
1206 declaring explicit dependencies, which means that removing
1207 functionality from the Essential set is very difficult and is
1208 almost never done. Any capability added to an
1209 <tt>essential</tt> package therefore creates an obligation to
1210 support that capability as part of the Essential set in
1215 You must not tag any packages <tt>essential</tt> before
1216 this has been discussed on the <tt>debian-devel</tt>
1217 mailing list and a consensus about doing that has been
1222 <sect id="maintscripts">
1223 <heading>Maintainer Scripts</heading>
1226 The package installation scripts should avoid producing
1227 output which is unnecessary for the user to see and
1228 should rely on <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to stave off boredom on
1229 the part of a user installing many packages. This means,
1230 amongst other things, using the <tt>--quiet</tt> option on
1231 <prgn>install-info</prgn>.
1235 Errors which occur during the execution of an installation
1236 script must be checked and the installation must not
1237 continue after an error.
1241 Note that in general <ref id="scripts"> applies to package
1242 maintainer scripts, too.
1246 You should not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> on a file belonging
1247 to another package without consulting the maintainer of that
1248 package first. When adding or removing diversions, package
1249 maintainer scripts must provide the <tt>--package</tt> flag
1250 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> and must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
1254 All packages which supply an instance of a common command
1255 name (or, in general, filename) should generally use
1256 <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>, so that they may be
1257 installed together. If <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1258 is not used, then each package must use
1259 <tt>Conflicts</tt> to ensure that other packages are
1260 de-installed. (In this case, it may be appropriate to
1261 specify a conflict against earlier versions of something
1262 that previously did not use
1263 <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>; this is an exception to
1264 the usual rule that versioned conflicts should be
1268 <sect1 id="maintscriptprompt">
1269 <heading>Prompting in maintainer scripts</heading>
1271 Package maintainer scripts may prompt the user if
1272 necessary. Prompting must be done by communicating
1273 through a program, such as <prgn>debconf</prgn>, which
1274 conforms to the Debian Configuration Management
1275 Specification, version 2 or higher.
1279 Packages which are essential, or which are dependencies of
1280 essential packages, may fall back on another prompting method
1281 if no such interface is available when they are executed.
1285 The Debian Configuration Management Specification is included
1286 in the <file>debconf_specification</file> files in the
1287 <package>debian-policy</package> package.
1288 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
1289 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/debconf_specification.html"
1290 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/debconf_specification.html"></tt>.
1294 Packages which use the Debian Configuration Management
1295 Specification may contain the additional control information
1296 files <file>config</file>
1297 and <file>templates</file>. <file>config</file> is an
1298 additional maintainer script used for package configuration,
1299 and <file>templates</file> contains templates used for user
1300 prompting. The <prgn>config</prgn> script might be run before
1301 the <prgn>preinst</prgn> script and before the package is
1302 unpacked or any of its dependencies or pre-dependencies are
1303 satisfied. Therefore it must work using only the tools
1304 present in <em>essential</em> packages.<footnote>
1305 <package>Debconf</package> or another tool that
1306 implements the Debian Configuration Management
1307 Specification will also be installed, and any
1308 versioned dependencies on it will be satisfied
1309 before preconfiguration begins.
1314 Packages which use the Debian Configuration Management
1315 Specification must allow for translation of their user-visible
1316 messages by using a gettext-based system such as the one
1317 provided by the <package>po-debconf</package> package.
1321 Packages should try to minimize the amount of prompting
1322 they need to do, and they should ensure that the user
1323 will only ever be asked each question once. This means
1324 that packages should try to use appropriate shared
1325 configuration files (such as <file>/etc/papersize</file> and
1326 <file>/etc/news/server</file>), and shared
1327 <package>debconf</package> variables rather than each
1328 prompting for their own list of required pieces of
1333 It also means that an upgrade should not ask the same
1334 questions again, unless the user has used
1335 <tt>dpkg --purge</tt> to remove the package's configuration.
1336 The answers to configuration questions should be stored in an
1337 appropriate place in <file>/etc</file> so that the user can
1338 modify them, and how this has been done should be
1343 If a package has a vitally important piece of
1344 information to pass to the user (such as "don't run me
1345 as I am, you must edit the following configuration files
1346 first or you risk your system emitting badly-formatted
1347 messages"), it should display this in the
1348 <prgn>config</prgn> or <prgn>postinst</prgn> script and
1349 prompt the user to hit return to acknowledge the
1350 message. Copyright messages do not count as vitally
1351 important (they belong in
1352 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file>);
1353 neither do instructions on how to use a program (these
1354 should be in on-line documentation, where all the users
1359 Any necessary prompting should almost always be confined
1360 to the <prgn>config</prgn> or <prgn>postinst</prgn>
1361 script. If it is done in the <prgn>postinst</prgn>, it
1362 should be protected with a conditional so that
1363 unnecessary prompting doesn't happen if a package's
1364 installation fails and the <prgn>postinst</prgn> is
1365 called with <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>,
1366 <tt>abort-remove</tt> or <tt>abort-deconfigure</tt>.
1376 <heading>Source packages</heading>
1378 <sect id="standardsversion">
1379 <heading>Standards conformance</heading>
1382 Source packages should specify the most recent version number
1383 of this policy document with which your package complied
1384 when it was last updated.
1388 This information may be used to file bug reports
1389 automatically if your package becomes too much out of date.
1393 The version is specified in the <tt>Standards-Version</tt>
1395 The format of the <tt>Standards-Version</tt> field is
1396 described in <ref id="f-Standards-Version">.
1400 You should regularly, and especially if your package has
1401 become out of date, check for the newest Policy Manual
1402 available and update your package, if necessary. When your
1403 package complies with the new standards you should update the
1404 <tt>Standards-Version</tt> source package field and
1405 release it.<footnote>
1406 See the file <file>upgrading-checklist</file> for
1407 information about policy which has changed between
1408 different versions of this document.
1414 <sect id="pkg-relations">
1415 <heading>Package relationships</heading>
1418 Source packages should specify which binary packages they
1419 require to be installed or not to be installed in order to
1420 build correctly. For example, if building a package
1421 requires a certain compiler, then the compiler should be
1422 specified as a build-time dependency.
1426 It is not necessary to explicitly specify build-time
1427 relationships on a minimal set of packages that are always
1428 needed to compile, link and put in a Debian package a
1429 standard "Hello World!" program written in C or C++. The
1430 required packages are called <em>build-essential</em>, and
1431 an informational list can be found in
1432 <file>/usr/share/doc/build-essential/list</file> (which is
1433 contained in the <tt>build-essential</tt>
1436 <list compact="compact">
1438 This allows maintaining the list separately
1439 from the policy documents (the list does not
1440 need the kind of control that the policy
1444 Having a separate package allows one to install
1445 the build-essential packages on a machine, as
1446 well as allowing other packages such as tasks to
1447 require installation of the build-essential
1448 packages using the depends relation.
1451 The separate package allows bug reports against
1452 the list to be categorized separately from
1453 the policy management process in the BTS.
1460 When specifying the set of build-time dependencies, one
1461 should list only those packages explicitly required by the
1462 build. It is not necessary to list packages which are
1463 required merely because some other package in the list of
1464 build-time dependencies depends on them.<footnote>
1465 The reason for this is that dependencies change, and
1466 you should list all those packages, and <em>only</em>
1467 those packages that <em>you</em> need directly. What
1468 others need is their business. For example, if you
1469 only link against <file>libimlib</file>, you will need to
1470 build-depend on <package>libimlib2-dev</package> but
1471 not against any <tt>libjpeg*</tt> packages, even
1472 though <tt>libimlib2-dev</tt> currently depends on
1473 them: installation of <package>libimlib2-dev</package>
1474 will automatically ensure that all of its run-time
1475 dependencies are satisfied.
1480 If build-time dependencies are specified, it must be
1481 possible to build the package and produce working binaries
1482 on a system with only essential and build-essential
1483 packages installed and also those required to satisfy the
1484 build-time relationships (including any implied
1485 relationships). In particular, this means that version
1486 clauses should be used rigorously in build-time
1487 relationships so that one cannot produce bad or
1488 inconsistently configured packages when the relationships
1489 are properly satisfied.
1493 <ref id="relationships"> explains the technical details.
1498 <heading>Changes to the upstream sources</heading>
1501 If changes to the source code are made that are not
1502 specific to the needs of the Debian system, they should be
1503 sent to the upstream authors in whatever form they prefer
1504 so as to be included in the upstream version of the
1509 If you need to configure the package differently for
1510 Debian or for Linux, and the upstream source doesn't
1511 provide a way to do so, you should add such configuration
1512 facilities (for example, a new <prgn>autoconf</prgn> test
1513 or <tt>#define</tt>) and send the patch to the upstream
1514 authors, with the default set to the way they originally
1515 had it. You can then easily override the default in your
1516 <file>debian/rules</file> or wherever is appropriate.
1520 You should make sure that the <prgn>configure</prgn> utility
1521 detects the correct architecture specification string
1522 (refer to <ref id="arch-spec"> for details).
1526 If you need to edit a <prgn>Makefile</prgn> where GNU-style
1527 <prgn>configure</prgn> scripts are used, you should edit the
1528 <file>.in</file> files rather than editing the
1529 <prgn>Makefile</prgn> directly. This allows the user to
1530 reconfigure the package if necessary. You should
1531 <em>not</em> configure the package and edit the generated
1532 <prgn>Makefile</prgn>! This makes it impossible for someone
1533 else to later reconfigure the package without losing the
1539 <sect id="dpkgchangelog">
1540 <heading>Debian changelog: <file>debian/changelog</file></heading>
1543 Changes in the Debian version of the package should be
1544 briefly explained in the Debian changelog file
1545 <file>debian/changelog</file>.<footnote>
1547 Mistakes in changelogs are usually best rectified by
1548 making a new changelog entry rather than "rewriting
1549 history" by editing old changelog entries.
1552 This includes modifications
1553 made in the Debian package compared to the upstream one
1554 as well as other changes and updates to the package.
1556 Although there is nothing stopping an author who is also
1557 the Debian maintainer from using this changelog for all
1558 their changes, it will have to be renamed if the Debian
1559 and upstream maintainers become different people. In such
1560 a case, however, it might be better to maintain the package
1561 as a non-native package.
1566 The format of the <file>debian/changelog</file> allows the
1567 package building tools to discover which version of the package
1568 is being built and find out other release-specific information.
1572 That format is a series of entries like this:
1574 <example compact="compact">
1575 <var>package</var> (<var>version</var>) <var>distribution(s)</var>; urgency=<var>urgency</var>
1577 [optional blank line(s), stripped]
1579 * <var>change details</var>
1580 <var>more change details</var>
1582 [blank line(s), included in output of dpkg-parsechangelog]
1584 * <var>even more change details</var>
1586 [optional blank line(s), stripped]
1588 -- <var>maintainer name</var> <<var>email address</var>><var>[two spaces]</var> <var>date</var>
1593 <var>package</var> and <var>version</var> are the source
1594 package name and version number.
1598 <var>distribution(s)</var> lists the distributions where
1599 this version should be installed when it is uploaded - it
1600 is copied to the <tt>Distribution</tt> field in the
1601 <file>.changes</file> file. See <ref id="f-Distribution">.
1605 <var>urgency</var> is the value for the <tt>Urgency</tt>
1606 field in the <file>.changes</file> file for the upload
1607 (see <ref id="f-Urgency">). It is not possible to specify
1608 an urgency containing commas; commas are used to separate
1609 <tt><var>keyword</var>=<var>value</var></tt> settings in the
1610 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> changelog format (though there is
1611 currently only one useful <var>keyword</var>,
1616 The change details may in fact be any series of lines
1617 starting with at least two spaces, but conventionally each
1618 change starts with an asterisk and a separating space and
1619 continuation lines are indented so as to bring them in
1620 line with the start of the text above. Blank lines may be
1621 used here to separate groups of changes, if desired.
1625 If this upload resolves bugs recorded in the Bug Tracking
1626 System (BTS), they may be automatically closed on the
1627 inclusion of this package into the Debian archive by
1628 including the string: <tt>closes: Bug#<var>nnnnn</var></tt>
1629 in the change details.<footnote>
1630 To be precise, the string should match the following
1631 Perl regular expression:
1633 /closes:\s*(?:bug)?\#?\s?\d+(?:,\s*(?:bug)?\#?\s?\d+)*/i
1635 Then all of the bug numbers listed will be closed by the
1636 archive maintenance script (<prgn>katie</prgn>) using the
1637 <var>version</var> of the changelog entry.
1639 This information is conveyed via the <tt>Closes</tt> field
1640 in the <tt>.changes</tt> file (see <ref id="f-Closes">).
1644 The maintainer name and email address used in the changelog
1645 should be the details of the person uploading <em>this</em>
1646 version. They are <em>not</em> necessarily those of the
1647 usual package maintainer. The information here will be
1648 copied to the <tt>Changed-By</tt> field in the
1649 <tt>.changes</tt> file (see <ref id="f-Changed-By">),
1650 and then later used to send an acknowledgement when the
1651 upload has been installed.
1655 The <var>date</var> has the following format<footnote>
1656 This is the same as the format generated by <tt>date
1658 </footnote> (compatible and with the same semantics of
1659 RFC 2822 and RFC 5322):
1660 <example>day-of-week, dd month yyyy hh:mm:ss +zzzz</example>
1662 <list compact="compact">
1664 day-of week is one of: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
1667 dd is a one- or two-digit day of the month (01-31)
1670 month is one of: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug,
1673 <item>yyyy is the four-digit year (e.g. 2010)</item>
1674 <item>hh is the two-digit hour (00-23)</item>
1675 <item>mm is the two-digit minutes (00-59)</item>
1676 <item>ss is the two-digit seconds (00-60)</item>
1678 +zzzz or -zzzz is the the time zone offset from Coordinated
1679 Universal Time (UTC). "+" indicates that the time is ahead
1680 of (i.e., east of) UTC and "-" indicates that the time is
1681 behind (i.e., west of) UTC. The first two digits indicate
1682 the hour difference from UTC and the last two digits
1683 indicate the number of additional minutes difference from
1684 UTC. The last two digits must be in the range 00-59.
1690 The first "title" line with the package name must start
1691 at the left hand margin. The "trailer" line with the
1692 maintainer and date details must be preceded by exactly
1693 one space. The maintainer details and the date must be
1694 separated by exactly two spaces.
1698 The entire changelog must be encoded in UTF-8.
1702 For more information on placement of the changelog files
1703 within binary packages, please see <ref id="changelogs">.
1707 <sect id="dpkgcopyright">
1708 <heading>Copyright: <file>debian/copyright</file></heading>
1710 Every package must be accompanied by a verbatim copy of its
1711 copyright information and distribution license in the file
1712 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file>
1713 (see <ref id="copyrightfile"> for further details). Also see
1714 <ref id="pkgcopyright"> for further considerations related
1715 to copyrights for packages.
1719 <heading>Error trapping in makefiles</heading>
1722 When <prgn>make</prgn> invokes a command in a makefile
1723 (including your package's upstream makefiles and
1724 <file>debian/rules</file>), it does so using <prgn>sh</prgn>. This
1725 means that <prgn>sh</prgn>'s usual bad error handling
1726 properties apply: if you include a miniature script as one
1727 of the commands in your makefile you'll find that if you
1728 don't do anything about it then errors are not detected
1729 and <prgn>make</prgn> will blithely continue after
1734 Every time you put more than one shell command (this
1735 includes using a loop) in a makefile command you
1736 must make sure that errors are trapped. For
1737 simple compound commands, such as changing directory and
1738 then running a program, using <tt>&&</tt> rather
1739 than semicolon as a command separator is sufficient. For
1740 more complex commands including most loops and
1741 conditionals you should include a separate <tt>set -e</tt>
1742 command at the start of every makefile command that's
1743 actually one of these miniature shell scripts.
1747 <sect id="timestamps">
1748 <heading>Time Stamps</heading>
1750 Maintainers should preserve the modification times of the
1751 upstream source files in a package, as far as is reasonably
1753 The rationale is that there is some information conveyed
1754 by knowing the age of the file, for example, you could
1755 recognize that some documentation is very old by looking
1756 at the modification time, so it would be nice if the
1757 modification time of the upstream source would be
1763 <sect id="restrictions">
1764 <heading>Restrictions on objects in source packages</heading>
1767 The source package may not contain any hard links<footnote>
1769 This is not currently detected when building source
1770 packages, but only when extracting
1774 Hard links may be permitted at some point in the
1775 future, but would require a fair amount of
1778 </footnote>, device special files, sockets or setuid or
1779 setgid files.<footnote>
1780 Setgid directories are allowed.
1785 <sect id="debianrules">
1786 <heading>Main building script: <file>debian/rules</file></heading>
1789 This file must be an executable makefile, and contains the
1790 package-specific recipes for compiling the package and
1791 building binary package(s) from the source.
1795 It must start with the line <tt>#!/usr/bin/make -f</tt>,
1796 so that it can be invoked by saying its name rather than
1797 invoking <prgn>make</prgn> explicitly. That is, invoking
1798 either of <tt>make -f debian/rules <em>args...</em></tt>
1799 or <tt>./debian/rules <em>args...</em></tt> must result in
1804 Since an interactive <file>debian/rules</file> script makes it
1805 impossible to auto-compile that package and also makes it
1806 hard for other people to reproduce the same binary
1807 package, all <em>required targets</em> must be
1808 non-interactive. At a minimum, required targets are the
1809 ones called by <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>, namely,
1810 <em>clean</em>, <em>binary</em>, <em>binary-arch</em>,
1811 <em>binary-indep</em>, and <em>build</em>. It also follows
1812 that any target that these targets depend on must also be
1817 The targets are as follows (required unless stated otherwise):
1819 <tag><tt>build</tt></tag>
1822 The <tt>build</tt> target should perform all the
1823 configuration and compilation of the package.
1824 If a package has an interactive pre-build
1825 configuration routine, the Debian source package
1826 must either be built after this has taken place (so
1827 that the binary package can be built without rerunning
1828 the configuration) or the configuration routine
1829 modified to become non-interactive. (The latter is
1830 preferable if there are architecture-specific features
1831 detected by the configuration routine.)
1835 For some packages, notably ones where the same
1836 source tree is compiled in different ways to produce
1837 two binary packages, the <tt>build</tt> target
1838 does not make much sense. For these packages it is
1839 good enough to provide two (or more) targets
1840 (<tt>build-a</tt> and <tt>build-b</tt> or whatever)
1841 for each of the ways of building the package, and a
1842 <tt>build</tt> target that does nothing. The
1843 <tt>binary</tt> target will have to build the
1844 package in each of the possible ways and make the
1845 binary package out of each.
1849 The <tt>build</tt> target must not do anything
1850 that might require root privilege.
1854 The <tt>build</tt> target may need to run the
1855 <tt>clean</tt> target first - see below.
1859 When a package has a configuration and build routine
1860 which takes a long time, or when the makefiles are
1861 poorly designed, or when <tt>build</tt> needs to
1862 run <tt>clean</tt> first, it is a good idea to
1863 <tt>touch build</tt> when the build process is
1864 complete. This will ensure that if <tt>debian/rules
1865 build</tt> is run again it will not rebuild the whole
1867 Another common way to do this is for <tt>build</tt>
1868 to depend on <prgn>build-stamp</prgn> and to do
1869 nothing else, and for the <prgn>build-stamp</prgn>
1870 target to do the building and to <tt>touch
1871 build-stamp</tt> on completion. This is
1872 especially useful if the build routine creates a
1873 file or directory called <tt>build</tt>; in such a
1874 case, <tt>build</tt> will need to be listed as
1875 a phony target (i.e., as a dependency of the
1876 <tt>.PHONY</tt> target). See the documentation of
1877 <prgn>make</prgn> for more information on phony
1883 <tag><tt>build-arch</tt> (optional),
1884 <tt>build-indep</tt> (optional)
1888 A package may also provide both of the targets
1889 <tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt>.
1890 The <tt>build-arch</tt> target, if provided, should
1891 perform all the configuration and compilation required for
1892 producing all architecture-dependant binary packages
1893 (those packages for which the body of the
1894 <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <tt>debian/control</tt> is
1895 not <tt>all</tt>). Similarly, the <tt>build-indep</tt>
1896 target, if provided, should perform all the configuration
1897 and compilation required for producing all
1898 architecture-independent binary packages (those packages
1899 for which the body of the <tt>Architecture</tt> field
1900 in <tt>debian/control</tt> is <tt>all</tt>).
1901 The <tt>build</tt> target should depend on those of the
1902 targets <tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> that
1903 are provided in the rules file.<footnote>
1904 The intent of this split is so that binary-only builds
1905 need not install the dependencies required for
1906 the <tt>build-indep</tt> target. However, this is not
1907 yet used in practice since <tt>dpkg-buildpackage
1908 -B</tt>, and therefore the autobuilders,
1909 invoke <tt>build</tt> rather than <tt>build-arch</tt>
1910 due to the difficulties in determining whether the
1911 optional <tt>build-arch</tt> target exists.
1916 If one or both of the targets <tt>build-arch</tt> and
1917 <tt>build-indep</tt> are not provided, then invoking
1918 <file>debian/rules</file> with one of the not-provided
1919 targets as arguments should produce a exit status code
1920 of 2. Usually this is provided automatically by make
1921 if the target is missing.
1925 The <tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> targets
1926 must not do anything that might require root privilege.
1930 <tag><tt>binary</tt>, <tt>binary-arch</tt>,
1931 <tt>binary-indep</tt>
1935 The <tt>binary</tt> target must be all that is
1936 necessary for the user to build the binary package(s)
1937 produced from this source package. It is
1938 split into two parts: <prgn>binary-arch</prgn> builds
1939 the binary packages which are specific to a particular
1940 architecture, and <tt>binary-indep</tt> builds
1941 those which are not.
1944 <tt>binary</tt> may be (and commonly is) a target with
1945 no commands which simply depends on
1946 <tt>binary-arch</tt> and <tt>binary-indep</tt>.
1949 Both <tt>binary-*</tt> targets should depend on the
1950 <tt>build</tt> target, or on the appropriate
1951 <tt>build-arch</tt> or <tt>build-indep</tt> target, if
1952 provided, so that the package is built if it has not
1953 been already. It should then create the relevant
1954 binary package(s), using <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> to
1955 make their control files and <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> to
1956 build them and place them in the parent of the top
1961 Both the <tt>binary-arch</tt> and
1962 <tt>binary-indep</tt> targets <em>must</em> exist.
1963 If one of them has nothing to do (which will always be
1964 the case if the source generates only a single binary
1965 package, whether architecture-dependent or not), it
1966 must still exist and must always succeed.
1970 The <tt>binary</tt> targets must be invoked as
1972 The <prgn>fakeroot</prgn> package often allows one
1973 to build a package correctly even without being
1979 <tag><tt>clean</tt></tag>
1982 This must undo any effects that the <tt>build</tt>
1983 and <tt>binary</tt> targets may have had, except
1984 that it should leave alone any output files created in
1985 the parent directory by a run of a <tt>binary</tt>
1990 If a <tt>build</tt> file is touched at the end of
1991 the <tt>build</tt> target, as suggested above, it
1992 should be removed as the first action that
1993 <tt>clean</tt> performs, so that running
1994 <tt>build</tt> again after an interrupted
1995 <tt>clean</tt> doesn't think that everything is
2000 The <tt>clean</tt> target may need to be
2001 invoked as root if <tt>binary</tt> has been
2002 invoked since the last <tt>clean</tt>, or if
2003 <tt>build</tt> has been invoked as root (since
2004 <tt>build</tt> may create directories, for
2009 <tag><tt>get-orig-source</tt> (optional)</tag>
2012 This target fetches the most recent version of the
2013 original source package from a canonical archive site
2014 (via FTP or WWW, for example), does any necessary
2015 rearrangement to turn it into the original source
2016 tar file format described below, and leaves it in the
2021 This target may be invoked in any directory, and
2022 should take care to clean up any temporary files it
2027 This target is optional, but providing it if
2028 possible is a good idea.
2032 <tag><tt>patch</tt> (optional)</tag>
2035 This target performs whatever additional actions are
2036 required to make the source ready for editing (unpacking
2037 additional upstream archives, applying patches, etc.).
2038 It is recommended to be implemented for any package where
2039 <tt>dpkg-source -x</tt> does not result in source ready
2040 for additional modification. See
2041 <ref id="readmesource">.
2047 The <tt>build</tt>, <tt>binary</tt> and
2048 <tt>clean</tt> targets must be invoked with the current
2049 directory being the package's top-level directory.
2054 Additional targets may exist in <file>debian/rules</file>,
2055 either as published or undocumented interfaces or for the
2056 package's internal use.
2060 The architectures we build on and build for are determined
2061 by <prgn>make</prgn> variables using the utility
2062 <qref id="pkg-dpkg-architecture"><prgn>dpkg-architecture</prgn></qref>.
2063 You can determine the
2064 Debian architecture and the GNU style architecture
2065 specification string for the build machine (the machine type
2066 we are building on) as well as for the host machine (the
2067 machine type we are building for). Here is a list of
2068 supported <prgn>make</prgn> variables:
2069 <list compact="compact">
2071 <tt>DEB_*_ARCH</tt> (the Debian architecture)
2074 <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU</tt> (the Debian CPU name)
2077 <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_OS</tt> (the Debian System name)
2080 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_TYPE</tt> (the GNU style architecture
2081 specification string)
2084 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_CPU</tt> (the CPU part of
2085 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_TYPE</tt>)
2088 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_SYSTEM</tt> (the System part of
2089 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_TYPE</tt>)
2091 where <tt>*</tt> is either <tt>BUILD</tt> for specification of
2092 the build machine or <tt>HOST</tt> for specification of the
2097 Backward compatibility can be provided in the rules file
2098 by setting the needed variables to suitable default
2099 values; please refer to the documentation of
2100 <prgn>dpkg-architecture</prgn> for details.
2104 It is important to understand that the <tt>DEB_*_ARCH</tt>
2105 string only determines which Debian architecture we are
2106 building on or for. It should not be used to get the CPU
2107 or system information; the <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU</tt> and
2108 <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_OS</tt> variables should be used for that.
2109 GNU style variables should generally only be used with upstream
2113 <sect1 id="debianrules-options">
2114 <heading><file>debian/rules</file> and
2115 <tt>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</tt></heading>
2118 Supporting the standardized environment variable
2119 <tt>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</tt> is recommended. This variable can
2120 contain several flags to change how a package is compiled and
2121 built. Each flag must be in the form <var>flag</var> or
2122 <var>flag</var>=<var>options</var>. If multiple flags are
2123 given, they must be separated by whitespace.<footnote>
2124 Some packages support any delimiter, but whitespace is the
2125 easiest to parse inside a makefile and avoids ambiguity with
2126 flag values that contain commas.
2128 <var>flag</var> must start with a lowercase letter
2129 (<tt>a-z</tt>) and consist only of lowercase letters,
2130 numbers (<tt>0-9</tt>), and the characters
2131 <tt>-</tt> and <tt>_</tt> (hyphen and underscore).
2132 <var>options</var> must not contain whitespace. The same
2133 tag should not be given multiple times with conflicting
2134 values. Package maintainers may assume that
2135 <tt>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</tt> will not contain conflicting tags.
2139 The meaning of the following tags has been standardized:
2143 This tag says to not run any build-time test suite
2144 provided by the package.
2148 The presence of this tag means that the package should
2149 be compiled with a minimum of optimization. For C
2150 programs, it is best to add <tt>-O0</tt> to
2151 <tt>CFLAGS</tt> (although this is usually the default).
2152 Some programs might fail to build or run at this level
2153 of optimization; it may be necessary to use
2154 <tt>-O1</tt>, for example.
2158 This tag means that the debugging symbols should not be
2159 stripped from the binary during installation, so that
2160 debugging information may be included in the package.
2162 <tag>parallel=n</tag>
2164 This tag means that the package should be built using up
2165 to <tt>n</tt> parallel processes if the package build
2166 system supports this.<footnote>
2167 Packages built with <tt>make</tt> can often implement
2168 this by passing the <tt>-j</tt><var>n</var> option to
2171 If the package build system does not support parallel
2172 builds, this string must be ignored. If the package
2173 build system only supports a lower level of concurrency
2174 than <var>n</var>, the package should be built using as
2175 many parallel processes as the package build system
2176 supports. It is up to the package maintainer to decide
2177 whether the package build times are long enough and the
2178 package build system is robust enough to make supporting
2179 parallel builds worthwhile.
2185 Unknown flags must be ignored by <file>debian/rules</file>.
2189 The following makefile snippet is an example of how one may
2190 implement the build options; you will probably have to
2191 massage this example in order to make it work for your
2193 <example compact="compact">
2196 INSTALL_FILE = $(INSTALL) -p -o root -g root -m 644
2197 INSTALL_PROGRAM = $(INSTALL) -p -o root -g root -m 755
2198 INSTALL_SCRIPT = $(INSTALL) -p -o root -g root -m 755
2199 INSTALL_DIR = $(INSTALL) -p -d -o root -g root -m 755
2201 ifneq (,$(filter noopt,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2206 ifeq (,$(filter nostrip,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2207 INSTALL_PROGRAM += -s
2209 ifneq (,$(filter parallel=%,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2210 NUMJOBS = $(patsubst parallel=%,%,$(filter parallel=%,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2211 MAKEFLAGS += -j$(NUMJOBS)
2216 ifeq (,$(filter nocheck,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2217 # Code to run the package test suite.
2224 <!-- FIXME: section pkg-srcsubstvars is the same as substvars -->
2225 <sect id="substvars">
2226 <heading>Variable substitutions: <file>debian/substvars</file></heading>
2229 When <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>,
2230 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>
2231 generate control files, they perform variable substitutions
2232 on their output just before writing it. Variable
2233 substitutions have the form <tt>${<var>variable</var>}</tt>.
2234 The optional file <file>debian/substvars</file> contains
2235 variable substitutions to be used; variables can also be set
2236 directly from <file>debian/rules</file> using the <tt>-V</tt>
2237 option to the source packaging commands, and certain
2238 predefined variables are also available.
2242 The <file>debian/substvars</file> file is usually generated and
2243 modified dynamically by <file>debian/rules</file> targets, in
2244 which case it must be removed by the <tt>clean</tt> target.
2248 See <manref name="deb-substvars" section="5"> for full
2249 details about source variable substitutions, including the
2250 format of <file>debian/substvars</file>.</p>
2253 <sect id="debianwatch">
2254 <heading>Optional upstream source location: <file>debian/watch</file></heading>
2257 This is an optional, recommended configuration file for the
2258 <tt>uscan</tt> utility which defines how to automatically scan
2259 ftp or http sites for newly available updates of the
2260 package. This is used
2261 by <url id="http://dehs.alioth.debian.org/"> and other Debian QA
2262 tools to help with quality control and maintenance of the
2263 distribution as a whole.
2268 <sect id="debianfiles">
2269 <heading>Generated files list: <file>debian/files</file></heading>
2272 This file is not a permanent part of the source tree; it
2273 is used while building packages to record which files are
2274 being generated. <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> uses it
2275 when it generates a <file>.changes</file> file.
2279 It should not exist in a shipped source package, and so it
2280 (and any backup files or temporary files such as
2281 <file>files.new</file><footnote>
2282 <file>files.new</file> is used as a temporary file by
2283 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> and
2284 <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn> - they write a new
2285 version of <tt>files</tt> here before renaming it,
2286 to avoid leaving a corrupted copy if an error
2288 </footnote>) should be removed by the
2289 <tt>clean</tt> target. It may also be wise to
2290 ensure a fresh start by emptying or removing it at the
2291 start of the <tt>binary</tt> target.
2295 When <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> is run for a binary
2296 package, it adds an entry to <file>debian/files</file> for the
2297 <file>.deb</file> file that will be created when <tt>dpkg-deb
2298 --build</tt> is run for that binary package. So for most
2299 packages all that needs to be done with this file is to
2300 delete it in the <tt>clean</tt> target.
2304 If a package upload includes files besides the source
2305 package and any binary packages whose control files were
2306 made with <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> then they should be
2307 placed in the parent of the package's top-level directory
2308 and <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn> should be called to add
2309 the file to the list in <file>debian/files</file>.</p>
2312 <sect id="embeddedfiles">
2313 <heading>Convenience copies of code</heading>
2316 Some software packages include in their distribution convenience
2317 copies of code from other software packages, generally so that
2318 users compiling from source don't have to download multiple
2319 packages. Debian packages should not make use of these
2320 convenience copies unless the included package is explicitly
2321 intended to be used in this way.<footnote>
2322 For example, parts of the GNU build system work like this.
2324 If the included code is already in the Debian archive in the
2325 form of a library, the Debian packaging should ensure that
2326 binary packages reference the libraries already in Debian and
2327 the convenience copy is not used. If the included code is not
2328 already in Debian, it should be packaged separately as a
2329 prerequisite if possible.
2331 Having multiple copies of the same code in Debian is
2332 inefficient, often creates either static linking or shared
2333 library conflicts, and, most importantly, increases the
2334 difficulty of handling security vulnerabilities in the
2340 <sect id="readmesource">
2341 <heading>Source package handling:
2342 <file>debian/README.source</file></heading>
2345 If running <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> on a source package
2346 doesn't produce the source of the package, ready for editing,
2347 and allow one to make changes and run
2348 <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn> to produce a modified package
2349 without taking any additional steps, creating a
2350 <file>debian/README.source</file> documentation file is
2351 recommended. This file should explain how to do all of the
2354 <item>Generate the fully patched source, in a form ready for
2355 editing, that would be built to create Debian
2356 packages. Doing this with a <tt>patch</tt> target in
2357 <file>debian/rules</file> is recommended; see
2358 <ref id="debianrules">.</item>
2359 <item>Modify the source and save those modifications so that
2360 they will be applied when building the package.</item>
2361 <item>Remove source modifications that are currently being
2362 applied when building the package.</item>
2363 <item>Optionally, document what steps are necessary to
2364 upgrade the Debian source package to a new upstream version,
2365 if applicable.</item>
2367 This explanation should include specific commands and mention
2368 any additional required Debian packages. It should not assume
2369 familiarity with any specific Debian packaging system or patch
2374 This explanation may refer to a documentation file installed by
2375 one of the package's build dependencies provided that the
2376 referenced documentation clearly explains these tasks and is not
2377 a general reference manual.
