1 -*- mode: org; fill-column: 78 -*-
3 #+STARTUP: lognotedone lognotestate
5 #+TITLE: Policy checklist for upgrading your packages
6 #+AUTHOR: Bill Allombert, Josip Rodin, Julian Gilbey, Russ Allbery, and Manoj Srivastava
7 #+EMAIL: srivasta@debian.org
8 #+OPTIONS: H:3 num:nil toc:nil \n:nil @:t ::t |:t ^:t -:t f:t *:t TeX:t LaTeX:nil skip:t d:nil tags:not-in-toc
9 #+LINK_HOME: http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Policy
10 #+LINK_UP: http://www.debian.org/
12 \usepackage{landscape}
14 \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0in} % default=0in
15 \setlength{\textwidth}{9in} % default=9in
17 \setlength{\columnsep}{0.5in} % default=10pt
18 \setlength{\columnseprule}{1pt} % default=0pt (no line)
20 \setlength{\textheight}{5.85in} % default=5.15in
21 \setlength{\topmargin}{-0.15in} % default=0.20in
22 \setlength{\headsep}{0.25in} % default=0.35in
24 \setlength{\parskip}{1.2ex}
25 \setlength{\parindent}{0mm}
28 \setlength{\headheight}{0pt}
29 \setlength{\headsep}{0pt}
30 \setlength{\footskip}{5pt}
31 \setlength{\textheight}{9.0in}
32 \setlength{\textwidth}{6.5in}
34 ** About the checklist
36 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
37 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
38 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
39 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
40 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
41 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
42 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
43 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
44 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
45 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
46 used below refer to the current version.
48 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
49 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
50 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
51 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
52 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
53 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
54 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
55 picking your way through this list.
66 + *4.9* : Add DEB\_*\_ARCH\_CPU and DEB\_*\_ARCH\_OS variables and
67 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
68 + *5.6.8*: Source package Architecture fields may contain /all/ in
69 combination with other architectures. Clarify when /all/ and /any/
70 may be used in different versions of the field.
71 + *5.6.14* : The Debian archive software does not support uploading
72 to multiple distributions with one \*.changes file.
73 + *5.6.19* : The Binary field may span multiple lines.
74 + *10.2* : Remove the permission for shared library packages to
75 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify ld.so.conf.
76 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
77 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
78 + *11.8.7* : Clarify installation directories for X programs and
79 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
80 into /usr/include/X11 and /usr/lib/X11.
81 + *12.1* : Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
82 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
83 + *12.1* : Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
84 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
85 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
87 + *12.2* : install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
88 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
89 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
90 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
91 support partial upgrades.
92 + *perl* : The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
93 Depend and Build-Depend on perl >= 5.6.0-16 has been removed.
103 + *2.4*: The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
104 [[http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html]]
105 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
107 + *3.9.1*: All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
108 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
109 back on other methods.
110 + *5.6.1*: The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
112 + *9.1*: Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
113 FHS permitting /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.
114 + *9.1.3*: Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
116 + *11.8.5*: Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
118 + *12.5*: The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
119 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
129 + *3.8*: Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
130 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
131 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
132 + *4.4*: Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
133 + *4.4*: Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
135 + *4.4.1*: Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
136 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
137 + *4.9.1*: New nocheck option for DEB\_BUILD\_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
138 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
139 + *5.1*: All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
140 + *5.2*: debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
141 preceding whitespace.
142 + *9.3*: Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
143 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by /bin/sh regardless of
144 the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
145 behavior of the init system in Debian.
146 + *9.3.2*: The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
147 start the daemon again if it's already running.
148 + *9.3.2*: /var/run and /var/lock may be mounted as temporary filesystems, and
149 init scripts must therefore create any necessary subdirectories
151 + *10.4*: /bin/sh scripts may assume that local can take multiple variable
152 arguments and supports assignment.
153 + *11.6*: User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
154 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
164 + *2.4, 3.7*: The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
165 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
166 system is now defined by priority.
