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8 <title>Policy checklist for upgrading your packages</title>
12 <h1>Policy checklist for upgrading your packages</h1>
14 <h2>About the checklist</h2>
17 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
18 of old packages. Note that this list is not `official'; it simply
19 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
20 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
21 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
22 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
23 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
24 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
25 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
26 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
27 used below refer to the current version.
31 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
32 package complies with currently (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
33 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
34 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
35 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
36 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
37 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
38 picking your way through this list.
41 <h2>The checklist</h2>
46 * Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and recommend them
47 over GNU-style variables for that information. [4.9]
48 * Source package Architecture fields may contain "all" in combination
49 with other architectures. Clarify when "all" and "any" may be used
50 in different versions of the field. [5.6.8]
51 * The Debian archive software does not support uploading to multiple
52 distributions with one *.changes file. [5.6.14]
53 * The Binary field may span multiple lines. [5.6.19]
54 * Remove the permission for shared library packages to install
55 libraries in a non-standard location and modify ld.so.conf.
56 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
57 or packages using them should be built with RPATH. [10.2]
58 * Clarify installation directories for X programs and remove the
59 requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing into
60 /usr/include/X11 and /usr/lib/X11. [11.8.7]
61 * Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual page be
62 representable in the legacy encoding for that language. [12.1]
63 * Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with the
64 original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either with
65 warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
66 original language. [12.1]
67 * install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no longer need
68 to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents should now have
69 directory sections and entries in the document. Packages
70 containing info documents should add a dependency to support
71 partial upgrades. [12.2]
72 * The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned Depend and
73 Build-Depend on perl >= 5.6.0-16 has been removed. [perl]
77 * The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
78 http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html
79 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
81 * All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
82 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
83 back on other methods. [3.9.1]
84 * The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
86 * Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
87 FHS permitting /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. [9.1]
88 * Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
90 * Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
91 starting in lenny. [11.8.5]
92 * The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
93 common-licenses and should be referenced from there. [12.5]
97 * Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
98 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
99 in essential forever unless significant work is done. [3.8]
100 * Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8. [4.4]
101 * Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
103 * Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
104 changelog format for the Debian Archive. [4.4.1]
105 * New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
106 test suite provided by the package should not be run. [4.9.1]
107 * All control files must be encoded in UTF-8. [5.1]
108 * debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
109 preceding whitespace. [5.2]
110 * Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
111 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by /bin/sh regardless of
112 the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
113 behavior of the init system in Debian. [9.3]
114 * The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
115 start the daemon again if it's already running. [9.3.2]
116 * /var/run and /var/lock may be mounted as temporary filesystems, and
117 init scripts must therefore create any necessary subdirectories
119 * /bin/sh scripts may assume that local can take multiple variable
120 arguments and supports assignment. [10.4]
121 * User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
122 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail. [11.6]
126 * The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
127 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
128 system is now defined by priority. [2.4, 3.7]
129 * If dpkg-source -x doesn't provide the source that will be compiled,
130 a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
131 else is necessary. [4.9]
132 * Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
133 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
134 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
135 unknown flags be ignored. [4.9.1, 10.1]
136 * Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
137 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
138 processes if the package supports it [4.9.1]
139 * Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
140 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
141 used that way. [4.13]
142 * If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
143 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
144 debian/README.source file explaining how to generate the patched
145 source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
146 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
147 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
149 * The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped. [5.6.3]
150 * An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
151 a version number. [5.6.12]
152 * New Homepage field for upstream web sites. [5.6.23]
153 * The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
154 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
155 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
156 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it. [6.5, 6.6, 7]
157 * Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
158 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
159 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
160 common in Debian. [8.1, 8.2]
161 * Files in /etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly} must be
162 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
164 * Packages providing /etc/X11/Xresources files need not conflict with
165 xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2), which is long-obsolete. [11.8.6]
166 * Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
167 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
168 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
169 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
170 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
171 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
173 * The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
174 referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright. [12.5]
175 * Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
176 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
178 * Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names. [debconf]
182 * Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
183 anything, even the end of a part. [5.6.12]
184 * Scripts may assume that /bin/sh supports local (at a basic level)
185 and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
186 logical operators. [10.4]
187 * The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
188 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
190 * Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
191 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
192 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
193 sections would be more appropriate. [menu policy]
194 * The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
195 in parentheses. [5.6.1]
196 * The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
197 critical, or emergency. [5.6.17]
198 * The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
199 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
200 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
202 * Packages following the Debian Configuration management
203 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
204 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf. [3.9.1]
205 * GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
206 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright. [12.5]
210 * Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
211 should to a must) [6.1]
215 * Revert the cgi-lib change. [11.5]
219 * It is now possible to create shared libraries without
220 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
221 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
222 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
223 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
224 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
225 of the process. [10.2]
226 * Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
227 /usr/include/X11/and /usr/lib/X11/, but if they do so, they
228 must pre-depend on x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0) [11.8.7]
232 * Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
233 them in /usr/lib/cgi-lib/ directories. This location change
234 perhaps should be documented in NEWS [11.5]
235 * Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
236 cgi-lib to /usr/lib/cgi-lib. [11.5]
237 * The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
238 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
239 though new top level directories /media, /srv, etc may be of
241 * All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
242 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
243 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
244 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
245 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
246 as well, to prepare for future changes. [ 5.1, 5.6.3 ]
247 * When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
248 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
249 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
251 * packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
252 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
253 constraints. [ 9.3.3.2 ]
254 * We no longer use /usr/X11R6, since we have migrated away to
255 using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts live in
256 /usr/share/fonts/X11/ now, and /usr/X11R6 is gone.
