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13 <title>Policy checklist for upgrading your packages</title>
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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>10.6</b> : Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
177 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
185 <div id="outline-container-2.2" class="outline-4">
186 <h4 id="sec-2.2"><a name="v3.8.3.0" id="v3.8.3.0"></a>3.8.3.0 </h4>
187 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.2">
195 <b>4.9</b> : Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
196 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
199 <b>5.6.8</b>: Source package Architecture fields may contain <i>all</i> in
200 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <i>all</i> and <i>any</i>
201 may be used in different versions of the field.
204 <b>5.6.14</b> : The Debian archive software does not support uploading
205 to multiple distributions with one \*.changes file.
208 <b>5.6.19</b> : The Binary field may span multiple lines.
211 <b>10.2</b> : Remove the permission for shared library packages to
212 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify ld.so.conf.
213 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
214 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
217 <b>11.8.7</b> : Clarify installation directories for X programs and
218 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
219 into /usr/include/X11 and /usr/lib/X11.
222 <b>12.1</b> : Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
223 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
226 <b>12.1</b> : Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
227 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
228 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
232 <b>12.2</b> : install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
233 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
234 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
235 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
236 support partial upgrades.
239 <b>perl</b> : The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
240 Depend and Build-Depend on perl >= 5.6.0-16 has been removed.
248 <div id="outline-container-2.3" class="outline-4">
249 <h4 id="sec-2.3"><a name="v3.8.2.0" id="v3.8.2.0"></a>3.8.2.0 </h4>
250 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.3">
258 <b>2.4</b>: The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
259 <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>
260 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
264 <b>3.9.1</b>: All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
265 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
266 back on other methods.
269 <b>5.6.1</b>: The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
273 <b>9.1</b>: Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
274 FHS permitting /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.
277 <b>9.1.3</b>: Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
281 <b>11.8.5</b>: Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
285 <b>12.5</b>: The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
286 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
294 <div id="outline-container-2.4" class="outline-4">
295 <h4 id="sec-2.4"><a name="v3.8.1.0" id="v3.8.1.0"></a>3.8.1.0 </h4>
296 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.4">
304 <b>3.8</b>: Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
305 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
306 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
309 <b>4.4</b>: Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
312 <b>4.4</b>: Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
316 <b>4.4.1</b>: Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
317 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
320 <b>4.9.1</b>: New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
321 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
324 <b>5.1</b>: All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
327 <b>5.2</b>: debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
328 preceding whitespace.
331 <b>9.3</b>: Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
332 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by /bin/sh regardless of
333 the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
334 behavior of the init system in Debian.
337 <b>9.3.2</b>: The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
338 start the daemon again if it's already running.
341 <b>9.3.2</b>: /var/run and /var/lock may be mounted as temporary filesystems, and
342 init scripts must therefore create any necessary subdirectories
346 <b>10.4</b>: /bin/sh scripts may assume that local can take multiple variable
347 arguments and supports assignment.
350 <b>11.6</b>: User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
351 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
359 <div id="outline-container-2.5" class="outline-4">
360 <h4 id="sec-2.5"><a name="v3.8.0.0" id="v3.8.0.0"></a>3.8.0.0 </h4>
361 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.5">
369 <b>2.4, 3.7</b>: The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
370 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
371 system is now defined by priority.
374 <b>4.9</b>: If dpkg-source -x doesn't provide the source that will be compiled,
375 a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
379 <b>4.9.1, 10.1</b>: Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
380 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
381 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
382 unknown flags be ignored.
385 <b>4.9.1</b>: Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
386 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
387 processes if the package supports it
390 <b>4.13</b>: Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
391 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
395 <b>4.14</b>: If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
396 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
397 debian/README.source file explaining how to generate the patched
398 source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
399 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
400 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
404 <b>5.6.3</b>: The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
407 <b>5.6.12</b>: An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
411 <b>5.6.23</b>: New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
414 <b>6.5, 6.6, 7</b>: The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
415 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
416 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
417 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
420 <b>8.1, 8.2</b>: Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
421 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
422 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
426 <b>9.5</b>: Files in /etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly} must be
427 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
431 <b>11.8.6</b>: Packages providing /etc/X11/Xresources files need not conflict with
432 xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2), which is long-obsolete.