2381 <file>debian/README.source</file> may also include any other
2382 information that would be helpful to someone modifying the
2383 source package. Even if the package doesn't fit the above
2384 description, maintainers are encouraged to document in a
2385 <file>debian/README.source</file> file any source package with a
2386 particularly complex or unintuitive source layout or build
2387 system (for example, a package that builds the same source
2388 multiple times to generate different binary packages).
2394 <chapt id="controlfields">
2395 <heading>Control files and their fields</heading>
2398 The package management system manipulates data represented in
2399 a common format, known as <em>control data</em>, stored in
2400 <em>control files</em>.
2401 Control files are used for source packages, binary packages and
2402 the <file>.changes</file> files which control the installation
2403 of uploaded files<footnote>
2404 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s internal databases are in a similar
2409 <sect id="controlsyntax">
2410 <heading>Syntax of control files</heading>
2413 A control file consists of one or more paragraphs of
2415 The paragraphs are also sometimes referred to as stanzas.
2417 The paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Some control
2418 files allow only one paragraph; others allow several, in
2419 which case each paragraph usually refers to a different
2420 package. (For example, in source packages, the first
2421 paragraph refers to the source package, and later paragraphs
2422 refer to binary packages generated from the source.)
2426 Each paragraph consists of a series of data fields; each
2427 field consists of the field name, followed by a colon and
2428 then the data/value associated with that field. It ends at
2429 the end of the (logical) line. Horizontal whitespace
2430 (spaces and tabs) may occur immediately before or after the
2431 value and is ignored there; it is conventional to put a
2432 single space after the colon. For example, a field might
2434 <example compact="compact">
2437 the field name is <tt>Package</tt> and the field value
2442 A paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
2443 particular field name.
2447 Many fields' values may span several lines; in this case
2448 each continuation line must start with a space or a tab.
2449 Any trailing spaces or tabs at the end of individual
2450 lines of a field value are ignored.
2454 In fields where it is specified that lines may not wrap,
2455 only a single line of data is allowed and whitespace is not
2456 significant in a field body. Whitespace must not appear
2457 inside names (of packages, architectures, files or anything
2458 else) or version numbers, or between the characters of
2459 multi-character version relationships.
2463 Field names are not case-sensitive, but it is usual to
2464 capitalize the field names using mixed case as shown below.
2465 Field values are case-sensitive unless the description of the
2466 field says otherwise.
2470 Blank lines, or lines consisting only of spaces and tabs,
2471 are not allowed within field values or between fields - that
2472 would mean a new paragraph.
2476 All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
2480 <sect id="sourcecontrolfiles">
2481 <heading>Source package control files -- <file>debian/control</file></heading>
2484 The <file>debian/control</file> file contains the most vital
2485 (and version-independent) information about the source package
2486 and about the binary packages it creates.
2490 The first paragraph of the control file contains information about
2491 the source package in general. The subsequent sets each describe a
2492 binary package that the source tree builds.
2496 The fields in the general paragraph (the first one, for the source
2499 <list compact="compact">
2500 <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2501 <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2502 <item><qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref></item>
2503 <item><qref id="f-Section"><tt>Section</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2504 <item><qref id="f-Priority"><tt>Priority</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2505 <item><qref id="sourcebinarydeps"><tt>Build-Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
2506 <item><qref id="f-Standards-Version"><tt>Standards-Version</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2507 <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
2512 The fields in the binary package paragraphs are:
2514 <list compact="compact">
2515 <item><qref id="f-Package"><tt>Package</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2516 <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2517 <item><qref id="f-Section"><tt>Section</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2518 <item><qref id="f-Priority"><tt>Priority</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2519 <item><qref id="f-Essential"><tt>Essential</tt></qref></item>
2520 <item><qref id="binarydeps"><tt>Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
2521 <item><qref id="f-Description"><tt>Description</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2522 <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
2527 The syntax and semantics of the fields are described below.
2531 These fields are used by <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> to
2532 generate control files for binary packages (see below), by
2533 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> to generate the
2534 <file>.changes</file> file to accompany the upload, and by
2535 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> when it creates the
2536 <file>.dsc</file> source control file as part of a source
2537 archive. Many fields are permitted to span multiple lines in
2538 <file>debian/control</file> but not in any other control
2539 file. These tools are responsible for removing the line
2540 breaks from such fields when using fields from
2541 <file>debian/control</file> to generate other control files.
2545 The fields here may contain variable references - their
2546 values will be substituted by <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>,
2547 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> or <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>
2548 when they generate output control files.
2549 See <ref id="substvars"> for details.
2553 In addition to the control file syntax described <qref
2554 id="controlsyntax">above</qref>, this file may also contain
2555 comment lines starting with <tt>#</tt> without any preceding
2556 whitespace. All such lines are ignored, even in the middle of
2557 continuation lines for a multiline field, and do not end a
2563 <sect id="binarycontrolfiles">
2564 <heading>Binary package control files -- <file>DEBIAN/control</file></heading>
2567 The <file>DEBIAN/control</file> file contains the most vital
2568 (and version-dependent) information about a binary package. It
2569 consists of a single paragraph.
2573 The fields in this file are:
2575 <list compact="compact">
2576 <item><qref id="f-Package"><tt>Package</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2577 <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref></item>
2578 <item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2579 <item><qref id="f-Section"><tt>Section</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2580 <item><qref id="f-Priority"><tt>Priority</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2581 <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2582 <item><qref id="f-Essential"><tt>Essential</tt></qref></item>
2583 <item><qref id="binarydeps"><tt>Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
2584 <item><qref id="f-Installed-Size"><tt>Installed-Size</tt></qref></item>
2585 <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2586 <item><qref id="f-Description"><tt>Description</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2587 <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
2592 <sect id="debiansourcecontrolfiles">
2593 <heading>Debian source control files -- <tt>.dsc</tt></heading>
2596 This file consists of a single paragraph, possibly surrounded by
2597 a PGP signature. The fields of that paragraph are listed below.
2598 Their syntax is described above, in <ref id="pkg-controlfields">.
2600 <list compact="compact">
2601 <item><qref id="f-Format"><tt>Format</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2602 <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2603 <item><qref id="f-Binary"><tt>Binary</tt></qref></item>
2604 <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref></item>
2605 <item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2606 <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2607 <item><qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref></item>
2608 <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
2609 <item><qref id="f-Standards-Version"><tt>Standards-Version</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2610 <item><qref id="sourcebinarydeps"><tt>Build-Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
2611 <item><qref id="f-Checksums"><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
2612 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2613 <item><qref id="f-Files"><tt>Files</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2618 The source package control file is generated by
2619 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> when it builds the source
2620 archive, from other files in the source package,
2621 described above. When unpacking, it is checked against
2622 the files and directories in the other parts of the
2628 <sect id="debianchangesfiles">
2629 <heading>Debian changes files -- <file>.changes</file></heading>
2632 The <file>.changes</file> files are used by the Debian archive
2633 maintenance software to process updates to packages. They
2634 consist of a single paragraph, possibly surrounded by a PGP
2635 signature. That paragraph contains information from the
2636 <file>debian/control</file> file and other data about the
2637 source package gathered via <file>debian/changelog</file>
2638 and <file>debian/rules</file>.
2642 <file>.changes</file> files have a format version that is
2643 incremented whenever the documented fields or their meaning
2644 change. This document describes format &changesversion;.
2648 The fields in this file are:
2650 <list compact="compact">
2651 <item><qref id="f-Format"><tt>Format</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2652 <item><qref id="f-Date"><tt>Date</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2653 <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2654 <item><qref id="f-Binary"><tt>Binary</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2655 <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2656 <item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2657 <item><qref id="f-Distribution"><tt>Distribution</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2658 <item><qref id="f-Urgency"><tt>Urgency</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2659 <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2660 <item><qref id="f-Changed-By"><tt>Changed-By</tt></qref></item>
2661 <item><qref id="f-Description"><tt>Description</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2662 <item><qref id="f-Closes"><tt>Closes</tt></qref></item>
2663 <item><qref id="f-Changes"><tt>Changes</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2664 <item><qref id="f-Checksums"><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
2665 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2666 <item><qref id="f-Files"><tt>Files</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2671 <sect id="controlfieldslist">
2672 <heading>List of fields</heading>
2674 <sect1 id="f-Source">
2675 <heading><tt>Source</tt></heading>
2678 This field identifies the source package name.
2682 In <file>debian/control</file> or a <file>.dsc</file> file,
2683 this field must contain only the name of the source package.
2687 In a binary package control file or a <file>.changes</file>
2688 file, the source package name may be followed by a version
2689 number in parentheses<footnote>
2690 It is customary to leave a space after the package name
2691 if a version number is specified.
2693 This version number may be omitted (and is, by
2694 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>) if it has the same value as
2695 the <tt>Version</tt> field of the binary package in
2696 question. The field itself may be omitted from a binary
2697 package control file when the source package has the same
2698 name and version as the binary package.
2702 Package names (both source and binary,
2703 see <ref id="f-Package">) must consist only of lower case
2704 letters (<tt>a-z</tt>), digits (<tt>0-9</tt>), plus
2705 (<tt>+</tt>) and minus (<tt>-</tt>) signs, and periods
2706 (<tt>.</tt>). They must be at least two characters long and
2707 must start with an alphanumeric character.
2711 <sect1 id="f-Maintainer">
2712 <heading><tt>Maintainer</tt></heading>
2715 The package maintainer's name and email address. The name
2716 must come first, then the email address inside angle
2717 brackets <tt><></tt> (in RFC822 format).
2721 If the maintainer's name contains a full stop then the
2722 whole field will not work directly as an email address due
2723 to a misfeature in the syntax specified in RFC822; a
2724 program using this field as an address must check for this
2725 and correct the problem if necessary (for example by
2726 putting the name in round brackets and moving it to the
2727 end, and bringing the email address forward).
2731 <sect1 id="f-Uploaders">
2732 <heading><tt>Uploaders</tt></heading>
2735 List of the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of
2736 the package, if any. If the package has other maintainers
2737 beside the one named in the
2738 <qref id="f-Maintainer">Maintainer field</qref>, their names
2739 and email addresses should be listed here. The format of each
2740 entry is the same as that of the Maintainer field, and
2741 multiple entries must be comma separated. This is an optional
2746 Any parser that interprets the Uploaders field in
2747 <file>debian/control</file> must permit it to span multiple
2748 lines. Line breaks in an Uploaders field that spans multiple
2749 lines are not significant and the semantics of the field are
2750 the same as if the line breaks had not been present.
2754 <sect1 id="f-Changed-By">
2755 <heading><tt>Changed-By</tt></heading>
2758 The name and email address of the person who prepared this
2759 version of the package, usually a maintainer. The syntax is
2760 the same as for the <qref id="f-Maintainer">Maintainer
2765 <sect1 id="f-Section">
2766 <heading><tt>Section</tt></heading>
2769 This field specifies an application area into which the package
2770 has been classified. See <ref id="subsections">.
2774 When it appears in the <file>debian/control</file> file,
2775 it gives the value for the subfield of the same name in
2776 the <tt>Files</tt> field of the <file>.changes</file> file.
2777 It also gives the default for the same field in the binary
2782 <sect1 id="f-Priority">
2783 <heading><tt>Priority</tt></heading>
2786 This field represents how important it is that the user
2787 have the package installed. See <ref id="priorities">.
2791 When it appears in the <file>debian/control</file> file,
2792 it gives the value for the subfield of the same name in
2793 the <tt>Files</tt> field of the <file>.changes</file> file.
2794 It also gives the default for the same field in the binary
2799 <sect1 id="f-Package">
2800 <heading><tt>Package</tt></heading>
2803 The name of the binary package.
2807 Binary package names must follow the same syntax and
2808 restrictions as source package names. See <ref id="f-Source">
2813 <sect1 id="f-Architecture">
2814 <heading><tt>Architecture</tt></heading>
2817 Depending on context and the control file used, the
2818 <tt>Architecture</tt> field can include the following sets of
2822 A unique single word identifying a Debian machine
2823 architecture as described in <ref id="arch-spec">.
2826 An architecture wildcard identifying a set of Debian
2827 machine architectures, see <ref id="arch-wildcard-spec">.
2828 <tt>any</tt> matches all Debian machine architectures
2829 and is the most frequently used.
2832 <tt>all</tt>, which indicates an
2833 architecture-independent package.
2836 <tt>source</tt>, which indicates a source package.
2842 In the main <file>debian/control</file> file in the source
2843 package, this field may contain the special
2844 value <tt>all</tt>, the special architecture
2845 wildcard <tt>any</tt>, or a list of specific and wildcard
2846 architectures separated by spaces. If <tt>all</tt>
2847 or <tt>any</tt> appears, that value must be the entire
2848 contents of the field. Most packages will use
2849 either <tt>all</tt> or <tt>any</tt>.
2853 Specifying a specific list of architectures indicates that the
2854 source will build an architecture-dependent package only on
2855 architectures included in the list. Specifying a list of
2856 architecture wildcards indicates that the source will build an
2857 architecture-dependent package on only those architectures
2858 that match any of the specified architecture wildcards.
2859 Specifying a list of architectures or architecture wildcards
2860 other than <tt>any</tt> is for the minority of cases where a
2861 program is not portable or is not useful on some
2862 architectures. Where possible, the program should be made
2867 In the source package control file <file>.dsc</file>, this
2868 field may contain either the architecture
2869 wildcard <tt>any</tt> or a list of architectures and
2870 architecture wildcards separated by spaces. If a list is
2871 given, it may include (or consist solely of) the special
2872 value <tt>all</tt>. In other words, in <file>.dsc</file>
2873 files unlike the <file>debian/control</file>, <tt>all</tt> may
2874 occur in combination with specific architectures.
2875 The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in the source package control
2876 file <file>.dsc</file> is generally constructed from
2877 the <tt>Architecture</tt> fields in
2878 the <file>debian/control</file> in the source package.
2882 Specifying <tt>any</tt> indicates that the source package
2883 isn't dependent on any particular architecture and should
2884 compile fine on any one. The produced binary package(s)
2885 will either be specific to whatever the current build
2886 architecture is or will be architecture-independent.
2890 Specifying only <tt>all</tt> indicates that the source package
2891 will only build architecture-independent packages. If this is
2892 the case, <tt>all</tt> must be used rather than <tt>any</tt>;
2893 <tt>any</tt> implies that the source package will build at
2894 least one architecture-dependent package.
2898 Specifying a list of architectures or architecture wildcards
2899 indicates that the source will build an architecture-dependent
2900 package, and will only work correctly on the listed or
2901 matching architectures. If the source package also builds at
2902 least one architecture-independent package, <tt>all</tt> will
2903 also be included in the list.
2907 In a <file>.changes</file> file, the <tt>Architecture</tt>
2908 field lists the architecture(s) of the package(s) currently
2909 being uploaded. This will be a list; if the source for the
2910 package is also being uploaded, the special
2911 entry <tt>source</tt> is also present. <tt>all</tt> will be
2912 present if any architecture-independent packages are being
2913 uploaded. Architecture wildcards such as <tt>any</tt> must
2914 never occur in the <tt>Architecture</tt> field in
2915 the <file>.changes</file> file.
2919 See <ref id="debianrules"> for information on how to get
2920 the architecture for the build process.
2924 <sect1 id="f-Essential">
2925 <heading><tt>Essential</tt></heading>
2928 This is a boolean field which may occur only in the
2929 control file of a binary package or in a per-package fields
2930 paragraph of a main source control data file.
2934 If set to <tt>yes</tt> then the package management system
2935 will refuse to remove the package (upgrading and replacing
2936 it is still possible). The other possible value is <tt>no</tt>,
2937 which is the same as not having the field at all.
2942 <heading>Package interrelationship fields:
2943 <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>,
2944 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>,
2945 <tt>Breaks</tt>, <tt>Conflicts</tt>,
2946 <tt>Provides</tt>, <tt>Replaces</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>
2950 These fields describe the package's relationships with
2951 other packages. Their syntax and semantics are described
2952 in <ref id="relationships">.</p>
2955 <sect1 id="f-Standards-Version">
2956 <heading><tt>Standards-Version</tt></heading>
2959 The most recent version of the standards (the policy
2960 manual and associated texts) with which the package
2965 The version number has four components: major and minor
2966 version number and major and minor patch level. When the
2967 standards change in a way that requires every package to
2968 change the major number will be changed. Significant
2969 changes that will require work in many packages will be
2970 signaled by a change to the minor number. The major patch
2971 level will be changed for any change to the meaning of the
2972 standards, however small; the minor patch level will be
2973 changed when only cosmetic, typographical or other edits
2974 are made which neither change the meaning of the document
2975 nor affect the contents of packages.
2979 Thus only the first three components of the policy version
2980 are significant in the <em>Standards-Version</em> control
2981 field, and so either these three components or all four
2982 components may be specified.<footnote>
2983 In the past, people specified the full version number
2984 in the Standards-Version field, for example "2.3.0.0".
2985 Since minor patch-level changes don't introduce new
2986 policy, it was thought it would be better to relax
2987 policy and only require the first 3 components to be
2988 specified, in this example "2.3.0". All four
2989 components may still be used if someone wishes to do so.
2995 <sect1 id="f-Version">
2996 <heading><tt>Version</tt></heading>
2999 The version number of a package. The format is:
3000 [<var>epoch</var><tt>:</tt>]<var>upstream_version</var>[<tt>-</tt><var>debian_revision</var>]
3004 The three components here are:
3006 <tag><var>epoch</var></tag>
3009 This is a single (generally small) unsigned integer. It
3010 may be omitted, in which case zero is assumed. If it is
3011 omitted then the <var>upstream_version</var> may not
3016 It is provided to allow mistakes in the version numbers
3017 of older versions of a package, and also a package's
3018 previous version numbering schemes, to be left behind.
3022 <tag><var>upstream_version</var></tag>
3025 This is the main part of the version number. It is
3026 usually the version number of the original ("upstream")
3027 package from which the <file>.deb</file> file has been made,
3028 if this is applicable. Usually this will be in the same
3029 format as that specified by the upstream author(s);
3030 however, it may need to be reformatted to fit into the
3031 package management system's format and comparison
3036 The comparison behavior of the package management system
3037 with respect to the <var>upstream_version</var> is
3038 described below. The <var>upstream_version</var>
3039 portion of the version number is mandatory.
3043 The <var>upstream_version</var> may contain only
3044 alphanumerics<footnote>
3045 Alphanumerics are <tt>A-Za-z0-9</tt> only.
3047 and the characters <tt>.</tt> <tt>+</tt> <tt>-</tt>
3048 <tt>:</tt> <tt>~</tt> (full stop, plus, hyphen, colon,
3049 tilde) and should start with a digit. If there is no
3050 <var>debian_revision</var> then hyphens are not allowed;
3051 if there is no <var>epoch</var> then colons are not
3056 <tag><var>debian_revision</var></tag>
3059 This part of the version number specifies the version of
3060 the Debian package based on the upstream version. It
3061 may contain only alphanumerics and the characters
3062 <tt>+</tt> <tt>.</tt> <tt>~</tt> (plus, full stop,
3063 tilde) and is compared in the same way as the
3064 <var>upstream_version</var> is.
3068 It is optional; if it isn't present then the
3069 <var>upstream_version</var> may not contain a hyphen.
3070 This format represents the case where a piece of
3071 software was written specifically to be a Debian
3072 package, where the Debian package source must always
3073 be identical to the pristine source and therefore no
3074 revision indication is required.
3078 It is conventional to restart the
3079 <var>debian_revision</var> at <tt>1</tt> each time the
3080 <var>upstream_version</var> is increased.
3084 The package management system will break the version
3085 number apart at the last hyphen in the string (if there
3086 is one) to determine the <var>upstream_version</var> and
3087 <var>debian_revision</var>. The absence of a
3088 <var>debian_revision</var> is equivalent to a
3089 <var>debian_revision</var> of <tt>0</tt>.
3096 When comparing two version numbers, first the <var>epoch</var>
3097 of each are compared, then the <var>upstream_version</var> if
3098 <var>epoch</var> is equal, and then <var>debian_revision</var>
3099 if <var>upstream_version</var> is also equal.
3100 <var>epoch</var> is compared numerically. The
3101 <var>upstream_version</var> and <var>debian_revision</var>
3102 parts are compared by the package management system using the
3103 following algorithm:
3107 The strings are compared from left to right.
3111 First the initial part of each string consisting entirely of
3112 non-digit characters is determined. These two parts (one of
3113 which may be empty) are compared lexically. If a difference
3114 is found it is returned. The lexical comparison is a
3115 comparison of ASCII values modified so that all the letters
3116 sort earlier than all the non-letters and so that a tilde
3117 sorts before anything, even the end of a part. For example,
3118 the following parts are in sorted order from earliest to
3119 latest: <tt>~~</tt>, <tt>~~a</tt>, <tt>~</tt>, the empty part,
3120 <tt>a</tt>.<footnote>
3121 One common use of <tt>~</tt> is for upstream pre-releases.
3122 For example, <tt>1.0~beta1~svn1245</tt> sorts earlier than
3123 <tt>1.0~beta1</tt>, which sorts earlier than <tt>1.0</tt>.
3128 Then the initial part of the remainder of each string which
3129 consists entirely of digit characters is determined. The
3130 numerical values of these two parts are compared, and any
3131 difference found is returned as the result of the comparison.
3132 For these purposes an empty string (which can only occur at
3133 the end of one or both version strings being compared) counts
3138 These two steps (comparing and removing initial non-digit
3139 strings and initial digit strings) are repeated until a
3140 difference is found or both strings are exhausted.
3144 Note that the purpose of epochs is to allow us to leave behind
3145 mistakes in version numbering, and to cope with situations
3146 where the version numbering scheme changes. It is
3147 <em>not</em> intended to cope with version numbers containing
3148 strings of letters which the package management system cannot
3149 interpret (such as <tt>ALPHA</tt> or <tt>pre-</tt>), or with
3150 silly orderings.<footnote>
3151 The author of this manual has heard of a package whose
3152 versions went <tt>1.1</tt>, <tt>1.2</tt>, <tt>1.3</tt>,
3153 <tt>1</tt>, <tt>2.1</tt>, <tt>2.2</tt>, <tt>2</tt> and so
3159 <sect1 id="f-Description">
3160 <heading><tt>Description</tt></heading>
3163 In a source or binary control file, the <tt>Description</tt>
3164 field contains a description of the binary package, consisting
3165 of two parts, the synopsis or the short description, and the
3166 long description. The field's format is as follows:
3171 Description: <single line synopsis>
3172 <extended description over several lines>
3177 The lines in the extended description can have these formats:
3183 Those starting with a single space are part of a paragraph.
3184 Successive lines of this form will be word-wrapped when
3185 displayed. The leading space will usually be stripped off.
3189 Those starting with two or more spaces. These will be
3190 displayed verbatim. If the display cannot be panned
3191 horizontally, the displaying program will line wrap them "hard"
3192 (i.e., without taking account of word breaks). If it can they
3193 will be allowed to trail off to the right. None, one or two
3194 initial spaces may be deleted, but the number of spaces
3195 deleted from each line will be the same (so that you can have
3196 indenting work correctly, for example).
3200 Those containing a single space followed by a single full stop
3201 character. These are rendered as blank lines. This is the
3202 <em>only</em> way to get a blank line<footnote>
3203 Completely empty lines will not be rendered as blank lines.
3204 Instead, they will cause the parser to think you're starting
3205 a whole new record in the control file, and will therefore
3206 likely abort with an error.
3211 Those containing a space, a full stop and some more characters.
3212 These are for future expansion. Do not use them.
3218 Do not use tab characters. Their effect is not predictable.
3222 See <ref id="descriptions"> for further information on this.
3226 In a <file>.changes</file> file, the <tt>Description</tt>
3227 field contains a summary of the descriptions for the packages
3228 being uploaded. For this case, the first line of the field
3229 value (the part on the same line as <tt>Description:</tt>) is
3230 always empty. The content of the field is expressed as
3231 continuation lines, one line per package. Each line is
3232 indented by one space and contains the name of a binary
3233 package, a space, a hyphen (<tt>-</tt>), a space, and the
3234 short description line from that package.
3238 <sect1 id="f-Distribution">
3239 <heading><tt>Distribution</tt></heading>
3242 In a <file>.changes</file> file or parsed changelog output
3243 this contains the (space-separated) name(s) of the
3244 distribution(s) where this version of the package should
3245 be installed. Valid distributions are determined by the
3246 archive maintainers.<footnote>
3247 Example distribution names in the Debian archive used in
3248 <file>.changes</file> files are:
3249 <taglist compact="compact">
3250 <tag><em>unstable</em></tag>
3252 This distribution value refers to the
3253 <em>developmental</em> part of the Debian distribution
3254 tree. Most new packages, new upstream versions of
3255 packages and bug fixes go into the <em>unstable</em>
3259 <tag><em>experimental</em></tag>
3261 The packages with this distribution value are deemed
3262 by their maintainers to be high risk. Oftentimes they
3263 represent early beta or developmental packages from
3264 various sources that the maintainers want people to
3265 try, but are not ready to be a part of the other parts
3266 of the Debian distribution tree.
3271 Others are used for updating stable releases or for
3272 security uploads. More information is available in the
3273 Debian Developer's Reference, section "The Debian
3277 The Debian archive software only supports listing a single
3278 distribution. Migration of packages to other distributions is
3279 handled outside of the upload process.
3284 <heading><tt>Date</tt></heading>
3287 This field includes the date the package was built or last
3288 edited. It must be in the same format as the <var>date</var>
3289 in a <file>debian/changelog</file> entry.
3293 The value of this field is usually extracted from the
3294 <file>debian/changelog</file> file - see
3295 <ref id="dpkgchangelog">).
3299 <sect1 id="f-Format">
3300 <heading><tt>Format</tt></heading>
3303 In <qref id="debianchangesfiles"><file>.changes</file></qref>
3304 files, this field declares the format version of that file.
3305 The syntax of the field value is the same as that of
3306 a <qref id="f-Version">package version number</qref> except
3307 that no epoch or Debian revision is allowed. The format
3308 described in this document is <tt>&changesversion;</tt>.
3312 In <qref id="debiansourcecontrolfiles"><file>.dsc</file>
3313 Debian source control</qref> files, this field declares the
3314 format of the source package. The field value is used by
3315 programs acting on a source package to interpret the list of
3316 files in the source package and determine how to unpack it.
3317 The syntax of the field value is a numeric major revision, a
3318 period, a numeric minor revision, and then an optional subtype
3319 after whitespace, which if specified is an alphanumeric word
3320 in parentheses. The subtype is optional in the syntax but may
3321 be mandatory for particular source format revisions.
3323 The source formats currently supported by the Debian archive
3324 software are <tt>1.0</tt>, <tt>3.0 (native)</tt>,
3325 and <tt>3.0 (quilt)</tt>.
3330 <sect1 id="f-Urgency">
3331 <heading><tt>Urgency</tt></heading>
3334 This is a description of how important it is to upgrade to
3335 this version from previous ones. It consists of a single
3336 keyword taking one of the values <tt>low</tt>,
3337 <tt>medium</tt>, <tt>high</tt>, <tt>emergency</tt>, or
3338 <tt>critical</tt><footnote>
3339 Other urgency values are supported with configuration
3340 changes in the archive software but are not used in Debian.
3341 The urgency affects how quickly a package will be considered
3342 for inclusion into the <tt>testing</tt> distribution and
3343 gives an indication of the importance of any fixes included
3344 in the upload. <tt>Emergency</tt> and <tt>critical</tt> are
3345 treated as synonymous.
3346 </footnote> (not case-sensitive) followed by an optional
3347 commentary (separated by a space) which is usually in
3348 parentheses. For example:
3351 Urgency: low (HIGH for users of diversions)
3357 The value of this field is usually extracted from the
3358 <file>debian/changelog</file> file - see
3359 <ref id="dpkgchangelog">.
3363 <sect1 id="f-Changes">
3364 <heading><tt>Changes</tt></heading>
3367 This field contains the human-readable changes data, describing
3368 the differences between the last version and the current one.
3372 The first line of the field value (the part on the same line
3373 as <tt>Changes:</tt>) is always empty. The content of the
3374 field is expressed as continuation lines, with each line
3375 indented by at least one space. Blank lines must be
3376 represented by a line consisting only of a space and a full
3381 The value of this field is usually extracted from the
3382 <file>debian/changelog</file> file - see
3383 <ref id="dpkgchangelog">).
3387 Each version's change information should be preceded by a
3388 "title" line giving at least the version, distribution(s)
3389 and urgency, in a human-readable way.
3393 If data from several versions is being returned the entry
3394 for the most recent version should be returned first, and
3395 entries should be separated by the representation of a
3396 blank line (the "title" line may also be followed by the
3397 representation of a blank line).
3401 <sect1 id="f-Binary">
3402 <heading><tt>Binary</tt></heading>
3405 This field is a list of binary packages. Its syntax and
3406 meaning varies depending on the control file in which it
3411 When it appears in the <file>.dsc</file> file, it lists binary
3412 packages which a source package can produce, separated by
3414 A space after each comma is conventional.
3415 </footnote>. It may span multiple lines. The source package
3416 does not necessarily produce all of these binary packages for
3417 every architecture. The source control file doesn't contain
3418 details of which architectures are appropriate for which of
3419 the binary packages.
3423 When it appears in a <file>.changes</file> file, it lists the
3424 names of the binary packages being uploaded, separated by
3425 whitespace (not commas). It may span multiple lines.
3429 <sect1 id="f-Installed-Size">
3430 <heading><tt>Installed-Size</tt></heading>
3433 This field appears in the control files of binary packages,
3434 and in the <file>Packages</file> files. It gives an estimate
3435 of the total amount of disk space required to install the
3436 named package. Actual installed size may vary based on block
3437 size, file system properties, or actions taken by package
3442 The disk space is given as the integer value of the estimated
3443 installed size in bytes, divided by 1024 and rounded up.
3447 <sect1 id="f-Files">
3448 <heading><tt>Files</tt></heading>
3451 This field contains a list of files with information about
3452 each one. The exact information and syntax varies with
3457 In all cases, Files is a multiline field. The first line of
3458 the field value (the part on the same line as <tt>Files:</tt>)
3459 is always empty. The content of the field is expressed as
3460 continuation lines, one line per file. Each line must be
3461 indented by one space and contain a number of sub-fields,
3462 separated by spaces, as described below.
3466 In the <file>.dsc</file> file, each line contains the MD5
3467 checksum, size and filename of the tar file and (if
3468 applicable) diff file which make up the remainder of the
3469 source package<footnote>
3470 That is, the parts which are not the <tt>.dsc</tt>.
3471 </footnote>. For example:
3474 c6f698f19f2a2aa07dbb9bbda90a2754 571925 example_1.2.orig.tar.gz
3475 938512f08422f3509ff36f125f5873ba 6220 example_1.2-1.diff.gz
3477 The exact forms of the filenames are described
3478 in <ref id="pkg-sourcearchives">.
3482 In the <file>.changes</file> file this contains one line per
3483 file being uploaded. Each line contains the MD5 checksum,
3484 size, section and priority and the filename. For example:
3487 4c31ab7bfc40d3cf49d7811987390357 1428 text extra example_1.2-1.dsc
3488 c6f698f19f2a2aa07dbb9bbda90a2754 571925 text extra example_1.2.orig.tar.gz
3489 938512f08422f3509ff36f125f5873ba 6220 text extra example_1.2-1.diff.gz
3490 7c98fe853b3bbb47a00e5cd129b6cb56 703542 text extra example_1.2-1_i386.deb
3492 The <qref id="f-Section">section</qref>
3493 and <qref id="f-Priority">priority</qref> are the values of
3494 the corresponding fields in the main source control file. If
3495 no section or priority is specified then <tt>-</tt> should be
3496 used, though section and priority values must be specified for
3497 new packages to be installed properly.
3501 The special value <tt>byhand</tt> for the section in a
3502 <tt>.changes</tt> file indicates that the file in question
3503 is not an ordinary package file and must by installed by
3504 hand by the distribution maintainers. If the section is
3505 <tt>byhand</tt> the priority should be <tt>-</tt>.
3509 If a new Debian revision of a package is being shipped and
3510 no new original source archive is being distributed the
3511 <tt>.dsc</tt> must still contain the <tt>Files</tt> field
3512 entry for the original source archive
3513 <file><var>package</var>_<var>upstream-version</var>.orig.tar.gz</file>,
3514 but the <file>.changes</file> file should leave it out. In
3515 this case the original source archive on the distribution
3516 site must match exactly, byte-for-byte, the original
3517 source archive which was used to generate the
3518 <file>.dsc</file> file and diff which are being uploaded.</p>
3521 <sect1 id="f-Closes">
3522 <heading><tt>Closes</tt></heading>
3525 A space-separated list of bug report numbers that the upload
3526 governed by the .changes file closes.
3530 <sect1 id="f-Homepage">
3531 <heading><tt>Homepage</tt></heading>
3534 The URL of the web site for this package, preferably (when
3535 applicable) the site from which the original source can be
3536 obtained and any additional upstream documentation or
3537 information may be found. The content of this field is a
3538 simple URL without any surrounding characters such as
3543 <sect1 id="f-Checksums">
3544 <heading><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
3545 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt></heading>
3548 These fields contain a list of files with a checksum and size
3549 for each one. Both <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
3550 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> have the same syntax and differ
3551 only in the checksum algorithm used: SHA-1
3552 for <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and SHA-256
3553 for <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt>.
3557 <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are
3558 multiline fields. The first line of the field value (the part
3559 on the same line as <tt>Checksums-Sha1:</tt>
3560 or <tt>Checksums-Sha256:</tt>) is always empty. The content
3561 of the field is expressed as continuation lines, one line per
3562 file. Each line consists of the checksum, a space, the file
3563 size, a space, and the file name. For example (from
3564 a <file>.changes</file> file):
3567 1f418afaa01464e63cc1ee8a66a05f0848bd155c 1276 example_1.0-1.dsc
3568 a0ed1456fad61116f868b1855530dbe948e20f06 171602 example_1.0.orig.tar.gz
3569 5e86ecf0671e113b63388dac81dd8d00e00ef298 6137 example_1.0-1.debian.tar.gz
3570 71a0ff7da0faaf608481195f9cf30974b142c183 548402 example_1.0-1_i386.deb
3572 ac9d57254f7e835bed299926fd51bf6f534597cc3fcc52db01c4bffedae81272 1276 example_1.0-1.dsc
3573 0d123be7f51e61c4bf15e5c492b484054be7e90f3081608a5517007bfb1fd128 171602 example_1.0.orig.tar.gz
3574 f54ae966a5f580571ae7d9ef5e1df0bd42d63e27cb505b27957351a495bc6288 6137 example_1.0-1.debian.tar.gz
3575 3bec05c03974fdecd11d020fc2e8250de8404867a8a2ce865160c250eb723664 548402 example_1.0-1_i386.deb
3580 In the <file>.dsc</file> file, these fields should list all
3581 files that make up the source package. In
3582 the <file>.changes</file> file, these fields should list all
3583 files being uploaded. The list of files in these fields
3584 must match the list of files in the <tt>Files</tt> field.
