1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.9.3.0
44 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
45 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
46 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
49 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
50 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
51 they have been removed.
54 <item> Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
55 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
58 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
59 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
63 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
70 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
71 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
75 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
76 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
77 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
78 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
81 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
82 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
83 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
87 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
88 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
89 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
90 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
94 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
97 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
98 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
99 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
100 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
104 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
105 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
106 dependencies are now a should not.
109 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
110 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
111 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
112 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
113 actions if their dependencies are not available.
116 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
117 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
120 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
121 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
122 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
123 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
124 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
127 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
128 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
129 POSIX-required interface.
133 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
140 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
141 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
145 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
146 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
147 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
150 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
151 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
152 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
155 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
156 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
157 architecture-independent.
160 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
161 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
162 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
165 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
166 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
167 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
168 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
171 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
174 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
175 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
176 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
179 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
180 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
183 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
184 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
185 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
186 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
187 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
188 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
189 their <file>.la</file> files.
192 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
193 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
194 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
195 thread-safe if the library supports this.
198 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
199 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
200 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
201 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
202 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
205 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
206 logrotate rules is now recommended.
209 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
210 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
212 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
213 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
214 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
215 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
216 for the corresponding manual page.
219 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
220 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
221 executables in those subdirectories.
224 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
225 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
230 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
236 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
237 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
238 Date control field is now precisely specified.
241 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
242 particular field name.
244 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
245 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
246 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
247 documented and recommended.
249 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
250 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
251 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
252 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
253 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
254 for <file>.changes</file> files.
257 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
261 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
264 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
265 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
266 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
267 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
271 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
272 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
273 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
274 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
275 question, but should avoid this if possible.
277 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
278 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
279 files between packages.
282 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
283 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
284 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
287 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
288 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
291 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
292 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
293 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
294 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
297 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
299 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
300 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
301 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
304 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
305 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
306 It should instead be included directly
307 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
308 common-licenses for the time being.
311 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
312 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
313 template instead of a string to allow translation.
316 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
317 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
318 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
319 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
320 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
323 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
324 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
325 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
329 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
336 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
337 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
338 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
341 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
342 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
345 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
346 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
350 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
356 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
357 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
360 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
361 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
362 may be used in different versions of the field.
365 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
366 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
369 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
372 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
373 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
374 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
375 using them should be built with RPATH.
378 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
379 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
380 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
381 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
384 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
385 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
388 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
389 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
390 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
394 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
395 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
396 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
397 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
398 support partial upgrades.
401 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
402 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
406 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
413 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
414 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
415 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
416 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
420 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
421 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
422 back on other methods.
425 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
429 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
430 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
433 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
434 <file>/var/mail</file>.
437 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
441 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
442 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
446 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
453 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
454 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
455 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
458 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
461 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
465 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
466 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
469 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
470 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
473 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
476 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
477 with no preceding whitespace.
480 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
481 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
482 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
483 behavior of the init system in Debian.
486 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
487 start the daemon again if it's already running.
490 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
491 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
492 subdirectories dynamically.
495 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
496 variable arguments and supports assignment.
499 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
500 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
504 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
511 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
512 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
513 system is now defined by priority.
515 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
516 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
518 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
519 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
520 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
521 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
522 unknown flags be ignored.
524 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
525 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
526 processes if the package supports it
528 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
529 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
532 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
533 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
534 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
535 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
536 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
537 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
540 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
542 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
545 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
546 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
547 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
548 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
549 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
550 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
552 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
553 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
554 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
557 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
558 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
561 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
562 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
565 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
566 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
567 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
568 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
569 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
570 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
573 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
574 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
576 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
577 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
580 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
583 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
590 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
591 anything, even the end of a part.
593 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
594 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
597 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
598 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
600 <tag>menu policy</tag>
601 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
602 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
603 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
604 sections would be more appropriate.
606 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
609 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
610 critical, or emergency.
612 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
613 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
614 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
617 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
618 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
619 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
621 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
622 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
625 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
631 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
632 should to a must)</item>
635 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
641 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
644 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
651 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
652 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
653 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
654 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
655 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
656 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
659 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
660 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
661 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
664 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
671 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
672 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
673 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
675 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
676 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
678 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
679 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
680 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
681 etc. may be of interest.
682 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
683 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
684 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
685 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
686 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
687 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
688 as well, to prepare for future changes.
690 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
691 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
692 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
695 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
696 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
698 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
699 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
700 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
701 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
705 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
712 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
715 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
716 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
717 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
720 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
721 allow packages to share image files with the web server
725 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
732 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
733 user prompts are now deprecated.
