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="3.9.7.0"> Version 3.9.7.0
44 <item> Symbolic links must not traverse above the root directory.
47 <item> 32bit UIDs in the range 65536-4294967293 are reserved for dynamically
48 allocated user accounts.
49 </item> </taglist></p>
51 <sect id="3.9.6.0"> Version 3.9.6.0
54 Released September, 2014.
58 <item> The FHS is relaxed to allow a subdirectory of <file>/usr/lib</file>
59 to hold a mixture of architecture-independent and architecture-dependent
60 files, though directories entirely composed of architecture-independent files
61 should be located in <file>/usr/share</file>.
64 <item>The FHS requirement for <file>/usr/local/lib64</file> to exist
65 if <file>/lib64</file> or <file>/usr/lib64</file> exists is removed.
68 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch include files,
69 permitting header files to instead be installed to
70 <file>/usr/include/triplet</file>.
73 <item> Binaries must not be statically linked with the GNU C library,
74 see policy for exceptions.
77 <item> It is clarified that signature appearing in debian/changelog should be
78 the details of the person who prepared this release of the package.
81 <item> The default web document root is now <file>/var/www/html</file>
84 <item><tt>java1-runtime</tt> and <tt>java2-runtime</tt> are removed,
85 <tt>javaN-runtime</tt> and <tt>javaN-runtime-headless</tt> are added
86 for all N between 5 and 9.
89 <item>Added <tt>httpd-wsgi</tt> for WSGI capable HTTP servers.
92 <item> Perl packages should use the <tt>%Config</tt> hash to locate module
93 paths instead of hardcoding paths in <tt>@INC</tt>.
96 <item> Perl binary modules and any modules installed into
97 <tt>$Config{vendorarch}</tt> must depend on the relevant
98 <package>perlapi-*</package> package.
99 </item> </taglist></p>
101 <sect id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
104 Released October, 2013.
108 <item>Control data fields must not start with the hyphen character
109 (<tt>-</tt>), to avoid potential confusions when parsing clearsigned control
110 data files that were not properly unescaped.
112 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
113 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
114 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
116 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
117 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
118 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
120 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
121 source control files.
124 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
125 package control files.
128 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Dgit</tt> field in Debian
129 source control files.
132 <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
135 <item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
136 local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
137 tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
138 <em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
141 <item>The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
142 must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when possible.
143 In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.
146 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
147 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
150 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
151 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
152 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
155 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
158 <item><tt>mp3-decoder</tt> and <tt>mp3-encoder</tt> are removed.</item>
161 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
164 Released August, 2012.
168 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
171 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
172 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
175 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
176 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
177 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
180 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
183 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
184 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
185 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
186 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
189 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
190 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
191 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
192 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
193 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
194 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
197 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
198 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
199 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
202 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
203 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
205 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
206 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
209 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
213 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
216 Released February, 2012.
220 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
221 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
224 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
225 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
226 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
229 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
230 list of architectures must be non-empty.
233 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
234 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
235 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
236 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
237 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
238 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
239 should be stored in a temporary file system.
242 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
243 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
244 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
248 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
249 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
250 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
251 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
252 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
255 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
258 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
259 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
262 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
263 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
264 they have been removed.
267 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
268 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
269 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
271 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
272 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
273 file" specification is included.
276 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
277 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
281 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
282 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
285 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
286 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
290 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
293 Released April, 2011.
297 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
298 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
302 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
303 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
304 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
305 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
308 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
309 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
310 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
314 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
315 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
316 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
317 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
321 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
324 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
325 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
326 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
327 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
331 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
332 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
333 dependencies are now a should not.
336 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
337 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
338 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
339 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
340 actions if their dependencies are not available.
343 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
344 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
347 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
348 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
349 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
350 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
351 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
354 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
355 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
356 POSIX-required interface.
360 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
367 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
368 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
372 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
373 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
374 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
377 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
378 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
379 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
382 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
383 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
384 architecture-independent.
387 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
388 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
389 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
392 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
393 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
394 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
395 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
398 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
401 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
402 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
403 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
406 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
407 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
410 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
411 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
412 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
413 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
414 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
415 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
416 their <file>.la</file> files.
419 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
420 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
421 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
422 thread-safe if the library supports this.
425 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
426 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
427 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
428 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
429 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
432 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
433 logrotate rules is now recommended.
436 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
437 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
439 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
440 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
441 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
442 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
443 for the corresponding manual page.