3590 <heading>User-defined fields</heading>
3593 Additional user-defined fields may be added to the
3594 source package control file. Such fields will be
3595 ignored, and not copied to (for example) binary or
3596 source package control files or upload control files.
3600 If you wish to add additional unsupported fields to
3601 these output files you should use the mechanism
3606 Fields in the main source control information file with
3607 names starting <tt>X</tt>, followed by one or more of
3608 the letters <tt>BCS</tt> and a hyphen <tt>-</tt>, will
3609 be copied to the output files. Only the part of the
3610 field name after the hyphen will be used in the output
3611 file. Where the letter <tt>B</tt> is used the field
3612 will appear in binary package control files, where the
3613 letter <tt>S</tt> is used in source package control
3614 files and where <tt>C</tt> is used in upload control
3615 (<tt>.changes</tt>) files.
3619 For example, if the main source information control file
3622 XBS-Comment: I stand between the candle and the star.
3624 then the binary and source package control files will contain the
3627 Comment: I stand between the candle and the star.
3636 <chapt id="maintainerscripts">
3637 <heading>Package maintainer scripts and installation procedure</heading>
3640 <heading>Introduction to package maintainer scripts</heading>
3643 It is possible to supply scripts as part of a package which
3644 the package management system will run for you when your
3645 package is installed, upgraded or removed.
3649 These scripts are the control information
3650 files <prgn>preinst</prgn>, <prgn>postinst</prgn>, <prgn>prerm</prgn>
3651 and <prgn>postrm</prgn>. They must be proper executable files;
3652 if they are scripts (which is recommended), they must start with
3653 the usual <tt>#!</tt> convention. They should be readable and
3654 executable by anyone, and must not be world-writable.
3658 The package management system looks at the exit status from
3659 these scripts. It is important that they exit with a
3660 non-zero status if there is an error, so that the package
3661 management system can stop its processing. For shell
3662 scripts this means that you <em>almost always</em> need to
3663 use <tt>set -e</tt> (this is usually true when writing shell
3664 scripts, in fact). It is also important, of course, that
3665 they exit with a zero status if everything went well.
3669 Additionally, packages interacting with users
3670 using <prgn>debconf</prgn> in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script
3671 should install a <prgn>config</prgn> script as a control
3672 information file. See <ref id="maintscriptprompt"> for details.
3676 When a package is upgraded a combination of the scripts from
3677 the old and new packages is called during the upgrade
3678 procedure. If your scripts are going to be at all
3679 complicated you need to be aware of this, and may need to
3680 check the arguments to your scripts.
3684 Broadly speaking the <prgn>preinst</prgn> is called before
3685 (a particular version of) a package is installed, and the
3686 <prgn>postinst</prgn> afterwards; the <prgn>prerm</prgn>
3687 before (a version of) a package is removed and the
3688 <prgn>postrm</prgn> afterwards.
3692 Programs called from maintainer scripts should not normally
3693 have a path prepended to them. Before installation is
3694 started, the package management system checks to see if the
3695 programs <prgn>ldconfig</prgn>,
3696 <prgn>start-stop-daemon</prgn>, <prgn>install-info</prgn>,
3697 and <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> can be found via the
3698 <tt>PATH</tt> environment variable. Those programs, and any
3699 other program that one would expect to be in the
3700 <tt>PATH</tt>, should thus be invoked without an absolute
3701 pathname. Maintainer scripts should also not reset the
3702 <tt>PATH</tt>, though they might choose to modify it by
3703 prepending or appending package-specific directories. These
3704 considerations really apply to all shell scripts.</p>
3707 <sect id="idempotency">
3708 <heading>Maintainer scripts idempotency</heading>
3711 It is necessary for the error recovery procedures that the
3712 scripts be idempotent. This means that if it is run
3713 successfully, and then it is called again, it doesn't bomb
3714 out or cause any harm, but just ensures that everything is
3715 the way it ought to be. If the first call failed, or
3716 aborted half way through for some reason, the second call
3717 should merely do the things that were left undone the first
3718 time, if any, and exit with a success status if everything
3720 This is so that if an error occurs, the user interrupts
3721 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> or some other unforeseen circumstance
3722 happens you don't leave the user with a badly-broken
3723 package when <prgn>dpkg</prgn> attempts to repeat the
3729 <sect id="controllingterminal">
3730 <heading>Controlling terminal for maintainer scripts</heading>
3733 Maintainer scripts are not guaranteed to run with a controlling
3734 terminal and may not be able to interact with the user. They
3735 must be able to fall back to noninteractive behavior if no
3736 controlling terminal is available. Maintainer scripts that
3737 prompt via a program conforming to the Debian Configuration
3738 Management Specification (see <ref id="maintscriptprompt">) may
3739 assume that program will handle falling back to noninteractive
3744 For high-priority prompts without a reasonable default answer,
3745 maintainer scripts may abort if there is no controlling
3746 terminal. However, this situation should be avoided if at all
3747 possible, since it prevents automated or unattended installs.
3748 In most cases, users will consider this to be a bug in the
3753 <sect id="exitstatus">
3754 <heading>Exit status</heading>
3757 Each script must return a zero exit status for
3758 success, or a nonzero one for failure, since the package
3759 management system looks for the exit status of these scripts
3760 and determines what action to take next based on that datum.
3764 <sect id="mscriptsinstact"><heading>Summary of ways maintainer
3769 <list compact="compact">
3771 <var>new-preinst</var> <tt>install</tt>
3774 <var>new-preinst</var> <tt>install</tt> <var>old-version</var>
3777 <var>new-preinst</var> <tt>upgrade</tt> <var>old-version</var>
3780 <var>old-preinst</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
3781 <var>new-version</var>
3786 <list compact="compact">
3788 <var>postinst</var> <tt>configure</tt>
3789 <var>most-recently-configured-version</var>
3792 <var>old-postinst</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
3793 <var>new-version</var>
3796 <var>conflictor's-postinst</var> <tt>abort-remove</tt>
3797 <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package</var>
3798 <var>new-version</var>
3801 <var>postinst</var> <tt>abort-remove</tt>
3804 <var>deconfigured's-postinst</var>
3805 <tt>abort-deconfigure</tt> <tt>in-favour</tt>
3806 <var>failed-install-package</var> <var>version</var>
3807 [<tt>removing</tt> <var>conflicting-package</var>
3813 <list compact="compact">
3815 <var>prerm</var> <tt>remove</tt>
3818 <var>old-prerm</var> <tt>upgrade</tt>
3819 <var>new-version</var>
3822 <var>new-prerm</var> <tt>failed-upgrade</tt>
3823 <var>old-version</var>
3826 <var>conflictor's-prerm</var> <tt>remove</tt>
3827 <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package</var>
3828 <var>new-version</var>
3831 <var>deconfigured's-prerm</var> <tt>deconfigure</tt>
3832 <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package-being-installed</var>
3833 <var>version</var> [<tt>removing</tt>
3834 <var>conflicting-package</var>
3840 <list compact="compact">
3842 <var>postrm</var> <tt>remove</tt>
3845 <var>postrm</var> <tt>purge</tt>
3848 <var>old-postrm</var> <tt>upgrade</tt>
3849 <var>new-version</var>
3852 <var>new-postrm</var> <tt>failed-upgrade</tt>
3853 <var>old-version</var>
3856 <var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-install</tt>
3859 <var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-install</tt>
3860 <var>old-version</var>
3863 <var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
3864 <var>old-version</var>
3867 <var>disappearer's-postrm</var> <tt>disappear</tt>
3868 <var>overwriter</var>
3869 <var>overwriter-version</var>
3875 <sect id="unpackphase">
3876 <heading>Details of unpack phase of installation or upgrade</heading>
3879 The procedure on installation/upgrade/overwrite/disappear
3880 (i.e., when running <tt>dpkg --unpack</tt>, or the unpack
3881 stage of <tt>dpkg --install</tt>) is as follows. In each
3882 case, if a major error occurs (unless listed below) the
3883 actions are, in general, run backwards - this means that the
3884 maintainer scripts are run with different arguments in
3885 reverse order. These are the "error unwind" calls listed
3892 If a version of the package is already installed, call
3893 <example compact="compact">
3894 <var>old-prerm</var> upgrade <var>new-version</var>
3898 If the script runs but exits with a non-zero
3899 exit status, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will attempt:
3900 <example compact="compact">
3901 <var>new-prerm</var> failed-upgrade <var>old-version</var>
3903 If this works, the upgrade continues. If this
3904 does not work, the error unwind:
3905 <example compact="compact">
3906 <var>old-postinst</var> abort-upgrade <var>new-version</var>
3908 If this works, then the old-version is
3909 "Installed", if not, the old version is in a
3910 "Half-Configured" state.
3916 If a "conflicting" package is being removed at the same time,
3917 or if any package will be broken (due to <tt>Breaks</tt>):
3920 If <tt>--auto-deconfigure</tt> is
3921 specified, call, for each package to be deconfigured
3922 due to <tt>Breaks</tt>:
3923 <example compact="compact">
3924 <var>deconfigured's-prerm</var> deconfigure \
3925 in-favour <var>package-being-installed</var> <var>version</var>
3928 <example compact="compact">
3929 <var>deconfigured's-postinst</var> abort-deconfigure \
3930 in-favour <var>package-being-installed-but-failed</var> <var>version</var>
3932 The deconfigured packages are marked as
3933 requiring configuration, so that if
3934 <tt>--install</tt> is used they will be
3935 configured again if possible.
3938 If any packages depended on a conflicting
3939 package being removed and <tt>--auto-deconfigure</tt> is
3940 specified, call, for each such package:
3941 <example compact="compact">
3942 <var>deconfigured's-prerm</var> deconfigure \
3943 in-favour <var>package-being-installed</var> <var>version</var> \
3944 removing <var>conflicting-package</var> <var>version</var>
3947 <example compact="compact">
3948 <var>deconfigured's-postinst</var> abort-deconfigure \
3949 in-favour <var>package-being-installed-but-failed</var> <var>version</var> \
3950 removing <var>conflicting-package</var> <var>version</var>
3952 The deconfigured packages are marked as
3953 requiring configuration, so that if
3954 <tt>--install</tt> is used they will be
3955 configured again if possible.
3958 To prepare for removal of each conflicting package, call:
3959 <example compact="compact">
3960 <var>conflictor's-prerm</var> remove \
3961 in-favour <var>package</var> <var>new-version</var>
3964 <example compact="compact">
3965 <var>conflictor's-postinst</var> abort-remove \
3966 in-favour <var>package</var> <var>new-version</var>
3975 If the package is being upgraded, call:
3976 <example compact="compact">
3977 <var>new-preinst</var> upgrade <var>old-version</var>
3979 If this fails, we call:
3981 <var>new-postrm</var> abort-upgrade <var>old-version</var>
3988 <var>old-postinst</var> abort-upgrade <var>new-version</var>
3990 is called. If this works, then the old version
3991 is in an "Installed" state, or else it is left
3992 in an "Unpacked" state.
3997 If it fails, then the old version is left
3998 in an "Half-Installed" state.
4005 Otherwise, if the package had some configuration
4006 files from a previous version installed (i.e., it
4007 is in the "configuration files only" state):
4008 <example compact="compact">
4009 <var>new-preinst</var> install <var>old-version</var>
4013 <var>new-postrm</var> abort-install <var>old-version</var>
4015 If this fails, the package is left in a
4016 "Half-Installed" state, which requires a
4017 reinstall. If it works, the packages is left in
4018 a "Config-Files" state.
4021 Otherwise (i.e., the package was completely purged):
4022 <example compact="compact">
4023 <var>new-preinst</var> install
4026 <example compact="compact">
4027 <var>new-postrm</var> abort-install
4029 If the error-unwind fails, the package is in a
4030 "Half-Installed" phase, and requires a
4031 reinstall. If the error unwind works, the
4032 package is in a not installed state.
4039 The new package's files are unpacked, overwriting any
4040 that may be on the system already, for example any
4041 from the old version of the same package or from
4042 another package. Backups of the old files are kept
4043 temporarily, and if anything goes wrong the package
4044 management system will attempt to put them back as
4045 part of the error unwind.
4049 It is an error for a package to contain files which
4050 are on the system in another package, unless
4051 <tt>Replaces</tt> is used (see <ref id="replaces">).
4053 The following paragraph is not currently the case:
4054 Currently the <tt>- - force-overwrite</tt> flag is
4055 enabled, downgrading it to a warning, but this may not
4061 It is a more serious error for a package to contain a
4062 plain file or other kind of non-directory where another
4063 package has a directory (again, unless
4064 <tt>Replaces</tt> is used). This error can be
4065 overridden if desired using
4066 <tt>--force-overwrite-dir</tt>, but this is not
4071 Packages which overwrite each other's files produce
4072 behavior which, though deterministic, is hard for the
4073 system administrator to understand. It can easily
4074 lead to "missing" programs if, for example, a package
4075 is installed which overwrites a file from another
4076 package, and is then removed again.<footnote>
4077 Part of the problem is due to what is arguably a
4078 bug in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>.
4083 A directory will never be replaced by a symbolic link
4084 to a directory or vice versa; instead, the existing
4085 state (symlink or not) will be left alone and
4086 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will follow the symlink if there is
4095 If the package is being upgraded, call
4096 <example compact="compact">
4097 <var>old-postrm</var> upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4101 If this fails, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will attempt:
4102 <example compact="compact">
4103 <var>new-postrm</var> failed-upgrade <var>old-version</var>
4105 If this works, installation continues. If not,
4107 <example compact="compact">
4108 <var>old-preinst</var> abort-upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4110 If this fails, the old version is left in a
4111 "Half-Installed" state. If it works, dpkg now
4113 <example compact="compact">
4114 <var>new-postrm</var> abort-upgrade <var>old-version</var>
4116 If this fails, the old version is left in a
4117 "Half-Installed" state. If it works, dpkg now
4119 <example compact="compact">
4120 <var>old-postinst</var> abort-upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4122 If this fails, the old version is in an
4129 This is the point of no return - if
4130 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> gets this far, it won't back off
4131 past this point if an error occurs. This will
4132 leave the package in a fairly bad state, which
4133 will require a successful re-installation to clear
4134 up, but it's when <prgn>dpkg</prgn> starts doing
4135 things that are irreversible.
4140 Any files which were in the old version of the package
4141 but not in the new are removed.
4145 The new file list replaces the old.
4149 The new maintainer scripts replace the old.
4153 Any packages all of whose files have been overwritten
4154 during the installation, and which aren't required for
4155 dependencies, are considered to have been removed.
4156 For each such package
4159 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> calls:
4160 <example compact="compact">
4161 <var>disappearer's-postrm</var> disappear \
4162 <var>overwriter</var> <var>overwriter-version</var>
4166 The package's maintainer scripts are removed.
4169 It is noted in the status database as being in a
4170 sane state, namely not installed (any conffiles
4171 it may have are ignored, rather than being
4172 removed by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>). Note that
4173 disappearing packages do not have their prerm
4174 called, because <prgn>dpkg</prgn> doesn't know
4175 in advance that the package is going to
4182 Any files in the package we're unpacking that are also
4183 listed in the file lists of other packages are removed
4184 from those lists. (This will lobotomize the file list
4185 of the "conflicting" package if there is one.)
4189 The backup files made during installation, above, are
4195 The new package's status is now sane, and recorded as
4200 Here is another point of no return - if the
4201 conflicting package's removal fails we do not unwind
4202 the rest of the installation; the conflicting package
4203 is left in a half-removed limbo.
4208 If there was a conflicting package we go and do the
4209 removal actions (described below), starting with the
4210 removal of the conflicting package's files (any that
4211 are also in the package being installed have already
4212 been removed from the conflicting package's file list,
4213 and so do not get removed now).
4219 <sect id="configdetails"><heading>Details of configuration</heading>
4222 When we configure a package (this happens with <tt>dpkg
4223 --install</tt> and <tt>dpkg --configure</tt>), we first
4224 update any <tt>conffile</tt>s and then call:
4225 <example compact="compact">
4226 <var>postinst</var> configure <var>most-recently-configured-version</var>
4231 No attempt is made to unwind after errors during
4232 configuration. If the configuration fails, the package is in
4233 a "Failed Config" state, and an error message is generated.
4237 If there is no most recently configured version
4238 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will pass a null argument.
4241 Historical note: Truly ancient (pre-1997) versions of
4242 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> passed <tt><unknown></tt>
4243 (including the angle brackets) in this case. Even older
4244 ones did not pass a second argument at all, under any
4245 circumstance. Note that upgrades using such an old dpkg
4246 version are unlikely to work for other reasons, even if
4247 this old argument behavior is handled by your postinst script.
4253 <sect id="removedetails"><heading>Details of removal and/or
4254 configuration purging</heading>
4260 <example compact="compact">
4261 <var>prerm</var> remove
4265 If prerm fails during replacement due to conflict
4267 <var>conflictor's-postinst</var> abort-remove \
4268 in-favour <var>package</var> <var>new-version</var>
4272 <var>postinst</var> abort-remove
4276 If this fails, the package is in a "Half-Configured"
4277 state, or else it remains "Installed".
4281 The package's files are removed (except <tt>conffile</tt>s).
4284 <example compact="compact">
4285 <var>postrm</var> remove
4289 If it fails, there's no error unwind, and the package is in
4290 an "Half-Installed" state.
4295 All the maintainer scripts except the <prgn>postrm</prgn>
4300 If we aren't purging the package we stop here. Note
4301 that packages which have no <prgn>postrm</prgn> and no
4302 <tt>conffile</tt>s are automatically purged when
4303 removed, as there is no difference except for the
4304 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> status.
4308 The <tt>conffile</tt>s and any backup files
4309 (<tt>~</tt>-files, <tt>#*#</tt> files,
4310 <tt>%</tt>-files, <tt>.dpkg-{old,new,tmp}</tt>, etc.)
4315 <example compact="compact">
4316 <var>postrm</var> purge
4320 If this fails, the package remains in a "Config-Files"
4325 The package's file list is removed.
4334 <chapt id="relationships">
4335 <heading>Declaring relationships between packages</heading>
4337 <sect id="depsyntax">
4338 <heading>Syntax of relationship fields</heading>
4341 These fields all have a uniform syntax. They are a list of
4342 package names separated by commas.
4346 In the <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Recommends</tt>,
4347 <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>,
4348 <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>
4349 control fields of the package, which declare
4350 dependencies on other packages, the package names listed may
4351 also include lists of alternative package names, separated
4352 by vertical bar (pipe) symbols <tt>|</tt>. In such a case,
4353 if any one of the alternative packages is installed, that
4354 part of the dependency is considered to be satisfied.
4358 All of the fields except for <tt>Provides</tt> may restrict
4359 their applicability to particular versions of each named
4360 package. This is done in parentheses after each individual
4361 package name; the parentheses should contain a relation from
4362 the list below followed by a version number, in the format
4363 described in <ref id="f-Version">.
4367 The relations allowed are <tt><<</tt>, <tt><=</tt>,
4368 <tt>=</tt>, <tt>>=</tt> and <tt>>></tt> for
4369 strictly earlier, earlier or equal, exactly equal, later or
4370 equal and strictly later, respectively. The deprecated
4371 forms <tt><</tt> and <tt>></tt> were used to mean
4372 earlier/later or equal, rather than strictly earlier/later,
4373 so they should not appear in new packages (though
4374 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> still supports them).
4378 Whitespace may appear at any point in the version
4379 specification subject to the rules in <ref
4380 id="controlsyntax">, and must appear where it's necessary to
4381 disambiguate; it is not otherwise significant. All of the
4382 relationship fields may span multiple lines. For
4383 consistency and in case of future changes to
4384 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> it is recommended that a single space be
4385 used after a version relationship and before a version
4386 number; it is also conventional to put a single space after
4387 each comma, on either side of each vertical bar, and before
4388 each open parenthesis. When wrapping a relationship field, it
4389 is conventional to do so after a comma and before the space
4390 following that comma.
4394 For example, a list of dependencies might appear as:
4395 <example compact="compact">
4398 Depends: libc6 (>= 2.2.1), exim | mail-transport-agent
4403 All fields that specify build-time relationships
4404 (<tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
4405 <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>)
4406 may be restricted to a certain set of architectures. This
4407 is indicated in brackets after each individual package name and
4408 the optional version specification. The brackets enclose a
4409 list of Debian architecture names separated by whitespace.
4410 Exclamation marks may be prepended to each of the names.
4411 (It is not permitted for some names to be prepended with
4412 exclamation marks while others aren't.) If the current Debian
4413 host architecture is not in this list and there are no
4414 exclamation marks in the list, or it is in the list with a
4415 prepended exclamation mark, the package name and the
4416 associated version specification are ignored completely for
4417 the purposes of defining the relationships.
4422 <example compact="compact">
4424 Build-Depends-Indep: texinfo
4425 Build-Depends: kernel-headers-2.2.10 [!hurd-i386],
4426 hurd-dev [hurd-i386], gnumach-dev [hurd-i386]
4428 requires <tt>kernel-headers-2.2.10</tt> on all architectures
4429 other than hurd-i386 and requires <tt>hurd-dev</tt> and
4430 <tt>gnumach-dev</tt> only on hurd-i386.
4434 If the architecture-restricted dependency is part of a set of
4435 alternatives using <tt>|</tt>, that alternative is ignored
4436 completely on architectures that do not match the restriction.
4438 <example compact="compact">
4439 Build-Depends: foo [!i386] | bar [!amd64]
4441 is equivalent to <tt>bar</tt> on the i386 architecture, to
4442 <tt>foo</tt> on the amd64 architecture, and to <tt>foo |
4443 bar</tt> on all other architectures.
4447 All fields that specify build-time relationships may also be
4448 restricted to a certain set of architectures using architecture
4449 wildcards. The syntax for declaring such restrictions is the
4450 same as declaring restrictions using a certain set of
4451 architectures without architecture wildcards. For example:
4452 <example compact="compact">
4453 Build-Depends: foo [linux-any], bar [any-i386], baz [!linux-any]
4455 is equivalent to <tt>foo</tt> on architectures using the Linux
4456 kernel and any cpu, <tt>bar</tt> on architectures using any
4457 kernel and an i386 cpu, and <tt>baz</tt> on any architecture
4458 using a kernel other than Linux.
4462 Note that the binary package relationship fields such as
4463 <tt>Depends</tt> appear in one of the binary package
4464 sections of the control file, whereas the build-time
4465 relationships such as <tt>Build-Depends</tt> appear in the
4466 source package section of the control file (which is the
4471 <sect id="binarydeps">
4472 <heading>Binary Dependencies - <tt>Depends</tt>,
4473 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>,
4474 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>
4478 Packages can declare in their control file that they have
4479 certain relationships to other packages - for example, that
4480 they may not be installed at the same time as certain other
4481 packages, and/or that they depend on the presence of others.
4485 This is done using the <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>,
4486 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>,
4487 <tt>Breaks</tt> and <tt>Conflicts</tt> control fields.
4488 <tt>Breaks</tt> is described in <ref id="breaks">, and
4489 <tt>Conflicts</tt> is described in <ref id="conflicts">. The
4490 rest are described below.
4494 These seven fields are used to declare a dependency
4495 relationship by one package on another. Except for
4496 <tt>Enhances</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt>, they appear in the
4497 depending (binary) package's control file.
4498 (<tt>Enhances</tt> appears in the recommending package's
4499 control file, and <tt>Breaks</tt> appears in the version of
4500 depended-on package which causes the named package to
4505 A <tt>Depends</tt> field takes effect <em>only</em> when a
4506 package is to be configured. It does not prevent a package
4507 being on the system in an unconfigured state while its
4508 dependencies are unsatisfied, and it is possible to replace
4509 a package whose dependencies are satisfied and which is
4510 properly installed with a different version whose
4511 dependencies are not and cannot be satisfied; when this is
4512 done the depending package will be left unconfigured (since
4513 attempts to configure it will give errors) and will not
4514 function properly. If it is necessary, a
4515 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> field can be used, which has a partial
4516 effect even when a package is being unpacked, as explained
4517 in detail below. (The other three dependency fields,
4518 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt> and
4519 <tt>Enhances</tt>, are only used by the various front-ends
4520 to <prgn>dpkg</prgn> such as <prgn>apt-get</prgn>,
4521 <prgn>aptitude</prgn>, and <prgn>dselect</prgn>.)
4525 For this reason packages in an installation run are usually
4526 all unpacked first and all configured later; this gives
4527 later versions of packages with dependencies on later
4528 versions of other packages the opportunity to have their
4529 dependencies satisfied.
4533 In case of circular dependencies, since installation or
4534 removal order honoring the dependency order can't be
4535 established, dependency loops are broken at some point
4536 (based on rules below), and some packages may not be able to
4537 rely on their dependencies being present when being
4538 installed or removed, depending on which side of the break
4539 of the circular dependency loop they happen to be on. If one
4540 of the packages in the loop has no postinst script, then the
4541 cycle will be broken at that package, so as to ensure that
4542 all postinst scripts run with the dependencies properly
4543 configured if this is possible. Otherwise the breaking point
4548 The <tt>Depends</tt> field thus allows package maintainers
4549 to impose an order in which packages should be configured.
4553 The meaning of the five dependency fields is as follows:
4555 <tag><tt>Depends</tt></tag>
4558 This declares an absolute dependency. A package will
4559 not be configured unless all of the packages listed in
4560 its <tt>Depends</tt> field have been correctly
4565 The <tt>Depends</tt> field should be used if the
4566 depended-on package is required for the depending
4567 package to provide a significant amount of
4572 The <tt>Depends</tt> field should also be used if the
4573 <prgn>postinst</prgn>, <prgn>prerm</prgn> or
4574 <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts require the package to be
4575 present in order to run. Note, however, that the
4576 <prgn>postrm</prgn> cannot rely on any non-essential
4577 packages to be present during the <tt>purge</tt>
4581 <tag><tt>Recommends</tt></tag>
4584 This declares a strong, but not absolute, dependency.
4588 The <tt>Recommends</tt> field should list packages
4589 that would be found together with this one in all but
4590 unusual installations.
4594 <tag><tt>Suggests</tt></tag>
4596 This is used to declare that one package may be more
4597 useful with one or more others. Using this field
4598 tells the packaging system and the user that the
4599 listed packages are related to this one and can
4600 perhaps enhance its usefulness, but that installing
4601 this one without them is perfectly reasonable.
4604 <tag><tt>Enhances</tt></tag>
4606 This field is similar to Suggests but works in the
4607 opposite direction. It is used to declare that a
4608 package can enhance the functionality of another
4612 <tag><tt>Pre-Depends</tt></tag>
4615 This field is like <tt>Depends</tt>, except that it
4616 also forces <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to complete installation
4617 of the packages named before even starting the
4618 installation of the package which declares the
4619 pre-dependency, as follows:
4623 When a package declaring a pre-dependency is about to
4624 be <em>unpacked</em> the pre-dependency can be
4625 satisfied if the depended-on package is either fully
4626 configured, <em>or even if</em> the depended-on
4627 package(s) are only unpacked or in the "Half-Configured"
4628 state, provided that they have been configured
4629 correctly at some point in the past (and not removed
4630 or partially removed since). In this case, both the
4631 previously-configured and currently unpacked or
4632 "Half-Configured" versions must satisfy any version
4633 clause in the <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> field.
4637 When the package declaring a pre-dependency is about
4638 to be <em>configured</em>, the pre-dependency will be
4639 treated as a normal <tt>Depends</tt>, that is, it will
4640 be considered satisfied only if the depended-on
4641 package has been correctly configured.
4645 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> should be used sparingly,
4646 preferably only by packages whose premature upgrade or
4647 installation would hamper the ability of the system to
4648 continue with any upgrade that might be in progress.
4652 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> are also required if the
4653 <prgn>preinst</prgn> script depends on the named
4654 package. It is best to avoid this situation if
4662 When selecting which level of dependency to use you should
4663 consider how important the depended-on package is to the
4664 functionality of the one declaring the dependency. Some
4665 packages are composed of components of varying degrees of
4666 importance. Such a package should list using
4667 <tt>Depends</tt> the package(s) which are required by the
4668 more important components. The other components'
4669 requirements may be mentioned as Suggestions or
4670 Recommendations, as appropriate to the components' relative
4676 <heading>Packages which break other packages - <tt>Breaks</tt></heading>
4679 When one binary package declares that it breaks another,
4680 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will refuse to allow the package which
4681 declares <tt>Breaks</tt> be installed unless the broken
4682 package is deconfigured first, and it will refuse to
4683 allow the broken package to be reconfigured.
4687 A package will not be regarded as causing breakage merely
4688 because its configuration files are still installed; it must
4689 be at least "Half-Installed".
4693 A special exception is made for packages which declare that
4694 they break their own package name or a virtual package which
4695 they provide (see below): this does not count as a real
4700 Normally a <tt>Breaks</tt> entry will have an "earlier than"
4701 version clause; such a <tt>Breaks</tt> is introduced in the
4702 version of an (implicit or explicit) dependency which violates
4703 an assumption or reveals a bug in earlier versions of the broken
4704 package, or which takes over a file from earlier versions of the
4705 package named in <tt>Breaks</tt>. This use of <tt>Breaks</tt>
4706 will inform higher-level package management tools that the
4707 broken package must be upgraded before the new one.
4711 If the breaking package also overwrites some files from the
4712 older package, it should use <tt>Replaces</tt> to ensure this
4713 goes smoothly. See <ref id="replaces"> for a full discussion
4714 of taking over files from other packages, including how to
4715 use <tt>Breaks</tt> in those cases.
4719 Many of the cases where <tt>Breaks</tt> should be used were
4720 previously handled with <tt>Conflicts</tt>
4721 because <tt>Breaks</tt> did not yet exist.
4722 Many <tt>Conflicts</tt> fields should now be <tt>Breaks</tt>.
4723 See <ref id="conflicts"> for more information about the
4728 <sect id="conflicts">
4729 <heading>Conflicting binary packages - <tt>Conflicts</tt></heading>
4732 When one binary package declares a conflict with another
4733 using a <tt>Conflicts</tt> field, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will
4734 refuse to allow them to be installed on the system at the
4735 same time. This is a stronger restriction than <tt>Breaks</tt>,
4736 which just prevents both packages from being configured at the
4737 same time. Conflicting packages cannot be unpacked on the
4738 system at the same time.
4742 If one package is to be installed, the other must be removed
4743 first. If the package being installed is marked as replacing
4744 (see <ref id="replaces">, but note that <tt>Breaks</tt> should
4745 normally be used in this case) the one on the system, or the one
4746 on the system is marked as deselected, or both packages are
4747 marked <tt>Essential</tt>, then <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will
4748 automatically remove the package which is causing the conflict.
4749 Otherwise, it will halt the installation of the new package with
4750 an error. This mechanism is specifically designed to produce an
4751 error when the installed package is <tt>Essential</tt>, but the
4756 A package will not cause a conflict merely because its
4757 configuration files are still installed; it must be at least
4762 A special exception is made for packages which declare a
4763 conflict with their own package name, or with a virtual
4764 package which they provide (see below): this does not
4765 prevent their installation, and allows a package to conflict
4766 with others providing a replacement for it. You use this
4767 feature when you want the package in question to be the only
4768 package providing some feature.
4772 Normally, <tt>Breaks</tt> should be used instead
4773 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> since <tt>Conflicts</tt> imposes a
4774 stronger restriction on the ordering of package installation or
4775 upgrade and can make it more difficult for the package manager
4776 to find a correct solution to an upgrade or installation
4777 problem. <tt>Breaks</tt> should be used
4779 <item>when moving a file from one package to another (see
4780 <ref id="replaces">),</item>
4781 <item>when splitting a package (a special case of the previous
4783 <item>when the breaking package exposes a bug in or interacts
4784 badly with particular versions of the broken
4787 <tt>Conflicts</tt> should be used
4789 <item>when two packages provide the same file and will
4790 continue to do so,</item>
4791 <item>in conjunction with <tt>Provides</tt> when only one
4792 package providing a given virtual facility may be installed
4793 at a time (see <ref id="virtual">),</item>
4794 <item>in other cases where one must prevent simultaneous
4795 installation of two packages for reasons that are ongoing
4796 (not fixed in a later version of one of the packages) or
4797 that must prevent both packages from being unpacked at the
4798 same time, not just configured.</item>
4800 Be aware that adding <tt>Conflicts</tt> is normally not the best
4801 solution when two packages provide the same files. Depending on
4802 the reason for that conflict, using alternatives or renaming the
4803 files is often a better approach. See, for
4804 example, <ref id="binaries">.
4808 A <tt>Conflicts</tt> entry may have an "earlier than" version
4809 clause if the reason for the conflict is corrected in a later
4810 version of one of the packages. However, normally the presence
4811 of an "earlier than" version clause is a sign
4812 that <tt>Breaks</tt> should have been used instead. An "earlier
4813 than" version clause in <tt>Conflicts</tt>
4814 prevents <prgn>dpkg</prgn> from upgrading or installing the
4815 package which declares such a conflict until the upgrade or
4816 removal of the conflicted-with package has been completed, which
4817 is a strong restriction.
4821 <sect id="virtual"><heading>Virtual packages - <tt>Provides</tt>
4825 As well as the names of actual ("concrete") packages, the
4826 package relationship fields <tt>Depends</tt>,
4827 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>,
4828 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, <tt>Breaks</tt>, <tt>Conflicts</tt>,
4829 <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
4830 <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>
4831 may mention "virtual packages".
4835 A <em>virtual package</em> is one which appears in the
4836 <tt>Provides</tt> control field of another package. The effect
4837 is as if the package(s) which provide a particular virtual
4838 package name had been listed by name everywhere the virtual
4839 package name appears. (See also <ref id="virtual_pkg">)
4843 If there are both concrete and virtual packages of the same
4844 name, then the dependency may be satisfied (or the conflict
4845 caused) by either the concrete package with the name in
4846 question or any other concrete package which provides the
4847 virtual package with the name in question. This is so that,
4848 for example, supposing we have
4849 <example compact="compact">
4852 </example> and someone else releases an enhanced version of
4853 the <tt>bar</tt> package they can say:
4854 <example compact="compact">
4858 and the <tt>bar-plus</tt> package will now also satisfy the
4859 dependency for the <tt>foo</tt> package.
