1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
2 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
3 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
4 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
5 lang="en" xml:lang="en">
7 <title>Policy checklist for upgrading your packages</title>
8 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"/>
9 <meta name="generator" content="Org-mode"/>
10 <meta name="generated" content="2010-01-25 20:54:51 CET"/>
11 <meta name="author" content="Bill Allombert, Josip Rodin, Julian Gilbey, Russ Allbery, and Manoj Srivastava"/>
12 <meta name="description" content=""/>
13 <meta name="keywords" content=""/>
15 <style type="text/css">
16 html { font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 12pt; }
17 .title { text-align: center; }
18 p.verse { margin-left: 3% }
20 border: 1pt solid #AEBDCC;
22 background-color: LightSlateGray;
24 font-family: "Courier New", courier, monospace;
28 dt { font-weight: bold; }
29 div.figure { padding: 0.5em; }
30 div.figure p { text-align: center; }
31 .linenr { font-size:smaller }
32 .code-highlighted {background-color:#ffff00;}
33 .org-info-js_info-navigation { border-style:none; }
34 #org-info-js_console-label { font-size:10px; font-weight:bold;
36 .org-info-js_search-highlight {background-color:#ffff00; color:#000000;
41 background-color: gainsboro;
42 font-family: Palatino, "Palatino Linotype", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, Utopia, serif;
44 .org-agenda-date { color: #87cefa; }
45 .org-agenda-structure { color: #87cefa; }
46 .org-scheduled { color: #98fb98; }
47 .org-scheduled-previously { color: #ff7f24; }
48 .org-scheduled-today { color: #98fb98; }
49 .org-tag { font-weight: bold; }
57 background-color: inherit;
59 text-decoration: inherit;
61 a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
62 .todo { font-weight:bold; }
63 .done { font-weight:bold; }
65 .WAITING { color:orange; }
66 .DONE { color:green; }
67 .timestamp { color: grey }
68 .timestamp-kwd { color: CadetBlue }
69 .tag { background-color:lightblue; font-weight:normal }
70 .target { background-color: lavender; }
72 border-collapse: collapse; /*separate; */
75 /* border-spacing: 5pt; */
77 table td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid; }
78 table th { vertical-align: top; border: 2px solid; }
80 <script ="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="/styles/org-info.js"></script>
81 <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">
83 org_html_manager.set("LOCAL_TOC", 0);
84 org_html_manager.set("VIEW_BUTTONS", 1);
85 org_html_manager.set("VIEW", "info");
86 org_html_manager.set("TOC", 1);
87 org_html_manager.set("MOUSE_HINT", "underline"); // could be a background-color like #eeeeee
88 org_html_manager.setup ();
92 <script type="text/javascript">
93 <!--/*--><![CDATA[/*><!--*/
94 function CodeHighlightOn(elem, id)
96 var target = document.getElementById(id);
98 elem.cacheClassElem = elem.className;
99 elem.cacheClassTarget = target.className;
100 target.className = "code-highlighted";
101 elem.className = "code-highlighted";
104 function CodeHighlightOff(elem, id)
106 var target = document.getElementById(id);
107 if(elem.cacheClassElem)
108 elem.className = elem.cacheClassElem;
109 if(elem.cacheClassTarget)
110 target.className = elem.cacheClassTarget;
117 <div id="org-div-home-and-up" style="text-align:right;font-size:70%;white-space:nowrap;">
118 <a accesskey="h" href="http://www.debian.org/"> UP </a>
120 <a accesskey="H" href="http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Policy"> HOME </a>
123 <h1 class="title">Policy checklist for upgrading your packages</h1>
126 <div id="outline-container-1" class="outline-3">
127 <h3 id="sec-1">About the checklist </h3>
128 <div class="outline-text-3" id="text-1">
132 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
133 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
134 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
135 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
136 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
137 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
138 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
139 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
140 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
141 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
142 used below refer to the current version.
145 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
146 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
147 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
148 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
149 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
150 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
151 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
152 picking your way through this list.