435 <b>12.1</b>: Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
436 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
437 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
438 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
439 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
440 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
444 <b>12.5</b>: The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
445 referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
448 <b>12.5</b>: Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
449 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
453 <b>debconf</b>: Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
461 <div id="outline-container-2.6" class="outline-4">
462 <h4 id="sec-2.6"><a name="v3.7.3.0" id="v3.7.3.0"></a>3.7.3.0 </h4>
463 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.6">
471 <b>5.6.12</b>: Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
472 anything, even the end of a part.
475 <b>10.4</b>: Scripts may assume that /bin/sh supports local (at a basic level)
476 and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
480 <b>8.5</b>: The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
481 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
485 <b>menu policy</b>: Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
486 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
487 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
488 sections would be more appropriate.
491 <b>5.6.1</b>: The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
495 <b>5.6.17</b>: The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
496 critical, or emergency.
499 <b>8.6</b>: The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
500 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
501 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
505 <b>3.9.1</b>: Packages following the Debian Configuration management
506 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
507 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
510 <b>12.5</b>: GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
511 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
519 <div id="outline-container-2.7" class="outline-4">
520 <h4 id="sec-2.7"><a name="v3.7.2.2" id="v3.7.2.2"></a>3.7.2.2 </h4>
521 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.7">
529 <b>6.1</b>: Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
538 <div id="outline-container-2.8" class="outline-4">
539 <h4 id="sec-2.8"><a name="v3.7.2.0" id="v3.7.2.0"></a>3.7.2.0 </h4>
540 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.8">
548 <b>11.5</b>: Revert the cgi-lib change.
556 <div id="outline-container-2.9" class="outline-4">
557 <h4 id="sec-2.9"><a name="v3.7.1.0" id="v3.7.1.0"></a>3.7.1.0 </h4>
558 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.9">
566 <b>10.2</b>: It is now possible to create shared libraries without
567 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
568 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
569 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
570 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
571 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
575 <b>11.8.7</b>: Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
576 <i>usr/include/X11/and /usr/lib/X11</i>, but if they do so, they
577 must pre-depend on x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)
585 <div id="outline-container-2.10" class="outline-4">
586 <h4 id="sec-2.10"><a name="v3.7.0.0" id="v3.7.0.0"></a>3.7.0.0 </h4>
587 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.10">
595 <b>11.5</b>: Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
596 them in <i>usr/lib/cgi-lib</i> directories. This location change
597 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
600 <b>11.5</b>: Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
601 cgi-lib to /usr/lib/cgi-lib.
604 <b>9.1.1</b>: The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
605 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
606 though new top level directories /media, /srv, etc may be of
610 <b>5.1, 5.6.3</b>: All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
611 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
612 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
613 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
614 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
615 as well, to prepare for future changes.
618 <b>10.4</b>: When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
619 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
620 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
624 <b>9.3.3.2</b>: packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
625 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
629 <b>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</b>: We no longer use /usr/X11R6, since we have
630 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
631 live in <i>usr/share/fonts/X11</i> now, and /usr/X11R6 is gone.
640 <div id="outline-container-2.11" class="outline-4">
641 <h4 id="sec-2.11"><a name="v3.6.2.0" id="v3.6.2.0"></a>3.6.2.0 </h4>
642 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.11">
650 Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
653 <b>8.1</b>: Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
654 <i>usr/lib</i> or /usr/share, and preferably the shared lib is named
655 the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
658 <b>11.5</b>: It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
659 allow packages to share image files with the web server
667 <div id="outline-container-2.12" class="outline-4">
668 <h4 id="sec-2.12"><a name="v3.6.1.0" id="v3.6.1.0"></a>3.6.1.0 </h4>
669 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.12">
677 <b>3.10.1</b>: Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
678 user prompts are now deprecated.
