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 <email/rra@debian.org/ </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 id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
43 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
44 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
45 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
47 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
48 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
49 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
51 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
55 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
56 package control files.
60 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
63 Released August, 2012.
67 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
70 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
71 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
74 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
75 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
76 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
79 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
82 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
83 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
84 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
85 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
88 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
89 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
90 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
91 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
92 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
93 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
96 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
97 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
98 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
101 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
102 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
104 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
105 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
108 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
112 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
115 Released February, 2012.
119 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
120 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
123 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
124 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
125 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
128 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
129 list of architectures must be non-empty.
132 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
133 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
134 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
135 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
136 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
137 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
138 should be stored in a temporary file system.
141 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
142 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
143 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
147 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
148 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
149 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
150 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
151 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
154 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
157 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
158 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
161 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
162 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
163 they have been removed.
166 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
167 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
168 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
170 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
171 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
172 file" specification is included.
175 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
176 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
180 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
181 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
184 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
185 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
189 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
192 Released April, 2011.
196 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
197 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
201 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
202 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
203 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
204 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
207 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
208 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
209 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
213 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
214 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
215 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
216 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
220 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
223 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
224 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
225 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
226 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
230 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
231 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
232 dependencies are now a should not.
235 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
236 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
237 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
238 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
239 actions if their dependencies are not available.
242 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
243 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
246 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
247 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
248 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
249 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
250 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
253 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
254 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
255 POSIX-required interface.
259 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
266 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
267 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
271 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
272 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
273 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
276 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
277 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
278 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
281 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
282 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
283 architecture-independent.
286 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
287 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
288 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
291 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
292 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
293 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
294 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
297 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
300 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
301 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
302 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
305 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
306 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
309 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
310 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
311 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
312 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
313 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
314 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
315 their <file>.la</file> files.
318 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
319 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
320 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
321 thread-safe if the library supports this.
324 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
325 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
326 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
327 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
328 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
331 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
332 logrotate rules is now recommended.
335 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
336 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
338 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
339 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
340 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
341 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
342 for the corresponding manual page.
345 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
346 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
347 executables in those subdirectories.
350 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
351 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
356 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
362 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
363 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
364 Date control field is now precisely specified.
367 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
368 particular field name.
370 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
371 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
372 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
373 documented and recommended.
375 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
376 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
377 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
378 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
379 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
380 for <file>.changes</file> files.
383 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
387 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
390 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
391 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
392 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
393 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
397 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
398 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
399 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
400 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
401 question, but should avoid this if possible.
403 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
404 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
405 files between packages.
408 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
409 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
410 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
413 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
414 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
417 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
418 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
419 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
420 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
423 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
425 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
426 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
427 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
430 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
431 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
432 It should instead be included directly
433 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
434 common-licenses for the time being.
437 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
438 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
439 template instead of a string to allow translation.
442 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
443 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
444 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
445 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
446 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
449 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
450 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
451 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
455 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
462 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
463 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
464 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
467 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
468 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
471 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
472 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
476 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
482 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
483 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
486 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
487 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
488 may be used in different versions of the field.
491 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
492 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
495 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
498 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
499 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
500 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
501 using them should be built with RPATH.
504 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
505 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
506 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
507 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
510 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
511 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
514 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
515 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
516 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
520 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
521 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
522 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
523 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
524 support partial upgrades.
527 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
528 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
532 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
539 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
540 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
541 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
542 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
546 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
547 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
548 back on other methods.
551 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
555 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
556 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
559 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
560 <file>/var/mail</file>.
563 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
567 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
568 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
572 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
579 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
580 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
581 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
584 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
587 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
591 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
592 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
595 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
596 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
599 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
602 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
603 with no preceding whitespace.
606 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
607 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
608 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
609 behavior of the init system in Debian.
612 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
613 start the daemon again if it's already running.
616 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
617 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
618 subdirectories dynamically.
621 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
622 variable arguments and supports assignment.
625 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
626 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
630 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
637 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
638 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
639 system is now defined by priority.
641 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
642 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
644 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
645 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
646 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
647 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
648 unknown flags be ignored.
650 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
651 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
652 processes if the package supports it
654 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
655 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
658 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
659 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
660 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
661 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
662 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
663 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
666 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
668 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
671 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
672 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
673 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
674 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
675 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
676 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
678 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
679 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
680 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
683 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
684 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
687 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
688 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
691 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
692 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
693 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
694 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
695 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
696 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
699 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
700 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
702 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
703 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
706 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
709 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
716 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
717 anything, even the end of a part.
719 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
720 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
723 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
724 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
726 <tag>menu policy</tag>
727 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
728 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
729 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
730 sections would be more appropriate.
732 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
735 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
736 critical, or emergency.