158 <div id="outline-container-2" class="outline-3">
159 <h3 id="sec-2">The checklist </h3>
160 <div class="outline-text-3" id="text-2">
166 <div id="outline-container-2.1" class="outline-4">
167 <h4 id="sec-2.1"><a name="v3.8.4.0" id="v3.8.4.0"></a>3.8.4.0 </h4>
168 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.1">
176 <b>9.1.1</b> : An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
177 Permitting files to instead be installed to <code>/lib/triplet</code> and
178 <code>/usr/lib/triplet</code> directories.
181 <b>10.6</b> : Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
182 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
185 <b>9.1.1</b> : /sys and /selinux directories are explicitly allowed as an
186 exception to the FHS.
194 <div id="outline-container-2.2" class="outline-4">
195 <h4 id="sec-2.2"><a name="v3.8.3.0" id="v3.8.3.0"></a>3.8.3.0 </h4>
196 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.2">
204 <b>4.9</b> : Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
205 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
208 <b>5.6.8</b>: Source package Architecture fields may contain <i>all</i> in
209 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <i>all</i> and <i>any</i>
210 may be used in different versions of the field.
213 <b>5.6.14</b> : The Debian archive software does not support uploading
214 to multiple distributions with one \*.changes file.
217 <b>5.6.19</b> : The Binary field may span multiple lines.
220 <b>10.2</b> : Remove the permission for shared library packages to
221 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify ld.so.conf.
222 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
223 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
226 <b>11.8.7</b> : Clarify installation directories for X programs and
227 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
228 into /usr/include/X11 and /usr/lib/X11.
231 <b>12.1</b> : Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
232 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
235 <b>12.1</b> : Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
236 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
237 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
241 <b>12.2</b> : install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
242 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
243 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
244 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
245 support partial upgrades.
248 <b>perl</b> : The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
249 Depend and Build-Depend on perl >= 5.6.0-16 has been removed.
257 <div id="outline-container-2.3" class="outline-4">
258 <h4 id="sec-2.3"><a name="v3.8.2.0" id="v3.8.2.0"></a>3.8.2.0 </h4>
259 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.3">
267 <b>2.4</b>: The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
268 <a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html">http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html</a>
269 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
273 <b>3.9.1</b>: All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
274 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
275 back on other methods.
278 <b>5.6.1</b>: The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
282 <b>9.1</b>: Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
283 FHS permitting /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.
286 <b>9.1.3</b>: Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
290 <b>11.8.5</b>: Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
294 <b>12.5</b>: The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
295 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
303 <div id="outline-container-2.4" class="outline-4">
304 <h4 id="sec-2.4"><a name="v3.8.1.0" id="v3.8.1.0"></a>3.8.1.0 </h4>
305 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.4">
313 <b>3.8</b>: Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
314 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
315 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
318 <b>4.4</b>: Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
321 <b>4.4</b>: Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
325 <b>4.4.1</b>: Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
326 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
329 <b>4.9.1</b>: New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
330 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
333 <b>5.1</b>: All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
336 <b>5.2</b>: debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
337 preceding whitespace.
340 <b>9.3</b>: Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
341 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by /bin/sh regardless of
342 the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
343 behavior of the init system in Debian.
346 <b>9.3.2</b>: The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
347 start the daemon again if it's already running.
350 <b>9.3.2</b>: /var/run and /var/lock may be mounted as temporary filesystems, and
351 init scripts must therefore create any necessary subdirectories
355 <b>10.4</b>: /bin/sh scripts may assume that local can take multiple variable
356 arguments and supports assignment.
359 <b>11.6</b>: User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
360 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
368 <div id="outline-container-2.5" class="outline-4">
369 <h4 id="sec-2.5"><a name="v3.8.0.0" id="v3.8.0.0"></a>3.8.0.0 </h4>
370 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.5">
378 <b>2.4, 3.7</b>: The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
379 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
380 system is now defined by priority.
383 <b>4.9</b>: If dpkg-source -x doesn't provide the source that will be compiled,
384 a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
388 <b>4.9.1, 10.1</b>: Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
389 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
390 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
391 unknown flags be ignored.