686 <div id="outline-container-2.13" class="outline-4">
687 <h4 id="sec-2.13"><a name="v3.6.0.0" id="v3.6.0.0"></a>3.6.0 </h4>
688 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.13">
696 Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
697 the minor version number:
700 Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
701 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
702 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
703 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
704 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
705 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
706 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
707 deb-building tool-chain.
710 Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
711 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
712 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
713 properly, that is, some sect1s became sects etc.
716 Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
717 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
718 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
719 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
720 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
721 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
722 sections about changelog files.
725 <b>menu policy</b>: Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
729 <b>C.2.2</b>: Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
732 <b>10.2</b>: shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
733 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
736 <b>7.6</b>: build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
745 <div id="outline-container-2.14" class="outline-4">
746 <h4 id="sec-2.14"><a name="v3.5.10.0" id="v3.5.10.0"></a>3.5.10 </h4>
747 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.14">
755 <b>11.8.3</b>: packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
756 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
760 <b>11.8.4</b>: Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
761 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
769 <div id="outline-container-2.15" class="outline-4">
770 <h4 id="sec-2.15"><a name="v3.5.9.0" id="v3.5.9.0"></a>3.5.9.0 </h4>
771 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.15">
779 <b>3.4.2</b>: The section describing the Description: package field once again has
780 full details of the long description format.
783 <b>4.2</b>: Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
784 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
785 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
788 <b>9.3.2</b>: When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
789 the init script should start the service.
792 <b>12.6</b>: If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
793 example files can be installed into <code>/usr/share/doc/package</code> (rather
794 than <code>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</code>).
802 <div id="outline-container-2.16" class="outline-4">
803 <h4 id="sec-2.16"><a name="v3.5.8.0" id="v3.5.8.0"></a>3.5.8.0 </h4>
804 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.16">
812 <b>12.7</b>: It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
813 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
814 documented in the changelog file.
817 <b>7.6</b>: <code>Build-Depends</code>, <code>Build-Conflicts</code>, <code>Build-Depends-Indep</code>,
818 and <code>Build-Conflicts-Indep</code> must also be satisfied when the clean
822 <b>menu policy</b>: A new Apps/Science menu section is available
825 <b>debconf policy</b>: debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
828 <b>12.1</b>: It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
829 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
838 <div id="outline-container-2.17" class="outline-4">
839 <h4 id="sec-2.17"><a name="v3.5.7.0" id="v3.5.7.0"></a>3.5.7.0 </h4>
840 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.17">
848 Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
849 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
852 <b>2.2.4</b>: cryptographic software may now be included in the main
856 <b>3.9</b>: task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
857 special Tasks: field in the control file.
860 <b>11.8.4</b>: window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
861 they add themselves as an alternative for
862 /usr/bin/x-window-manager
865 <b>10.1</b>: The default compilation options have now changed, one should
866 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
867 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
868 environment variable.
871 <b>7.6, 4.8</b>: Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
872 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
873 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
874 review the new rules.
877 <b>8</b>: Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
878 scripts. Long rationale.
881 <b>Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build rules, please see below</b>
889 <div id="outline-container-2.18" class="outline-4">
890 <h4 id="sec-2.18"><a name="v3.5.6.0" id="v3.5.6.0"></a>3.5.6.0 </h4>
891 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.18">
899 <b>2.5</b>: Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
903 <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
906 <b>12.3</b>: Putting documentation in /usr/doc versus /usr/share/doc is now
907 a ``serious'' policy violation.
910 <b>11.5</b>: For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
911 /usr/share/doc hierarchy. If one can't provide access controls for
912 the <a href="http://localhost/doc/">http://localhost/doc/</a> directory, then it is preferred that one
913 ask permission to expose that information during the install.
