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5 upgrading-checklist.html
6 Author : Manoj Srivastava ( srivasta@tiamat.datasync.com )
7 Created On : Thu Oct 29 20:54:48 1998
8 Created On Node : tiamat.datasync.com
9 Last Modified By : Manoj Srivastava
10 Last Modified On : Sat Oct 26 12:22:40 2002
11 Last Machine Used: glaurung.green-gryphon.com
13 Status : Unknown, Use with caution!
20 <title>Policy checklist for upgrading your packages</title>
24 <h1>Policy checklist for upgrading your packages</h1>
26 <h2>About the checklist</h2>
29 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
30 of old packages. Note that this list is not `official'; it simply
31 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
32 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
33 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
34 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
35 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
36 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
37 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
38 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
39 used below refer to the current version.
43 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
44 package complies with currently (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
45 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
46 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
47 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
48 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
49 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
50 picking your way through this list.
53 <h2>The checklist</h2>
58 - The section describing the Description: package filed once again has
59 full details of the long description format. [5.7.2]
60 - Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
61 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
62 and related fields (i.e. it's just optional). [2.4.2]
63 - When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
64 the init script should start the service. [10.3.2]
65 - If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
66 example files can be installed into <tt>/usr/share/doc/package</tt>
67 (rather than <tt>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</tt>). [13.6]
72 - It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
73 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
74 documented in the changelog file. [13.7]
75 - <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>,
76 <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>, and
77 <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> must also be satisfied when the
78 clean target is called. [7.6]
79 - A new apps/Science menu section is available [menu policy]
80 - debconf specification cleared up, various changes. [debconf
82 - It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
83 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
84 are still a bug. [13.1]
88 - Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
89 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough. [11.6]
90 - cryptographic software may now be included in the main
92 - task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
93 special Tasks: field in the control file. [2.3.8]
94 - window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
95 they add themselves as an alternative for
96 /usr/bin/x-window-manager [12.8.4]
97 - The default compilation options have now changed, one should
98 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
99 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
100 environment variable. [11.1]
101 - Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
102 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
103 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
104 review the new rules. [7.6, 5.2]
105 - Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintiner
106 scripts. Long rationale. [9]
107 - [Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding
108 build rules, please see below]
112 - Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
113 standard packages [2.2]
114 - Programs that access docs need to do so via /usr/share/doc, and
115 not via /usr/doc/ as was the policy previously [12.5]
116 - Putting documentation in /usr/doc versus /usr/share/doc is now
117 a ``serious'' policy violation. [13.3]
118 - For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
119 /usr/share/doc hierarchy. If one can't provide access controls for
120 the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred that one
121 ask permission to expose that information during the install. [12.5]
122 - There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
123 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic. [7]
128 - Manpages should not rely on header information to have
129 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
130 symlinks or .so pages to do this [13.1]
131 - [Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
132 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
133 by scripts; see section 11.7.3 for the whole story]
134 - Included a new section 11.9.1 describing the use of
135 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
136 - Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
137 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
138 - Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
140 - X Windows related things:
141 * Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
143 * Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved [12.8.3]
144 * X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
145 fonts for the X Window System [12.8.5]
146 * Packages must not ship /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/ [12.8.6]
147 * X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
148 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this [12.8.7]
149 * OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
150 OSF/Motif-linked ones [12.8.8]
155 - The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
156 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
157 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
159 - The perl policy is now part of Debian policy proper. Perl
160 programs and modules should follow the current Perl policy
166 - Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
167 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages [7.1]
168 - Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
169 in /usr/share/<package> or /usr/lib/<package>, with
170 symbolic links from /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples as
176 - X app-defaults directory has moved from
177 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults to /etc/X11/app-defaults [12.8.6]
182 - dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
183 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables [9.1]
188 - Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
189 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2) [12.8.5]
194 - Daemon startup scripts in /etc/init.d/ should not contain
195 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
196 /etc/default/; see [10.3.2] for details
197 - Files in /usr/share/doc must not be referenced by any
198 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
199 /usr/share/<package>/, and symbolic links created as required
200 in /usr/share/doc/<package>/ [13.3]
201 - Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
207 - A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
208 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
209 and the other without [12.8.1]
214 - By default executables should not be built with the debugging
215 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
216 package with debugging information optionally. Details in [11.1]
217 - Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
218 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
219 should always be generated for the upstream changes [13.8]
220 - Please note that the new release of the X window system (4.x)
221 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
222 - Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
224 - X server (virtual package xserver) [12.8.2]
225 - X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) [12.8.3]
226 - X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
227 /usr/bin/x-window-manager alternative, with priority
228 calculation guidelines) [12.8.4]
229 - X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) [12.8.5]
230 - X application defaults [12.8.6]
231 - Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
232 has been clarified; see [12.8.7]
233 - No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles [11.7.3]
234 - Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
235 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
241 - Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
242 etc. Should not affect many packages [7.1]
247 - /usr/doc/<package> has to be a symlink pointing to
248 /usr/share/doc/<package>, to be maintained by postinst
249 and prerm scripts. Details are in [13.4]
250 - Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) [7.1, 7.6]
251 - /etc/rc.boot has been deprecated in favour of /etc/rcS.d.