394 <b>4.9.1</b>: Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
395 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
396 processes if the package supports it
399 <b>4.13</b>: Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
400 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
404 <b>4.14</b>: If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
405 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
406 debian/README.source file explaining how to generate the patched
407 source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
408 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
409 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
413 <b>5.6.3</b>: The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
416 <b>5.6.12</b>: An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
420 <b>5.6.23</b>: New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
423 <b>6.5, 6.6, 7</b>: The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
424 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
425 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
426 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
429 <b>8.1, 8.2</b>: Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
430 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
431 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
435 <b>9.5</b>: Files in /etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly} must be
436 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
440 <b>11.8.6</b>: Packages providing /etc/X11/Xresources files need not conflict with
441 xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2), which is long-obsolete.
444 <b>12.1</b>: Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
445 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
446 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
447 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
448 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
449 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
453 <b>12.5</b>: The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
454 referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
457 <b>12.5</b>: Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
458 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
462 <b>debconf</b>: Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
470 <div id="outline-container-2.6" class="outline-4">
471 <h4 id="sec-2.6"><a name="v3.7.3.0" id="v3.7.3.0"></a>3.7.3.0 </h4>
472 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.6">
480 <b>5.6.12</b>: Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
481 anything, even the end of a part.
484 <b>10.4</b>: Scripts may assume that /bin/sh supports local (at a basic level)
485 and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
489 <b>8.5</b>: The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
490 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
494 <b>menu policy</b>: Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
495 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
496 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
497 sections would be more appropriate.
500 <b>5.6.1</b>: The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
504 <b>5.6.17</b>: The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
505 critical, or emergency.
508 <b>8.6</b>: The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
509 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
510 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
514 <b>3.9.1</b>: Packages following the Debian Configuration management
515 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
516 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
519 <b>12.5</b>: GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
520 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
528 <div id="outline-container-2.7" class="outline-4">
529 <h4 id="sec-2.7"><a name="v3.7.2.2" id="v3.7.2.2"></a>3.7.2.2 </h4>
530 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.7">
538 <b>6.1</b>: Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
547 <div id="outline-container-2.8" class="outline-4">
548 <h4 id="sec-2.8"><a name="v3.7.2.0" id="v3.7.2.0"></a>3.7.2.0 </h4>
549 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.8">
557 <b>11.5</b>: Revert the cgi-lib change.
565 <div id="outline-container-2.9" class="outline-4">
566 <h4 id="sec-2.9"><a name="v3.7.1.0" id="v3.7.1.0"></a>3.7.1.0 </h4>
567 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.9">
575 <b>10.2</b>: It is now possible to create shared libraries without
576 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
577 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
578 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
579 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
580 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
584 <b>11.8.7</b>: Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
585 <i>usr/include/X11/and /usr/lib/X11</i>, but if they do so, they
586 must pre-depend on x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)
594 <div id="outline-container-2.10" class="outline-4">
595 <h4 id="sec-2.10"><a name="v3.7.0.0" id="v3.7.0.0"></a>3.7.0.0 </h4>
596 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.10">
604 <b>11.5</b>: Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
605 them in <i>usr/lib/cgi-lib</i> directories. This location change
606 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
609 <b>11.5</b>: Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
610 cgi-lib to /usr/lib/cgi-lib.
613 <b>9.1.1</b>: The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
614 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
615 though new top level directories /media, /srv, etc may be of
619 <b>5.1, 5.6.3</b>: All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
620 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
621 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
622 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
623 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
624 as well, to prepare for future changes.
627 <b>10.4</b>: When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
628 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
629 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
633 <b>9.3.3.2</b>: packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
634 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
638 <b>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</b>: We no longer use /usr/X11R6, since we have
639 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
640 live in <i>usr/share/fonts/X11</i> now, and /usr/X11R6 is gone.