916 <b>7</b>: There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
917 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
925 <div id="outline-container-2.19" class="outline-4">
926 <h4 id="sec-2.19"><a name="v3.5.5.0" id="v3.5.5.0"></a>3.5.5.0 </h4>
927 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.19">
935 <b>12.1</b>: Manpages should not rely on header information to have
936 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
937 symlinks or .so pages to do this
940 *Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
941 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
942 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story*
945 Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
946 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
949 Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
950 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
953 <b>10.2</b>: Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
957 X Windows related things:
960 <b>11.8.1</b>: Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
964 <b>11.8.3</b>: Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved
967 <b>11.8.5</b>: X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
968 fonts for the X Window System
971 <b>11.8.6</b>: Packages must not ship <i>usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</i>
974 <b>11.8.7</b>: X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
975 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
978 <b>11.8.8</b>: OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
979 OSF/Motif-linked ones
989 <div id="outline-container-2.20" class="outline-4">
990 <h4 id="sec-2.20"><a name="v3.5.4.0" id="v3.5.4.0"></a>3.5.4.0 </h4>
991 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.20">
999 <b>11.6</b>: The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1000 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1001 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1005 <b>11.9; perl-policy</b>: The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1006 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1016 <div id="outline-container-2.21" class="outline-4">
1017 <h4 id="sec-2.21"><a name="v3.5.3.0" id="v3.5.3.0"></a>3.5.3.0 </h4>
1018 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.21">
1026 <b>7.1</b>: Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1027 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1030 <b>10.7.3</b>: Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1031 in /usr/share/&lt;package&gt; or /usr/lib/&lt;package&gt;, with
1032 symbolic links from /usr/share/doc/&lt;package&gt;/examples as
1041 <div id="outline-container-2.22" class="outline-4">
1042 <h4 id="sec-2.22"><a name="v3.5.2.0" id="v3.5.2.0"></a>3.5.2.0 </h4>
1043 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.22">
1051 <b>11.8.6</b>: X app-defaults directory has moved from
1052 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults to /etc/X11/app-defaults
1060 <div id="outline-container-2.23" class="outline-4">
1061 <h4 id="sec-2.23"><a name="v3.5.1.0" id="v3.5.1.0"></a>3.5.1.0 </h4>
1062 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.23">
1070 <b>8.1</b>: dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1071 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1079 <div id="outline-container-2.24" class="outline-4">
1080 <h4 id="sec-2.24"><a name="v3.5.0.0" id="v3.5.0.0"></a>3.5.0.0 </h4>
1081 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.24">
1089 <b>11.8.5</b>: Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1090 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1098 <div id="outline-container-2.25" class="outline-4">
1099 <h4 id="sec-2.25"><a name="v3.2.1.1" id="v3.2.1.1"></a>3.2.1.1 </h4>
1100 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.25">
1108 Daemon startup scripts in <i>etc/init.d</i> should not contain
1109 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1110 <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
1111 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1112 <i>usr/share/&lt;package&gt;</i>, and symbolic links created as required
1113 in <i>usr/share/doc/&lt;package&gt;</i>
1116 Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1125 <div id="outline-container-2.26" class="outline-4">
1126 <h4 id="sec-2.26"><a name="v3.2.1.0" id="v3.2.1.0"></a>3.2.1.0 </h4>
1127 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.26">
1135 <b>11.8.1</b>: A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1136 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1137 and the other without
1145 <div id="outline-container-2.27" class="outline-4">
1146 <h4 id="sec-2.27"><a name="v3.2.0.0" id="v3.2.0.0"></a>3.2.0.0 </h4>
1147 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.27">
1155 <b>10.1</b>: By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1156 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1157 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1160 <b>12.8</b>: Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1161 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1162 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1165 Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1166 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1169 Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1173 <b>11.8.2</b>: X server (virtual package xserver)
1176 <b>11.8.3</b>: X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator)
1179 <b>11.8.4</b>: X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1180 /usr/bin/x-window-manager alternative, with priority
1181 calculation guidelines)
1184 <b>12.8.5</b>: X fonts (this section has been written from scratch)
1187 <b>11.8.6</b>: X application defaults
1192 <b>11.8.7</b>: Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1193 has been clarified; see
1196 <b>11.7.3</b>: No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles
1199 <b>8</b>: Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1200 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1209 <div id="outline-container-2.28" class="outline-4">
1210 <h4 id="sec-2.28"><a name="v3.1.1.0" id="v3.1.1.0"></a>3.1.1.0 </h4>
1211 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.28">
1219 <b>7.1</b>: Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1220 etc. Should not affect many packages
1228 <div id="outline-container-2.29" class="outline-4">
1229 <h4 id="sec-2.29"><a name="v3.1.0.0" id="v3.1.0.0"></a>3.1.0.0 </h4>
1230 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.29">
1238 /usr/doc/&lt;package&gt; has to be a symlink pointing to
1239 /usr/share/doc/&lt;package&gt;, to be maintained by postinst
1240 and prerm scripts. Details are in <b>defunct</b>
1243 <b>7.1, 7.6</b>: Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.)