4863 If a relationship field has a version number attached, only real
4864 packages will be considered to see whether the relationship is
4865 satisfied (or the prohibition violated, for a conflict or
4866 breakage). In other words, if a version number is specified,
4867 this is a request to ignore all <tt>Provides</tt> for that
4868 package name and consider only real packages. The package
4869 manager will assume that a package providing that virtual
4870 package is not of the "right" version. A <tt>Provides</tt>
4871 field may not contain version numbers, and the version number of
4872 the concrete package which provides a particular virtual package
4873 will not be considered when considering a dependency on or
4874 conflict with the virtual package name.<footnote>
4875 It is possible that a future release of <prgn>dpkg</prgn> may
4876 add the ability to specify a version number for each virtual
4877 package it provides. This feature is not yet present,
4878 however, and is expected to be used only infrequently.
4883 To specify which of a set of real packages should be the default
4884 to satisfy a particular dependency on a virtual package, list
4885 the real package as an alternative before the virtual one.
4889 If the virtual package represents a facility that can only be
4890 provided by one real package at a time, such as
4891 the <package>mail-transport-agent</package> virtual package that
4892 requires installation of a binary that would conflict with all
4893 other providers of that virtual package (see
4894 <ref id="mail-transport-agents">), all packages providing that
4895 virtual package should also declare a conflict with it
4896 using <tt>Conflicts</tt>. This will ensure that at most one
4897 provider of that virtual package is unpacked or installed at a
4902 <sect id="replaces"><heading>Overwriting files and replacing
4903 packages - <tt>Replaces</tt></heading>
4906 Packages can declare in their control file that they should
4907 overwrite files in certain other packages, or completely replace
4908 other packages. The <tt>Replaces</tt> control field has these
4909 two distinct purposes.
4912 <sect1><heading>Overwriting files in other packages</heading>
4915 It is usually an error for a package to contain files which
4916 are on the system in another package. However, if the
4917 overwriting package declares that it <tt>Replaces</tt> the one
4918 containing the file being overwritten, then <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
4919 will replace the file from the old package with that from the
4920 new. The file will no longer be listed as "owned" by the old
4921 package and will be taken over by the new package.
4922 Normally, <tt>Breaks</tt> should be used in conjunction
4923 with <tt>Replaces</tt>.<footnote>
4924 To see why <tt>Breaks</tt> is normally needed in addition
4925 to <tt>Replaces</tt>, consider the case of a file in the
4926 package <package>foo</package> being taken over by the
4927 package <package>foo-data</package>.
4928 <tt>Replaces</tt> will allow <package>foo-data</package> to
4929 be installed and take over that file. However,
4930 without <tt>Breaks</tt>, nothing
4931 requires <package>foo</package> to be upgraded to a newer
4932 version that knows it does not include that file and instead
4933 depends on <package>foo-data</package>. Nothing would
4934 prevent the new <package>foo-data</package> package from
4935 being installed and then removed, removing the file that it
4936 took over from <package>foo</package>. After that
4937 operation, the package manager would think the system was in
4938 a consistent state, but the <package>foo</package> package
4939 would be missing one of its files.
4944 For example, if a package <package>foo</package> is split
4945 into <package>foo</package> and <package>foo-data</package>
4946 starting at version 1.2-3, <package>foo-data</package> would
4948 <example compact="compact">
4949 Replaces: foo (<< 1.2-3)
4950 Breaks: foo (<< 1.2-3)
4952 in its control file. The new version of the
4953 package <package>foo</package> would normally have the field
4954 <example compact="compact">
4955 Depends: foo-data (>= 1.2-3)
4957 (or possibly <tt>Recommends</tt> or even <tt>Suggests</tt> if
4958 the files moved into <package>foo-data</package> are not
4959 required for normal operation).
4963 If a package is completely replaced in this way, so that
4964 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> does not know of any files it still
4965 contains, it is considered to have "disappeared". It will
4966 be marked as not wanted on the system (selected for
4967 removal) and not installed. Any <tt>conffile</tt>s
4968 details noted for the package will be ignored, as they
4969 will have been taken over by the overwriting package. The
4970 package's <prgn>postrm</prgn> script will be run with a
4971 special argument to allow the package to do any final
4972 cleanup required. See <ref id="mscriptsinstact">.
4974 Replaces is a one way relationship. You have to install
4975 the replacing package after the replaced package.
4980 For this usage of <tt>Replaces</tt>, virtual packages (see
4981 <ref id="virtual">) are not considered when looking at a
4982 <tt>Replaces</tt> field. The packages declared as being
4983 replaced must be mentioned by their real names.
4987 This usage of <tt>Replaces</tt> only takes effect when both
4988 packages are at least partially on the system at once. It is
4989 not relevant if the packages conflict unless the conflict has
4994 <sect1><heading>Replacing whole packages, forcing their
4998 Second, <tt>Replaces</tt> allows the packaging system to
4999 resolve which package should be removed when there is a
5000 conflict (see <ref id="conflicts">). This usage only takes
5001 effect when the two packages <em>do</em> conflict, so that the
5002 two usages of this field do not interfere with each other.
5006 In this situation, the package declared as being replaced
5007 can be a virtual package, so for example, all mail
5008 transport agents (MTAs) would have the following fields in
5009 their control files:
5010 <example compact="compact">
5011 Provides: mail-transport-agent
5012 Conflicts: mail-transport-agent
5013 Replaces: mail-transport-agent
5015 ensuring that only one MTA can be installed at any one
5016 time. See <ref id="virtual"> for more information about this
5021 <sect id="sourcebinarydeps">
5022 <heading>Relationships between source and binary packages -
5023 <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
5024 <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>
5028 Source packages that require certain binary packages to be
5029 installed or absent at the time of building the package
5030 can declare relationships to those binary packages.
5034 This is done using the <tt>Build-Depends</tt>,
5035 <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and
5036 <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> control fields.
5040 Build-dependencies on "build-essential" binary packages can be
5041 omitted. Please see <ref id="pkg-relations"> for more information.
5045 The dependencies and conflicts they define must be satisfied
5046 (as defined earlier for binary packages) in order to invoke
5047 the targets in <tt>debian/rules</tt>, as follows:<footnote>
5049 There is no Build-Depends-Arch; this role is essentially
5050 met with Build-Depends. Anyone building the
5051 <tt>build-indep</tt> and binary-indep<tt></tt> targets is
5052 assumed to be building the whole package, and therefore
5053 installation of all build dependencies is required.
5056 The autobuilders use <tt>dpkg-buildpackage -B</tt>, which
5057 calls <tt>build</tt>, not <tt>build-arch</tt> since it does
5058 not yet know how to check for its existence, and
5059 <tt>binary-arch</tt>. The purpose of the original split
5060 between <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and
5061 <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt> was so that the autobuilders
5062 wouldn't need to install extra packages needed only for the
5063 binary-indep targets. But without a build-arch/build-indep
5064 split, this didn't work, since most of the work is done in
5065 the build target, not in the binary target.
5069 <tag><tt>clean</tt>, <tt>build-arch</tt>, and
5070 <tt>binary-arch</tt></tag>
5072 Only the <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>
5073 fields must be satisfied when these targets are invoked.
5075 <tag><tt>build</tt>, <tt>build-indep</tt>, <tt>binary</tt>,
5076 and <tt>binary-indep</tt></tag>
5078 The <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>,
5079 <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>, and
5080 <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> fields must be satisfied when
5081 these targets are invoked.
5089 <chapt id="sharedlibs"><heading>Shared libraries</heading>
5092 Packages containing shared libraries must be constructed with
5093 a little care to make sure that the shared library is always
5094 available. This is especially important for packages whose
5095 shared libraries are vitally important, such as the C library
5096 (currently <tt>libc6</tt>).
5100 Packages involving shared libraries should be split up into
5101 several binary packages. This section mostly deals with how
5102 this separation is to be accomplished; rules for files within
5103 the shared library packages are in <ref id="libraries"> instead.
5106 <sect id="sharedlibs-runtime">
5107 <heading>Run-time shared libraries</heading>
5110 The run-time shared library needs to be placed in a package
5111 whose name changes whenever the shared object version
5114 Since it is common place to install several versions of a
5115 package that just provides shared libraries, it is a
5116 good idea that the library package should not
5117 contain any extraneous non-versioned files, unless they
5118 happen to be in versioned directories.</p>
5120 The most common mechanism is to place it in a package
5122 <package><var>libraryname</var><var>soversion</var></package>,
5123 where <file><var>soversion</var></file> is the version number
5124 in the soname of the shared library<footnote>
5125 The soname is the shared object name: it's the thing
5126 that has to match exactly between building an executable
5127 and running it for the dynamic linker to be able run the
5128 program. For example, if the soname of the library is
5129 <file>libfoo.so.6</file>, the library package would be
5130 called <file>libfoo6</file>.
5132 Alternatively, if it would be confusing to directly append
5133 <var>soversion</var> to <var>libraryname</var> (e.g. because
5134 <var>libraryname</var> itself ends in a number), you may use
5135 <package><var>libraryname</var>-<var>soversion</var></package> and
5136 <package><var>libraryname</var>-<var>soversion</var>-dev</package>
5141 If you have several shared libraries built from the same
5142 source tree you may lump them all together into a single
5143 shared library package, provided that you change all of
5144 their sonames at once (so that you don't get filename
5145 clashes if you try to install different versions of the
5146 combined shared libraries package).
5150 The package should install the shared libraries under
5151 their normal names. For example, the <package>libgdbm3</package>
5152 package should install <file>libgdbm.so.3.0.0</file> as
5153 <file>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.3.0.0</file>. The files should not be
5154 renamed or re-linked by any <prgn>prerm</prgn> or
5155 <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts; <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will take care
5156 of renaming things safely without affecting running programs,
5157 and attempts to interfere with this are likely to lead to
5162 Shared libraries should not be installed executable, since
5163 the dynamic linker does not require this and trying to
5164 execute a shared library usually results in a core dump.
5168 The run-time library package should include the symbolic link that
5169 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> would create for the shared libraries.
5170 For example, the <package>libgdbm3</package> package should include
5171 a symbolic link from <file>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.3</file> to
5172 <file>libgdbm.so.3.0.0</file>. This is needed so that the dynamic
5173 linker (for example <prgn>ld.so</prgn> or
5174 <prgn>ld-linux.so.*</prgn>) can find the library between the
5175 time that <prgn>dpkg</prgn> installs it and the time that
5176 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> is run in the <prgn>postinst</prgn>
5178 The package management system requires the library to be
5179 placed before the symbolic link pointing to it in the
5180 <file>.deb</file> file. This is so that when
5181 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> comes to install the symlink
5182 (overwriting the previous symlink pointing at an older
5183 version of the library), the new shared library is already
5184 in place. In the past, this was achieved by creating the
5185 library in the temporary packaging directory before
5186 creating the symlink. Unfortunately, this was not always
5187 effective, since the building of the tar file in the
5188 <file>.deb</file> depended on the behavior of the underlying
5189 file system. Some file systems (such as reiserfs) reorder
5190 the files so that the order of creation is forgotten.
5191 Since version 1.7.0, <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
5192 reorders the files itself as necessary when building a
5193 package. Thus it is no longer important to concern
5194 oneself with the order of file creation.
5198 <sect1 id="ldconfig">
5199 <heading><tt>ldconfig</tt></heading>
5202 Any package installing shared libraries in one of the default
5203 library directories of the dynamic linker (which are currently
5204 <file>/usr/lib</file> and <file>/lib</file>) or a directory that is
5205 listed in <file>/etc/ld.so.conf</file><footnote>
5207 <list compact="compact">
5208 <item>/usr/local/lib</item>
5209 <item>/usr/lib/libc5-compat</item>
5210 <item>/lib/libc5-compat</item>
5213 must use <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> to update the shared library
5218 The package maintainer scripts must only call
5219 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> under these circumstances:
5220 <list compact="compact">
5221 <item>When the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script is run with a
5222 first argument of <tt>configure</tt>, the script must call
5223 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn>, and may optionally invoke
5224 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> at other times.
5226 <item>When the <prgn>postrm</prgn> script is run with a
5227 first argument of <tt>remove</tt>, the script should call
5228 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn>.
5233 During install or upgrade, the preinst is called before
5234 the new files are installed, so calling "ldconfig" is
5235 pointless. The preinst of an existing package can also be
5236 called if an upgrade fails. However, this happens during
5237 the critical time when a shared libs may exist on-disk
5238 under a temporary name. Thus, it is dangerous and
5239 forbidden by current policy to call "ldconfig" at this
5244 When a package is installed or upgraded, "postinst
5245 configure" runs after the new files are safely on-disk.
5246 Since it is perfectly safe to invoke ldconfig
5247 unconditionally in a postinst, it is OK for a package to
5248 simply put ldconfig in its postinst without checking the
5249 argument. The postinst can also be called to recover from
5250 a failed upgrade. This happens before any new files are
5251 unpacked, so there is no reason to call "ldconfig" at this
5256 For a package that is being removed, prerm is
5257 called with all the files intact, so calling ldconfig is
5258 useless. The other calls to "prerm" happen in the case of
5259 upgrade at a time when all the files of the old package
5260 are on-disk, so again calling "ldconfig" is pointless.
5264 postrm, on the other hand, is called with the "remove"
5265 argument just after the files are removed, so this is
5266 the proper time to call "ldconfig" to notify the system
5267 of the fact that the shared libraries from the package
5268 are removed. The postrm can be called at several other
5269 times. At the time of "postrm purge", "postrm
5270 abort-install", or "postrm abort-upgrade", calling
5271 "ldconfig" is useless because the shared lib files are
5272 not on-disk. However, when "postrm" is invoked with
5273 arguments "upgrade", "failed-upgrade", or "disappear", a
5274 shared lib may exist on-disk under a temporary filename.
5282 <sect id="sharedlibs-support-files">
5283 <heading>Shared library support files</heading>
5286 If your package contains files whose names do not change with
5287 each change in the library shared object version, you must not
5288 put them in the shared library package. Otherwise, several
5289 versions of the shared library cannot be installed at the same
5290 time without filename clashes, making upgrades and transitions
5291 unnecessarily difficult.
5295 It is recommended that supporting files and run-time support
5296 programs that do not need to be invoked manually by users, but
5297 are nevertheless required for the package to function, be placed
5298 (if they are binary) in a subdirectory of <file>/usr/lib</file>,
5299 preferably under <file>/usr/lib/</file><var>package-name</var>.
5300 If the program or file is architecture independent, the
5301 recommendation is for it to be placed in a subdirectory of
5302 <file>/usr/share</file> instead, preferably under
5303 <file>/usr/share/</file><var>package-name</var>. Following the
5304 <var>package-name</var> naming convention ensures that the file
5305 names change when the shared object version changes.
5309 Run-time support programs that use the shared library but are
5310 not required for the library to function or files used by the
5311 shared library that can be used by any version of the shared
5312 library package should instead be put in a separate package.
5313 This package might typically be named
5314 <package><var>libraryname</var>-tools</package>; note the
5315 absence of the <var>soversion</var> in the package name.
5319 Files and support programs only useful when compiling software
5320 against the library should be included in the development
5321 package for the library.<footnote>
5322 For example, a <file><var>package-name</var>-config</file>
5323 script or <package>pkg-config</package> configuration files.
5328 <sect id="sharedlibs-static">
5329 <heading>Static libraries</heading>
5332 The static library (<file><var>libraryname.a</var></file>)
5333 is usually provided in addition to the shared version.
5334 It is placed into the development package (see below).
5338 In some cases, it is acceptable for a library to be
5339 available in static form only; these cases include:
5341 <item>libraries for languages whose shared library support
5342 is immature or unstable</item>
5343 <item>libraries whose interfaces are in flux or under
5344 development (commonly the case when the library's
5345 major version number is zero, or where the ABI breaks
5346 across patchlevels)</item>
5347 <item>libraries which are explicitly intended to be
5348 available only in static form by their upstream
5353 <sect id="sharedlibs-dev">
5354 <heading>Development files</heading>
5357 If there are development files associated with a shared library,
5358 the source package needs to generate a binary development package
5359 named <package><var>libraryname</var><var>soversion</var>-dev</package>,
5360 or if you prefer only to support one development version at a
5361 time, <package><var>libraryname</var>-dev</package>. Installing
5362 the development package must result in installation of all the
5363 development files necessary for compiling programs against that
5364 shared library.<footnote>
5365 This wording allows the development files to be split into
5366 several packages, such as a separate architecture-independent
5367 <package><var>libraryname</var>-headers</package>, provided that
5368 the development package depends on all the required additional
5374 In case several development versions of a library exist, you may
5375 need to use <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s Conflicts mechanism (see
5376 <ref id="conflicts">) to ensure that the user only installs one
5377 development version at a time (as different development versions are
5378 likely to have the same header files in them, which would cause a
5379 filename clash if both were installed).
5383 The development package should contain a symlink for the associated
5384 shared library without a version number. For example, the
5385 <package>libgdbm-dev</package> package should include a symlink
5386 from <file>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so</file> to
5387 <file>libgdbm.so.3.0.0</file>. This symlink is needed by the linker
5388 (<prgn>ld</prgn>) when compiling packages, as it will only look for
5389 <file>libgdbm.so</file> when compiling dynamically.
5393 <sect id="sharedlibs-intradeps">
5394 <heading>Dependencies between the packages of the same library</heading>
5397 Typically the development version should have an exact
5398 version dependency on the runtime library, to make sure that
5399 compilation and linking happens correctly. The
5400 <tt>${binary:Version}</tt> substitution variable can be
5401 useful for this purpose.
5403 Previously, <tt>${Source-Version}</tt> was used, but its name
5404 was confusing and it has been deprecated since dpkg 1.13.19.
5409 <sect id="sharedlibs-shlibdeps">
5410 <heading>Dependencies between the library and other packages -
5411 the <tt>shlibs</tt> system</heading>
5414 If a package contains a binary or library which links to a
5415 shared library, we must ensure that when the package is
5416 installed on the system, all of the libraries needed are
5417 also installed. This requirement led to the creation of the
5418 <tt>shlibs</tt> system, which is very simple in its design:
5419 any package which <em>provides</em> a shared library also
5420 provides information on the package dependencies required to
5421 ensure the presence of this library, and any package which
5422 <em>uses</em> a shared library uses this information to
5423 determine the dependencies it requires. The files which
5424 contain the mapping from shared libraries to the necessary
5425 dependency information are called <file>shlibs</file> files.
5429 When a package is built which contains any shared libraries, it
5430 must provide a <file>shlibs</file> file for other packages to
5431 use. When a package is built which contains any shared
5432 libraries or compiled binaries, it must run
5433 <qref id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps"><prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn></qref>
5434 on these to determine the libraries used and hence the
5435 dependencies needed by this package.<footnote>
5437 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> will use a program
5438 like <prgn>objdump</prgn> or <prgn>readelf</prgn> to find
5439 the libraries directly needed by the binaries or shared
5440 libraries in the package.
5444 We say that a binary <tt>foo</tt> <em>directly</em> uses
5445 a library <tt>libbar</tt> if it is explicitly linked
5446 with that library (that is, the library is listed in the ELF
5447 <tt>NEEDED</tt> attribute, caused by adding <tt>-lbar</tt>
5448 to the link line when the binary is created). Other
5449 libraries that are needed by <tt>libbar</tt> are linked
5450 <em>indirectly</em> to <tt>foo</tt>, and the dynamic
5451 linker will load them automatically when it loads
5452 <tt>libbar</tt>. A package should depend on the libraries
5453 it directly uses, but not the libraries it indirectly uses.
5454 The dependencies for those libraries will automatically pull
5455 in the other libraries.
5459 A good example of where this helps is the following. We
5460 could update <tt>libimlib</tt> with a new version that
5461 supports a new graphics format called dgf (but retaining the
5462 same major version number) and depends on <tt>libdgf</tt>.
5463 If we used <prgn>ldd</prgn> to add dependencies for every
5464 library directly or indirectly linked with a binary, every
5465 package that uses <tt>libimlib</tt> would need to be
5466 recompiled so it would also depend on <tt>libdgf</tt> or it
5467 wouldn't run due to missing symbols. Since dependencies are
5468 only added based on ELF <tt>NEEDED</tt> attribute, packages
5469 using <tt>libimlib</tt> can rely on <tt>libimlib</tt> itself
5470 having the dependency on <tt>libdgf</tt> and so they would
5471 not need rebuilding.
5477 In the following sections, we will first describe where the
5478 various <tt>shlibs</tt> files are to be found, then how to
5479 use <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>, and finally the <tt>shlibs</tt>
5480 file format and how to create them if your package contains a
5485 <heading>The <tt>shlibs</tt> files present on the system</heading>
5488 There are several places where <tt>shlibs</tt> files are
5489 found. The following list gives them in the order in which
5491 <qref id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps"><prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn></qref>.
5492 (The first one which gives the required information is used.)
5498 <p><file>debian/shlibs.local</file></p>
5501 This lists overrides for this package. This file should
5502 normally not be used, but may be needed temporarily in
5503 unusual situations to work around bugs in other packages,
5504 or in unusual cases where the normally declared dependency
5505 information in the installed <file>shlibs</file> file for
5506 a library cannot be used. This file overrides information
5507 obtained from any other source.
5512 <p><file>/etc/dpkg/shlibs.override</file></p>
5515 This lists global overrides. This list is normally
5516 empty. It is maintained by the local system
5522 <p><file>DEBIAN/shlibs</file> files in the "build directory"</p>
5525 When packages are being built,
5526 any <file>debian/shlibs</file> files are copied into the
5527 control information file area of the temporary build
5528 directory and given the name <file>shlibs</file>. These
5529 files give details of any shared libraries included in the
5530 same package.<footnote>
5531 An example may help here. Let us say that the source
5532 package <tt>foo</tt> generates two binary
5533 packages, <tt>libfoo2</tt> and <tt>foo-runtime</tt>.
5534 When building the binary packages, the two packages are
5535 created in the directories <file>debian/libfoo2</file>
5536 and <file>debian/foo-runtime</file> respectively.
5537 (<file>debian/tmp</file> could be used instead of one of
5538 these.) Since <tt>libfoo2</tt> provides the
5539 <tt>libfoo</tt> shared library, it will require a
5540 <tt>shlibs</tt> file, which will be installed in
5541 <file>debian/libfoo2/DEBIAN/shlibs</file>, eventually to
5542 become <file>/var/lib/dpkg/info/libfoo2.shlibs</file>.
5543 When <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> is run on the
5544 executable <file>debian/foo-runtime/usr/bin/foo-prog</file>,
5546 the <file>debian/libfoo2/DEBIAN/shlibs</file> file to
5547 determine whether <tt>foo-prog</tt>'s library
5548 dependencies are satisfied by any of the libraries
5549 provided by <tt>libfoo2</tt>. For this reason,
5550 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> must only be run once all of
5551 the individual binary packages' <tt>shlibs</tt> files
5552 have been installed into the build directory.
5558 <p><file>/var/lib/dpkg/info/*.shlibs</file></p>
5561 These are the <file>shlibs</file> files corresponding to
5562 all of the packages installed on the system, and are
5563 maintained by the relevant package maintainers.
5568 <p><file>/etc/dpkg/shlibs.default</file></p>
5571 This file lists any shared libraries whose packages
5572 have failed to provide correct <file>shlibs</file> files.
5573 It was used when the <file>shlibs</file> setup was first
5574 introduced, but it is now normally empty. It is
5575 maintained by the <tt>dpkg</tt> maintainer.
5583 <heading>How to use <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> and the
5584 <file>shlibs</file> files</heading>
5588 <qref id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps"><prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn></qref>
5589 into your <file>debian/rules</file> file. If your package
5590 contains only compiled binaries and libraries (but no scripts),
5591 you can use a command such as:
5592 <example compact="compact">
5593 dpkg-shlibdeps debian/tmp/usr/bin/* debian/tmp/usr/sbin/* \
5594 debian/tmp/usr/lib/*
5596 Otherwise, you will need to explicitly list the compiled
5597 binaries and libraries.<footnote>
5598 If you are using <tt>debhelper</tt>, the
5599 <prgn>dh_shlibdeps</prgn> program will do this work for you.
5600 It will also correctly handle multi-binary packages.
5605 This command puts the dependency information into the
5606 <file>debian/substvars</file> file, which is then used by
5607 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>. You will need to place a
5608 <tt>${shlibs:Depends}</tt> variable in the <tt>Depends</tt>
5609 field in the control file for this to work.
5613 If you have multiple binary packages, you will need to call
5614 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> on each one which contains
5615 compiled libraries or binaries. In such a case, you will
5616 need to use the <tt>-T</tt> option to the <tt>dpkg</tt>
5617 utilities to specify a different <file>substvars</file> file.
5621 If you are creating a udeb for use in the Debian Installer,
5622 you will need to specify that <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>
5623 should use the dependency line of type <tt>udeb</tt> by
5624 adding the <tt>-tudeb</tt> option<footnote>
5625 <prgn>dh_shlibdeps</prgn> from the <tt>debhelper</tt> suite
5626 will automatically add this option if it knows it is
5628 </footnote>. If there is no dependency line of
5629 type <tt>udeb</tt> in the <file>shlibs</file>
5630 file, <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> will fall back to the regular
5635 For more details on <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>, please see
5636 <ref id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps"> and
5637 <manref name="dpkg-shlibdeps" section="1">.
5642 <heading>The <file>shlibs</file> File Format</heading>
5645 Each <file>shlibs</file> file has the same format. Lines
5646 beginning with <tt>#</tt> are considered to be comments and
5647 are ignored. Each line is of the form:
5648 <example compact="compact">
5649 [<var>type</var>: ]<var>library-name</var> <var>soname-version</var> <var>dependencies ...</var>
5654 We will explain this by reference to the example of the
5655 <tt>zlib1g</tt> package, which (at the time of writing)
5656 installs the shared library <file>/usr/lib/libz.so.1.1.3</file>.
5660 <var>type</var> is an optional element that indicates the type
5661 of package for which the line is valid. The only type currently
5662 in use is <tt>udeb</tt>. The colon and space after the type are
5667 <var>library-name</var> is the name of the shared library,
5668 in this case <tt>libz</tt>. (This must match the name part
5669 of the soname, see below.)
5673 <var>soname-version</var> is the version part of the soname of
5674 the library. The soname is the thing that must exactly match
5675 for the library to be recognized by the dynamic linker, and is
5677 <tt><var>name</var>.so.<var>major-version</var></tt>, in our
5678 example, <tt>libz.so.1</tt>.<footnote>
5679 This can be determined using the command
5680 <example compact="compact">
5681 objdump -p /usr/lib/libz.so.1.1.3 | grep SONAME
5684 The version part is the part which comes after
5685 <tt>.so.</tt>, so in our case, it is <tt>1</tt>. The soname may
5686 instead be of the form
5687 <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>, such
5688 as <tt>libdb-4.8.so</tt>, in which case the name would
5689 be <tt>libdb</tt> and the version would be <tt>4.8</tt>.
5693 <var>dependencies</var> has the same syntax as a dependency
5694 field in a binary package control file. It should give
5695 details of which packages are required to satisfy a binary
5696 built against the version of the library contained in the
5697 package. See <ref id="depsyntax"> for details.
5701 In our example, if the first version of the <tt>zlib1g</tt>
5702 package which contained a minor number of at least
5703 <tt>1.3</tt> was <var>1:1.1.3-1</var>, then the
5704 <tt>shlibs</tt> entry for this library could say:
5705 <example compact="compact">
5706 libz 1 zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.3)
5708 The version-specific dependency is to avoid warnings from
5709 the dynamic linker about using older shared libraries with
5714 As zlib1g also provides a udeb containing the shared library,
5715 there would also be a second line:
5716 <example compact="compact">
5717 udeb: libz 1 zlib1g-udeb (>= 1:1.1.3)
5723 <heading>Providing a <file>shlibs</file> file</heading>
5726 If your package provides a shared library, you need to create
5727 a <file>shlibs</file> file following the format described above.
5728 It is usual to call this file <file>debian/shlibs</file> (but if
5729 you have multiple binary packages, you might want to call it
5730 <file>debian/shlibs.<var>package</var></file> instead). Then
5731 let <file>debian/rules</file> install it in the control
5732 information file area:
5733 <example compact="compact">
5734 install -m644 debian/shlibs debian/tmp/DEBIAN
5736 or, in the case of a multi-binary package:
5737 <example compact="compact">
5738 install -m644 debian/shlibs.<var>package</var> debian/<var>package</var>/DEBIAN/shlibs
5740 An alternative way of doing this is to create the
5741 <file>shlibs</file> file in the control information file area
5742 directly from <file>debian/rules</file> without using
5743 a <file>debian/shlibs</file> file at all,<footnote>
5744 This is what <prgn>dh_makeshlibs</prgn> in
5745 the <package>debhelper</package> suite does. If your package
5746 also has a udeb that provides a shared
5747 library, <prgn>dh_makeshlibs</prgn> can automatically generate
5748 the <tt>udeb:</tt> lines if you specify the name of the udeb
5749 with the <tt>--add-udeb</tt> option.
5751 since the <file>debian/shlibs</file> file itself is ignored by
5752 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>.
5756 As <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> reads the
5757 <file>DEBIAN/shlibs</file> files in all of the binary packages
5758 being built from this source package, all of the
5759 <file>DEBIAN/shlibs</file> files should be installed before
5760 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> is called on any of the binary
5768 <chapt id="opersys"><heading>The Operating System</heading>
5771 <heading>File system hierarchy</heading>
5775 <heading>File System Structure</heading>
5778 The location of all installed files and directories must
5779 comply with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS),
5780 version 2.3, with the exceptions noted below, and except
5781 where doing so would violate other terms of Debian
5782 Policy. The following exceptions to the FHS apply:
5787 The optional rules related to user specific
5788 configuration files for applications are stored in
5789 the user's home directory are relaxed. It is
5790 recommended that such files start with the
5791 '<tt>.</tt>' character (a "dot file"), and if an
5792 application needs to create more than one dot file
5793 then the preferred placement is in a subdirectory
5794 with a name starting with a '.' character, (a "dot
5795 directory"). In this case it is recommended the
5796 configuration files not start with the '.'
5802 The requirement for amd64 to use <file>/lib64</file>
5803 for 64 bit binaries is removed.
5808 The requirement for object files, internal binaries, and
5809 libraries, including <file>libc.so.*</file>, to be located
5810 directly under <file>/lib{,32}</file> and
5811 <file>/usr/lib{,32}</file> is amended, permitting files
5812 to instead be installed to
5813 <file>/lib/<var>triplet</var></file> and
5814 <file>/usr/lib/<var>triplet</var></file>, where
5815 <tt><var>triplet</var></tt> is the value returned by
5816 <tt>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</tt> for the
5817 architecture of the package. Packages may <em>not</em>
5818 install files to any <var>triplet</var> path other
5819 than the one matching the architecture of that package;
5820 for instance, an <tt>Architecture: amd64</tt> package
5821 containing 32-bit x86 libraries may not install these
5822 libraries to <file>/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu</file>.
5824 This is necessary in order to reserve the directories for
5825 use in cross-installation of library packages from other
5826 architectures, as part of the planned deployment of
5831 Applications may also use a single subdirectory under
5832 <file>/usr/lib/<var>triplet</var></file>.
5835 The execution time linker/loader, ld*, must still be made
5836 available in the existing location under /lib or /lib64
5837 since this is part of the ELF ABI for the architecture.
5842 The requirement that
5843 <file>/usr/local/share/man</file> be "synonymous"
5844 with <file>/usr/local/man</file> is relaxed to a
5849 The requirement that windowmanagers with a single
5850 configuration file call it <file>system.*wmrc</file>
5851 is removed, as is the restriction that the window
5852 manager subdirectory be named identically to the
5853 window manager name itself.
5858 The requirement that boot manager configuration
5859 files live in <file>/etc</file>, or at least are
5860 symlinked there, is relaxed to a recommendation.
5865 The following directories in the root filesystem are
5866 additionally allowed: <file>/sys</file> and
5867 <file>/selinux</file>. <footnote>These directories
5868 are used as mount points to mount virtual filesystems
5869 to get access to kernel information.</footnote>
5876 The version of this document referred here can be
5877 found in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package or on <url
5878 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/fhs/"
5879 name="FHS (Debian copy)"> alongside this manual (or, if
5880 you have the <package>debian-policy</package> installed,
5882 id="file:///usr/share/doc/debian-policy/fhs/" name="FHS
5883 (local copy)">). The
5884 latest version, which may be a more recent version, may
5886 <url id="http://www.pathname.com/fhs/" name="FHS (upstream)">.
5887 Specific questions about following the standard may be
5888 asked on the <tt>debian-devel</tt> mailing list, or
5889 referred to the FHS mailing list (see the
5890 <url id="http://www.pathname.com/fhs/" name="FHS web site"> for
5896 <heading>Site-specific programs</heading>
5899 As mandated by the FHS, packages must not place any
5900 files in <file>/usr/local</file>, either by putting them in
5901 the file system archive to be unpacked by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
5902 or by manipulating them in their maintainer scripts.
5906 However, the package may create empty directories below
5907 <file>/usr/local</file> so that the system administrator knows
5908 where to place site-specific files. These are not
5909 directories <em>in</em> <file>/usr/local</file>, but are
5910 children of directories in <file>/usr/local</file>. These
5911 directories (<file>/usr/local/*/dir/</file>)
5912 should be removed on package removal if they are
5917 Note that this applies only to
5918 directories <em>below</em> <file>/usr/local</file>,
5919 not <em>in</em> <file>/usr/local</file>. Packages must
5920 not create sub-directories in the
5921 directory <file>/usr/local</file> itself, except those
5922 listed in FHS, section 4.5. However, you may create
5923 directories below them as you wish. You must not remove
5924 any of the directories listed in 4.5, even if you created
5929 Since <file>/usr/local</file> can be mounted read-only from a
5930 remote server, these directories must be created and
5931 removed by the <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
5932 maintainer scripts and not be included in the
5933 <file>.deb</file> archive. These scripts must not fail if
5934 either of these operations fail.