649 <div id="outline-container-2.11" class="outline-4">
650 <h4 id="sec-2.11"><a name="v3.6.2.0" id="v3.6.2.0"></a>3.6.2.0 </h4>
651 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.11">
659 Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
662 <b>8.1</b>: Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
663 <i>usr/lib</i> or /usr/share, and preferably the shared lib is named
664 the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
667 <b>11.5</b>: It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
668 allow packages to share image files with the web server
676 <div id="outline-container-2.12" class="outline-4">
677 <h4 id="sec-2.12"><a name="v3.6.1.0" id="v3.6.1.0"></a>3.6.1.0 </h4>
678 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.12">
686 <b>3.10.1</b>: Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
687 user prompts are now deprecated.
695 <div id="outline-container-2.13" class="outline-4">
696 <h4 id="sec-2.13"><a name="v3.6.0.0" id="v3.6.0.0"></a>3.6.0 </h4>
697 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.13">
705 Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
706 the minor version number:
709 Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
710 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
711 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
712 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
713 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
714 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
715 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
716 deb-building tool-chain.
719 Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
720 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
721 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
722 properly, that is, some sect1s became sects etc.
725 Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
726 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
727 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
728 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
729 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
730 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
731 sections about changelog files.
734 <b>menu policy</b>: Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
738 <b>C.2.2</b>: Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
741 <b>10.2</b>: shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
742 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
745 <b>7.6</b>: build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
754 <div id="outline-container-2.14" class="outline-4">
755 <h4 id="sec-2.14"><a name="v3.5.10.0" id="v3.5.10.0"></a>3.5.10 </h4>
756 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.14">
764 <b>11.8.3</b>: packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
765 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
769 <b>11.8.4</b>: Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
770 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
778 <div id="outline-container-2.15" class="outline-4">
779 <h4 id="sec-2.15"><a name="v3.5.9.0" id="v3.5.9.0"></a>3.5.9.0 </h4>
780 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.15">
788 <b>3.4.2</b>: The section describing the Description: package field once again has
789 full details of the long description format.
792 <b>4.2</b>: Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
793 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
794 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
797 <b>9.3.2</b>: When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
798 the init script should start the service.
801 <b>12.6</b>: If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
802 example files can be installed into <code>/usr/share/doc/package</code> (rather
803 than <code>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</code>).
811 <div id="outline-container-2.16" class="outline-4">
812 <h4 id="sec-2.16"><a name="v3.5.8.0" id="v3.5.8.0"></a>3.5.8.0 </h4>
813 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.16">
821 <b>12.7</b>: It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
822 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
823 documented in the changelog file.
826 <b>7.6</b>: <code>Build-Depends</code>, <code>Build-Conflicts</code>, <code>Build-Depends-Indep</code>,
827 and <code>Build-Conflicts-Indep</code> must also be satisfied when the clean
831 <b>menu policy</b>: A new Apps/Science menu section is available
834 <b>debconf policy</b>: debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
837 <b>12.1</b>: It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
838 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
847 <div id="outline-container-2.17" class="outline-4">
848 <h4 id="sec-2.17"><a name="v3.5.7.0" id="v3.5.7.0"></a>3.5.7.0 </h4>
849 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.17">
857 Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
858 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
861 <b>2.2.4</b>: cryptographic software may now be included in the main
865 <b>3.9</b>: task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
866 special Tasks: field in the control file.
869 <b>11.8.4</b>: window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
870 they add themselves as an alternative for
871 /usr/bin/x-window-manager
874 <b>10.1</b>: The default compilation options have now changed, one should
875 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
876 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
877 environment variable.
880 <b>7.6, 4.8</b>: Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
881 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
882 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
883 review the new rules.
886 <b>8</b>: Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
887 scripts. Long rationale.
890 <b>Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build rules, please see below</b>
898 <div id="outline-container-2.18" class="outline-4">
899 <h4 id="sec-2.18"><a name="v3.5.6.0" id="v3.5.6.0"></a>3.5.6.0 </h4>
900 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.18">
908 <b>2.5</b>: Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
912 <b>11.5</b>: Programs that access docs need to do so via <i>usr/share/doc, and not via /usr/doc</i> as was the policy previously
915 <b>12.3</b>: Putting documentation in /usr/doc versus /usr/share/doc is now
916 a ``serious'' policy violation.