743 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
744 the minor version number:
746 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
747 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
748 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
749 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
750 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
751 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
752 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
753 deb-building tool-chain.
755 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
756 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
757 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
758 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
760 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
761 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
762 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
763 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
764 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
765 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
766 sections about changelog files.
767 <tag>menu policy</tag>
768 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
771 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
773 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
774 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
776 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
780 <sect> Version 3.5.10
787 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
788 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
791 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
792 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
795 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
802 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
803 full details of the long description format.
805 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
806 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
807 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
809 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
810 the init script should start the service.
812 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
813 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
814 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
817 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
824 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
825 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
826 documented in the changelog file.
828 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
829 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
831 <tag>menu policy</tag>
832 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
833 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
834 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
836 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
837 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
841 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
848 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
849 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
851 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
854 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
855 special Tasks: field in the control file.
857 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
858 they add themselves as an alternative for
859 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
861 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
862 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
863 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
864 environment variable.
866 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
867 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
868 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
869 review the new rules.
871 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
872 scripts. Long rationale.
876 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
877 rules, please see below
880 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
887 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
890 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
891 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
893 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
894 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
896 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
897 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
898 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
899 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
901 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
902 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
905 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
912 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
913 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
914 symlinks or .so pages to do this
917 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
918 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
919 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
922 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
923 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
926 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
927 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
930 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
933 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
936 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
940 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
942 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
943 fonts for the X Window System
946 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
949 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
950 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
953 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
954 OSF/Motif-linked ones
959 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
960 <p> Released Apr 2001.
964 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
965 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
966 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
969 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
970 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
971 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
976 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
977 <p> Released Apr 2001
981 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
982 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
985 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
986 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
987 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
988 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
992 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
994 <p> Released Feb 2001.
998 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
999 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1000 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1004 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
1006 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1010 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1011 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1015 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
1017 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1021 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1022 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1026 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
1028 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1032 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1033 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1034 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1037 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1038 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1039 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1040 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1043 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1048 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
1050 <p> Released Aug 00.
1054 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1055 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1056 and the other without
1060 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
1062 <p> Released Aug 00.
1066 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1067 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1068 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1071 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1072 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1073 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1076 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1077 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1080 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1084 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1086 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1088 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1089 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1090 calculation guidelines)
1093 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1095 <item>X application defaults </item>
1099 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1103 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1105 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1106 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1111 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1113 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1117 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1118 etc. Should not affect many packages
1122 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1124 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1128 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1129 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1133 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1135 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1136 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1137 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1140 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1141 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1142 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1143 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1147 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1148 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1149 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1150 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1153 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1154 <file>/var/lib</file>
1156 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1157 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1159 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1162 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1163 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1167 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1168 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1169 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1172 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1177 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1179 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1183 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1184 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1185 files must go in the run-time library package
1189 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1191 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1195 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1196 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1200 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1201 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1204 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1205 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1206 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1207 other major licenses
1210 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1211 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1214 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1217 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1220 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1221 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1222 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1225 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1226 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1227 installed setgid utmp
1231 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1234 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1236 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1240 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1242 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1243 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1244 Section 5 and Section 6.
1246 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1247 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1248 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1249 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1250 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1254 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1255 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1256 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1257 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1259 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1260 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1262 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1263 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1265 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1266 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1268 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1273 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1275 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1277 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1279 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1280 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1281 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1282 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1285 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1286 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1287 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1291 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1293 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1294 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1295 installs shared libraries
1296 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1300 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1302 <p> Released Jan 1998
1305 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1307 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1308 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1310 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1311 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1315 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1316 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1317 file extension as the referenced file
1320 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1321 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1322 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1325 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1327 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1328 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1329 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1333 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1334 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1335 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1338 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1339 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1340 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1341 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1345 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1346 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1350 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1351 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1352 reasonable default configuration
1355 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1356 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1357 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1360 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1362 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1363 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1365 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1366 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1370 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1371 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1376 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1378 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1381 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1382 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1383 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1386 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1387 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1390 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1393 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1395 <p> Released July 1997.
1398 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1401 where <arch> is one of the following:
1402 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1405 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1407 <item>user ID's</item>
1409 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1411 <item>cron jobs</item>
1413 <item>device files</item>
1415 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1417 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1420 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1422 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1425 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1428 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1430 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1432 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1434 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1438 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1440 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1443 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1446 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1448 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1451 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1453 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1454 without consultation </item>
1456 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1459 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1461 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1464 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>