5938 For example, the <tt>emacsen-common</tt> package could
5939 contain something like
5940 <example compact="compact">
5941 if [ ! -e /usr/local/share/emacs ]
5943 if mkdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null
5945 chown root:staff /usr/local/share/emacs
5946 chmod 2775 /usr/local/share/emacs
5950 in its <prgn>postinst</prgn> script, and
5951 <example compact="compact">
5952 rmdir /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp 2>/dev/null || true
5953 rmdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null || true
5955 in the <prgn>prerm</prgn> script. (Note that this form is
5956 used to ensure that if the script is interrupted, the
5957 directory <file>/usr/local/share/emacs</file> will still be
5962 If you do create a directory in <file>/usr/local</file> for
5963 local additions to a package, you should ensure that
5964 settings in <file>/usr/local</file> take precedence over the
5965 equivalents in <file>/usr</file>.
5969 However, because <file>/usr/local</file> and its contents are
5970 for exclusive use of the local administrator, a package
5971 must not rely on the presence or absence of files or
5972 directories in <file>/usr/local</file> for normal operation.
5976 The <file>/usr/local</file> directory itself and all the
5977 subdirectories created by the package should (by default) have
5978 permissions 2775 (group-writable and set-group-id) and be
5979 owned by <tt>root:staff</tt>.
5984 <heading>The system-wide mail directory</heading>
5986 The system-wide mail directory
5987 is <file>/var/mail</file>. This directory is part of the
5988 base system and should not be owned by any particular mail
5989 agents. The use of the old
5990 location <file>/var/spool/mail</file> is deprecated, even
5991 though the spool may still be physically located there.
5997 <heading>Users and groups</heading>
6000 <heading>Introduction</heading>
6002 The Debian system can be configured to use either plain or
6007 Some user ids (UIDs) and group ids (GIDs) are reserved
6008 globally for use by certain packages. Because some
6009 packages need to include files which are owned by these
6010 users or groups, or need the ids compiled into binaries,
6011 these ids must be used on any Debian system only for the
6012 purpose for which they are allocated. This is a serious
6013 restriction, and we should avoid getting in the way of
6014 local administration policies. In particular, many sites
6015 allocate users and/or local system groups starting at 100.
6019 Apart from this we should have dynamically allocated ids,
6020 which should by default be arranged in some sensible
6021 order, but the behavior should be configurable.
6025 Packages other than <tt>base-passwd</tt> must not modify
6026 <file>/etc/passwd</file>, <file>/etc/shadow</file>,
6027 <file>/etc/group</file> or <file>/etc/gshadow</file>.
6032 <heading>UID and GID classes</heading>
6034 The UID and GID numbers are divided into classes as
6040 Globally allocated by the Debian project, the same
6041 on every Debian system. These ids will appear in
6042 the <file>passwd</file> and <file>group</file> files of all
6043 Debian systems, new ids in this range being added
6044 automatically as the <tt>base-passwd</tt> package is
6049 Packages which need a single statically allocated
6050 uid or gid should use one of these; their
6051 maintainers should ask the <tt>base-passwd</tt>
6059 Dynamically allocated system users and groups.
6060 Packages which need a user or group, but can have
6061 this user or group allocated dynamically and
6062 differently on each system, should use <tt>adduser
6063 --system</tt> to create the group and/or user.
6064 <prgn>adduser</prgn> will check for the existence of
6065 the user or group, and if necessary choose an unused
6066 id based on the ranges specified in
6067 <file>adduser.conf</file>.
6071 <tag>1000-59999:</tag>
6074 Dynamically allocated user accounts. By default
6075 <prgn>adduser</prgn> will choose UIDs and GIDs for
6076 user accounts in this range, though
6077 <file>adduser.conf</file> may be used to modify this
6082 <tag>60000-64999:</tag>
6085 Globally allocated by the Debian project, but only
6086 created on demand. The ids are allocated centrally
6087 and statically, but the actual accounts are only
6088 created on users' systems on demand.
6092 These ids are for packages which are obscure or
6093 which require many statically-allocated ids. These
6094 packages should check for and create the accounts in
6095 <file>/etc/passwd</file> or <file>/etc/group</file> (using
6096 <prgn>adduser</prgn> if it has this facility) if
6097 necessary. Packages which are likely to require
6098 further allocations should have a "hole" left after
6099 them in the allocation, to give them room to
6104 <tag>65000-65533:</tag>
6112 User <tt>nobody</tt>. The corresponding gid refers
6113 to the group <tt>nogroup</tt>.
6120 <tt>(uid_t)(-1) == (gid_t)(-1)</tt> <em>must
6121 not</em> be used, because it is the error return
6130 <sect id="sysvinit">
6131 <heading>System run levels and <file>init.d</file> scripts</heading>
6133 <sect1 id="/etc/init.d">
6134 <heading>Introduction</heading>
6137 The <file>/etc/init.d</file> directory contains the scripts
6138 executed by <prgn>init</prgn> at boot time and when the
6139 init state (or "runlevel") is changed (see <manref
6140 name="init" section="8">).
6144 There are at least two different, yet functionally
6145 equivalent, ways of handling these scripts. For the sake
6146 of simplicity, this document describes only the symbolic
6147 link method. However, it must not be assumed by maintainer
6148 scripts that this method is being used, and any automated
6149 manipulation of the various runlevel behaviors by
6150 maintainer scripts must be performed using
6151 <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> as described below and not by
6152 manually installing or removing symlinks. For information
6153 on the implementation details of the other method,
6154 implemented in the <tt>file-rc</tt> package, please refer
6155 to the documentation of that package.
6159 These scripts are referenced by symbolic links in the
6160 <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> directories. When changing
6161 runlevels, <prgn>init</prgn> looks in the directory
6162 <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> for the scripts it should
6163 execute, where <tt><var>n</var></tt> is the runlevel that
6164 is being changed to, or <tt>S</tt> for the boot-up
6169 The names of the links all have the form
6170 <file>S<var>mm</var><var>script</var></file> or
6171 <file>K<var>mm</var><var>script</var></file> where
6172 <var>mm</var> is a two-digit number and <var>script</var>
6173 is the name of the script (this should be the same as the
6174 name of the actual script in <file>/etc/init.d</file>).
6178 When <prgn>init</prgn> changes runlevel first the targets
6179 of the links whose names start with a <tt>K</tt> are
6180 executed, each with the single argument <tt>stop</tt>,
6181 followed by the scripts prefixed with an <tt>S</tt>, each
6182 with the single argument <tt>start</tt>. (The links are
6183 those in the <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> directory
6184 corresponding to the new runlevel.) The <tt>K</tt> links
6185 are responsible for killing services and the <tt>S</tt>
6186 link for starting services upon entering the runlevel.
6190 For example, if we are changing from runlevel 2 to
6191 runlevel 3, init will first execute all of the <tt>K</tt>
6192 prefixed scripts it finds in <file>/etc/rc3.d</file>, and then
6193 all of the <tt>S</tt> prefixed scripts in that directory.
6194 The links starting with <tt>K</tt> will cause the
6195 referred-to file to be executed with an argument of
6196 <tt>stop</tt>, and the <tt>S</tt> links with an argument
6201 The two-digit number <var>mm</var> is used to determine
6202 the order in which to run the scripts: low-numbered links
6203 have their scripts run first. For example, the
6204 <tt>K20</tt> scripts will be executed before the
6205 <tt>K30</tt> scripts. This is used when a certain service
6206 must be started before another. For example, the name
6207 server <prgn>bind</prgn> might need to be started before
6208 the news server <prgn>inn</prgn> so that <prgn>inn</prgn>
6209 can set up its access lists. In this case, the script
6210 that starts <prgn>bind</prgn> would have a lower number
6211 than the script that starts <prgn>inn</prgn> so that it
6213 <example compact="compact">
6220 The two runlevels 0 (halt) and 6 (reboot) are slightly
6221 different. In these runlevels, the links with an
6222 <tt>S</tt> prefix are still called after those with a
6223 <tt>K</tt> prefix, but they too are called with the single
6224 argument <tt>stop</tt>.
6228 <sect1 id="writing-init">
6229 <heading>Writing the scripts</heading>
6232 Packages that include daemons for system services should
6233 place scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file> to start or stop
6234 services at boot time or during a change of runlevel.
6235 These scripts should be named
6236 <file>/etc/init.d/<var>package</var></file>, and they should
6237 accept one argument, saying what to do:
6240 <tag><tt>start</tt></tag>
6241 <item>start the service,</item>
6243 <tag><tt>stop</tt></tag>
6244 <item>stop the service,</item>
6246 <tag><tt>restart</tt></tag>
6247 <item>stop and restart the service if it's already running,
6248 otherwise start the service</item>
6250 <tag><tt>reload</tt></tag>
6251 <item><p>cause the configuration of the service to be
6252 reloaded without actually stopping and restarting
6255 <tag><tt>force-reload</tt></tag>
6256 <item>cause the configuration to be reloaded if the
6257 service supports this, otherwise restart the
6261 The <tt>start</tt>, <tt>stop</tt>, <tt>restart</tt>, and
6262 <tt>force-reload</tt> options should be supported by all
6263 scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>, the <tt>reload</tt>
6268 The <file>init.d</file> scripts must ensure that they will
6269 behave sensibly (i.e., returning success and not starting
6270 multiple copies of a service) if invoked with <tt>start</tt>
6271 when the service is already running, or with <tt>stop</tt>
6272 when it isn't, and that they don't kill unfortunately-named
6273 user processes. The best way to achieve this is usually to
6274 use <prgn>start-stop-daemon</prgn> with the <tt>--oknodo</tt>
6279 Be careful of using <tt>set -e</tt> in <file>init.d</file>
6280 scripts. Writing correct <file>init.d</file> scripts requires
6281 accepting various error exit statuses when daemons are already
6282 running or already stopped without aborting
6283 the <file>init.d</file> script, and common <file>init.d</file>
6284 function libraries are not safe to call with <tt>set -e</tt>
6286 <tt>/lib/lsb/init-functions</tt>, which assists in writing
6287 LSB-compliant init scripts, may fail if <tt>set -e</tt> is
6288 in effect and echoing status messages to the console fails,
6290 </footnote>. For <tt>init.d</tt> scripts, it's often easier
6291 to not use <tt>set -e</tt> and instead check the result of
6292 each command separately.
6296 If a service reloads its configuration automatically (as
6297 in the case of <prgn>cron</prgn>, for example), the
6298 <tt>reload</tt> option of the <file>init.d</file> script
6299 should behave as if the configuration has been reloaded
6304 The <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts must be treated as
6305 configuration files, either (if they are present in the
6306 package, that is, in the .deb file) by marking them as
6307 <tt>conffile</tt>s, or, (if they do not exist in the .deb)
6308 by managing them correctly in the maintainer scripts (see
6309 <ref id="config-files">). This is important since we want
6310 to give the local system administrator the chance to adapt
6311 the scripts to the local system, e.g., to disable a
6312 service without de-installing the package, or to specify
6313 some special command line options when starting a service,
6314 while making sure their changes aren't lost during the next
6319 These scripts should not fail obscurely when the
6320 configuration files remain but the package has been
6321 removed, as configuration files remain on the system after
6322 the package has been removed. Only when <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
6323 is executed with the <tt>--purge</tt> option will
6324 configuration files be removed. In particular, as the
6325 <file>/etc/init.d/<var>package</var></file> script itself is
6326 usually a <tt>conffile</tt>, it will remain on the system
6327 if the package is removed but not purged. Therefore, you
6328 should include a <tt>test</tt> statement at the top of the
6330 <example compact="compact">
6331 test -f <var>program-executed-later-in-script</var> || exit 0
6336 Often there are some variables in the <file>init.d</file>
6337 scripts whose values control the behavior of the scripts,
6338 and which a system administrator is likely to want to
6339 change. As the scripts themselves are frequently
6340 <tt>conffile</tt>s, modifying them requires that the
6341 administrator merge in their changes each time the package
6342 is upgraded and the <tt>conffile</tt> changes. To ease
6343 the burden on the system administrator, such configurable
6344 values should not be placed directly in the script.
6345 Instead, they should be placed in a file in
6346 <file>/etc/default</file>, which typically will have the same
6347 base name as the <file>init.d</file> script. This extra file
6348 should be sourced by the script when the script runs. It
6349 must contain only variable settings and comments in SUSv3
6350 <prgn>sh</prgn> format. It may either be a
6351 <tt>conffile</tt> or a configuration file maintained by
6352 the package maintainer scripts. See <ref id="config-files">
6357 To ensure that vital configurable values are always
6358 available, the <file>init.d</file> script should set default
6359 values for each of the shell variables it uses, either
6360 before sourcing the <file>/etc/default/</file> file or
6361 afterwards using something like the <tt>:
6362 ${VAR:=default}</tt> syntax. Also, the <file>init.d</file>
6363 script must behave sensibly and not fail if the
6364 <file>/etc/default</file> file is deleted.
6368 <file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted
6369 as temporary filesystems<footnote>
6370 For example, using the <tt>RAMRUN</tt> and <tt>RAMLOCK</tt>
6371 options in <file>/etc/default/rcS</file>.
6372 </footnote>, so the <file>init.d</file> scripts must handle this
6373 correctly. This will typically amount to creating any required
6374 subdirectories dynamically when the <file>init.d</file> script
6375 is run, rather than including them in the package and relying on
6376 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to create them.
6381 <heading>Interfacing with the initscript system</heading>
6384 Maintainers should use the abstraction layer provided by
6385 the <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> and <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn>
6386 programs to deal with initscripts in their packages'
6387 scripts such as <prgn>postinst</prgn>, <prgn>prerm</prgn>
6388 and <prgn>postrm</prgn>.
6392 Directly managing the /etc/rc?.d links and directly
6393 invoking the <file>/etc/init.d/</file> initscripts should
6394 be done only by packages providing the initscript
6395 subsystem (such as <prgn>sysv-rc</prgn> and
6396 <prgn>file-rc</prgn>).
6400 <heading>Managing the links</heading>
6403 The program <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> is provided for
6404 package maintainers to arrange for the proper creation and
6405 removal of <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> symbolic links,
6406 or their functional equivalent if another method is being
6407 used. This may be used by maintainers in their packages'
6408 <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts.
6412 You must not include any <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file>
6413 symbolic links in the actual archive or manually create or
6414 remove the symbolic links in maintainer scripts; you must
6415 use the <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> program instead. (The
6416 former will fail if an alternative method of maintaining
6417 runlevel information is being used.) You must not include
6418 the <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> directories themselves
6419 in the archive either. (Only the <tt>sysvinit</tt>
6424 By default <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> will start services in
6425 each of the multi-user state runlevels (2, 3, 4, and 5)
6426 and stop them in the halt runlevel (0), the single-user
6427 runlevel (1) and the reboot runlevel (6). The system
6428 administrator will have the opportunity to customize
6429 runlevels by simply adding, moving, or removing the
6430 symbolic links in <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> if
6431 symbolic links are being used, or by modifying
6432 <file>/etc/runlevel.conf</file> if the <tt>file-rc</tt> method
6437 To get the default behavior for your package, put in your
6438 <prgn>postinst</prgn> script
6439 <example compact="compact">
6440 update-rc.d <var>package</var> defaults
6442 and in your <prgn>postrm</prgn>
6443 <example compact="compact">
6444 if [ "$1" = purge ]; then
6445 update-rc.d <var>package</var> remove
6447 </example>. Note that if your package changes runlevels
6448 or priority, you may have to remove and recreate the links,
6449 since otherwise the old links may persist. Refer to the
6450 documentation of <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn>.
6454 This will use a default sequence number of 20. If it does
6455 not matter when or in which order the <file>init.d</file>
6456 script is run, use this default. If it does, then you
6457 should talk to the maintainer of the <prgn>sysvinit</prgn>
6458 package or post to <tt>debian-devel</tt>, and they will
6459 help you choose a number.
6463 For more information about using <tt>update-rc.d</tt>,
6464 please consult its man page <manref name="update-rc.d"
6470 <heading>Running initscripts</heading>
6472 The program <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn> is provided to make
6473 it easier for package maintainers to properly invoke an
6474 initscript, obeying runlevel and other locally-defined
6475 constraints that might limit a package's right to start,
6476 stop and otherwise manage services. This program may be
6477 used by maintainers in their packages' scripts.
6481 The package maintainer scripts must use
6482 <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn> to invoke the
6483 <file>/etc/init.d/*</file> initscripts, instead of
6484 calling them directly.
6488 By default, <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn> will pass any
6489 action requests (start, stop, reload, restart...) to the
6490 <file>/etc/init.d</file> script, filtering out requests
6491 to start or restart a service out of its intended
6496 Most packages will simply need to change:
6497 <example compact="compact">/etc/init.d/<package>
6498 <action></example> in their <prgn>postinst</prgn>
6499 and <prgn>prerm</prgn> scripts to:
6500 <example compact="compact">
6501 if which invoke-rc.d >/dev/null 2>&1; then
6502 invoke-rc.d <var>package</var> <action>
6504 /etc/init.d/<var>package</var> <action>
6510 A package should register its initscript services using
6511 <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> before it tries to invoke them
6512 using <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn>. Invocation of
6513 unregistered services may fail.
6517 For more information about using
6518 <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn>, please consult its man page
6519 <manref name="invoke-rc.d" section="8">.
6525 <heading>Boot-time initialization</heading>
6528 There used to be another directory, <file>/etc/rc.boot</file>,
6529 which contained scripts which were run once per machine
6530 boot. This has been deprecated in favour of links from
6531 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file> to files in <file>/etc/init.d</file> as
6532 described in <ref id="/etc/init.d">. Packages must not
6533 place files in <file>/etc/rc.boot</file>.
6538 <heading>Example</heading>
6541 An example on which you can base your
6542 <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts is found in
6543 <file>/etc/init.d/skeleton</file>.
6550 <heading>Console messages from <file>init.d</file> scripts</heading>
6553 This section describes the formats to be used for messages
6554 written to standard output by the <file>/etc/init.d</file>
6555 scripts. The intent is to improve the consistency of
6556 Debian's startup and shutdown look and feel. For this
6557 reason, please look very carefully at the details. We want
6558 the messages to have the same format in terms of wording,
6559 spaces, punctuation and case of letters.
6563 Here is a list of overall rules that should be used for
6564 messages generated by <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts.
6570 The message should fit in one line (fewer than 80
6571 characters), start with a capital letter and end with
6572 a period (<tt>.</tt>) and line feed (<tt>"\n"</tt>).
6576 If the script is performing some time consuming task in
6577 the background (not merely starting or stopping a
6578 program, for instance), an ellipsis (three dots:
6579 <tt>...</tt>) should be output to the screen, with no
6580 leading or tailing whitespace or line feeds.
6584 The messages should appear as if the computer is telling
6585 the user what it is doing (politely :-), but should not
6586 mention "it" directly. For example, instead of:
6587 <example compact="compact">
6588 I'm starting network daemons: nfsd mountd.
6590 the message should say
6591 <example compact="compact">
6592 Starting network daemons: nfsd mountd.
6599 <tt>init.d</tt> script should use the following standard
6600 message formats for the situations enumerated below.
6606 <p>When daemons are started</p>
6609 If the script starts one or more daemons, the output
6610 should look like this (a single line, no leading
6612 <example compact="compact">
6613 Starting <var>description</var>: <var>daemon-1</var> ... <var>daemon-n</var>.
6615 The <var>description</var> should describe the
6616 subsystem the daemon or set of daemons are part of,
6617 while <var>daemon-1</var> up to <var>daemon-n</var>
6618 denote each daemon's name (typically the file name of
6623 For example, the output of <file>/etc/init.d/lpd</file>
6625 <example compact="compact">
6626 Starting printer spooler: lpd.
6631 This can be achieved by saying
6632 <example compact="compact">
6633 echo -n "Starting printer spooler: lpd"
6634 start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/lpd
6637 in the script. If there are more than one daemon to
6638 start, the output should look like this:
6639 <example compact="compact">
6640 echo -n "Starting remote file system services:"
6641 echo -n " nfsd"; start-stop-daemon --start --quiet nfsd
6642 echo -n " mountd"; start-stop-daemon --start --quiet mountd
6643 echo -n " ugidd"; start-stop-daemon --start --quiet ugidd
6646 This makes it possible for the user to see what is
6647 happening and when the final daemon has been started.
6648 Care should be taken in the placement of white spaces:
6649 in the example above the system administrators can
6650 easily comment out a line if they don't want to start
6651 a specific daemon, while the displayed message still
6657 <p>When a system parameter is being set</p>
6660 If you have to set up different system parameters
6661 during the system boot, you should use this format:
6662 <example compact="compact">
6663 Setting <var>parameter</var> to "<var>value</var>".
6668 You can use a statement such as the following to get
6670 <example compact="compact">
6671 echo "Setting DNS domainname to \"$domainname\"."
6676 Note that the same symbol (<tt>"</tt>) <!-- " --> is used
6677 for the left and right quotation marks. A grave accent
6678 (<tt>`</tt>) is not a quote character; neither is an
6679 apostrophe (<tt>'</tt>).
6684 <p>When a daemon is stopped or restarted</p>
6687 When you stop or restart a daemon, you should issue a
6688 message identical to the startup message, except that
6689 <tt>Starting</tt> is replaced with <tt>Stopping</tt>
6690 or <tt>Restarting</tt> respectively.
6694 For example, stopping the printer daemon will look like
6696 <example compact="compact">
6697 Stopping printer spooler: lpd.
6703 <p>When something is executed</p>
6706 There are several examples where you have to run a
6707 program at system startup or shutdown to perform a
6708 specific task, for example, setting the system's clock
6709 using <prgn>netdate</prgn> or killing all processes
6710 when the system shuts down. Your message should look
6712 <example compact="compact">
6713 Doing something very useful...done.
6715 You should print the <tt>done.</tt> immediately after
6716 the job has been completed, so that the user is
6717 informed why they have to wait. You can get this
6719 <example compact="compact">
6720 echo -n "Doing something very useful..."
6729 <p>When the configuration is reloaded</p>
6732 When a daemon is forced to reload its configuration
6733 files you should use the following format:
6734 <example compact="compact">
6735 Reloading <var>description</var> configuration...done.
6737 where <var>description</var> is the same as in the
6738 daemon starting message.
6746 <heading>Cron jobs</heading>
6749 Packages must not modify the configuration file
6750 <file>/etc/crontab</file>, and they must not modify the files in
6751 <file>/var/spool/cron/crontabs</file>.</p>
6754 If a package wants to install a job that has to be executed
6755 via cron, it should place a file with the name of the
6756 package in one or more of the following directories:
6757 <example compact="compact">
6763 As these directory names imply, the files within them are
6764 executed on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis,
6765 respectively. The exact times are listed in
6766 <file>/etc/crontab</file>.</p>
6769 All files installed in any of these directories must be
6770 scripts (e.g., shell scripts or Perl scripts) so that they
6771 can easily be modified by the local system administrator.
6772 In addition, they must be treated as configuration files.
6776 If a certain job has to be executed at some other frequency or
6777 at a specific time, the package should install a file
6778 <file>/etc/cron.d/<var>package</var></file>. This file uses the
6779 same syntax as <file>/etc/crontab</file> and is processed by
6780 <prgn>cron</prgn> automatically. The file must also be
6781 treated as a configuration file. (Note that entries in the
6782 <file>/etc/cron.d</file> directory are not handled by
6783 <prgn>anacron</prgn>. Thus, you should only use this
6784 directory for jobs which may be skipped if the system is not
6787 Unlike <file>crontab</file> files described in the IEEE Std
6788 1003.1-2008 (POSIX.1) available from
6789 <url id="http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/"
6790 name="The Open Group">, the files in
6791 <file>/etc/cron.d</file> and the file
6792 <file>/etc/crontab</file> have seven fields; namely:
6794 <item>Minute [0,59]</item>
6795 <item>Hour [0,23]</item>
6796 <item>Day of the month [1,31]</item>
6797 <item>Month of the year [1,12]</item>
6798 <item>Day of the week ([0,6] with 0=Sunday)</item>
6799 <item>Username</item>
6800 <item>Command to be run</item>
6802 Ranges of numbers are allowed. Ranges are two numbers
6803 separated with a hyphen. The specified range is inclusive.
6804 Lists are allowed. A list is a set of numbers (or ranges)
6805 separated by commas. Step values can be used in conjunction
6810 The scripts or <tt>crontab</tt> entries in these directories should
6811 check if all necessary programs are installed before they
6812 try to execute them. Otherwise, problems will arise when a
6813 package was removed but not purged since configuration files
6814 are kept on the system in this situation.
6818 Any <tt>cron</tt> daemon must provide
6819 <file>/usr/bin/crontab</file> and support normal
6820 <tt>crontab</tt> entries as specified in POSIX. The daemon
6821 must also support names for days and months, ranges, and
6822 step values. It has to support <file>/etc/crontab</file>,
6823 and correctly execute the scripts in
6824 <file>/etc/cron.d</file>. The daemon must also correctly
6826 <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file>.
6831 <heading>Menus</heading>
6834 The Debian <tt>menu</tt> package provides a standard
6835 interface between packages providing applications and
6836 <em>menu programs</em> (either X window managers or
6837 text-based menu programs such as <prgn>pdmenu</prgn>).
6841 All packages that provide applications that need not be
6842 passed any special command line arguments for normal
6843 operation should register a menu entry for those
6844 applications, so that users of the <tt>menu</tt> package
6845 will automatically get menu entries in their window
6846 managers, as well in shells like <tt>pdmenu</tt>.
6850 Menu entries should follow the current menu policy.
6854 The menu policy can be found in the <tt>menu-policy</tt>
6855 files in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
6856 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
6857 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/menu-policy/"
6858 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/menu-policy/"></tt>.
6862 Please also refer to the <em>Debian Menu System</em>
6863 documentation that comes with the <package>menu</package>
6864 package for information about how to register your
6870 <heading>Multimedia handlers</heading>
6873 MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, RFCs 2045-2049)
6874 is a mechanism for encoding files and data streams and
6875 providing meta-information about them, in particular their
6876 type (e.g. audio or video) and format (e.g. PNG, HTML,
6881 Registration of MIME type handlers allows programs like mail
6882 user agents and web browsers to invoke these handlers to
6883 view, edit or display MIME types they don't support directly.
6887 Packages which provide the ability to view/show/play,
6888 compose, edit or print MIME types should register themselves
6889 as such following the current MIME support policy.
6893 The MIME support policy can be found in the <tt>mime-policy</tt>
6894 files in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
6895 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
6896 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/mime-policy/"
6897 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/mime-policy/"></tt>.
6903 <heading>Keyboard configuration</heading>
6906 To achieve a consistent keyboard configuration so that all
6907 applications interpret a keyboard event the same way, all
6908 programs in the Debian distribution must be configured to
6909 comply with the following guidelines.
6913 The following keys must have the specified interpretations:
6916 <tag><tt><--</tt></tag>
6917 <item>delete the character to the left of the cursor</item>
6919 <tag><tt>Delete</tt></tag>
6920 <item>delete the character to the right of the cursor</item>
6922 <tag><tt>Control+H</tt></tag>
6923 <item>emacs: the help prefix</item>
6926 The interpretation of any keyboard events should be
6927 independent of the terminal that is used, be it a virtual
6928 console, an X terminal emulator, an rlogin/telnet session,
6933 The following list explains how the different programs
6934 should be set up to achieve this:
6940 <tt><--</tt> generates <tt>KB_BackSpace</tt> in X.
6944 <tt>Delete</tt> generates <tt>KB_Delete</tt> in X.
6948 X translations are set up to make
6949 <tt>KB_Backspace</tt> generate ASCII DEL, and to make
6950 <tt>KB_Delete</tt> generate <tt>ESC [ 3 ~</tt> (this
6951 is the vt220 escape code for the "delete character"
6952 key). This must be done by loading the X resources
6953 using <prgn>xrdb</prgn> on all local X displays, not
6954 using the application defaults, so that the
6955 translation resources used correspond to the
6956 <prgn>xmodmap</prgn> settings.
6960 The Linux console is configured to make
6961 <tt><--</tt> generate DEL, and <tt>Delete</tt>
6962 generate <tt>ESC [ 3 ~</tt>.
6966 X applications are configured so that <tt><</tt>
6967 deletes left, and <tt>Delete</tt> deletes right. Motif
6968 applications already work like this.
6972 Terminals should have <tt>stty erase ^?</tt> .
6976 The <tt>xterm</tt> terminfo entry should have <tt>ESC
6977 [ 3 ~</tt> for <tt>kdch1</tt>, just as for
6978 <tt>TERM=linux</tt> and <tt>TERM=vt220</tt>.
6982 Emacs is programmed to map <tt>KB_Backspace</tt> or
6983 the <tt>stty erase</tt> character to
6984 <tt>delete-backward-char</tt>, and <tt>KB_Delete</tt>
6985 or <tt>kdch1</tt> to <tt>delete-forward-char</tt>, and
6986 <tt>^H</tt> to <tt>help</tt> as always.
6990 Other applications use the <tt>stty erase</tt>
6991 character and <tt>kdch1</tt> for the two delete keys,
6992 with ASCII DEL being "delete previous character" and
6993 <tt>kdch1</tt> being "delete character under
7001 This will solve the problem except for the following
7008 Some terminals have a <tt><--</tt> key that cannot
7009 be made to produce anything except <tt>^H</tt>. On
7010 these terminals Emacs help will be unavailable on
7011 <tt>^H</tt> (assuming that the <tt>stty erase</tt>
7012 character takes precedence in Emacs, and has been set
7013 correctly). <tt>M-x help</tt> or <tt>F1</tt> (if
7014 available) can be used instead.
7018 Some operating systems use <tt>^H</tt> for <tt>stty
7019 erase</tt>. However, modern telnet versions and all
7020 rlogin versions propagate <tt>stty</tt> settings, and
7021 almost all UNIX versions honour <tt>stty erase</tt>.
7022 Where the <tt>stty</tt> settings are not propagated
7023 correctly, things can be made to work by using
7024 <tt>stty</tt> manually.
7028 Some systems (including previous Debian versions) use
7029 <prgn>xmodmap</prgn> to arrange for both
7030 <tt><--</tt> and <tt>Delete</tt> to generate
7031 <tt>KB_Delete</tt>. We can change the behavior of
7032 their X clients using the same X resources that we use
7033 to do it for our own clients, or configure our clients
7034 using their resources when things are the other way
7035 around. On displays configured like this
7036 <tt>Delete</tt> will not work, but <tt><--</tt>
7041 Some operating systems have different <tt>kdch1</tt>
7042 settings in their <tt>terminfo</tt> database for
7043 <tt>xterm</tt> and others. On these systems the
7044 <tt>Delete</tt> key will not work correctly when you
7045 log in from a system conforming to our policy, but
7046 <tt><--</tt> will.
7053 <heading>Environment variables</heading>
7056 A program must not depend on environment variables to get
7057 reasonable defaults. (That's because these environment
7058 variables would have to be set in a system-wide
7059 configuration file like <file>/etc/profile</file>, which is not
7060 supported by all shells.)
7064 If a program usually depends on environment variables for its
7065 configuration, the program should be changed to fall back to
7066 a reasonable default configuration if these environment
7067 variables are not present. If this cannot be done easily
7068 (e.g., if the source code of a non-free program is not
7069 available), the program must be replaced by a small
7070 "wrapper" shell script which sets the environment variables
7071 if they are not already defined, and calls the original program.
7075 Here is an example of a wrapper script for this purpose:
7077 <example compact="compact">
7079 BAR=${BAR:-/var/lib/fubar}
7081 exec /usr/lib/foo/foo "$@"
7086 Furthermore, as <file>/etc/profile</file> is a configuration
7087 file of the <prgn>base-files</prgn> package, other packages must
7088 not put any environment variables or other commands into that
7093 <sect id="doc-base">
7094 <heading>Registering Documents using doc-base</heading>
7097 The <package>doc-base</package> package implements a
7098 flexible mechanism for handling and presenting
7099 documentation. The recommended practice is for every Debian
7100 package that provides online documentation (other than just
7101 manual pages) to register these documents with
7102 <package>doc-base</package> by installing a
7103 <package>doc-base</package> control file via the
7104 <prgn/install-docs/ script at installation time and
7105 de-register the manuals again when the package is removed.
7108 Please refer to the documentation that comes with the
7109 <package>doc-base</package> package for information and
7118 <heading>Files</heading>
7120 <sect id="binaries">
7121 <heading>Binaries</heading>
7124 Two different packages must not install programs with
7125 different functionality but with the same filenames. (The
7126 case of two programs having the same functionality but
7127 different implementations is handled via "alternatives" or
7128 the "Conflicts" mechanism. See <ref id="maintscripts"> and
7129 <ref id="conflicts"> respectively.) If this case happens,
7130 one of the programs must be renamed. The maintainers should
7131 report this to the <tt>debian-devel</tt> mailing list and
7132 try to find a consensus about which program will have to be
7133 renamed. If a consensus cannot be reached, <em>both</em>
7134 programs must be renamed.
7138 By default, when a package is being built, any binaries
7139 created should include debugging information, as well as
7140 being compiled with optimization. You should also turn on
7141 as many reasonable compilation warnings as possible; this
7142 makes life easier for porters, who can then look at build
7143 logs for possible problems. For the C programming language,
7144 this means the following compilation parameters should be
7146 <example compact="compact">
7148 CFLAGS = -O2 -g -Wall # sane warning options vary between programs
7150 INSTALL = install -s # (or use strip on the files in debian/tmp)
7155 Note that by default all installed binaries should be stripped,
7156 either by using the <tt>-s</tt> flag to
7157 <prgn>install</prgn>, or by calling <prgn>strip</prgn> on
7158 the binaries after they have been copied into
7159 <file>debian/tmp</file> but before the tree is made into a
7164 Although binaries in the build tree should be compiled with
7165 debugging information by default, it can often be difficult to
7166 debug programs if they are also subjected to compiler
7167 optimization. For this reason, it is recommended to support the
7168 standardized environment variable <tt>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</tt>
7169 (see <ref id="debianrules-options">). This variable can contain
7170 several flags to change how a package is compiled and built.
7174 It is up to the package maintainer to decide what
7175 compilation options are best for the package. Certain
7176 binaries (such as computationally-intensive programs) will
7177 function better with certain flags (<tt>-O3</tt>, for
7178 example); feel free to use them. Please use good judgment
7179 here. Don't use flags for the sake of it; only use them
7180 if there is good reason to do so. Feel free to override
7181 the upstream author's ideas about which compilation
7182 options are best: they are often inappropriate for our
7188 <sect id="libraries">
7189 <heading>Libraries</heading>
7192 If the package is <strong>architecture: any</strong>, then
7193 the shared library compilation and linking flags must have
7194 <tt>-fPIC</tt>, or the package shall not build on some of
7195 the supported architectures<footnote>
7197 If you are using GCC, <tt>-fPIC</tt> produces code with
7198 relocatable position independent code, which is required for
7199 most architectures to create a shared library, with i386 and
7200 perhaps some others where non position independent code is
7201 permitted in a shared library.