919 <b>11.5</b>: For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
920 /usr/share/doc hierarchy. If one can't provide access controls for
921 the <a href="http://localhost/doc/">http://localhost/doc/</a> directory, then it is preferred that one
922 ask permission to expose that information during the install.
925 <b>7</b>: There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
926 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
934 <div id="outline-container-2.19" class="outline-4">
935 <h4 id="sec-2.19"><a name="v3.5.5.0" id="v3.5.5.0"></a>3.5.5.0 </h4>
936 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.19">
944 <b>12.1</b>: Manpages should not rely on header information to have
945 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
946 symlinks or .so pages to do this
949 *Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
950 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
951 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story*
954 Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
955 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
958 Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
959 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
962 <b>10.2</b>: Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
966 X Windows related things:
969 <b>11.8.1</b>: Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
973 <b>11.8.3</b>: Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved
976 <b>11.8.5</b>: X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
977 fonts for the X Window System
980 <b>11.8.6</b>: Packages must not ship <i>usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</i>
983 <b>11.8.7</b>: X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
984 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
987 <b>11.8.8</b>: OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
988 OSF/Motif-linked ones
998 <div id="outline-container-2.20" class="outline-4">
999 <h4 id="sec-2.20"><a name="v3.5.4.0" id="v3.5.4.0"></a>3.5.4.0 </h4>
1000 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.20">
1008 <b>11.6</b>: The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1009 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1010 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1014 <b>11.9; perl-policy</b>: The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1015 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1025 <div id="outline-container-2.21" class="outline-4">
1026 <h4 id="sec-2.21"><a name="v3.5.3.0" id="v3.5.3.0"></a>3.5.3.0 </h4>
1027 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.21">
1035 <b>7.1</b>: Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1036 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1039 <b>10.7.3</b>: Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1040 in /usr/share/<package> or /usr/lib/<package>, with
1041 symbolic links from /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples as
1050 <div id="outline-container-2.22" class="outline-4">
1051 <h4 id="sec-2.22"><a name="v3.5.2.0" id="v3.5.2.0"></a>3.5.2.0 </h4>
1052 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.22">
1060 <b>11.8.6</b>: X app-defaults directory has moved from
1061 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults to /etc/X11/app-defaults
1069 <div id="outline-container-2.23" class="outline-4">
1070 <h4 id="sec-2.23"><a name="v3.5.1.0" id="v3.5.1.0"></a>3.5.1.0 </h4>
1071 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.23">
1079 <b>8.1</b>: dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1080 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1088 <div id="outline-container-2.24" class="outline-4">
1089 <h4 id="sec-2.24"><a name="v3.5.0.0" id="v3.5.0.0"></a>3.5.0.0 </h4>
1090 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.24">
1098 <b>11.8.5</b>: Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1099 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1107 <div id="outline-container-2.25" class="outline-4">
1108 <h4 id="sec-2.25"><a name="v3.2.1.1" id="v3.2.1.1"></a>3.2.1.1 </h4>
1109 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.25">
1117 Daemon startup scripts in <i>etc/init.d</i> should not contain
1118 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1119 <i>etc/default</i>; see <b>9.3.2] for details + *12.3</b>: Files in /usr/share/doc must not be referenced by any
1120 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1121 <i>usr/share/<package></i>, and symbolic links created as required
1122 in <i>usr/share/doc/<package></i>
1125 Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1134 <div id="outline-container-2.26" class="outline-4">
1135 <h4 id="sec-2.26"><a name="v3.2.1.0" id="v3.2.1.0"></a>3.2.1.0 </h4>
1136 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.26">
1144 <b>11.8.1</b>: A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1145 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1146 and the other without
1154 <div id="outline-container-2.27" class="outline-4">
1155 <h4 id="sec-2.27"><a name="v3.2.0.0" id="v3.2.0.0"></a>3.2.0.0 </h4>
1156 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.27">