1246 <b>9.3.4</b>: /etc/rc.boot has been deprecated in favour of /etc/rcS.d.
1247 (Packages should not be touching this directory, but should use
1248 update-rc.d instead)
1251 <b>9.3.3</b>: update-rc.d is now the <b>only</b> allowable way of accessing the
1252 /etc/rc?.d/*SK]??* links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1253 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1254 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1258 <b>12.7</b>: Architecture-specific examples go in /usr/lib/&lt;package&gt;/examples
1259 with symlinks from /usr/share/doc/&lt;package&gt;/examples/* or from
1260 /usr/share/doc/&lt;package&gt;/examples itself
1263 <b>9.1.1</b>: Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts /var/state to
1267 <b>9.7; mime-policy</b>: Added MIME sub-policy document
1270 <b>12.4</b>: VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1273 <b>11.6</b>: Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1274 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1278 <b>12.7</b>: If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1279 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1280 using lynx -dump -nolist.)
1283 <b>3.2.1</b>: Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1292 <div id="outline-container-2.30" class="outline-4">
1293 <h4 id="sec-2.30"><a name="v3.0.1.0" id="v3.0.1.0"></a>3.0.1.0 </h4>
1294 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.30">
1302 <b>10.2</b>: Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1303 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1304 files must go in the run-time library package
1312 <div id="outline-container-2.31" class="outline-4">
1313 <h4 id="sec-2.31"><a name="v3.0.0.0" id="v3.0.0.0"></a>3.0.0.0 </h4>
1314 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.31">
1322 <b>9.1</b>: Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1323 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1327 <b>4.1</b>: Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1328 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1331 <b>12.6</b>: The location of the GPL has changed to
1332 /usr/share/common-licenses. This may require changing the
1333 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1334 other major licenses
1337 <b>10.2</b>: Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1338 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1341 <b>10.8</b>: Use logrotate to rotate log files
1344 <b>now 11.8</b>: section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1348 <b>9.6; menu-policy</b>: There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1349 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1352 <b>11.3</b>: Programs which need to modify the files /var/run/utmp,
1353 /var/log/wtmp and /var/log/lastlog must be installed setgid utmp
1357 <b>Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date</b>
1366 <div id="outline-container-2.32" class="outline-4">
1367 <h4 id="sec-2.32"><a name="v2.5.0.0" id="v2.5.0.0"></a>2.5.0.0 </h4>
1368 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.32">
1378 Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1381 Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1382 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1383 Section 5 and Section 6.