7204 Position independent code may have a performance penalty,
7205 especially on <tt>i386</tt>. However, in most cases the
7206 speed penalty must be measured against the memory wasted on
7207 the few architectures where non position independent code is
7210 </footnote>. Any exception to this rule must be discussed on
7211 the mailing list <em>debian-devel@lists.debian.org</em>, and
7212 a rough consensus obtained. The reasons for not compiling
7213 with <tt>-fPIC</tt> flag must be recorded in the file
7214 <tt>README.Debian</tt>, and care must be taken to either
7215 restrict the architecture or arrange for <tt>-fPIC</tt> to
7216 be used on architectures where it is required.<footnote>
7218 Some of the reasons why this might be required is if the
7219 library contains hand crafted assembly code that is not
7220 relocatable, the speed penalty is excessive for compute
7221 intensive libs, and similar reasons.
7226 As to the static libraries, the common case is not to have
7227 relocatable code, since there is no benefit, unless in specific
7228 cases; therefore the static version must not be compiled
7229 with the <tt>-fPIC</tt> flag. Any exception to this rule
7230 should be discussed on the mailing list
7231 <em>debian-devel@lists.debian.org</em>, and the reasons for
7232 compiling with the <tt>-fPIC</tt> flag must be recorded in
7233 the file <tt>README.Debian</tt>. <footnote>
7235 Some of the reasons for linking static libraries with
7236 the <tt>-fPIC</tt> flag are if, for example, one needs a
7237 Perl API for a library that is under rapid development,
7238 and has an unstable API, so shared libraries are
7239 pointless at this phase of the library's development. In
7240 that case, since Perl needs a library with relocatable
7241 code, it may make sense to create a static library with
7242 relocatable code. Another reason cited is if you are
7243 distilling various libraries into a common shared
7244 library, like <tt>mklibs</tt> does in the Debian
7250 In other words, if both a shared and a static library is
7251 being built, each source unit (<tt>*.c</tt>, for example,
7252 for C files) will need to be compiled twice, for the normal
7256 You must specify the gcc option <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>
7257 when building a library (either static or shared) to make
7258 the library compatible with LinuxThreads.
7262 Although not enforced by the build tools, shared libraries
7263 must be linked against all libraries that they use symbols from
7264 in the same way that binaries are. This ensures the correct
7265 functioning of the <qref id="sharedlibs-shlibdeps">shlibs</qref>
7266 system and guarantees that all libraries can be safely opened
7267 with <tt>dlopen()</tt>. Packagers may wish to use the gcc
7268 option <tt>-Wl,-z,defs</tt> when building a shared library.
7269 Since this option enforces symbol resolution at build time,
7270 a missing library reference will be caught early as a fatal
7275 All installed shared libraries should be stripped with
7276 <example compact="compact">
7277 strip --strip-unneeded <var>your-lib</var>
7279 (The option <tt>--strip-unneeded</tt> makes
7280 <prgn>strip</prgn> remove only the symbols which aren't
7281 needed for relocation processing.) Shared libraries can
7282 function perfectly well when stripped, since the symbols for
7283 dynamic linking are in a separate part of the ELF object
7285 You might also want to use the options
7286 <tt>--remove-section=.comment</tt> and
7287 <tt>--remove-section=.note</tt> on both shared libraries
7288 and executables, and <tt>--strip-debug</tt> on static
7294 Note that under some circumstances it may be useful to
7295 install a shared library unstripped, for example when
7296 building a separate package to support debugging.
7300 Shared object files (often <file>.so</file> files) that are not
7301 public libraries, that is, they are not meant to be linked
7302 to by third party executables (binaries of other packages),
7303 should be installed in subdirectories of the
7304 <file>/usr/lib</file> directory. Such files are exempt from the
7305 rules that govern ordinary shared libraries, except that
7306 they must not be installed executable and should be
7308 A common example are the so-called "plug-ins",
7309 internal shared objects that are dynamically loaded by
7310 programs using <manref name="dlopen" section="3">.
7315 Packages that use <prgn>libtool</prgn> to create and install
7316 their shared libraries install a file containing additional
7317 metadata (ending in <file>.la</file>) alongside the library.
7318 For public libraries intended for use by other packages, these
7319 files normally should not be included in the Debian package,
7320 since the information they include is not necessary to link with
7321 the shared library on Debian and can add unnecessary additional
7322 dependencies to other programs or libraries.<footnote>
7323 These files store, among other things, all libraries on which
7324 that shared library depends. Unfortunately, if
7325 the <file>.la</file> file is present and contains that
7326 dependency information, using <prgn>libtool</prgn> when
7327 linking against that library will cause the resulting program
7328 or library to be linked against those dependencies as well,
7329 even if this is unnecessary. This can create unneeded
7330 dependencies on shared library packages that would otherwise
7331 be hidden behind the library ABI, and can make library
7332 transitions to new SONAMEs unnecessarily complicated and
7333 difficult to manage.
7335 If the <file>.la</file> file is required for that library (if,
7336 for instance, it's loaded via <tt>libltdl</tt> in a way that
7337 requires that meta-information), the <tt>dependency_libs</tt>
7338 setting in the <file>.la</file> file should normally be set to
7339 the empty string. If the shared library development package has
7340 historically included the <file>.la</file>, it must be retained
7341 in the development package (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt>
7342 emptied) until all libraries that depend on it have removed or
7343 emptied <tt>dependency_libs</tt> in their <file>.la</file>
7344 files to prevent linking with those other libraries
7345 using <prgn>libtool</prgn> from failing.
7349 If the <file>.la</file> must be included, it should be included
7350 in the development (<tt>-dev</tt>) package, unless the library
7351 will be loaded by <prgn>libtool</prgn>'s <tt>libltdl</tt>
7352 library. If it is intended for use with <tt>libltdl</tt>,
7353 the <file>.la</file> files must go in the run-time library
7358 These requirements for handling of <file>.la</file> files do not
7359 apply to loadable modules or libraries not installed in
7360 directories searched by default by the dynamic linker. Packages
7361 installing loadable modules will frequently need to install
7362 the <file>.la</file> files alongside the modules so that they
7363 can be loaded by <tt>libltdl</tt>. <tt>dependency_libs</tt>
7364 does not need to be modified for libraries or modules that are
7365 not installed in directories searched by the dynamic linker by
7366 default and not intended for use by other packages.
7370 You must make sure that you use only released versions of
7371 shared libraries to build your packages; otherwise other
7372 users will not be able to run your binaries
7373 properly. Producing source packages that depend on
7374 unreleased compilers is also usually a bad
7381 <heading>Shared libraries</heading>
7383 This section has moved to <ref id="sharedlibs">.
7389 <heading>Scripts</heading>
7392 All command scripts, including the package maintainer
7393 scripts inside the package and used by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>,
7394 should have a <tt>#!</tt> line naming the shell to be used
7399 In the case of Perl scripts this should be
7400 <tt>#!/usr/bin/perl</tt>.
7404 When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
7405 PATH, the script name should not include an extension such
7406 as <tt>.sh</tt> or <tt>.pl</tt> that denotes the scripting
7407 language currently used to implement it.
7410 Shell scripts (<prgn>sh</prgn> and <prgn>bash</prgn>) other than
7411 <file>init.d</file> scripts should almost certainly start
7412 with <tt>set -e</tt> so that errors are detected.
7413 <file>init.d</file> scripts are something of a special case, due
7414 to how frequently they need to call commands that are allowed to
7415 fail, and it may instead be easier to check the exit status of
7416 commands directly. See <ref id="writing-init"> for more
7417 information about writing <file>init.d</file> scripts.
7420 Every script should use <tt>set -e</tt> or check the exit status
7421 of <em>every</em> command.
7424 Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> implements the
7425 SUSv3 Shell Command Language<footnote>
7426 Single UNIX Specification, version 3, which is also IEEE
7427 1003.1-2004 (POSIX), and is available on the World Wide Web
7428 from <url id="http://www.unix.org/version3/online.html"
7429 name="The Open Group"> after free
7430 registration.</footnote>
7431 plus the following additional features not mandated by
7433 These features are in widespread use in the Linux community
7434 and are implemented in all of bash, dash, and ksh, the most
7435 common shells users may wish to use as <file>/bin/sh</file>.
7438 <item><tt>echo -n</tt>, if implemented as a shell built-in,
7439 must not generate a newline.</item>
7440 <item><tt>test</tt>, if implemented as a shell built-in, must
7441 support <tt>-a</tt> and <tt>-o</tt> as binary logical
7443 <item><tt>local</tt> to create a scoped variable must be
7444 supported, including listing multiple variables in a single
7445 local command and assigning a value to a variable at the
7446 same time as localizing it. <tt>local</tt> may or
7447 may not preserve the variable value from an outer scope if
7448 no assignment is present. Uses such as:
7452 # ... use a, b, c, d ...
7455 must be supported and must set the value of <tt>c</tt> to
7459 If a shell script requires non-SUSv3 features from the shell
7460 interpreter other than those listed above, the appropriate shell
7461 must be specified in the first line of the script (e.g.,
7462 <tt>#!/bin/bash</tt>) and the package must depend on the package
7463 providing the shell (unless the shell package is marked
7464 "Essential", as in the case of <prgn>bash</prgn>).
7468 You may wish to restrict your script to SUSv3 features plus the
7469 above set when possible so that it may use <file>/bin/sh</file>
7470 as its interpreter. If your script works with <prgn>dash</prgn>
7471 (originally called <prgn>ash</prgn>), it probably complies with
7472 the above requirements, but if you are in doubt, use
7473 <file>/bin/bash</file>.
7477 Perl scripts should check for errors when making any
7478 system calls, including <tt>open</tt>, <tt>print</tt>,
7479 <tt>close</tt>, <tt>rename</tt> and <tt>system</tt>.
7483 <prgn>csh</prgn> and <prgn>tcsh</prgn> should be avoided as
7484 scripting languages. See <em>Csh Programming Considered
7485 Harmful</em>, one of the <tt>comp.unix.*</tt> FAQs, which
7486 can be found at <url id="http://www.faqs.org/faqs/unix-faq/shell/csh-whynot/">.
7487 If an upstream package comes with <prgn>csh</prgn> scripts
7488 then you must make sure that they start with
7489 <tt>#!/bin/csh</tt> and make your package depend on the
7490 <prgn>c-shell</prgn> virtual package.
7494 Any scripts which create files in world-writeable
7495 directories (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) must use a
7496 mechanism which will fail atomically if a file with the same
7497 name already exists.
7501 The Debian base system provides the <prgn>tempfile</prgn>
7502 and <prgn>mktemp</prgn> utilities for use by scripts for
7509 <heading>Symbolic links</heading>
7512 In general, symbolic links within a top-level directory
7513 should be relative, and symbolic links pointing from one
7514 top-level directory into another should be absolute. (A
7515 top-level directory is a sub-directory of the root
7516 directory <file>/</file>.)
7520 In addition, symbolic links should be specified as short as
7521 possible, i.e., link targets like <file>foo/../bar</file> are
7526 Note that when creating a relative link using
7527 <prgn>ln</prgn> it is not necessary for the target of the
7528 link to exist relative to the working directory you're
7529 running <prgn>ln</prgn> from, nor is it necessary to change
7530 directory to the directory where the link is to be made.
7531 Simply include the string that should appear as the target
7532 of the link (this will be a pathname relative to the
7533 directory in which the link resides) as the first argument
7538 For example, in your <prgn>Makefile</prgn> or
7539 <file>debian/rules</file>, you can do things like:
7540 <example compact="compact">
7541 ln -fs gcc $(prefix)/bin/cc
7542 ln -fs gcc debian/tmp/usr/bin/cc
7543 ln -fs ../sbin/sendmail $(prefix)/bin/runq
7544 ln -fs ../sbin/sendmail debian/tmp/usr/bin/runq
7549 A symbolic link pointing to a compressed file should always
7550 have the same file extension as the referenced file. (For
7551 example, if a file <file>foo.gz</file> is referenced by a
7552 symbolic link, the filename of the link has to end with
7553 "<file>.gz</file>" too, as in <file>bar.gz</file>.)
7558 <heading>Device files</heading>
7561 Packages must not include device files or named pipes in the
7566 If a package needs any special device files that are not
7567 included in the base system, it must call
7568 <prgn>MAKEDEV</prgn> in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script,
7569 after notifying the user<footnote>
7570 This notification could be done via a (low-priority)
7571 debconf message, or an echo (printf) statement.
7576 Packages must not remove any device files in the
7577 <prgn>postrm</prgn> or any other script. This is left to the
7578 system administrator.
7582 Debian uses the serial devices
7583 <file>/dev/ttyS*</file>. Programs using the old
7584 <file>/dev/cu*</file> devices should be changed to use
7585 <file>/dev/ttyS*</file>.
7589 Named pipes needed by the package must be created in
7590 the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script<footnote>
7591 It's better to use <prgn>mkfifo</prgn> rather
7592 than <prgn>mknod</prgn> to create named pipes so that
7593 automated checks for packages incorrectly creating device
7594 files with <prgn>mknod</prgn> won't have false positives.
7595 </footnote> and removed in
7596 the <prgn>prerm</prgn> or <prgn>postrm</prgn> script as
7601 <sect id="config-files">
7602 <heading>Configuration files</heading>
7605 <heading>Definitions</heading>
7609 <tag>configuration file</tag>
7611 A file that affects the operation of a program, or
7612 provides site- or host-specific information, or
7613 otherwise customizes the behavior of a program.
7614 Typically, configuration files are intended to be
7615 modified by the system administrator (if needed or
7616 desired) to conform to local policy or to provide
7617 more useful site-specific behavior.
7620 <tag><tt>conffile</tt></tag>
7622 A file listed in a package's <tt>conffiles</tt>
7623 file, and is treated specially by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
7624 (see <ref id="configdetails">).
7630 The distinction between these two is important; they are
7631 not interchangeable concepts. Almost all
7632 <tt>conffile</tt>s are configuration files, but many
7633 configuration files are not <tt>conffiles</tt>.
7637 As noted elsewhere, <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts,
7638 <file>/etc/default</file> files, scripts installed in
7639 <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file>, and cron
7640 configuration installed in <file>/etc/cron.d</file> must be
7641 treated as configuration files. In general, any script that
7642 embeds configuration information is de-facto a configuration
7643 file and should be treated as such.
7648 <heading>Location</heading>
7651 Any configuration files created or used by your package
7652 must reside in <file>/etc</file>. If there are several,
7653 consider creating a subdirectory of <file>/etc</file>
7654 named after your package.
7658 If your package creates or uses configuration files
7659 outside of <file>/etc</file>, and it is not feasible to modify
7660 the package to use <file>/etc</file> directly, put the files
7661 in <file>/etc</file> and create symbolic links to those files
7662 from the location that the package requires.
7667 <heading>Behavior</heading>
7670 Configuration file handling must conform to the following
7672 <list compact="compact">
7674 local changes must be preserved during a package
7678 configuration files must be preserved when the
7679 package is removed, and only deleted when the
7683 Obsolete configuration files without local changes may be
7684 removed by the package during upgrade.
7688 The easy way to achieve this behavior is to make the
7689 configuration file a <tt>conffile</tt>. This is
7690 appropriate only if it is possible to distribute a default
7691 version that will work for most installations, although
7692 some system administrators may choose to modify it. This
7693 implies that the default version will be part of the
7694 package distribution, and must not be modified by the
7695 maintainer scripts during installation (or at any other
7700 In order to ensure that local changes are preserved
7701 correctly, no package may contain or make hard links to
7702 conffiles.<footnote>
7703 Rationale: There are two problems with hard links.
7704 The first is that some editors break the link while
7705 editing one of the files, so that the two files may
7706 unwittingly become unlinked and different. The second
7707 is that <prgn>dpkg</prgn> might break the hard link
7708 while upgrading <tt>conffile</tt>s.
7713 The other way to do it is via the maintainer scripts. In
7714 this case, the configuration file must not be listed as a
7715 <tt>conffile</tt> and must not be part of the package
7716 distribution. If the existence of a file is required for
7717 the package to be sensibly configured it is the
7718 responsibility of the package maintainer to provide
7719 maintainer scripts which correctly create, update and
7720 maintain the file and remove it on purge. (See <ref
7721 id="maintainerscripts"> for more information.) These
7722 scripts must be idempotent (i.e., must work correctly if
7723 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> needs to re-run them due to errors
7724 during installation or removal), must cope with all the
7725 variety of ways <prgn>dpkg</prgn> can call maintainer
7726 scripts, must not overwrite or otherwise mangle the user's
7727 configuration without asking, must not ask unnecessary
7728 questions (particularly during upgrades), and must
7729 otherwise be good citizens.
7733 The scripts are not required to configure every possible
7734 option for the package, but only those necessary to get
7735 the package running on a given system. Ideally the
7736 sysadmin should not have to do any configuration other
7737 than that done (semi-)automatically by the
7738 <prgn>postinst</prgn> script.
7742 A common practice is to create a script called
7743 <file><var>package</var>-configure</file> and have the
7744 package's <prgn>postinst</prgn> call it if and only if the
7745 configuration file does not already exist. In certain
7746 cases it is useful for there to be an example or template
7747 file which the maintainer scripts use. Such files should
7748 be in <file>/usr/share/<var>package</var></file> or
7749 <file>/usr/lib/<var>package</var></file> (depending on whether
7750 they are architecture-independent or not). There should
7751 be symbolic links to them from
7752 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/examples</file> if
7753 they are examples, and should be perfectly ordinary
7754 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>-handled files (<em>not</em>
7755 configuration files).
7759 These two styles of configuration file handling must
7760 not be mixed, for that way lies madness:
7761 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will ask about overwriting the file
7762 every time the package is upgraded.
7767 <heading>Sharing configuration files</heading>
7770 Packages which specify the same file as a
7771 <tt>conffile</tt> must be tagged as <em>conflicting</em>
7772 with each other. (This is an instance of the general rule
7773 about not sharing files. Note that neither alternatives
7774 nor diversions are likely to be appropriate in this case;
7775 in particular, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> does not handle diverted
7776 <tt>conffile</tt>s well.)
7780 The maintainer scripts must not alter a <tt>conffile</tt>
7781 of <em>any</em> package, including the one the scripts
7786 If two or more packages use the same configuration file
7787 and it is reasonable for both to be installed at the same
7788 time, one of these packages must be defined as
7789 <em>owner</em> of the configuration file, i.e., it will be
7790 the package which handles that file as a configuration
7791 file. Other packages that use the configuration file must
7792 depend on the owning package if they require the
7793 configuration file to operate. If the other package will
7794 use the configuration file if present, but is capable of
7795 operating without it, no dependency need be declared.
7799 If it is desirable for two or more related packages to
7800 share a configuration file <em>and</em> for all of the
7801 related packages to be able to modify that configuration
7802 file, then the following should be done:
7803 <enumlist compact="compact">
7805 One of the related packages (the "owning" package)
7806 will manage the configuration file with maintainer
7807 scripts as described in the previous section.
7810 The owning package should also provide a program
7811 that the other packages may use to modify the
7815 The related packages must use the provided program
7816 to make any desired modifications to the
7817 configuration file. They should either depend on
7818 the core package to guarantee that the configuration
7819 modifier program is available or accept gracefully
7820 that they cannot modify the configuration file if it
7821 is not. (This is in addition to the fact that the
7822 configuration file may not even be present in the
7829 Sometimes it's appropriate to create a new package which
7830 provides the basic infrastructure for the other packages
7831 and which manages the shared configuration files. (The
7832 <tt>sgml-base</tt> package is a good example.)
7837 <heading>User configuration files ("dotfiles")</heading>
7840 The files in <file>/etc/skel</file> will automatically be
7841 copied into new user accounts by <prgn>adduser</prgn>.
7842 No other program should reference the files in
7843 <file>/etc/skel</file>.
7847 Therefore, if a program needs a dotfile to exist in
7848 advance in <file>$HOME</file> to work sensibly, that dotfile
7849 should be installed in <file>/etc/skel</file> and treated as a
7854 However, programs that require dotfiles in order to
7855 operate sensibly are a bad thing, unless they do create
7856 the dotfiles themselves automatically.
7860 Furthermore, programs should be configured by the Debian
7861 default installation to behave as closely to the upstream
7862 default behavior as possible.
7866 Therefore, if a program in a Debian package needs to be
7867 configured in some way in order to operate sensibly, that
7868 should be done using a site-wide configuration file placed
7869 in <file>/etc</file>. Only if the program doesn't support a
7870 site-wide default configuration and the package maintainer
7871 doesn't have time to add it may a default per-user file be
7872 placed in <file>/etc/skel</file>.
7876 <file>/etc/skel</file> should be as empty as we can make it.
7877 This is particularly true because there is no easy (or
7878 necessarily desirable) mechanism for ensuring that the
7879 appropriate dotfiles are copied into the accounts of
7880 existing users when a package is installed.
7886 <heading>Log files</heading>
7888 Log files should usually be named
7889 <file>/var/log/<var>package</var>.log</file>. If you have many
7890 log files, or need a separate directory for permission
7891 reasons (<file>/var/log</file> is writable only by
7892 <file>root</file>), you should usually create a directory named
7893 <file>/var/log/<var>package</var></file> and place your log
7898 Log files must be rotated occasionally so that they don't
7899 grow indefinitely; the best way to do this is to drop a log
7900 rotation configuration file into the directory
7901 <file>/etc/logrotate.d</file> and use the facilities provided by
7902 logrotate.<footnote>
7904 The traditional approach to log files has been to set up
7905 <em>ad hoc</em> log rotation schemes using simple shell
7906 scripts and cron. While this approach is highly
7907 customizable, it requires quite a lot of sysadmin work.
7908 Even though the original Debian system helped a little
7909 by automatically installing a system which can be used
7910 as a template, this was deemed not enough.
7914 The use of <prgn>logrotate</prgn>, a program developed
7915 by Red Hat, is better, as it centralizes log management.
7916 It has both a configuration file
7917 (<file>/etc/logrotate.conf</file>) and a directory where
7918 packages can drop their individual log rotation
7919 configurations (<file>/etc/logrotate.d</file>).
7922 Here is a good example for a logrotate config
7923 file (for more information see <manref name="logrotate"
7925 <example compact="compact">
7926 /var/log/foo/*.log {
7931 /etc/init.d/foo force-reload
7935 This rotates all files under <file>/var/log/foo</file>, saves 12
7936 compressed generations, and forces the daemon to reload its
7937 configuration information after the log rotation.
7941 Log files should be removed when the package is
7942 purged (but not when it is only removed). This should be
7943 done by the <prgn>postrm</prgn> script when it is called
7944 with the argument <tt>purge</tt> (see <ref
7945 id="removedetails">).
7950 <heading>Permissions and owners</heading>
7953 The rules in this section are guidelines for general use.
7954 If necessary you may deviate from the details below.
7955 However, if you do so you must make sure that what is done
7956 is secure and you should try to be as consistent as possible
7957 with the rest of the system. You should probably also
7958 discuss it on <prgn>debian-devel</prgn> first.
7962 Files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>, and made
7963 writable only by the owner and universally readable (and
7964 executable, if appropriate), that is mode 644 or 755.
7968 Directories should be mode 755 or (for group-writability)
7969 mode 2775. The ownership of the directory should be
7970 consistent with its mode: if a directory is mode 2775, it
7971 should be owned by the group that needs write access to
7974 When a package is upgraded, and the owner or permissions
7975 of a file included in the package has changed, dpkg
7976 arranges for the ownership and permissions to be
7977 correctly set upon installation. However, this does not
7978 extend to directories; the permissions and ownership of
7979 directories already on the system does not change on
7980 install or upgrade of packages. This makes sense, since
7981 otherwise common directories like <tt>/usr</tt> would
7982 always be in flux. To correctly change permissions of a
7983 directory the package owns, explicit action is required,
7984 usually in the <tt>postinst</tt> script. Care must be
7985 taken to handle downgrades as well, in that case.
7992 Setuid and setgid executables should be mode 4755 or 2755
7993 respectively, and owned by the appropriate user or group.
7994 They should not be made unreadable (modes like 4711 or
7995 2711 or even 4111); doing so achieves no extra security,
7996 because anyone can find the binary in the freely available
7997 Debian package; it is merely inconvenient. For the same
7998 reason you should not restrict read or execute permissions
7999 on non-set-id executables.
8003 Some setuid programs need to be restricted to particular
8004 sets of users, using file permissions. In this case they
8005 should be owned by the uid to which they are set-id, and by
8006 the group which should be allowed to execute them. They
8007 should have mode 4754; again there is no point in making
8008 them unreadable to those users who must not be allowed to
8013 It is possible to arrange that the system administrator can
8014 reconfigure the package to correspond to their local
8015 security policy by changing the permissions on a binary:
8016 they can do this by using <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn>, as
8017 described below.<footnote>
8018 Ordinary files installed by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> (as
8019 opposed to <tt>conffile</tt>s and other similar objects)
8020 normally have their permissions reset to the distributed
8021 permissions when the package is reinstalled. However,
8022 the use of <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn> overrides this
8025 Another method you should consider is to create a group for
8026 people allowed to use the program(s) and make any setuid
8027 executables executable only by that group.
8031 If you need to create a new user or group for your package
8032 there are two possibilities. Firstly, you may need to
8033 make some files in the binary package be owned by this
8034 user or group, or you may need to compile the user or
8035 group id (rather than just the name) into the binary
8036 (though this latter should be avoided if possible, as in
8037 this case you need a statically allocated id).</p>
8040 If you need a statically allocated id, you must ask for a
8041 user or group id from the <tt>base-passwd</tt> maintainer,
8042 and must not release the package until you have been
8043 allocated one. Once you have been allocated one you must
8044 either make the package depend on a version of the
8045 <tt>base-passwd</tt> package with the id present in
8046 <file>/etc/passwd</file> or <file>/etc/group</file>, or arrange for
8047 your package to create the user or group itself with the
8048 correct id (using <tt>adduser</tt>) in its
8049 <prgn>preinst</prgn> or <prgn>postinst</prgn>. (Doing it in
8050 the <prgn>postinst</prgn> is to be preferred if it is
8051 possible, otherwise a pre-dependency will be needed on the
8052 <tt>adduser</tt> package.)
8056 On the other hand, the program might be able to determine
8057 the uid or gid from the user or group name at runtime, so
8058 that a dynamically allocated id can be used. In this case
8059 you should choose an appropriate user or group name,
8060 discussing this on <prgn>debian-devel</prgn> and checking
8061 with the <package/base-passwd/ maintainer that it is unique and that
8062 they do not wish you to use a statically allocated id
8063 instead. When this has been checked you must arrange for
8064 your package to create the user or group if necessary using
8065 <prgn>adduser</prgn> in the <prgn>preinst</prgn> or
8066 <prgn>postinst</prgn> script (again, the latter is to be
8067 preferred if it is possible).
8071 Note that changing the numeric value of an id associated
8072 with a name is very difficult, and involves searching the
8073 file system for all appropriate files. You need to think
8074 carefully whether a static or dynamic id is required, since
8075 changing your mind later will cause problems.
8078 <sect1><heading>The use of <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn></heading>
8080 This section is not intended as policy, but as a
8081 description of the use of <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn>.
8085 If a system administrator wishes to have a file (or
8086 directory or other such thing) installed with owner and
8087 permissions different from those in the distributed Debian
8088 package, they can use the <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn>
8089 program to instruct <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to use the different
8090 settings every time the file is installed. Thus the
8091 package maintainer should distribute the files with their
8092 normal permissions, and leave it for the system
8093 administrator to make any desired changes. For example, a
8094 daemon which is normally required to be setuid root, but
8095 in certain situations could be used without being setuid,
8096 should be installed setuid in the <tt>.deb</tt>. Then the
8097 local system administrator can change this if they wish.
8098 If there are two standard ways of doing it, the package
8099 maintainer can use <tt>debconf</tt> to find out the
8100 preference, and call <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn> in the
8101 maintainer script if necessary to accommodate the system
8102 administrator's choice. Care must be taken during
8103 upgrades to not override an existing setting.
8107 Given the above, <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn> is
8108 essentially a tool for system administrators and would not
8109 normally be needed in the maintainer scripts. There is
8110 one type of situation, though, where calls to
8111 <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn> would be needed in the
8112 maintainer scripts, and that involves packages which use
8113 dynamically allocated user or group ids. In such a
8114 situation, something like the following idiom can be very
8115 helpful in the package's <prgn>postinst</prgn>, where
8116 <tt>sysuser</tt> is a dynamically allocated id:
8118 for i in /usr/bin/foo /usr/sbin/bar
8120 # only do something when no setting exists
8121 if ! dpkg-statoverride --list $i >/dev/null 2>&1
8123 #include: debconf processing, question about foo and bar
8124 if [ "$RET" = "true" ] ; then
8125 dpkg-statoverride --update --add sysuser root 4755 $i
8130 The corresponding code to remove the override when the package
8133 for i in /usr/bin/foo /usr/sbin/bar
8135 if dpkg-statoverride --list $i >/dev/null 2>&1
8137 dpkg-statoverride --remove $i
8147 <chapt id="customized-programs">
8148 <heading>Customized programs</heading>
8150 <sect id="arch-spec">
8151 <heading>Architecture specification strings</heading>
8154 If a program needs to specify an <em>architecture specification
8155 string</em> in some place, it should select one of the strings
8156 provided by <tt>dpkg-architecture -L</tt>. The strings are in
8157 the format <tt><var>os</var>-<var>arch</var></tt>, though the OS
8158 part is sometimes elided, as when the OS is Linux.
8162 Note that we don't want to use
8163 <tt><var>arch</var>-debian-linux</tt> to apply to the rule
8164 <tt><var>architecture</var>-<var>vendor</var>-<var>os</var></tt>
8165 since this would make our programs incompatible with other
8166 Linux distributions. We also don't use something like
8167 <tt><var>arch</var>-unknown-linux</tt>, since the
8168 <tt>unknown</tt> does not look very good.
8171 <sect1 id="arch-wildcard-spec">
8172 <heading>Architecture wildcards</heading>
8175 A package may specify an architecture wildcard. Architecture
8176 wildcards are in the format <tt>any</tt> (which matches every
8177 architecture), <tt><var>os</var></tt>-any, or
8178 any-<tt><var>cpu</var></tt>. <footnote>
8179 Internally, the package system normalizes the GNU triplets
8180 and the Debian arches into Debian arch triplets (which are
8181 kind of inverted GNU triplets), with the first component of
8182 the triplet representing the libc and ABI in use, and then
8183 does matching against those triplets. However, such
8184 triplets are an internal implementation detail that should
8185 not be used by packages directly. The libc and ABI portion
8186 is handled internally by the package system based on
8187 the <var>os</var> and <var>cpu</var>.
8194 <heading>Daemons</heading>
8197 The configuration files <file>/etc/services</file>,
8198 <file>/etc/protocols</file>, and <file>/etc/rpc</file> are managed
8199 by the <prgn>netbase</prgn> package and must not be modified
8204 If a package requires a new entry in one of these files, the
8205 maintainer should get in contact with the
8206 <prgn>netbase</prgn> maintainer, who will add the entries
8207 and release a new version of the <prgn>netbase</prgn>
8212 The configuration file <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file> must not be
8213 modified by the package's scripts except via the
8214 <prgn>update-inetd</prgn> script or the
8215 <file>DebianNet.pm</file> Perl module. See their documentation
8216 for details on how to add entries.
8220 If a package wants to install an example entry into
8221 <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>, the entry must be preceded with
8222 exactly one hash character (<tt>#</tt>). Such lines are
8223 treated as "commented out by user" by the
8224 <prgn>update-inetd</prgn> script and are not changed or
8225 activated during package updates.
8230 <heading>Using pseudo-ttys and modifying wtmp, utmp and
8234 Some programs need to create pseudo-ttys. This should be done
8235 using Unix98 ptys if the C library supports it. The resulting
8236 program must not be installed setuid root, unless that
8237 is required for other functionality.
8241 The files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>, <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and
8242 <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be installed writable by
8243 group <tt>utmp</tt>. Programs which need to modify those
8244 files must be installed setgid <tt>utmp</tt>.
8249 <heading>Editors and pagers</heading>
8252 Some programs have the ability to launch an editor or pager
8253 program to edit or display a text document. Since there are
8254 lots of different editors and pagers available in the Debian
8255 distribution, the system administrator and each user should
8256 have the possibility to choose their preferred editor and
8261 In addition, every program should choose a good default
8262 editor/pager if none is selected by the user or system
8267 Thus, every program that launches an editor or pager must
8268 use the EDITOR or PAGER environment variable to determine
8269 the editor or pager the user wishes to use. If these
8270 variables are not set, the programs <file>/usr/bin/editor</file>
8271 and <file>/usr/bin/pager</file> should be used, respectively.
8275 These two files are managed through the <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
8276 "alternatives" mechanism. Thus every package providing an
8277 editor or pager must call the
8278 <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> script to register these
8283 If it is very hard to adapt a program to make use of the
8284 EDITOR or PAGER variables, that program may be configured to
8285 use <file>/usr/bin/sensible-editor</file> and
8286 <file>/usr/bin/sensible-pager</file> as the editor or pager
8287 program respectively. These are two scripts provided in the
8288 <package>sensible-utils</package> package that check the EDITOR
8289 and PAGER variables and launch the appropriate program, and fall
8290 back to <file>/usr/bin/editor</file>
8291 and <file>/usr/bin/pager</file> if the variable is not set.
8295 A program may also use the VISUAL environment variable to
8296 determine the user's choice of editor. If it exists, it
8297 should take precedence over EDITOR. This is in fact what
8298 <file>/usr/bin/sensible-editor</file> does.