1164 <b>10.1</b>: By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1165 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1166 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1169 <b>12.8</b>: Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1170 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1171 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1174 Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1175 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1178 Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1182 <b>11.8.2</b>: X server (virtual package xserver)
1185 <b>11.8.3</b>: X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator)
1188 <b>11.8.4</b>: X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1189 /usr/bin/x-window-manager alternative, with priority
1190 calculation guidelines)
1193 <b>12.8.5</b>: X fonts (this section has been written from scratch)
1196 <b>11.8.6</b>: X application defaults
1201 <b>11.8.7</b>: Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1202 has been clarified; see
1205 <b>11.7.3</b>: No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles
1208 <b>8</b>: Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1209 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1218 <div id="outline-container-2.28" class="outline-4">
1219 <h4 id="sec-2.28"><a name="v3.1.1.0" id="v3.1.1.0"></a>3.1.1.0 </h4>
1220 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.28">
1228 <b>7.1</b>: Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1229 etc. Should not affect many packages
1237 <div id="outline-container-2.29" class="outline-4">
1238 <h4 id="sec-2.29"><a name="v3.1.0.0" id="v3.1.0.0"></a>3.1.0.0 </h4>
1239 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.29">
1247 /usr/doc/<package> has to be a symlink pointing to
1248 /usr/share/doc/<package>, to be maintained by postinst
1249 and prerm scripts. Details are in <b>defunct</b>
1252 <b>7.1, 7.6</b>: Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.)
1255 <b>9.3.4</b>: /etc/rc.boot has been deprecated in favour of /etc/rcS.d.
1256 (Packages should not be touching this directory, but should use
1257 update-rc.d instead)
1260 <b>9.3.3</b>: update-rc.d is now the <b>only</b> allowable way of accessing the
1261 /etc/rc?.d/*SK]??* links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1262 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1263 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1267 <b>12.7</b>: Architecture-specific examples go in /usr/lib/<package>/examples
1268 with symlinks from /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/* or from
1269 /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples itself
1272 <b>9.1.1</b>: Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts /var/state to
1276 <b>9.7; mime-policy</b>: Added MIME sub-policy document
1279 <b>12.4</b>: VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1282 <b>11.6</b>: Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1283 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1287 <b>12.7</b>: If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1288 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1289 using lynx -dump -nolist.)
1292 <b>3.2.1</b>: Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1301 <div id="outline-container-2.30" class="outline-4">
1302 <h4 id="sec-2.30"><a name="v3.0.1.0" id="v3.0.1.0"></a>3.0.1.0 </h4>
1303 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.30">
1311 <b>10.2</b>: Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1312 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1313 files must go in the run-time library package
1321 <div id="outline-container-2.31" class="outline-4">
1322 <h4 id="sec-2.31"><a name="v3.0.0.0" id="v3.0.0.0"></a>3.0.0.0 </h4>
1323 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.31">
1331 <b>9.1</b>: Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1332 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1336 <b>4.1</b>: Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1337 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1340 <b>12.6</b>: The location of the GPL has changed to
1341 /usr/share/common-licenses. This may require changing the
1342 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1343 other major licenses
1346 <b>10.2</b>: Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1347 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1350 <b>10.8</b>: Use logrotate to rotate log files
1353 <b>now 11.8</b>: section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1357 <b>9.6; menu-policy</b>: There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1358 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1361 <b>11.3</b>: Programs which need to modify the files /var/run/utmp,
1362 /var/log/wtmp and /var/log/lastlog must be installed setgid utmp
1366 <b>Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date</b>
1375 <div id="outline-container-2.32" class="outline-4">
1376 <h4 id="sec-2.32"><a name="v2.5.0.0" id="v2.5.0.0"></a>2.5.0.0 </h4>
1377 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.32">
1387 Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1390 Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1391 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1392 Section 5 and Section 6.