167 + *4.9*: If dpkg-source -x doesn't provide the source that will be compiled,
168 a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
170 + *4.9.1, 10.1*: Standardized the format of DEB\_BUILD\_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
171 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
172 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
173 unknown flags be ignored.
174 + *4.9.1*: Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB\_BUILD\_OPTIONS tags,
175 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
176 processes if the package supports it
177 + *4.13*: Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
178 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
180 + *4.14*: If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
181 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
182 debian/README.source file explaining how to generate the patched
183 source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
184 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
185 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
187 + *5.6.3*: The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
188 + *5.6.12*: An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
190 + *5.6.23*: New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
191 + *6.5, 6.6, 7*: The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
192 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
193 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
194 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
195 + *8.1, 8.2*: Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
196 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
197 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
199 + *9.5*: Files in /etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly} must be
200 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
202 + *11.8.6*: Packages providing /etc/X11/Xresources files need not conflict with
203 xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2), which is long-obsolete.
204 + *12.1*: Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
205 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
206 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
207 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
208 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
209 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
211 + *12.5*: The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
212 referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
213 + *12.5*: Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
214 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
216 + *debconf*: Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
226 + *5.6.12*: Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
227 anything, even the end of a part.
228 + *10.4*: Scripts may assume that /bin/sh supports local (at a basic level)
229 and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
231 + *8.5*: The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
232 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
234 + *menu policy*: Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
235 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
236 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
237 sections would be more appropriate.
238 + *5.6.1*: The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
240 + *5.6.17*: The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
241 critical, or emergency.
242 + *8.6*: The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
243 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
244 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
246 + *3.9.1*: Packages following the Debian Configuration management
247 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
248 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
249 + *12.5*: GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
250 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
260 + *6.1*: Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
271 + *11.5*: Revert the cgi-lib change.
281 + *10.2*: It is now possible to create shared libraries without
282 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
283 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
284 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
285 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
286 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
288 + *11.8.7*: Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
289 /usr/include/X11/and /usr/lib/X11/, but if they do so, they
290 must pre-depend on x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)
294 :CUSTOM_ID: v3.7.0.0.
300 + *11.5*: Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
301 them in /usr/lib/cgi-lib/ directories. This location change
302 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
303 + *11.5*: Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
304 cgi-lib to /usr/lib/cgi-lib.
305 + *9.1.1*: The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
306 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
307 though new top level directories /media, /srv, etc may be of
309 + *5.1, 5.6.3*: All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
310 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
311 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
312 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
313 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
314 as well, to prepare for future changes.
315 + *10.4*: When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
316 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
317 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
319 + *9.3.3.2*: packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
320 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
322 + *11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc*: We no longer use /usr/X11R6, since we have
323 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
324 live in /usr/share/fonts/X11/ now, and /usr/X11R6 is gone.
335 + Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
336 + *8.1*: Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
337 /usr/lib/ or /usr/share, and preferably the shared lib is named
338 the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
339 + *11.5*: It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
340 allow packages to share image files with the web server
350 + *3.10.1*: Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
351 user prompts are now deprecated.
361 + Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
362 the minor version number:
363 + Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
364 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
365 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
366 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
367 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
368 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
369 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
370 deb-building tool-chain.
371 + Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
372 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
373 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
374 properly, that is, some sect1s became sects etc.
375 + Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
376 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
377 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
378 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
379 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
380 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
381 sections about changelog files.
382 + *menu policy*: Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
384 + *C.2.2*: Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
385 + *10.2*: shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
386 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
387 + *7.6*: build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
392 :CUSTOM_ID: v3.5.10.0
398 + *11.8.3*: packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
399 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
401 + *11.8.4*: Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
402 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
412 + *3.4.2*: The section describing the Description: package field once again has
413 full details of the long description format.
414 + *4.2*: Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
415 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
416 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
417 + *9.3.2*: When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
418 the init script should start the service.