8302 It is not required for a package to depend on
8303 <tt>editor</tt> and <tt>pager</tt>, nor is it required for a
8304 package to provide such virtual packages.<footnote>
8305 The Debian base system already provides an editor and a
8311 <sect id="web-appl">
8312 <heading>Web servers and applications</heading>
8315 This section describes the locations and URLs that should
8316 be used by all web servers and web applications in the
8323 Cgi-bin executable files are installed in the
8325 <example compact="compact">
8326 /usr/lib/cgi-bin/<var>cgi-bin-name</var>
8328 and should be referred to as
8329 <example compact="compact">
8330 http://localhost/cgi-bin/<var>cgi-bin-name</var>
8336 <p>Access to HTML documents</p>
8339 HTML documents for a package are stored in
8340 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>
8341 and can be referred to as
8342 <example compact="compact">
8343 http://localhost/doc/<var>package</var>/<var>filename</var>
8348 The web server should restrict access to the document
8349 tree so that only clients on the same host can read
8350 the documents. If the web server does not support such
8351 access controls, then it should not provide access at
8352 all, or ask about providing access during installation.
8357 <p>Access to images</p>
8359 It is recommended that images for a package be stored
8360 in <tt>/usr/share/images/<var>package</var></tt> and
8361 may be referred to through an alias <tt>/images/</tt>
8364 http://localhost/images/<package>/<filename>
8371 <p>Web Document Root</p>
8374 Web Applications should try to avoid storing files in
8375 the Web Document Root. Instead they should use the
8376 /usr/share/doc/<var>package</var> directory for
8377 documents and register the Web Application via the
8378 <package>doc-base</package> package. If access to the
8379 web document root is unavoidable then use
8380 <example compact="compact">
8383 as the Document Root. This might be just a symbolic
8384 link to the location where the system administrator
8385 has put the real document root.
8388 <item><p>Providing httpd and/or httpd-cgi</p>
8390 All web servers should provide the virtual package
8391 <tt>httpd</tt>. If a web server has CGI support it should
8392 provide <tt>httpd-cgi</tt> additionally.
8395 All web applications which do not contain CGI scripts should
8396 depend on <tt>httpd</tt>, all those web applications which
8397 <tt>do</tt> contain CGI scripts, should depend on
8405 <sect id="mail-transport-agents">
8406 <heading>Mail transport, delivery and user agents</heading>
8409 Debian packages which process electronic mail, whether mail
8410 user agents (MUAs) or mail transport agents (MTAs), must
8411 ensure that they are compatible with the configuration
8412 decisions below. Failure to do this may result in lost
8413 mail, broken <tt>From:</tt> lines, and other serious brain
8418 The mail spool is <file>/var/mail</file> and the interface to
8419 send a mail message is <file>/usr/sbin/sendmail</file> (as per
8420 the FHS). On older systems, the mail spool may be
8421 physically located in <file>/var/spool/mail</file>, but all
8422 access to the mail spool should be via the
8423 <file>/var/mail</file> symlink. The mail spool is part of the
8424 base system and not part of the MTA package.
8428 All Debian MUAs, MTAs, MDAs and other mailbox accessing
8429 programs (such as IMAP daemons) must lock the mailbox in an
8430 NFS-safe way. This means that <tt>fcntl()</tt> locking must
8431 be combined with dot locking. To avoid deadlocks, a program
8432 should use <tt>fcntl()</tt> first and dot locking after
8433 this, or alternatively implement the two locking methods in
8434 a non blocking way<footnote>
8435 If it is not possible to establish both locks, the
8436 system shouldn't wait for the second lock to be
8437 established, but remove the first lock, wait a (random)
8438 time, and start over locking again.
8439 </footnote>. Using the functions <tt>maillock</tt> and
8440 <tt>mailunlock</tt> provided by the
8441 <tt>liblockfile*</tt><footnote>
8442 You will need to depend on <tt>liblockfile1 (>>1.01)</tt>
8443 to use these functions.
8444 </footnote> packages is the recommended way to realize this.
8448 Mailboxes are generally either mode 600 and owned by
8449 <var>user</var> or mode 660 and owned by
8450 <tt><var>user</var>:mail</tt><footnote>
8451 There are two traditional permission schemes for mail spools:
8452 mode 600 with all mail delivery done by processes running as
8453 the destination user, or mode 660 and owned by group mail with
8454 mail delivery done by a process running as a system user in
8455 group mail. Historically, Debian required mode 660 mail
8456 spools to enable the latter model, but that model has become
8457 increasingly uncommon and the principle of least privilege
8458 indicates that mail systems that use the first model should
8459 use permissions of 600. If delivery to programs is permitted,
8460 it's easier to keep the mail system secure if the delivery
8461 agent runs as the destination user. Debian Policy therefore
8462 permits either scheme.
8463 </footnote>. The local system administrator may choose a
8464 different permission scheme; packages should not make
8465 assumptions about the permission and ownership of mailboxes
8466 unless required (such as when creating a new mailbox). A MUA
8467 may remove a mailbox (unless it has nonstandard permissions) in
8468 which case the MTA or another MUA must recreate it if needed.
8472 The mail spool is 2775 <tt>root:mail</tt>, and MUAs should
8473 be setgid mail to do the locking mentioned above (and
8474 must obviously avoid accessing other users' mailboxes
8475 using this privilege).</p>
8478 <file>/etc/aliases</file> is the source file for the system mail
8479 aliases (e.g., postmaster, usenet, etc.), it is the one
8480 which the sysadmin and <prgn>postinst</prgn> scripts may
8481 edit. After <file>/etc/aliases</file> is edited the program or
8482 human editing it must call <prgn>newaliases</prgn>. All MTA
8483 packages must come with a <prgn>newaliases</prgn> program,
8484 even if it does nothing, but older MTA packages did not do
8485 this so programs should not fail if <prgn>newaliases</prgn>
8486 cannot be found. Note that because of this, all MTA
8487 packages must have <tt>Provides</tt>, <tt>Conflicts</tt> and
8488 <tt>Replaces: mail-transport-agent</tt> control fields.
8492 The convention of writing <tt>forward to
8493 <var>address</var></tt> in the mailbox itself is not
8494 supported. Use a <tt>.forward</tt> file instead.</p>
8497 The <prgn>rmail</prgn> program used by UUCP
8498 for incoming mail should be <file>/usr/sbin/rmail</file>.
8499 Likewise, <prgn>rsmtp</prgn>, for receiving
8500 batch-SMTP-over-UUCP, should be <file>/usr/sbin/rsmtp</file> if it
8504 If your package needs to know what hostname to use on (for
8505 example) outgoing news and mail messages which are generated
8506 locally, you should use the file <file>/etc/mailname</file>. It
8507 will contain the portion after the username and <tt>@</tt>
8508 (at) sign for email addresses of users on the machine
8509 (followed by a newline).
8513 Such a package should check for the existence of this file
8514 when it is being configured. If it exists, it should be
8515 used without comment, although an MTA's configuration script
8516 may wish to prompt the user even if it finds that this file
8517 exists. If the file does not exist, the package should
8518 prompt the user for the value (preferably using
8519 <prgn>debconf</prgn>) and store it in <file>/etc/mailname</file>
8520 as well as using it in the package's configuration. The
8521 prompt should make it clear that the name will not just be
8522 used by that package. For example, in this situation the
8523 <tt>inn</tt> package could say something like:
8524 <example compact="compact">
8525 Please enter the "mail name" of your system. This is the
8526 hostname portion of the address to be shown on outgoing
8527 news and mail messages. The default is
8528 <var>syshostname</var>, your system's host name. Mail
8529 name ["<var>syshostname</var>"]:
8531 where <var>syshostname</var> is the output of <tt>hostname
8537 <heading>News system configuration</heading>
8540 All the configuration files related to the NNTP (news)
8541 servers and clients should be located under
8542 <file>/etc/news</file>.</p>
8545 There are some configuration issues that apply to a number
8546 of news clients and server packages on the machine. These
8550 <tag><file>/etc/news/organization</file></tag>
8552 A string which should appear as the
8553 organization header for all messages posted
8554 by NNTP clients on the machine
8557 <tag><file>/etc/news/server</file></tag>
8559 Contains the FQDN of the upstream NNTP
8560 server, or localhost if the local machine is
8565 Other global files may be added as required for cross-package news
8572 <heading>Programs for the X Window System</heading>
8575 <heading>Providing X support and package priorities</heading>
8578 Programs that can be configured with support for the X
8579 Window System must be configured to do so and must declare
8580 any package dependencies necessary to satisfy their
8581 runtime requirements when using the X Window System. If
8582 such a package is of higher priority than the X packages
8583 on which it depends, it is required that either the
8584 X-specific components be split into a separate package, or
8585 that an alternative version of the package, which includes
8586 X support, be provided, or that the package's priority be
8592 <heading>Packages providing an X server</heading>
8595 Packages that provide an X server that, directly or
8596 indirectly, communicates with real input and display
8597 hardware should declare in their <tt>Provides</tt> control
8598 field that they provide the virtual
8599 package <tt>xserver</tt>.<footnote>
8600 This implements current practice, and provides an
8601 actual policy for usage of the <tt>xserver</tt>
8602 virtual package which appears in the virtual packages
8603 list. In a nutshell, X servers that interface
8604 directly with the display and input hardware or via
8605 another subsystem (e.g., GGI) should provide
8606 <tt>xserver</tt>. Things like <tt>Xvfb</tt>,
8607 <tt>Xnest</tt>, and <tt>Xprt</tt> should not.
8613 <heading>Packages providing a terminal emulator</heading>
8616 Packages that provide a terminal emulator for the X Window
8617 System which meet the criteria listed below should declare in
8618 their <tt>Provides</tt> control field that they provide the
8619 virtual package <tt>x-terminal-emulator</tt>. They should
8620 also register themselves as an alternative for
8621 <file>/usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator</file>, with a priority of
8626 To be an <tt>x-terminal-emulator</tt>, a program must:
8627 <list compact="compact">
8629 Be able to emulate a DEC VT100 terminal, or a
8630 compatible terminal.
8634 Support the command-line option <tt>-e
8635 <var>command</var></tt>, which creates a new
8636 terminal window<footnote>
8637 "New terminal window" does not necessarily mean
8638 a new top-level X window directly parented by
8639 the window manager; it could, if the terminal
8640 emulator application were so coded, be a new
8641 "view" in a multiple-document interface (MDI).
8643 and runs the specified <var>command</var>,
8644 interpreting the entirety of the rest of the command
8645 line as a command to pass straight to exec, in the
8646 manner that <tt>xterm</tt> does.
8650 Support the command-line option <tt>-T
8651 <var>title</var></tt>, which creates a new terminal
8652 window with the window title <var>title</var>.
8659 <heading>Packages providing a window manager</heading>
8662 Packages that provide a window manager should declare in
8663 their <tt>Provides</tt> control field that they provide the
8664 virtual package <tt>x-window-manager</tt>. They should also
8665 register themselves as an alternative for
8666 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>, with a priority
8667 calculated as follows:
8668 <list compact="compact">
8670 Start with a priority of 20.
8674 If the window manager supports the Debian menu
8675 system, add 20 points if this support is available
8676 in the package's default configuration (i.e., no
8677 configuration files belonging to the system or user
8678 have to be edited to activate the feature); if
8679 configuration files must be modified, add only 10
8685 If the window manager complies with <url
8686 id="http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/wm-spec"
8687 name="The Window Manager Specification Project">,
8688 written by the <url id="http://www.freedesktop.org/"
8689 name="Free Desktop Group">, add 40 points.
8693 If the window manager permits the X session to be
8694 restarted using a <em>different</em> window manager
8695 (without killing the X server) in its default
8696 configuration, add 10 points; otherwise add none.
8703 <heading>Packages providing fonts</heading>
8706 Packages that provide fonts for the X Window
8708 For the purposes of Debian Policy, a "font for the X
8709 Window System" is one which is accessed via X protocol
8710 requests. Fonts for the Linux console, for PostScript
8711 renderer, or any other purpose, do not fit this
8712 definition. Any tool which makes such fonts available
8713 to the X Window System, however, must abide by this
8716 must do a number of things to ensure that they are both
8717 available without modification of the X or font server
8718 configuration, and that they do not corrupt files used by
8719 other font packages to register information about
8723 Fonts of any type supported by the X Window System
8724 must be in a separate binary package from any
8725 executables, libraries, or documentation (except
8726 that specific to the fonts shipped, such as their
8727 license information). If one or more of the fonts
8728 so packaged are necessary for proper operation of
8729 the package with which they are associated the font
8730 package may be Recommended; if the fonts merely
8731 provide an enhancement, a Suggests relationship may
8732 be used. Packages must not Depend on font
8734 This is because the X server may retrieve fonts
8735 from the local file system or over the network
8736 from an X font server; the Debian package system
8737 is empowered to deal only with the local
8743 BDF fonts must be converted to PCF fonts with the
8744 <prgn>bdftopcf</prgn> utility (available in the
8745 <tt>xfonts-utils</tt> package, <prgn>gzip</prgn>ped, and
8746 placed in a directory that corresponds to their
8748 <list compact="compact">
8750 100 dpi fonts must be placed in
8751 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/</file>.
8755 75 dpi fonts must be placed in
8756 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/</file>.
8760 Character-cell fonts, cursor fonts, and other
8761 low-resolution fonts must be placed in
8762 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/</file>.
8768 Type 1 fonts must be placed in
8769 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/</file>. If font
8770 metric files are available, they must be placed here
8775 Subdirectories of <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file>
8776 other than those listed above must be neither
8777 created nor used. (The <file>PEX</file>, <file>CID</file>,
8778 <file>Speedo</file>, and <file>cyrillic</file> directories
8779 are excepted for historical reasons, but installation of
8780 files into these directories remains discouraged.)
8784 Font packages may, instead of placing files directly
8785 in the X font directories listed above, provide
8786 symbolic links in that font directory pointing to
8787 the files' actual location in the filesystem. Such
8788 a location must comply with the FHS.
8792 Font packages should not contain both 75dpi and
8793 100dpi versions of a font. If both are available,
8794 they should be provided in separate binary packages
8795 with <tt>-75dpi</tt> or <tt>-100dpi</tt> appended to
8796 the names of the packages containing the
8797 corresponding fonts.
8801 Fonts destined for the <file>misc</file> subdirectory
8802 should not be included in the same package as 75dpi
8803 or 100dpi fonts; instead, they should be provided in
8804 a separate package with <tt>-misc</tt> appended to
8809 Font packages must not provide the files
8810 <file>fonts.dir</file>, <file>fonts.alias</file>, or
8811 <file>fonts.scale</file> in a font directory:
8814 <file>fonts.dir</file> files must not be provided at all.
8818 <file>fonts.alias</file> and <file>fonts.scale</file>
8819 files, if needed, should be provided in the
8821 <file>/etc/X11/fonts/<var>fontdir</var>/<var>package</var>.<var>extension</var></file>,
8822 where <var>fontdir</var> is the name of the
8824 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> where the
8825 package's corresponding fonts are stored
8826 (e.g., <tt>75dpi</tt> or <tt>misc</tt>),
8827 <var>package</var> is the name of the package
8828 that provides these fonts, and
8829 <var>extension</var> is either <tt>scale</tt>
8830 or <tt>alias</tt>, whichever corresponds to
8837 Font packages must declare a dependency on
8838 <tt>xfonts-utils</tt> in their <tt>Depends</tt>
8839 or <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> control field.
8843 Font packages that provide one or more
8844 <file>fonts.scale</file> files as described above must
8845 invoke <prgn>update-fonts-scale</prgn> on each
8846 directory into which they installed fonts
8847 <em>before</em> invoking
8848 <prgn>update-fonts-dir</prgn> on that directory.
8849 This invocation must occur in both the
8850 <prgn>postinst</prgn> (for all arguments) and
8851 <prgn>postrm</prgn> (for all arguments except
8852 <tt>upgrade</tt>) scripts.
8856 Font packages that provide one or more
8857 <file>fonts.alias</file> files as described above must
8858 invoke <prgn>update-fonts-alias</prgn> on each
8859 directory into which they installed fonts. This
8860 invocation must occur in both the
8861 <prgn>postinst</prgn> (for all arguments) and
8862 <prgn>postrm</prgn> (for all arguments except
8863 <tt>upgrade</tt>) scripts.
8867 Font packages must invoke
8868 <prgn>update-fonts-dir</prgn> on each directory into
8869 which they installed fonts. This invocation must
8870 occur in both the <prgn>postinst</prgn> (for all
8871 arguments) and <prgn>postrm</prgn> (for all
8872 arguments except <tt>upgrade</tt>) scripts.
8876 Font packages must not provide alias names for the
8877 fonts they include which collide with alias names
8878 already in use by fonts already packaged.
8882 Font packages must not provide fonts with the same
8883 XLFD registry name as another font already packaged.
8889 <sect1 id="appdefaults">
8890 <heading>Application defaults files</heading>
8893 Application defaults files must be installed in the
8894 directory <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults/</file> (use of a
8895 localized subdirectory of <file>/etc/X11/</file> as described
8896 in the <em>X Toolkit Intrinsics - C Language
8897 Interface</em> manual is also permitted). They must be
8898 registered as <tt>conffile</tt>s or handled as
8899 configuration files.
8903 Customization of programs' X resources may also be
8904 supported with the provision of a file with the same name
8905 as that of the package placed in
8906 the <file>/etc/X11/Xresources/</file> directory, which
8907 must be registered as a <tt>conffile</tt> or handled as a
8908 configuration file.<footnote>
8909 Note that this mechanism is not the same as using
8910 app-defaults; app-defaults are tied to the client
8911 binary on the local file system, whereas X resources
8912 are stored in the X server and affect all connecting
8919 <heading>Installation directory issues</heading>
8922 Historically, packages using the X Window System used a
8923 separate set of installation directories from other packages.
8924 This practice has been discontinued and packages using the X
8925 Window System should now generally be installed in the same
8926 directories as any other package. Specifically, packages must
8927 not install files under the <file>/usr/X11R6/</file> directory
8928 and the <file>/usr/X11R6/</file> directory hierarchy should be
8929 regarded as obsolete.
8933 Include files previously installed under
8934 <file>/usr/X11R6/include/X11/</file> should be installed into
8935 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file>. For files previously
8936 installed into subdirectories of
8937 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/</file>, package maintainers should
8938 determine if subdirectories of <file>/usr/lib/</file> and
8939 <file>/usr/share/</file> can be used. If not, a subdirectory
8940 of <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file> should be used.
8944 Configuration files for window, display, or session managers
8945 or other applications that are tightly integrated with the X
8946 Window System may be placed in a subdirectory
8947 of <file>/etc/X11/</file> corresponding to the package name.
8948 Other X Window System applications should use
8949 the <file>/etc/</file> directory unless otherwise mandated by
8950 policy (such as for <ref id="appdefaults">).
8955 <heading>The OSF/Motif and OpenMotif libraries</heading>
8958 <em>Programs that require the non-DFSG-compliant OSF/Motif or
8959 OpenMotif libraries</em><footnote>
8960 OSF/Motif and OpenMotif are collectively referred to as
8961 "Motif" in this policy document.
8963 should be compiled against and tested with LessTif (a free
8964 re-implementation of Motif) instead. If the maintainer
8965 judges that the program or programs do not work
8966 sufficiently well with LessTif to be distributed and
8967 supported, but do so when compiled against Motif, then two
8968 versions of the package should be created; one linked
8969 statically against Motif and with <tt>-smotif</tt>
8970 appended to the package name, and one linked dynamically
8971 against Motif and with <tt>-dmotif</tt> appended to the
8976 Both Motif-linked versions are dependent
8977 upon non-DFSG-compliant software and thus cannot be
8978 uploaded to the <em>main</em> distribution; if the
8979 software is itself DFSG-compliant it may be uploaded to
8980 the <em>contrib</em> distribution. While known existing
8981 versions of Motif permit unlimited redistribution of
8982 binaries linked against the library (whether statically or
8983 dynamically), it is the package maintainer's
8984 responsibility to determine whether this is permitted by
8985 the license of the copy of Motif in their possession.
8991 <heading>Perl programs and modules</heading>
8994 Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl policy.
8998 The Perl policy can be found in the <tt>perl-policy</tt>
8999 files in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
9000 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
9001 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/perl-policy/"
9002 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/perl-policy/"></tt>.
9007 <heading>Emacs lisp programs</heading>
9010 Please refer to the "Debian Emacs Policy" for details of how to
9011 package emacs lisp programs.
9015 The Emacs policy is available in
9016 <file>debian-emacs-policy.gz</file> of the
9017 <package>emacsen-common</package> package.
9018 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
9019 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/debian-emacs-policy"
9020 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/debian-emacs-policy"></tt>.
9025 <heading>Games</heading>
9028 The permissions on <file>/var/games</file> are mode 755, owner
9029 <tt>root</tt> and group <tt>root</tt>.
9033 Each game decides on its own security policy.</p>
9036 Games which require protected, privileged access to
9037 high-score files, saved games, etc., may be made
9038 set-<em>group</em>-id (mode 2755) and owned by
9039 <tt>root:games</tt>, and use files and directories with
9040 appropriate permissions (770 <tt>root:games</tt>, for
9041 example). They must not be made
9042 set-<em>user</em>-id, as this causes security problems. (If
9043 an attacker can subvert any set-user-id game they can
9044 overwrite the executable of any other, causing other players
9045 of these games to run a Trojan horse program. With a
9046 set-group-id game the attacker only gets access to less
9047 important game data, and if they can get at the other
9048 players' accounts at all it will take considerably more
9052 Some packages, for example some fortune cookie programs, are
9053 configured by the upstream authors to install with their
9054 data files or other static information made unreadable so
9055 that they can only be accessed through set-id programs
9056 provided. You should not do this in a Debian package: anyone can
9057 download the <file>.deb</file> file and read the data from it,
9058 so there is no point making the files unreadable. Not
9059 making the files unreadable also means that you don't have
9060 to make so many programs set-id, which reduces the risk of a
9064 As described in the FHS, binaries of games should be
9065 installed in the directory <file>/usr/games</file>. This also
9066 applies to games that use the X Window System. Manual pages
9067 for games (X and non-X games) should be installed in
9068 <file>/usr/share/man/man6</file>.</p>
9074 <heading>Documentation</heading>
9077 <heading>Manual pages</heading>
9080 You should install manual pages in <prgn>nroff</prgn> source
9081 form, in appropriate places under <file>/usr/share/man</file>.
9082 You should only use sections 1 to 9 (see the FHS for more
9083 details). You must not install a pre-formatted "cat page".
9087 Each program, utility, and function should have an
9088 associated manual page included in the same package. It is
9089 suggested that all configuration files also have a manual
9090 page included as well. Manual pages for protocols and other
9091 auxiliary things are optional.
9095 If no manual page is available, this is considered as a bug
9096 and should be reported to the Debian Bug Tracking System (the
9097 maintainer of the package is allowed to write this bug report
9098 themselves, if they so desire). Do not close the bug report
9099 until a proper man page is available.<footnote>
9100 It is not very hard to write a man page. See the
9101 <url id="http://www.schweikhardt.net/man_page_howto.html"
9102 name="Man-Page-HOWTO">,
9103 <manref name="man" section="7">, the examples
9104 created by <prgn>debmake</prgn> or <prgn>dh_make</prgn>,
9105 the helper program <prgn>help2man</prgn>, or the
9106 directory <file>/usr/share/doc/man-db/examples</file>.
9111 You may forward a complaint about a missing man page to the
9112 upstream authors, and mark the bug as forwarded in the
9113 Debian bug tracking system. Even though the GNU Project do
9114 not in general consider the lack of a man page to be a bug,
9115 we do; if they tell you that they don't consider it a bug
9116 you should leave the bug in our bug tracking system open
9121 Manual pages should be installed compressed using <tt>gzip -9</tt>.
9125 If one man page needs to be accessible via several names it
9126 is better to use a symbolic link than the <file>.so</file>
9127 feature, but there is no need to fiddle with the relevant
9128 parts of the upstream source to change from <file>.so</file> to
9129 symlinks: don't do it unless it's easy. You should not
9130 create hard links in the manual page directories, nor put
9131 absolute filenames in <file>.so</file> directives. The filename
9132 in a <file>.so</file> in a man page should be relative to the
9133 base of the man page tree (usually
9134 <file>/usr/share/man</file>). If you do not create any links
9135 (whether symlinks, hard links, or <tt>.so</tt> directives)
9136 in the file system to the alternate names of the man page,
9137 then you should not rely on <prgn>man</prgn> finding your
9138 man page under those names based solely on the information in
9139 the man page's header.<footnote>
9140 Supporting this in <prgn>man</prgn> often requires
9141 unreasonable processing time to find a manual page or to
9142 report that none exists, and moves knowledge into man's
9143 database that would be better left in the file system.
9144 This support is therefore deprecated and will cease to
9145 be present in the future.
9150 Manual pages in locale-specific subdirectories of
9151 <file>/usr/share/man</file> should use either UTF-8 or the usual
9152 legacy encoding for that language (normally the one corresponding
9153 to the shortest relevant locale name in
9154 <file>/usr/share/i18n/SUPPORTED</file>). For example, pages under
9155 <file>/usr/share/man/fr</file> should use either UTF-8 or
9156 ISO-8859-1.<footnote>
9157 <prgn>man</prgn> will automatically detect whether UTF-8 is in
9158 use. In future, all manual pages will be required to use
9164 A country name (the <tt>DE</tt> in <tt>de_DE</tt>) should not be
9165 included in the subdirectory name unless it indicates a
9166 significant difference in the language, as this excludes
9167 speakers of the language in other countries.<footnote>
9168 At the time of writing, Chinese and Portuguese are the main
9169 languages with such differences, so <file>pt_BR</file>,
9170 <file>zh_CN</file>, and <file>zh_TW</file> are all allowed.
9175 If a localized version of a manual page is provided, it should
9176 either be up-to-date or it should be obvious to the reader that
9177 it is outdated and the original manual page should be used
9178 instead. This can be done either by a note at the beginning of
9179 the manual page or by showing the missing or changed portions in
9180 the original language instead of the target language.
9185 <heading>Info documents</heading>
9188 Info documents should be installed in <file>/usr/share/info</file>.
9189 They should be compressed with <tt>gzip -9</tt>.
9193 The <prgn>install-info</prgn> program maintains a directory of
9194 installed info documents in <file>/usr/share/info/dir</file> for
9195 the use of info readers.<footnote>
9196 It was previously necessary for packages installing info
9197 documents to run <prgn>install-info</prgn> from maintainer
9198 scripts. This is no longer necessary. The installation
9199 system now uses dpkg triggers.
9201 This file must not be included in packages. Packages containing
9202 info documents should depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) |
9203 install-info</tt> to ensure that the directory file is properly
9204 rebuilt during partial upgrades from Debian 5.0 (lenny) and
9209 Info documents should contain section and directory entry
9210 information in the document for the use
9211 of <prgn>install-info</prgn>. The section should be specified
9212 via a line starting with <tt>INFO-DIR-SECTION</tt> followed by a
9213 space and the section of this info page. The directory entry or
9214 entries should be included between
9215 a <tt>START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY</tt> line and
9216 an <tt>END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY</tt> line. For example:
9218 INFO-DIR-SECTION Individual utilities
9219 START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
9220 * example: (example). An example info directory entry.
9223 To determine which section to use, you should look
9224 at <file>/usr/share/info/dir</file> on your system and choose
9225 the most relevant (or create a new section if none of the
9226 current sections are relevant).<footnote>
9227 Normally, info documents are generated from Texinfo source.
9228 To include this information in the generated info document, if
9229 it is absent, add commands like:
9231 @dircategory Individual utilities
9233 * example: (example). An example info directory entry.
9236 to the Texinfo source of the document and ensure that the info
9237 documents are rebuilt from source during the package build.
9243 <heading>Additional documentation</heading>
9246 Any additional documentation that comes with the package may
9247 be installed at the discretion of the package maintainer.
9248 Plain text documentation should be installed in the directory
9249 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>, where
9250 <var>package</var> is the name of the package, and
9251 compressed with <tt>gzip -9</tt> unless it is small.
9255 If a package comes with large amounts of documentation which
9256 many users of the package will not require you should create
9257 a separate binary package to contain it, so that it does not
9258 take up disk space on the machines of users who do not need
9259 or want it installed.</p>
9262 It is often a good idea to put text information files
9263 (<file>README</file>s, changelogs, and so forth) that come with
9264 the source package in <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>
9265 in the binary package. However, you don't need to install
9266 the instructions for building and installing the package, of
9270 Packages must not require the existence of any files in
9271 <file>/usr/share/doc/</file> in order to function
9273 The system administrator should be able to
9274 delete files in <file>/usr/share/doc/</file> without causing
9275 any programs to break.
9277 Any files that are referenced by programs but are also
9278 useful as stand alone documentation should be installed under
9279 <file>/usr/share/<var>package</var>/</file> with symbolic links from
9280 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
9284 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file> may be a symbolic
9285 link to another directory in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> only if
9286 the two packages both come from the same source and the
9287 first package Depends on the second.<footnote>
9289 Please note that this does not override the section on
9290 changelog files below, so the file
9291 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/changelog.Debian.gz</file>
9292 must refer to the changelog for the current version of
9293 <var>package</var> in question. In practice, this means
9294 that the sources of the target and the destination of the
9295 symlink must be the same (same source package and
9302 Former Debian releases placed all additional documentation
9303 in <file>/usr/doc/<var>package</var></file>. This has been
9304 changed to <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>,
9305 and packages must not put documentation in the directory
9306 <file>/usr/doc/<var>package</var></file>. <footnote>
9307 At this phase of the transition, we no longer require a
9308 symbolic link in <file>/usr/doc/</file>. At a later point,
9309 policy shall change to make the symbolic links a bug.
9315 <heading>Preferred documentation formats</heading>
9318 The unification of Debian documentation is being carried out
9322 If your package comes with extensive documentation in a
9323 markup format that can be converted to various other formats
9324 you should if possible ship HTML versions in a binary
9325 package, in the directory
9326 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>appropriate-package</var></file> or
9327 its subdirectories.<footnote>
9328 The rationale: The important thing here is that HTML
9329 docs should be available in <em>some</em> package, not
9330 necessarily in the main binary package.
9335 Other formats such as PostScript may be provided at the
9336 package maintainer's discretion.
9340 <sect id="copyrightfile">
9341 <heading>Copyright information</heading>
9344 Every package must be accompanied by a verbatim copy of its
9345 copyright information and distribution license in the file
9346 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file>. This
9347 file must neither be compressed nor be a symbolic link.
9351 In addition, the copyright file must say where the upstream
9352 sources (if any) were obtained. It should name the original
9353 authors of the package and the Debian maintainer(s) who were
9354 involved with its creation.
9358 Packages in the <em>contrib</em> or <em>non-free</em> archive
9359 areas should state in the copyright file that the package is not
9360 part of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and briefly explain
9365 A copy of the file which will be installed in
9366 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file> should
9367 be in <file>debian/copyright</file> in the source package.
9371 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file> may be a symbolic
9372 link to another directory in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> only if
9373 the two packages both come from the same source and the
9374 first package Depends on the second. These rules are
9375 important because copyrights must be extractable by
9380 Packages distributed under the Apache license (version 2.0), the
9381 Artistic license, the GNU GPL (versions 1, 2, or 3), the GNU
9382 LGPL (versions 2, 2.1, or 3), and the GNU FDL (versions 1.2 or
9383 1.3) should refer to the corresponding files
9384 under <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>,<footnote>
9387 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/Apache-2.0</file>,
9388 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/Artistic</file>,
9389 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-1</file>,
9390 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2</file>,
9391 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3</file>,
9392 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-2</file>,
9393 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-2.1</file>,
9394 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-3</file>,
9395 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.2</file>, and
9396 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.3</file>
9397 respectively. The University of California BSD license is
9398 also included in <package>base-files</package> as
9399 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>, but given the
9400 brevity of this license, its specificity to code whose
9401 copyright is held by the Regents of the University of
9402 California, and the frequency of minor wording changes, its
9403 text should be included in the copyright file rather than
9404 referencing this file.
9406 </footnote> rather than quoting them in the copyright
9411 You should not use the copyright file as a general <file>README</file>
9412 file. If your package has such a file it should be
9413 installed in <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/README</file> or
9414 <file>README.Debian</file> or some other appropriate place.</p>
9418 <heading>Examples</heading>
9421 Any examples (configurations, source files, whatever),
9422 should be installed in a directory
9423 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/examples</file>. These
9424 files should not be referenced by any program: they're there
9425 for the benefit of the system administrator and users as
9426 documentation only. Architecture-specific example files
9427 should be installed in a directory
9428 <file>/usr/lib/<var>package</var>/examples</file> with symbolic
9430 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/examples</file>, or the
9431 latter directory itself may be a symbolic link to the
9436 If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
9437 example files may be installed into
9438 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
9442 <sect id="changelogs">
9443 <heading>Changelog files</heading>
9446 Packages that are not Debian-native must contain a
9447 compressed copy of the <file>debian/changelog</file> file from
9448 the Debian source tree in
9449 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file> with the name
9450 <file>changelog.Debian.gz</file>.
9454 If an upstream changelog is available, it should be accessible as
9455 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/changelog.gz</file> in
9456 plain text. If the upstream changelog is distributed in
9457 HTML, it should be made available in that form as
9458 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/changelog.html.gz</file>
9459 and a plain text <file>changelog.gz</file> should be generated
9460 from it using, for example, <tt>lynx -dump -nolist</tt>. If
9461 the upstream changelog files do not already conform to this
9462 naming convention, then this may be achieved either by
9463 renaming the files, or by adding a symbolic link, at the
9464 maintainer's discretion.<footnote>
9465 Rationale: People should not have to look in places for
9466 upstream changelogs merely because they are given
9467 different names or are distributed in HTML format.
9472 All of these files should be installed compressed using
9473 <tt>gzip -9</tt>, as they will become large with time even
9474 if they start out small.
9478 If the package has only one changelog which is used both as
9479 the Debian changelog and the upstream one because there is
9480 no separate upstream maintainer then that changelog should
9481 usually be installed as
9482 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/changelog.gz</file>; if
9483 there is a separate upstream maintainer, but no upstream
9484 changelog, then the Debian changelog should still be called
9485 <file>changelog.Debian.gz</file>.
9489 For details about the format and contents of the Debian
9490 changelog file, please see <ref id="dpkgchangelog">.
9495 <appendix id="pkg-scope">
9496 <heading>Introduction and scope of these appendices</heading>
9499 These appendices are taken essentially verbatim from the
9500 now-deprecated Packaging Manual, version 3.2.1.0. They are
9501 the chapters which are likely to be of use to package
9502 maintainers and which have not already been included in the
9503 policy document itself. Most of these sections are very likely
9504 not relevant to policy; they should be treated as
9505 documentation for the packaging system. Please note that these
9506 appendices are included for convenience, and for historical
9507 reasons: they used to be part of policy package, and they have
9508 not yet been incorporated into dpkg documentation. However,
9509 they still have value, and hence they are presented here.