1395 What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1396 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1397 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1398 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1399 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1405 Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1406 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML/ These
1407 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1408 /usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz
1411 Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1412 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1417 Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1418 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1421 Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1422 files. The correct location is /usr/doc/package/copyright
1425 Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1434 <div id="outline-container-2.33" class="outline-4">
1435 <h4 id="sec-2.33"><a name="v2.4.1.0" id="v2.4.1.0"></a>2.4.1.0 </h4>
1436 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.33">
1443 <li id="sec-2.33.1">Policy Manual: <br/>
1446 Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:
1449 symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1450 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1451 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1457 Updated section 4.9 Games:
1460 manpages for games should be installed in /usr/man/man6
1461 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1468 <li id="sec-2.33.2">Packaging Manual: <br/>
1471 Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1472 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1473 installs shared libraries
1474 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1484 <div id="outline-container-2.34" class="outline-4">
1485 <h4 id="sec-2.34"><a name="v2.4.0.0" id="v2.4.0.0"></a>2.4.0.0 </h4>
1486 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.34">
1494 Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:
1497 /bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1500 scripts including bashisms have to specify /bin/bash as
1504 scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1505 (e.g., in /tmp) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1512 Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:
1515 symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1516 file extension as the referenced file
1522 Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:
1525 /dev/tty* serial devices should be used instead of /dev/cu*
1531 Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in /etc/init.d:
1534 all /etc/init.d scripts have to provide the following options:
1535 start, stop, restart, force-reload
1538 the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1545 Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1548 cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1549 be installed into /etc/cron.d
1555 Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1558 removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1559 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1560 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1567 New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1570 details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1577 New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1580 no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1581 reasonable default configuration
1587 New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1590 /etc/news/organization and /etc/news/server should be supported
1591 by all news servers and clients
1597 Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1600 programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1601 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1604 if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1605 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1611 Updated section 4.9 Games:
1614 games for X Windows have to be installed in /usr/games, just as
1625 <div id="outline-container-2.35" class="outline-4">
1626 <h4 id="sec-2.35"><a name="v2.3.0" id="v2.3.0"></a>2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0 </h4>
1627 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.35">
1635 new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1636 /etc/services, /etc/protocols, /etc/rpc, and /etc/inetd.conf
1640 updated section about `Configuration files':
1641 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1645 MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile
1653 <div id="outline-container-2.36" class="outline-4">
1654 <h4 id="sec-2.36"><a name="v2.2.0.0" id="v2.2.0.0"></a>2.2.0.0 </h4>
1655 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.36">
1663 added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1666 where <arch> is one of the following:
1667 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1671 detailed rules for /usr/local
1691 don't install shared libraries as executable
1695 app-defaults files may not be conffiles
1703 <div id="outline-container-2.37" class="outline-4">
1704 <h4 id="sec-2.37"><a name="v2.1.3" id="v2.1.3"></a>2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0 </h4>
1705 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.37">
1713 two programs with different functionality must not have the
1722 "Standard for Console Messages"
1726 Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'
1730 Libraries should be stripped with "strip –strip-unneeded"
1738 <div id="outline-container-2.38" class="outline-4">
1739 <h4 id="sec-2.38"><a name="v2.1.2" id="v2.1.2"></a>2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0 </h4>
1740 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.38">
1748 Some changes WRT shared libraries
1756 <div id="outline-container-2.39" class="outline-4">
1757 <h4 id="sec-2.39"><a name="v2.1.1" id="v2.1.1"></a>2.1.1.0 </h4>
1758 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.39">
1766 No hard links in source packages
1770 Do not use dpkg-divert or update-alternatives without consultation
1774 Shared libraries must be installed stripped
1782 <div id="outline-container-2.40" class="outline-4">
1783 <h4 id="sec-2.40"><a name="v2.1.0.0" id="v2.1.0.0"></a>2.1.0.0 </h4>
1784 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.40">
1792 Upstream changelog must be installed too
1798 <div id="postamble">
1799 <p class="author"> Author: Bill Allombert, Josip Rodin, Julian Gilbey, Russ Allbery, and Manoj Srivastava
1800 <a href="mailto:srivasta@debian.org"><srivasta@debian.org></a>
1802 <p class="date"> Date: 2010-01-25 20:54:51 CET</p>
1803 <p class="creator">HTML generated by org-mode 6.33f in emacs 23</p>