252 (Packages should not be touching this directory, but should use
253 update-rc.d instead) [10.3.4]
254 - update-rc.d is now the *only* allowable way of accessing the
255 /etc/rc?.d/[SK]??* links. Any scripts which manipulate them
256 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
257 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
258 incompatible way.) [10.3.3]
259 - Architecture-specific examples go in /usr/lib/<package>/examples
260 with symlinks from /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/* or from
261 /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples itself [13.7]
262 - Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts /var/state to
264 - Added MIME sub-policy document [10.7; mime-policy]
265 - VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR [12.4]
266 - Modified liblockfile description, which affects
267 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
269 - If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
270 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
271 using lynx -dump -nolist.) [13.8]
272 - Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
278 - Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for the
279 packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the
280 .la files must go in the run-time library package [11.2]
285 - Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
286 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
287 not all known. [10.1]
288 - Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
289 control files, though all four digits are still permitted. [2.4.1]
290 - The location of the GPL has changed to
291 /usr/share/common-licenses. This may require changing the
292 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
293 other major licenses [13.6]
294 - Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
295 include the .la files in the -dev packages [11.2]
296 - Use logrotate to rotate log files [11.8]
297 - section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
299 - There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
300 that carries the full weight of Debian policy [10.6; menu-policy]
301 - Programs which need to modify the files /var/run/utmp,
302 /var/log/wtmp and /var/log/lastlog must be installed setgid utmp [12.3]
308 - Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
309 + Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
310 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
311 Section 5 and Section 6.
312 + What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
313 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
314 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
315 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
316 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
318 - Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
319 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML/ These
320 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
321 /usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz
322 + Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
323 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
324 - Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
325 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
326 - Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
327 files. The correct location is /usr/doc/package/copyright
328 - Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
334 - Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:
335 + symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
336 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
337 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
339 - Updated section 4.9 Games:
340 + manpages for games should be installed in /usr/man/man6
341 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
344 - Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
345 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
346 installs shared libraries
347 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
351 - Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:
352 + /bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
353 + scripts including bashisms have to specify /bin/bash as
355 + scripts which create files in world-writable directories
356 (e.g., in /tmp) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
359 - Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:
360 + symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
361 file extension as the referenced file
363 - Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:
364 + /dev/tty* serial devices should be used instead of /dev/cu*
366 - Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts [in /etc/init.d]:
367 + all /etc/init.d scripts have to provide the following options:
368 start, stop, restart, force-reload
369 + the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
372 - Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
373 + cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
374 be installed into /etc/cron.d
376 - Updated section 3.7 Menus:
377 + removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
378 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
379 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
382 - New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
383 + details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
386 - New section 3.9 Environment variables:
387 + no program must depend on environment variables to get a
388 reasonable default configuration
390 - New section 4.6 News system configuration:
391 + /etc/news/organization and /etc/news/server should be supported
392 by all news servers and clients
394 - Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
395 + programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
396 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
397 + if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
398 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
400 - Updated section 4.9 Games:
401 + games for X Windows have to be installed in /usr/games, just as
404 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0 Sep 97
406 * new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
407 /etc/services, /etc/protocols, /etc/rpc, and /etc/inetd.conf
409 * updated section about `Configuration files':
410 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
412 * MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile
416 * added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
419 where <arch> is one of the following:
420 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
422 * detailed rules for /usr/local
426 * editor/pager policy
432 * don't install shared libraries as executable
434 * app-defaults files may not be conffiles
436 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0 Mar 97
438 * two programs with different functionality must not have the
443 * "Standard for Console Messages"
445 * Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'
447 * Libraries should be stripped with "strip --strip-unneeded"
449 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0 Nov 96
451 * Some changes WRT shared libraries
455 * No hard links in source packages
457 * Do not use dpkg-divert or update-alternatives without consultation
459 * Shared libraries must be installed stripped
463 * Upstream changelog must be installed too
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