419 + *12.6*: If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
420 example files can be installed into =/usr/share/doc/package= (rather
421 than =/usr/share/doc/package/examples=).
431 + *12.7*: It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
432 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
433 documented in the changelog file.
434 + *7.6*: =Build-Depends=, =Build-Conflicts=, =Build-Depends-Indep=,
435 and =Build-Conflicts-Indep= must also be satisfied when the clean
437 + *menu policy*: A new Apps/Science menu section is available
438 + *debconf policy*: debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
439 + *12.1*: It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
440 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
451 + Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
452 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
453 + *2.2.4*: cryptographic software may now be included in the main
455 + *3.9*: task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
456 special Tasks: field in the control file.
457 + *11.8.4*: window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
458 they add themselves as an alternative for
459 /usr/bin/x-window-manager
460 + *10.1*: The default compilation options have now changed, one should
461 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
462 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB\_BUILD\_OPTIONS
463 environment variable.
464 + *7.6, 4.8*: Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
465 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
466 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
467 review the new rules.
468 + *8*: Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
469 scripts. Long rationale.
471 *Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build rules, please see below*
481 + *2.5*: Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
483 + *11.5*: Programs that access docs need to do so via /usr/share/doc, and
484 not via /usr/doc/ as was the policy previously
485 + *12.3*: Putting documentation in /usr/doc versus /usr/share/doc is now
486 a ``serious'' policy violation.
487 + *11.5*: For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
488 /usr/share/doc hierarchy. If one can't provide access controls for
489 the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred that one
490 ask permission to expose that information during the install.
491 + *7*: There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
492 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
502 + *12.1*: Manpages should not rely on header information to have
503 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
504 symlinks or .so pages to do this
505 + *Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
506 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
507 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story*
508 + Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
509 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
510 + Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
511 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
512 + *10.2*: Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
514 + X Windows related things:
515 * *11.8.1*: Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
517 * *11.8.3*: Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved
518 * *11.8.5*: X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
519 fonts for the X Window System
520 * *11.8.6*: Packages must not ship /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/
521 * *11.8.7*: X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
522 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
523 * *11.8.8*: OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
524 OSF/Motif-linked ones
534 + *11.6*: The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
535 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
536 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
538 + *11.9; perl-policy*: The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
539 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
551 + *7.1*: Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
552 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
553 + *10.7.3*: Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
554 in /usr/share/<package> or /usr/lib/<package>, with
555 symbolic links from /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples as
566 + *11.8.6*: X app-defaults directory has moved from
567 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults to /etc/X11/app-defaults
577 + *8.1*: dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
578 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
588 + *11.8.5*: Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
589 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
599 + Daemon startup scripts in /etc/init.d/ should not contain
600 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
601 /etc/default/; see *9.3.2] for details
602 + *12.3*: Files in /usr/share/doc must not be referenced by any
603 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
604 /usr/share/<package>/, and symbolic links created as required
605 in /usr/share/doc/<package>/
606 + Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
617 + *11.8.1*: A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
618 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
619 and the other without
629 + *10.1*: By default executables should not be built with the debugging
630 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
631 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
632 + *12.8*: Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
633 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
634 should always be generated for the upstream changes
635 + Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
636 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
637 + Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
639 - *11.8.2*: X server (virtual package xserver)
640 - *11.8.3*: X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator)
641 - *11.8.4*: X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
642 /usr/bin/x-window-manager alternative, with priority
643 calculation guidelines)
644 - *12.8.5*: X fonts (this section has been written from scratch)
645 - *11.8.6*: X application defaults
646 + *11.8.7*: Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
647 has been clarified; see
648 + *11.7.3*: No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles
649 + *8*: Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
650 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
661 + *7.1*: Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
662 etc. Should not affect many packages
672 + /usr/doc/<package> has to be a symlink pointing to
673 /usr/share/doc/<package>, to be maintained by postinst
674 and prerm scripts. Details are in *defunct*
675 + *7.1, 7.6*: Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.)