738 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
739 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
740 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
743 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
744 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
745 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
747 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
748 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
751 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
757 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
758 should to a must)</item>
761 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
767 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
770 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
777 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
778 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
779 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
780 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
781 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
782 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
785 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
786 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
787 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
790 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
797 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
798 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
799 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
801 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
802 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
804 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
805 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
806 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
807 etc. may be of interest.
808 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
809 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
810 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
811 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
812 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
813 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
814 as well, to prepare for future changes.
816 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
817 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
818 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
821 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
822 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
824 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
825 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
826 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
827 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
831 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
838 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
841 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
842 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
843 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
846 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
847 allow packages to share image files with the web server
851 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
858 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
859 user prompts are now deprecated.
862 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
869 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
870 the minor version number:
872 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
873 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
874 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
875 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
876 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
877 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
878 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
879 deb-building tool-chain.
881 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
882 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
883 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
884 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
886 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
887 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
888 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
889 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
890 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
891 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
892 sections about changelog files.
893 <tag>menu policy</tag>
894 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
897 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
899 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
900 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
902 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
906 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
913 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
914 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
917 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
918 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
921 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
928 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
929 full details of the long description format.
931 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
932 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
933 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
935 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
936 the init script should start the service.
938 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
939 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
940 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
943 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
950 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
951 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
952 documented in the changelog file.
954 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
955 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
957 <tag>menu policy</tag>
958 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
959 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
960 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
962 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
963 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
967 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
974 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
975 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
977 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
980 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
981 special Tasks: field in the control file.
983 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
984 they add themselves as an alternative for
985 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
987 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
988 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
989 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
990 environment variable.
992 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
993 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
994 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
995 review the new rules.
997 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
998 scripts. Long rationale.
1002 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1003 rules, please see below
1006 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1013 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1016 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1017 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1019 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1020 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1022 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1023 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1024 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1025 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1027 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1028 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1031 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1038 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1039 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1040 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1043 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1044 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1045 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1048 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1049 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1052 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1053 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1056 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1059 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1062 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1066 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1068 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1069 fonts for the X Window System
1072 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1075 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1076 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1079 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1080 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1085 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1086 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1090 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1091 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1092 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1095 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1096 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1097 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1102 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1103 <p> Released Apr 2001
1107 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1108 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1111 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1112 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1113 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1114 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1118 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1120 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1124 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1125 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1126 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1130 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1132 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1136 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1137 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1141 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1143 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1147 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1148 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1152 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1154 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1158 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1159 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1160 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1163 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1164 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1165 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1166 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1169 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1174 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1176 <p> Released Aug 00.
1180 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1181 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1182 and the other without
1186 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1188 <p> Released Aug 00.
1192 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1193 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1194 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1197 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1198 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1199 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1202 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1203 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1206 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1210 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1212 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1214 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1215 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1216 calculation guidelines)
1219 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1221 <item>X application defaults </item>
1225 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1229 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1231 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1232 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1237 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1239 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1243 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1244 etc. Should not affect many packages
1248 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1250 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1254 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1255 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1259 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1261 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1262 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1263 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1266 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1267 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1268 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1269 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1273 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1274 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1275 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1276 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1279 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1280 <file>/var/lib</file>
1282 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1283 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1285 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1288 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1289 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1293 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1294 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1295 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1298 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1303 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1305 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1309 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1310 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1311 files must go in the run-time library package
1315 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1317 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1321 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1322 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1326 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1327 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1330 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1331 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1332 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1333 other major licenses
1336 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1337 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1340 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1343 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1346 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1347 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1348 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1351 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1352 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1353 installed setgid utmp
1357 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1360 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1362 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1366 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1368 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1369 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1370 Section 5 and Section 6.
1372 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1373 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1374 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1375 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1376 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1380 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1381 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1382 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1383 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1385 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1386 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1388 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1389 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1391 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1392 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1394 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1399 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1401 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1403 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1405 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1406 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1407 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1408 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1411 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1412 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1413 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1417 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1419 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1420 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1421 installs shared libraries
1422 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1426 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1428 <p> Released Jan 1998
1431 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1433 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1434 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1436 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1437 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1441 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1442 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1443 file extension as the referenced file
1446 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1447 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1448 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1451 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1453 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1454 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1455 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1459 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1460 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1461 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1464 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1465 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1466 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1467 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1471 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1472 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1476 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1477 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1478 reasonable default configuration
1481 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1482 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1483 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1486 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1488 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1489 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1491 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1492 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1496 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1497 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1502 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1504 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1507 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1508 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1509 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1512 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1513 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1516 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1519 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1521 <p> Released July 1997.
1524 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1527 where <arch> is one of the following:
1528 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1531 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1533 <item>user ID's</item>
1535 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1537 <item>cron jobs</item>
1539 <item>device files</item>
1541 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1543 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1546 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1548 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1551 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1554 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1556 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1558 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1560 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1564 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1566 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1569 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1572 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1574 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1577 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1579 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1580 without consultation </item>
1582 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1585 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1587 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1590 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>