1386 What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1387 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1388 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1389 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1390 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1396 Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1397 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML/ These
1398 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1399 /usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz
1402 Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1403 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1408 Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1409 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1412 Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1413 files. The correct location is /usr/doc/package/copyright
1416 Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1425 <div id="outline-container-2.33" class="outline-4">
1426 <h4 id="sec-2.33"><a name="v2.4.1.0" id="v2.4.1.0"></a>2.4.1.0 </h4>
1427 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.33">
1434 <li id="sec-2.33.1">Policy Manual: <br/>
1437 Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:
1440 symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1441 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1442 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1448 Updated section 4.9 Games:
1451 manpages for games should be installed in /usr/man/man6
1452 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1459 <li id="sec-2.33.2">Packaging Manual: <br/>
1462 Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1463 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1464 installs shared libraries
1465 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1475 <div id="outline-container-2.34" class="outline-4">
1476 <h4 id="sec-2.34"><a name="v2.4.0.0" id="v2.4.0.0"></a>2.4.0.0 </h4>
1477 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.34">
1485 Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:
1488 /bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1491 scripts including bashisms have to specify /bin/bash as
1495 scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1496 (e.g., in /tmp) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1503 Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:
1506 symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1507 file extension as the referenced file
1513 Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:
1516 /dev/tty* serial devices should be used instead of /dev/cu*
1522 Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in /etc/init.d:
1525 all /etc/init.d scripts have to provide the following options:
1526 start, stop, restart, force-reload
1529 the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1536 Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1539 cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1540 be installed into /etc/cron.d
1546 Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1549 removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1550 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1551 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1558 New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1561 details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1568 New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1571 no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1572 reasonable default configuration
1578 New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1581 /etc/news/organization and /etc/news/server should be supported
1582 by all news servers and clients
1588 Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1591 programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1592 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1595 if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1596 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1602 Updated section 4.9 Games:
1605 games for X Windows have to be installed in /usr/games, just as
1616 <div id="outline-container-2.35" class="outline-4">
1617 <h4 id="sec-2.35"><a name="v2.3.0" id="v2.3.0"></a>2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0 </h4>
1618 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.35">
1626 new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1627 /etc/services, /etc/protocols, /etc/rpc, and /etc/inetd.conf
1631 updated section about `Configuration files':
1632 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1636 MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile
1644 <div id="outline-container-2.36" class="outline-4">
1645 <h4 id="sec-2.36"><a name="v2.2.0.0" id="v2.2.0.0"></a>2.2.0.0 </h4>
1646 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.36">
1654 added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1657 where <arch> is one of the following:
1658 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1662 detailed rules for /usr/local
1682 don't install shared libraries as executable
1686 app-defaults files may not be conffiles
1694 <div id="outline-container-2.37" class="outline-4">
1695 <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>
1696 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.37">
1704 two programs with different functionality must not have the
1713 "Standard for Console Messages"
1717 Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'
1721 Libraries should be stripped with "strip –strip-unneeded"
1729 <div id="outline-container-2.38" class="outline-4">
1730 <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>
1731 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.38">
1739 Some changes WRT shared libraries
1747 <div id="outline-container-2.39" class="outline-4">
1748 <h4 id="sec-2.39"><a name="v2.1.1" id="v2.1.1"></a>2.1.1.0 </h4>
1749 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.39">
1757 No hard links in source packages
1761 Do not use dpkg-divert or update-alternatives without consultation
1765 Shared libraries must be installed stripped
1773 <div id="outline-container-2.40" class="outline-4">
1774 <h4 id="sec-2.40"><a name="v2.1.0.0" id="v2.1.0.0"></a>2.1.0.0 </h4>
1775 <div class="outline-text-4" id="text-2.40">
1783 Upstream changelog must be installed too
1789 <div id="postamble">
1790 <p class="author"> Author: Bill Allombert, Josip Rodin, Julian Gilbey, Russ Allbery, and Manoj Srivastava
1791 <a href="mailto:srivasta@debian.org"><srivasta@debian.org></a>
1793 <p class="date"> Date: 2009-11-12 17:10:20 PST</p>
1794 <p class="creator">HTML generated by org-mode 6.32b in emacs 23</p>