9513 They have not yet been checked to ensure that they are
9514 compatible with the contents of policy, and if there are any
9515 contradictions, the version in the main policy document takes
9516 precedence. The remaining chapters of the old Packaging
9517 Manual have also not been read in detail to ensure that there
9518 are not parts which have been left out. Both of these will be
9523 Certain parts of the Packaging manual were integrated into the
9524 Policy Manual proper, and removed from the appendices. Links
9525 have been placed from the old locations to the new ones.
9529 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> is a suite of programs for creating binary
9530 package files and installing and removing them on Unix
9532 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> is targeted primarily at Debian
9533 GNU/Linux, but may work on or be ported to other
9539 The binary packages are designed for the management of
9540 installed executable programs (usually compiled binaries) and
9541 their associated data, though source code examples and
9542 documentation are provided as part of some packages.</p>
9545 This manual describes the technical aspects of creating Debian
9546 binary packages (<file>.deb</file> files). It documents the
9547 behavior of the package management programs
9548 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>, <prgn>dselect</prgn> et al. and the way
9549 they interact with packages.</p>
9552 It also documents the interaction between
9553 <prgn>dselect</prgn>'s core and the access method scripts it
9554 uses to actually install the selected packages, and describes
9555 how to create a new access method.</p>
9558 This manual does not go into detail about the options and
9559 usage of the package building and installation tools. It
9560 should therefore be read in conjunction with those programs'
9565 The utility programs which are provided with <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
9566 for managing various system configuration and similar issues,
9567 such as <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> and
9568 <prgn>install-info</prgn>, are not described in detail here -
9569 please see their man pages.
9573 It is assumed that the reader is reasonably familiar with the
9574 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> System Administrators' manual.
9575 Unfortunately this manual does not yet exist.
9579 The Debian version of the FSF's GNU hello program is provided
9580 as an example for people wishing to create Debian
9581 packages. The Debian <prgn>debmake</prgn> package is
9582 recommended as a very helpful tool in creating and maintaining
9583 Debian packages. However, while the tools and examples are
9584 helpful, they do not replace the need to read and follow the
9585 Policy and Programmer's Manual.</p>
9588 <appendix id="pkg-binarypkg">
9589 <heading>Binary packages (from old Packaging Manual)</heading>
9592 The binary package has two main sections. The first part
9593 consists of various control information files and scripts used
9594 by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when installing and removing. See <ref
9595 id="pkg-controlarea">.
9599 The second part is an archive containing the files and
9600 directories to be installed.
9604 In the future binary packages may also contain other
9605 components, such as checksums and digital signatures. The
9606 format for the archive is described in full in the
9607 <file>deb(5)</file> man page.
9611 <sect id="pkg-bincreating"><heading>Creating package files -
9612 <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn>
9616 All manipulation of binary package files is done by
9617 <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn>; it's the only program that has
9618 knowledge of the format. (<prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> may be
9619 invoked by calling <prgn>dpkg</prgn>, as <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
9620 will spot that the options requested are appropriate to
9621 <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> and invoke that instead with the same
9626 In order to create a binary package you must make a
9627 directory tree which contains all the files and directories
9628 you want to have in the file system data part of the package.
9629 In Debian-format source packages this directory is usually
9630 <file>debian/tmp</file>, relative to the top of the package's
9635 They should have the locations (relative to the root of the
9636 directory tree you're constructing) ownerships and
9637 permissions which you want them to have on the system when
9642 With current versions of <prgn>dpkg</prgn> the uid/username
9643 and gid/groupname mappings for the users and groups being
9644 used should be the same on the system where the package is
9645 built and the one where it is installed.
9649 You need to add one special directory to the root of the
9650 miniature file system tree you're creating:
9651 <prgn>DEBIAN</prgn>. It should contain the control
9652 information files, notably the binary package control file
9653 (see <ref id="pkg-controlfile">).
9657 The <prgn>DEBIAN</prgn> directory will not appear in the
9658 file system archive of the package, and so won't be installed
9659 by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when the package is installed.
9663 When you've prepared the package, you should invoke:
9665 dpkg --build <var>directory</var>
9670 This will build the package in
9671 <file><var>directory</var>.deb</file>. (<prgn>dpkg</prgn> knows
9672 that <tt>--build</tt> is a <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> option, so
9673 it invokes <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> with the same arguments to
9678 See the man page <manref name="dpkg-deb" section="8"> for details of how
9679 to examine the contents of this newly-created file. You may find the
9680 output of following commands enlightening:
9682 dpkg-deb --info <var>filename</var>.deb
9683 dpkg-deb --contents <var>filename</var>.deb
9684 dpkg --contents <var>filename</var>.deb
9686 To view the copyright file for a package you could use this command:
9688 dpkg --fsys-tarfile <var>filename</var>.deb | tar xOf - --wildcards \*/copyright | pager
9693 <sect id="pkg-controlarea">
9694 <heading>Package control information files</heading>
9697 The control information portion of a binary package is a
9698 collection of files with names known to <prgn>dpkg</prgn>.
9699 It will treat the contents of these files specially - some
9700 of them contain information used by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when
9701 installing or removing the package; others are scripts which
9702 the package maintainer wants <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to run.
9706 It is possible to put other files in the package control
9707 information file area, but this is not generally a good idea
9708 (though they will largely be ignored).
9712 Here is a brief list of the control information files supported
9713 by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> and a summary of what they're used for.
9718 <tag><tt>control</tt>
9721 This is the key description file used by
9722 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>. It specifies the package's name
9723 and version, gives its description for the user,
9724 states its relationships with other packages, and so
9725 forth. See <ref id="sourcecontrolfiles"> and
9726 <ref id="binarycontrolfiles">.
9730 It is usually generated automatically from information
9731 in the source package by the
9732 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> program, and with
9733 assistance from <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>.
9734 See <ref id="pkg-sourcetools">.
9738 <tag><tt>postinst</tt>, <tt>preinst</tt>, <tt>postrm</tt>,
9743 These are executable files (usually scripts) which
9744 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> runs during installation, upgrade
9745 and removal of packages. They allow the package to
9746 deal with matters which are particular to that package
9747 or require more complicated processing than that
9748 provided by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>. Details of when and
9749 how they are called are in <ref id="maintainerscripts">.
9753 It is very important to make these scripts idempotent.
9754 See <ref id="idempotency">.
9758 The maintainer scripts are not guaranteed to run with a
9759 controlling terminal and may not be able to interact with
9760 the user. See <ref id="controllingterminal">.
9764 <tag><tt>conffiles</tt>
9767 This file contains a list of configuration files which
9768 are to be handled automatically by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
9769 (see <ref id="pkg-conffiles">). Note that not necessarily
9770 every configuration file should be listed here.
9773 <tag><tt>shlibs</tt>
9776 This file contains a list of the shared libraries
9777 supplied by the package, with dependency details for
9778 each. This is used by <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>
9779 when it determines what dependencies are required in a
9780 package control file. The <tt>shlibs</tt> file format
9781 is described on <ref id="shlibs">.
9786 <sect id="pkg-controlfile">
9787 <heading>The main control information file: <tt>control</tt></heading>
9790 The most important control information file used by
9791 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when it installs a package is
9792 <tt>control</tt>. It contains all the package's "vital
9797 The binary package control files of packages built from
9798 Debian sources are made by a special tool,
9799 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>, which reads
9800 <file>debian/control</file> and <file>debian/changelog</file> to
9801 find the information it needs. See <ref id="pkg-sourcepkg"> for
9806 The fields in binary package control files are listed in
9807 <ref id="binarycontrolfiles">.
9811 A description of the syntax of control files and the purpose
9812 of the fields is available in <ref id="controlfields">.
9817 <heading>Time Stamps</heading>
9820 See <ref id="timestamps">.
9825 <appendix id="pkg-sourcepkg">
9826 <heading>Source packages (from old Packaging Manual) </heading>
9829 The Debian binary packages in the distribution are generated
9830 from Debian sources, which are in a special format to assist
9831 the easy and automatic building of binaries.
9834 <sect id="pkg-sourcetools">
9835 <heading>Tools for processing source packages</heading>
9838 Various tools are provided for manipulating source packages;
9839 they pack and unpack sources and help build of binary
9840 packages and help manage the distribution of new versions.
9844 They are introduced and typical uses described here; see
9845 <manref name="dpkg-source" section="1"> for full
9846 documentation about their arguments and operation.
9850 For examples of how to construct a Debian source package,
9851 and how to use those utilities that are used by Debian
9852 source packages, please see the <prgn>hello</prgn> example
9856 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-source">
9858 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> - packs and unpacks Debian source
9863 This program is frequently used by hand, and is also
9864 called from package-independent automated building scripts
9865 such as <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>.
9869 To unpack a package it is typically invoked with
9871 dpkg-source -x <var>.../path/to/filename</var>.dsc
9876 with the <file><var>filename</var>.tar.gz</file> and
9877 <file><var>filename</var>.diff.gz</file> (if applicable) in
9878 the same directory. It unpacks into
9879 <file><var>package</var>-<var>version</var></file>, and if
9881 <file><var>package</var>-<var>version</var>.orig</file>, in
9882 the current directory.
9886 To create a packed source archive it is typically invoked:
9888 dpkg-source -b <var>package</var>-<var>version</var>
9893 This will create the <file>.dsc</file>, <file>.tar.gz</file> and
9894 <file>.diff.gz</file> (if appropriate) in the current
9895 directory. <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> does not clean the
9896 source tree first - this must be done separately if it is
9901 See also <ref id="pkg-sourcearchives">.</p>
9905 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-buildpackage">
9907 <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn> - overall package-building
9912 <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn> is a script which invokes
9913 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>, the <file>debian/rules</file>
9914 targets <tt>clean</tt>, <tt>build</tt> and
9915 <tt>binary</tt>, <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> and
9916 <prgn>gpg</prgn> (or <prgn>pgp</prgn>) to build a signed
9917 source and binary package upload.
9921 It is usually invoked by hand from the top level of the
9922 built or unbuilt source directory. It may be invoked with
9923 no arguments; useful arguments include:
9924 <taglist compact="compact">
9925 <tag><tt>-uc</tt>, <tt>-us</tt></tag>
9928 Do not sign the <tt>.changes</tt> file or the
9929 source package <tt>.dsc</tt> file, respectively.</p>
9931 <tag><tt>-p<var>sign-command</var></tt></tag>
9934 Invoke <var>sign-command</var> instead of finding
9935 <tt>gpg</tt> or <tt>pgp</tt> on the <prgn>PATH</prgn>.
9936 <var>sign-command</var> must behave just like
9937 <prgn>gpg</prgn> or <tt>pgp</tt>.</p>
9939 <tag><tt>-r<var>root-command</var></tt></tag>
9942 When root privilege is required, invoke the command
9943 <var>root-command</var>. <var>root-command</var>
9944 should invoke its first argument as a command, from
9945 the <prgn>PATH</prgn> if necessary, and pass its
9946 second and subsequent arguments to the command it
9947 calls. If no <var>root-command</var> is supplied
9948 then <var>dpkg-buildpackage</var> will take no
9949 special action to gain root privilege, so that for
9950 most packages it will have to be invoked as root to
9953 <tag><tt>-b</tt>, <tt>-B</tt></tag>
9956 Two types of binary-only build and upload - see
9957 <manref name="dpkg-source" section="1">.
9964 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-gencontrol">
9966 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> - generates binary package
9971 This program is usually called from <file>debian/rules</file>
9972 (see <ref id="pkg-sourcetree">) in the top level of the source
9977 This is usually done just before the files and directories in the
9978 temporary directory tree where the package is being built have their
9979 permissions and ownerships set and the package is constructed using
9980 <prgn>dpkg-deb/</prgn>
9982 This is so that the control file which is produced has
9983 the right permissions
9988 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> must be called after all the
9989 files which are to go into the package have been placed in
9990 the temporary build directory, so that its calculation of
9991 the installed size of a package is correct.
9995 It is also necessary for <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> to
9996 be run after <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> so that the
9997 variable substitutions created by
9998 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> in <file>debian/substvars</file>
10003 For a package which generates only one binary package, and
10004 which builds it in <file>debian/tmp</file> relative to the top
10005 of the source package, it is usually sufficient to call
10006 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>.
10010 Sources which build several binaries will typically need
10013 dpkg-gencontrol -Pdebian/tmp-<var>pkg</var> -p<var>package</var>
10014 </example> The <tt>-P</tt> tells
10015 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> that the package is being
10016 built in a non-default directory, and the <tt>-p</tt>
10017 tells it which package's control file should be generated.
10021 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> also adds information to the
10022 list of files in <file>debian/files</file>, for the benefit of
10023 (for example) a future invocation of
10024 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn>.</p>
10027 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps">
10029 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> - calculates shared library
10034 This program is usually called from <file>debian/rules</file>
10035 just before <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> (see <ref
10036 id="pkg-sourcetree">), in the top level of the source tree.
10040 Its arguments are executables and shared libraries
10043 They may be specified either in the locations in the
10044 source tree where they are created or in the locations
10045 in the temporary build tree where they are installed
10046 prior to binary package creation.
10048 </footnote> for which shared library dependencies should
10049 be included in the binary package's control file.
10053 If some of the found shared libraries should only
10054 warrant a <tt>Recommends</tt> or <tt>Suggests</tt>, or if
10055 some warrant a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, this can be achieved
10056 by using the <tt>-d<var>dependency-field</var></tt> option
10057 before those executable(s). (Each <tt>-d</tt> option
10058 takes effect until the next <tt>-d</tt>.)
10062 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> does not directly cause the
10063 output control file to be modified. Instead by default it
10064 adds to the <file>debian/substvars</file> file variable
10065 settings like <tt>shlibs:Depends</tt>. These variable
10066 settings must be referenced in dependency fields in the
10067 appropriate per-binary-package sections of the source
10072 For example, a package that generates an essential part
10073 which requires dependencies, and optional parts that
10074 which only require a recommendation, would separate those
10075 two sets of dependencies into two different fields.<footnote>
10076 At the time of writing, an example for this was the
10077 <package/xmms/ package, with Depends used for the xmms
10078 executable, Recommends for the plug-ins and Suggests for
10079 even more optional features provided by unzip.
10081 It can say in its <file>debian/rules</file>:
10083 dpkg-shlibdeps -dDepends <var>program anotherprogram ...</var> \
10084 -dRecommends <var>optionalpart anotheroptionalpart</var>
10086 and then in its main control file <file>debian/control</file>:
10089 Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}
10090 Recommends: ${shlibs:Recommends}
10096 Sources which produce several binary packages with
10097 different shared library dependency requirements can use
10098 the <tt>-p<var>varnameprefix</var></tt> option to override
10099 the default <tt>shlibs:</tt> prefix (one invocation of
10100 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> per setting of this option).
10101 They can thus produce several sets of dependency
10102 variables, each of the form
10103 <tt><var>varnameprefix</var>:<var>dependencyfield</var></tt>,
10104 which can be referred to in the appropriate parts of the
10105 binary package control files.
10110 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-distaddfile">
10112 <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn> - adds a file to
10113 <file>debian/files</file>
10117 Some packages' uploads need to include files other than
10118 the source and binary package files.
10122 <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn> adds a file to the
10123 <file>debian/files</file> file so that it will be included in
10124 the <file>.changes</file> file when
10125 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> is run.
10129 It is usually invoked from the <tt>binary</tt> target of
10130 <file>debian/rules</file>:
10132 dpkg-distaddfile <var>filename</var> <var>section</var> <var>priority</var>
10134 The <var>filename</var> is relative to the directory where
10135 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> will expect to find it - this
10136 is usually the directory above the top level of the source
10137 tree. The <file>debian/rules</file> target should put the
10138 file there just before or just after calling
10139 <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn>.
10143 The <var>section</var> and <var>priority</var> are passed
10144 unchanged into the resulting <file>.changes</file> file.
10149 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-genchanges">
10151 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> - generates a <file>.changes</file>
10152 upload control file
10156 This program is usually called by package-independent
10157 automatic building scripts such as
10158 <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>, but it may also be called
10163 It is usually called in the top level of a built source
10164 tree, and when invoked with no arguments will print out a
10165 straightforward <file>.changes</file> file based on the
10166 information in the source package's changelog and control
10167 file and the binary and source packages which should have
10173 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-parsechangelog">
10175 <prgn>dpkg-parsechangelog</prgn> - produces parsed
10176 representation of a changelog
10180 This program is used internally by
10181 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> et al. It may also occasionally
10182 be useful in <file>debian/rules</file> and elsewhere. It
10183 parses a changelog, <file>debian/changelog</file> by default,
10184 and prints a control-file format representation of the
10185 information in it to standard output.
10189 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-architecture">
10191 <prgn>dpkg-architecture</prgn> - information about the build and
10196 This program can be used manually, but is also invoked by
10197 <tt>dpkg-buildpackage</tt> or <file>debian/rules</file> to set
10198 environment or make variables which specify the build and host
10199 architecture for the package building process.
10204 <sect id="pkg-sourcetree">
10205 <heading>The Debian package source tree</heading>
10208 The source archive scheme described later is intended to
10209 allow a Debian package source tree with some associated
10210 control information to be reproduced and transported easily.
10211 The Debian package source tree is a version of the original
10212 program with certain files added for the benefit of the
10213 packaging process, and with any other changes required
10214 made to the rest of the source code and installation
10219 The extra files created for Debian are in the subdirectory
10220 <file>debian</file> of the top level of the Debian package
10221 source tree. They are described below.
10224 <sect1 id="pkg-debianrules">
10225 <heading><file>debian/rules</file> - the main building script</heading>
10228 See <ref id="debianrules">.
10232 <sect1 id="pkg-srcsubstvars">
10233 <heading><file>debian/substvars</file> and variable substitutions</heading>
10236 See <ref id="substvars">.
10242 <heading><file>debian/files</file></heading>
10245 See <ref id="debianfiles">.
10249 <sect1><heading><file>debian/tmp</file>
10253 This is the canonical temporary location for the
10254 construction of binary packages by the <tt>binary</tt>
10255 target. The directory <file>tmp</file> serves as the root of
10256 the file system tree as it is being constructed (for
10257 example, by using the package's upstream makefiles install
10258 targets and redirecting the output there), and it also
10259 contains the <tt>DEBIAN</tt> subdirectory. See <ref
10260 id="pkg-bincreating">.
10264 If several binary packages are generated from the same
10265 source tree it is usual to use several
10266 <file>debian/tmp<var>something</var></file> directories, for
10267 example <file>tmp-a</file> or <file>tmp-doc</file>.
10271 Whatever <file>tmp</file> directories are created and used by
10272 <tt>binary</tt> must of course be removed by the
10273 <tt>clean</tt> target.</p></sect1>
10277 <sect id="pkg-sourcearchives"><heading>Source packages as archives
10281 As it exists on the FTP site, a Debian source package
10282 consists of three related files. You must have the right
10283 versions of all three to be able to use them.
10288 <tag>Debian source control file - <tt>.dsc</tt></tag>
10290 This file is a control file used by <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>
10291 to extract a source package.
10292 See <ref id="debiansourcecontrolfiles">.
10296 Original source archive -
10298 <var>package</var>_<var>upstream-version</var>.orig.tar.gz
10304 This is a compressed (with <tt>gzip -9</tt>)
10305 <prgn>tar</prgn> file containing the source code from
10306 the upstream authors of the program.
10311 Debian package diff -
10313 <var>package</var>_<var>upstream_version-revision</var>.diff.gz
10319 This is a unified context diff (<tt>diff -u</tt>)
10320 giving the changes which are required to turn the
10321 original source into the Debian source. These changes
10322 may only include editing and creating plain files.
10323 The permissions of files, the targets of symbolic
10324 links and the characteristics of special files or
10325 pipes may not be changed and no files may be removed
10330 All the directories in the diff must exist, except the
10331 <file>debian</file> subdirectory of the top of the source
10332 tree, which will be created by
10333 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> if necessary when unpacking.
10337 The <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> program will
10338 automatically make the <file>debian/rules</file> file
10339 executable (see below).</p></item>
10344 If there is no original source code - for example, if the
10345 package is specially prepared for Debian or the Debian
10346 maintainer is the same as the upstream maintainer - the
10347 format is slightly different: then there is no diff, and the
10349 <file><var>package</var>_<var>version</var>.tar.gz</file>,
10350 and preferably contains a directory named
10351 <file><var>package</var>-<var>version</var></file>.
10356 <heading>Unpacking a Debian source package without <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn></heading>
10359 <tt>dpkg-source -x</tt> is the recommended way to unpack a
10360 Debian source package. However, if it is not available it
10361 is possible to unpack a Debian source archive as follows:
10362 <enumlist compact="compact">
10365 Untar the tarfile, which will create a <file>.orig</file>
10369 <p>Rename the <file>.orig</file> directory to
10370 <file><var>package</var>-<var>version</var></file>.</p>
10374 Create the subdirectory <file>debian</file> at the top of
10375 the source tree.</p>
10377 <item><p>Apply the diff using <tt>patch -p0</tt>.</p>
10379 <item><p>Untar the tarfile again if you want a copy of the original
10380 source code alongside the Debian version.</p>
10385 It is not possible to generate a valid Debian source archive
10386 without using <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>. In particular,
10387 attempting to use <prgn>diff</prgn> directly to generate the
10388 <file>.diff.gz</file> file will not work.
10392 <heading>Restrictions on objects in source packages</heading>
10395 The source package may not contain any hard links
10397 This is not currently detected when building source
10398 packages, but only when extracting
10402 Hard links may be permitted at some point in the
10403 future, but would require a fair amount of
10405 </footnote>, device special files, sockets or setuid or
10408 Setgid directories are allowed.
10413 The source packaging tools manage the changes between the
10414 original and Debian source using <prgn>diff</prgn> and
10415 <prgn>patch</prgn>. Turning the original source tree as
10416 included in the <file>.orig.tar.gz</file> into the Debian
10417 package source must not involve any changes which cannot be
10418 handled by these tools. Problematic changes which cause
10419 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> to halt with an error when
10420 building the source package are:
10421 <list compact="compact">
10422 <item><p>Adding or removing symbolic links, sockets or pipes.</p>
10424 <item><p>Changing the targets of symbolic links.</p>
10426 <item><p>Creating directories, other than <file>debian</file>.</p>
10428 <item><p>Changes to the contents of binary files.</p></item>
10429 </list> Changes which cause <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> to
10430 print a warning but continue anyway are:
10431 <list compact="compact">
10434 Removing files, directories or symlinks.
10436 Renaming a file is not treated specially - it is
10437 seen as the removal of the old file (which
10438 generates a warning, but is otherwise ignored),
10439 and the creation of the new one.
10445 Changed text files which are missing the usual final
10446 newline (either in the original or the modified
10451 Changes which are not represented, but which are not detected by
10452 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>, are:
10453 <list compact="compact">
10454 <item><p>Changing the permissions of files (other than
10455 <file>debian/rules</file>) and directories.</p></item>
10460 The <file>debian</file> directory and <file>debian/rules</file>
10461 are handled specially by <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> - before
10462 applying the changes it will create the <file>debian</file>
10463 directory, and afterwards it will make
10464 <file>debian/rules</file> world-executable.
10470 <appendix id="pkg-controlfields">
10471 <heading>Control files and their fields (from old Packaging Manual)</heading>
10474 Many of the tools in the <prgn>dpkg</prgn> suite manipulate
10475 data in a common format, known as control files. Binary and
10476 source packages have control data as do the <file>.changes</file>
10477 files which control the installation of uploaded files, and
10478 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s internal databases are in a similar
10483 <heading>Syntax of control files</heading>
10486 See <ref id="controlsyntax">.
10490 It is important to note that there are several fields which
10491 are optional as far as <prgn>dpkg</prgn> and the related
10492 tools are concerned, but which must appear in every Debian
10493 package, or whose omission may cause problems.
10498 <heading>List of fields</heading>
10501 See <ref id="controlfieldslist">.
10505 This section now contains only the fields that didn't belong
10506 to the Policy manual.
10509 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Filename">
10510 <heading><tt>Filename</tt> and <tt>MSDOS-Filename</tt></heading>
10513 These fields in <tt>Packages</tt> files give the
10514 filename(s) of (the parts of) a package in the
10515 distribution directories, relative to the root of the
10516 Debian hierarchy. If the package has been split into
10517 several parts the parts are all listed in order, separated
10522 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Size">
10523 <heading><tt>Size</tt> and <tt>MD5sum</tt></heading>
10526 These fields in <file>Packages</file> files give the size (in
10527 bytes, expressed in decimal) and MD5 checksum of the
10528 file(s) which make(s) up a binary package in the
10529 distribution. If the package is split into several parts
10530 the values for the parts are listed in order, separated by
10535 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Status">
10536 <heading><tt>Status</tt></heading>
10539 This field in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s status file records
10540 whether the user wants a package installed, removed or
10541 left alone, whether it is broken (requiring
10542 re-installation) or not and what its current state on the
10543 system is. Each of these pieces of information is a
10548 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Config-Version">
10549 <heading><tt>Config-Version</tt></heading>
10552 If a package is not installed or not configured, this
10553 field in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s status file records the last
10554 version of the package which was successfully
10559 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Conffiles">
10560 <heading><tt>Conffiles</tt></heading>
10563 This field in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s status file contains
10564 information about the automatically-managed configuration
10565 files held by a package. This field should <em>not</em>
10566 appear anywhere in a package!
10571 <heading>Obsolete fields</heading>
10574 These are still recognized by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> but should
10575 not appear anywhere any more.
10577 <taglist compact="compact">
10579 <tag><tt>Revision</tt></tag>
10580 <tag><tt>Package-Revision</tt></tag>
10581 <tag><tt>Package_Revision</tt></tag>
10583 The Debian revision part of the package version was
10584 at one point in a separate control field. This
10585 field went through several names.
10588 <tag><tt>Recommended</tt></tag>
10589 <item>Old name for <tt>Recommends</tt>.</item>
10591 <tag><tt>Optional</tt></tag>
10592 <item>Old name for <tt>Suggests</tt>.</item>
10594 <tag><tt>Class</tt></tag>
10595 <item>Old name for <tt>Priority</tt>.</item>
10604 <appendix id="pkg-conffiles">
10605 <heading>Configuration file handling (from old Packaging Manual)</heading>
10608 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> can do a certain amount of automatic
10609 handling of package configuration files.
10613 Whether this mechanism is appropriate depends on a number of
10614 factors, but basically there are two approaches to any
10615 particular configuration file.
10619 The easy method is to ship a best-effort configuration in the
10620 package, and use <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s conffile mechanism to
10621 handle updates. If the user is unlikely to want to edit the
10622 file, but you need them to be able to without losing their
10623 changes, and a new package with a changed version of the file
10624 is only released infrequently, this is a good approach.
10628 The hard method is to build the configuration file from
10629 scratch in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script, and to take the
10630 responsibility for fixing any mistakes made in earlier
10631 versions of the package automatically. This will be
10632 appropriate if the file is likely to need to be different on
10636 <sect><heading>Automatic handling of configuration files by
10641 A package may contain a control information file called
10642 <tt>conffiles</tt>. This file should be a list of filenames
10643 of configuration files needing automatic handling, separated
10644 by newlines. The filenames should be absolute pathnames,
10645 and the files referred to should actually exist in the
10650 When a package is upgraded <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will process
10651 the configuration files during the configuration stage,
10652 shortly before it runs the package's <prgn>postinst</prgn>
10657 For each file it checks to see whether the version of the
10658 file included in the package is the same as the one that was
10659 included in the last version of the package (the one that is
10660 being upgraded from); it also compares the version currently
10661 installed on the system with the one shipped with the last
10666 If neither the user nor the package maintainer has changed
10667 the file, it is left alone. If one or the other has changed
10668 their version, then the changed version is preferred - i.e.,
10669 if the user edits their file, but the package maintainer
10670 doesn't ship a different version, the user's changes will
10671 stay, silently, but if the maintainer ships a new version
10672 and the user hasn't edited it the new version will be
10673 installed (with an informative message). If both have
10674 changed their version the user is prompted about the problem
10675 and must resolve the differences themselves.
10679 The comparisons are done by calculating the MD5 message
10680 digests of the files, and storing the MD5 of the file as it
10681 was included in the most recent version of the package.
10685 When a package is installed for the first time
10686 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will install the file that comes with it,
10687 unless that would mean overwriting a file already on the
10692 However, note that <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will <em>not</em>
10693 replace a conffile that was removed by the user (or by a
10694 script). This is necessary because with some programs a
10695 missing file produces an effect hard or impossible to
10696 achieve in another way, so that a missing file needs to be
10697 kept that way if the user did it.
10701 Note that a package should <em>not</em> modify a
10702 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>-handled conffile in its maintainer
10703 scripts. Doing this will lead to <prgn>dpkg</prgn> giving
10704 the user confusing and possibly dangerous options for
10705 conffile update when the package is upgraded.</p>
10708 <sect><heading>Fully-featured maintainer script configuration
10713 For files which contain site-specific information such as
10714 the hostname and networking details and so forth, it is
10715 better to create the file in the package's
10716 <prgn>postinst</prgn> script.
10720 This will typically involve examining the state of the rest
10721 of the system to determine values and other information, and
10722 may involve prompting the user for some information which
10723 can't be obtained some other way.
10727 When using this method there are a couple of important
10728 issues which should be considered:
10732 If you discover a bug in the program which generates the
10733 configuration file, or if the format of the file changes
10734 from one version to the next, you will have to arrange for
10735 the postinst script to do something sensible - usually this
10736 will mean editing the installed configuration file to remove
10737 the problem or change the syntax. You will have to do this
10738 very carefully, since the user may have changed the file,
10739 perhaps to fix the very problem that your script is trying
10740 to deal with - you will have to detect these situations and
10741 deal with them correctly.
10745 If you do go down this route it's probably a good idea to
10746 make the program that generates the configuration file(s) a
10747 separate program in <file>/usr/sbin</file>, by convention called
10748 <file><var>package</var>config</file> and then run that if
10749 appropriate from the post-installation script. The
10750 <tt><var>package</var>config</tt> program should not
10751 unquestioningly overwrite an existing configuration - if its
10752 mode of operation is geared towards setting up a package for
10753 the first time (rather than any arbitrary reconfiguration
10754 later) you should have it check whether the configuration
10755 already exists, and require a <tt>--force</tt> flag to
10756 overwrite it.</p></sect>
10759 <appendix id="pkg-alternatives"><heading>Alternative versions of
10760 an interface - <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> (from old
10765 When several packages all provide different versions of the
10766 same program or file it is useful to have the system select a
10767 default, but to allow the system administrator to change it
10768 and have their decisions respected.
10772 For example, there are several versions of the <prgn>vi</prgn>
10773 editor, and there is no reason to prevent all of them from
10774 being installed at once, each under their own name
10775 (<prgn>nvi</prgn>, <prgn>vim</prgn> or whatever).
10776 Nevertheless it is desirable to have the name <tt>vi</tt>
10777 refer to something, at least by default.
10781 If all the packages involved cooperate, this can be done with
10782 <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>.
10786 Each package provides its own version under its own name, and
10787 calls <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> in its postinst to
10788 register its version (and again in its prerm to deregister
10793 See the man page <manref name="update-alternatives"
10794 section="8"> for details.
10798 If <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> does not seem appropriate
10799 you may wish to consider using diversions instead.</p>
10802 <appendix id="pkg-diversions"><heading>Diversions - overriding a
10803 package's version of a file (from old Packaging Manual)
10807 It is possible to have <prgn>dpkg</prgn> not overwrite a file
10808 when it reinstalls the package it belongs to, and to have it
10809 put the file from the package somewhere else instead.
10813 This can be used locally to override a package's version of a
10814 file, or by one package to override another's version (or
10815 provide a wrapper for it).
10819 Before deciding to use a diversion, read <ref
10820 id="pkg-alternatives"> to see if you really want a diversion
10821 rather than several alternative versions of a program.
10825 There is a diversion list, which is read by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>,
10826 and updated by a special program <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn>.
10827 Please see <manref name="dpkg-divert" section="8"> for full
10828 details of its operation.
10832 When a package wishes to divert a file from another, it should
10833 call <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> in its preinst to add the
10834 diversion and rename the existing file. For example,
10835 supposing that a <prgn>smailwrapper</prgn> package wishes to
10836 install a wrapper around <file>/usr/sbin/smail</file>:
10838 dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --add --rename \
10839 --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail
10840 </example> The <tt>--package smailwrapper</tt> ensures that
10841 <prgn>smailwrapper</prgn>'s copy of <file>/usr/sbin/smail</file>
10842 can bypass the diversion and get installed as the true version.
10843 It's safe to add the diversion unconditionally on upgrades since
10844 it will be left unchanged if it already exists, but
10845 <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> will display a message. To suppress that
10846 message, make the command conditional on the version from which
10847 the package is being upgraded:
10849 if [ upgrade != "$1" ] || dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt 1.0-2; then
10850 dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --add --rename \
10851 --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail
10853 </example> where <tt>1.0-2</tt> is the version at which the
10854 diversion was first added to the package. Running the command
10855 during abort-upgrade is pointless but harmless.
10859 The postrm has to do the reverse:
10861 if [ remove = "$1" -o abort-install = "$1" -o disappear = "$1" ]; then
10862 dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --remove --rename \
10863 --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail
10865 </example> If the diversion was added at a particular version, the
10866 postrm should also handle the failure case of upgrading from an
10867 older version (unless the older version is so old that direct
10868 upgrades are no longer supported):
10870 if [ abort-upgrade = "$1" ] && dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt 1.0-2; then
10871 dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --remove --rename \
10872 --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail
10874 </example> where <tt>1.02-2</tt> is the version at which the
10875 diversion was first added to the package. The postrm should not
10876 remove the diversion on upgrades both because there's no reason to
10877 remove the diversion only to immediately re-add it and since the
10878 postrm of the old package is run after unpacking so the removal of
10879 the diversion will fail.
10883 Do not attempt to divert a file which is vitally important for
10884 the system's operation - when using <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn>
10885 there is a time, after it has been diverted but before
10886 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> has installed the new version, when the file
10887 does not exist.</p>
10892 <!-- Local variables: -->
10893 <!-- indent-tabs-mode: t -->
10895 <!-- vim:set ai et sts=2 sw=2 tw=76: -->