257 [ 11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc]
261 * Recommend doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
262 * Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
263 /usr/lib/ or /usr/share, and preferably the shared lib is named
264 the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions). [8.1]
265 * It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
266 allow packages to share image files with the web server [11.5]
270 + Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
271 user prompts are now deprecated. [3.10.1]
275 - Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
276 the minor version number:
277 + Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
278 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
279 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
280 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
281 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
282 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
283 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
284 deb-building tool-chain.
285 + Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
286 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
287 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
288 properly, that is, some sect1s became sects etc.
289 + Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
290 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
291 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
292 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
293 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
294 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
295 sections about changelog files.
296 - Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu sub-policy
298 - Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded. [C.2.2]
299 - shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
300 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are. [10.2]
301 - build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
306 - packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
307 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
308 like xterm does. [11.8.3]
309 - Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
310 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives [11.8.4]
314 - The section describing the Description: package field once again has
315 full details of the long description format. [3.4.2]
316 - Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
317 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
318 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional). [4.2]
319 - When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
320 the init script should start the service. [9.3.2]
321 - If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
322 example files can be installed into <tt>/usr/share/doc/package</tt>
323 (rather than <tt>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</tt>). [12.6]
327 - It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
328 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
329 documented in the changelog file. [12.7]
330 - <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>,
331 <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>, and
332 <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> must also be satisfied when the
333 clean target is called. [7.6]
334 - A new Apps/Science menu section is available [menu policy]
335 - debconf specification cleared up, various changes. [debconf
337 - It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
338 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
339 are still a bug. [12.1]
343 - Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
344 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough. [10.6]
345 - cryptographic software may now be included in the main
347 - task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
348 special Tasks: field in the control file. [3.9]
349 - window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
350 they add themselves as an alternative for
351 /usr/bin/x-window-manager [11.8.4]
352 - The default compilation options have now changed, one should
353 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
354 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
355 environment variable. [10.1]
356 - Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
357 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
358 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
359 review the new rules. [7.6, 4.8]
360 - Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
361 scripts. Long rationale. [8]
362 - [Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding
363 build rules, please see below]
367 - Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
368 standard packages [2.5]
369 - Programs that access docs need to do so via /usr/share/doc, and
370 not via /usr/doc/ as was the policy previously [11.5]
371 - Putting documentation in /usr/doc versus /usr/share/doc is now
372 a ``serious'' policy violation. [12.3]
373 - For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
374 /usr/share/doc hierarchy. If one can't provide access controls for
375 the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred that one
376 ask permission to expose that information during the install. [11.5]
377 - There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
378 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic. [7]
382 - Manpages should not rely on header information to have
383 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
384 symlinks or .so pages to do this [12.1]
385 - [Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
386 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
387 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story]
388 - Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
389 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
390 - Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
391 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
392 - Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
394 - X Windows related things:
395 * Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
397 * Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved [11.8.3]
398 * X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
399 fonts for the X Window System [11.8.5]
400 * Packages must not ship /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/ [11.8.6]
401 * X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
402 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this [11.8.7]
403 * OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
404 OSF/Motif-linked ones [11.8.8]
408 - The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
409 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
410 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
412 - The perl policy is now part of Debian policy proper. Perl
413 programs and modules should follow the current Perl policy
418 - Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
419 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages [7.1]
420 - Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
421 in /usr/share/<package> or /usr/lib/<package>, with
422 symbolic links from /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples as
427 - X app-defaults directory has moved from
428 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults to /etc/X11/app-defaults [11.8.6]
432 - dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
433 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables [8.1]
437 - Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
438 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2) [11.8.5]
442 - Daemon startup scripts in /etc/init.d/ should not contain
443 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
444 /etc/default/; see [9.3.2] for details
445 - Files in /usr/share/doc must not be referenced by any
446 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
447 /usr/share/<package>/, and symbolic links created as required
448 in /usr/share/doc/<package>/ [12.3]
449 - Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
454 - A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
455 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
456 and the other without [11.8.1]
460 - By default executables should not be built with the debugging
461 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
462 package with debugging information optionally. Details in [10.1]
463 - Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
464 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
465 should always be generated for the upstream changes [12.8]
466 - Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
467 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
468 - Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
470 - X server (virtual package xserver) [11.8.2]
471 - X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) [11.8.3]
472 - X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
473 /usr/bin/x-window-manager alternative, with priority
474 calculation guidelines) [11.8.4]
475 - X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) [12.8.5]
476 - X application defaults [11.8.6]
477 - Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
478 has been clarified; see [11.8.7]
479 - No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles [11.7.3]
480 - Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
481 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
486 - Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
487 etc. Should not affect many packages [7.1]
491 - /usr/doc/<package> has to be a symlink pointing to
492 /usr/share/doc/<package>, to be maintained by postinst
493 and prerm scripts. Details are in [defunct]
494 - Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) [7.1, 7.6]
495 - /etc/rc.boot has been deprecated in favour of /etc/rcS.d.