676 + *9.3.4*: /etc/rc.boot has been deprecated in favour of /etc/rcS.d.
677 (Packages should not be touching this directory, but should use
679 + *9.3.3*: update-rc.d is now the *only* allowable way of accessing the
680 /etc/rc?.d/*SK]??* links. Any scripts which manipulate them
681 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
682 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
684 + *12.7*: Architecture-specific examples go in /usr/lib/<package>/examples
685 with symlinks from /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/* or from
686 /usr/share/doc/<package>/examples itself
687 + *9.1.1*: Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts /var/state to
689 + *9.7; mime-policy*: Added MIME sub-policy document
690 + *12.4*: VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
691 + *11.6*: Modified liblockfile description, which affects
692 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
694 + *12.7*: If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
695 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
696 using lynx -dump -nolist.)
697 + *3.2.1*: Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
708 + *10.2*: Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
709 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
710 files must go in the run-time library package
720 + *9.1*: Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
721 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
723 + *4.1*: Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
724 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
725 + *12.6*: The location of the GPL has changed to
726 /usr/share/common-licenses. This may require changing the
727 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
729 + *10.2*: Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
730 include the .la files in the -dev packages
731 + *10.8*: Use logrotate to rotate log files
732 + *now 11.8*: section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
734 + *9.6; menu-policy*: There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
735 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
736 + *11.3*: Programs which need to modify the files /var/run/utmp,
737 /var/log/wtmp and /var/log/lastlog must be installed setgid utmp
740 *Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date*
752 + Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
753 + Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
754 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
755 Section 5 and Section 6.
756 + What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
757 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
758 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
759 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
760 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
762 + Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
763 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML/ These
764 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
765 /usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz
766 + Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
767 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
768 + Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
769 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
770 + Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
771 files. The correct location is /usr/doc/package/copyright
772 + Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
784 + Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:
785 + symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
786 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
787 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
789 + Updated section 4.9 Games:
790 + manpages for games should be installed in /usr/man/man6
791 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
793 **** Packaging Manual:
794 + Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
795 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
796 installs shared libraries
797 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
807 + Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:
808 + /bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
809 + scripts including bashisms have to specify /bin/bash as
811 + scripts which create files in world-writable directories
812 (e.g., in /tmp) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
815 + Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:
816 + symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
817 file extension as the referenced file
819 + Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:
820 + /dev/tty* serial devices should be used instead of /dev/cu*
822 + Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in /etc/init.d:
823 + all /etc/init.d scripts have to provide the following options:
824 start, stop, restart, force-reload
825 + the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
828 + Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
829 + cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
830 be installed into /etc/cron.d
832 + Updated section 3.7 Menus:
833 + removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
834 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
835 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
838 + New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
839 + details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
842 + New section 3.9 Environment variables:
843 + no program must depend on environment variables to get a
844 reasonable default configuration
846 + New section 4.6 News system configuration:
847 + /etc/news/organization and /etc/news/server should be supported
848 by all news servers and clients
850 + Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
851 + programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
852 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
853 + if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
854 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
856 + Updated section 4.9 Games:
857 + games for X Windows have to be installed in /usr/games, just as
868 + new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
869 /etc/services, /etc/protocols, /etc/rpc, and /etc/inetd.conf
871 + updated section about `Configuration files':
872 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
874 + MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile
884 + added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
887 where <arch> is one of the following:
888 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
890 + detailed rules for /usr/local
894 + editor/pager policy
900 + don't install shared libraries as executable
902 + app-defaults files may not be conffiles
904 *** 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
912 + two programs with different functionality must not have the
917 + "Standard for Console Messages"
919 + Libraries should be compiled with `-D\_REENTRANT'
921 + Libraries should be stripped with "strip --strip-unneeded"
923 *** 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
931 + Some changes WRT shared libraries
941 + No hard links in source packages
943 + Do not use dpkg-divert or update-alternatives without consultation
945 + Shared libraries must be installed stripped
955 + Upstream changelog must be installed too