496 (Packages should not be touching this directory, but should use
497 update-rc.d instead) [9.3.4]
498 - update-rc.d is now the *only* allowable way of accessing the
499 /etc/rc?.d/[SK]??* links. Any scripts which manipulate them
500 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
501 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
502 incompatible way.) [9.3.3]
503 - Architecture-specific examples go in /usr/lib/<package>/examples
504 with symlinks from /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/* or from
505 /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples itself [12.7]
506 - Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts /var/state to
508 - Added MIME sub-policy document [9.7; mime-policy]
509 - VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR [12.4]
510 - Modified liblockfile description, which affects
511 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
513 - If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
514 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
515 using lynx -dump -nolist.) [12.7]
516 - Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
521 - Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for the
522 packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the
523 .la files must go in the run-time library package [10.2]
527 - Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
528 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
530 - Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
531 control files, though all four digits are still permitted. [4.1]
532 - The location of the GPL has changed to
533 /usr/share/common-licenses. This may require changing the
534 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
535 other major licenses [12.6]
536 - Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
537 include the .la files in the -dev packages [10.2]
538 - Use logrotate to rotate log files [10.8]
539 - section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
541 - There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
542 that carries the full weight of Debian policy [9.6; menu-policy]
543 - Programs which need to modify the files /var/run/utmp,
544 /var/log/wtmp and /var/log/lastlog must be installed setgid utmp [11.3]
547 ** Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date **
553 - Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
554 + Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
555 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
556 Section 5 and Section 6.
557 + What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
558 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
559 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
560 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
561 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
563 - Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
564 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML/ These
565 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
566 /usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz
567 + Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
568 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
569 - Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
570 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
571 - Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
572 files. The correct location is /usr/doc/package/copyright
573 - Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
579 - Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:
580 + symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
581 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
582 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
584 - Updated section 4.9 Games:
585 + manpages for games should be installed in /usr/man/man6
586 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
589 - Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
590 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
591 installs shared libraries
592 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
596 - Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:
597 + /bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
598 + scripts including bashisms have to specify /bin/bash as
600 + scripts which create files in world-writable directories
601 (e.g., in /tmp) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
604 - Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:
605 + symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
606 file extension as the referenced file
608 - Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:
609 + /dev/tty* serial devices should be used instead of /dev/cu*
611 - Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts [in /etc/init.d]:
612 + all /etc/init.d scripts have to provide the following options:
613 start, stop, restart, force-reload
614 + the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
617 - Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
618 + cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
619 be installed into /etc/cron.d
621 - Updated section 3.7 Menus:
622 + removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
623 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
624 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
627 - New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
628 + details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
631 - New section 3.9 Environment variables:
632 + no program must depend on environment variables to get a
633 reasonable default configuration
635 - New section 4.6 News system configuration:
636 + /etc/news/organization and /etc/news/server should be supported
637 by all news servers and clients
639 - Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
640 + programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
641 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
642 + if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
643 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
645 - Updated section 4.9 Games:
646 + games for X Windows have to be installed in /usr/games, just as
649 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0 Sep 1997
651 * new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
652 /etc/services, /etc/protocols, /etc/rpc, and /etc/inetd.conf
654 * updated section about `Configuration files':
655 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
657 * MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile
661 * added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
664 where <arch> is one of the following:
665 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
667 * detailed rules for /usr/local
671 * editor/pager policy
677 * don't install shared libraries as executable
679 * app-defaults files may not be conffiles
681 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0 Mar 1997
683 * two programs with different functionality must not have the
688 * "Standard for Console Messages"
690 * Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'
692 * Libraries should be stripped with "strip --strip-unneeded"
694 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0 Nov 1996
696 * Some changes WRT shared libraries
700 * No hard links in source packages
702 * Do not use dpkg-divert or update-alternatives without consultation
704 * Shared libraries must be installed stripped
708 * Upstream changelog must be installed too
716 <!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file
720 sgml-live-element-indicator: t