446 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
447 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
448 executables in those subdirectories.
451 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
452 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
457 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
463 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
464 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
465 Date control field is now precisely specified.
468 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
469 particular field name.
471 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
472 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
473 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
474 documented and recommended.
476 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
477 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
478 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
479 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
480 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
481 for <file>.changes</file> files.
484 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
488 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
491 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
492 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
493 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
494 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
498 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
499 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
500 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
501 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
502 question, but should avoid this if possible.
504 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
505 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
506 files between packages.
509 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
510 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
511 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
514 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
515 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
518 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
519 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
520 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
521 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
524 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
526 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
527 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
528 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
531 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
532 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
533 It should instead be included directly
534 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
535 common-licenses for the time being.
538 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
539 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
540 template instead of a string to allow translation.
543 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
544 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
545 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
546 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
547 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
550 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
551 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
552 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
556 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
563 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
564 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
565 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
568 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
569 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
572 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
573 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
577 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
583 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
584 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
587 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
588 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
589 may be used in different versions of the field.
592 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
593 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
596 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
599 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
600 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
601 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
602 using them should be built with RPATH.
605 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
606 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
607 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
608 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
611 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
612 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
615 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
616 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
617 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
621 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
622 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
623 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
624 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
625 support partial upgrades.
628 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
629 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
633 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
640 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
641 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
642 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
643 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
647 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
648 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
649 back on other methods.
652 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
656 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
657 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
660 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
661 <file>/var/mail</file>.
664 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
668 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
669 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
673 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
680 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
681 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
682 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
685 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
688 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
692 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
693 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
696 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
697 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
700 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
703 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
704 with no preceding whitespace.
707 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
708 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
709 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
710 behavior of the init system in Debian.
713 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
714 start the daemon again if it's already running.
717 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
718 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
719 subdirectories dynamically.
722 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
723 variable arguments and supports assignment.
726 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
727 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
731 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
738 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
739 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
740 system is now defined by priority.
742 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
743 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
745 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
746 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
747 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
748 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
749 unknown flags be ignored.
751 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
752 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
753 processes if the package supports it
755 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
756 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
759 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
760 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
761 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
762 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
763 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
764 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
767 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
769 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
772 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
773 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
774 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
775 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
776 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
777 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
779 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
780 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
781 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
784 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
785 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
788 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
789 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
792 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
793 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
794 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
795 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
796 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
797 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
800 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
801 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
803 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
804 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
807 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
810 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
817 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
818 anything, even the end of a part.
820 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
821 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
824 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
825 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
827 <tag>menu policy</tag>
828 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
829 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
830 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
831 sections would be more appropriate.
833 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
836 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
837 critical, or emergency.
839 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
840 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
841 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
844 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
845 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
846 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
848 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
849 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
852 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
858 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
859 should to a must)</item>
862 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
868 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
871 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
878 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
879 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
880 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
881 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
882 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
883 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
886 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
887 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
888 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
891 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
898 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
899 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
900 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
902 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
903 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
905 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
906 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
907 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
908 etc. may be of interest.
909 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
910 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
911 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
912 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
913 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
914 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
915 as well, to prepare for future changes.
917 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
918 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
919 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
922 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
923 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
925 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
926 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
927 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
928 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
932 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
939 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
942 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
943 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
944 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
947 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
948 allow packages to share image files with the web server
952 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
959 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
960 user prompts are now deprecated.
963 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
970 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
971 the minor version number:
973 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
974 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
975 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
976 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
977 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
978 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
979 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
980 deb-building tool-chain.
982 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
983 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
984 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
985 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
987 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
988 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
989 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
990 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
991 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
992 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
993 sections about changelog files.
994 <tag>menu policy</tag>
995 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
998 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
1000 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
1001 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
1003 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
1007 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
1014 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
1015 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
1018 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
1019 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
1022 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
1029 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
1030 full details of the long description format.
1032 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
1033 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
1034 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
1036 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
1037 the init script should start the service.
1039 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
1040 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
1041 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
1044 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
1051 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
1052 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
1053 documented in the changelog file.
1055 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
1056 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
1058 <tag>menu policy</tag>
1059 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
1060 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
1061 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
1063 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
1064 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
1068 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
1075 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
1076 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
1078 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
1081 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
1082 special Tasks: field in the control file.
1084 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
1085 they add themselves as an alternative for
1086 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1088 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1089 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1090 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1091 environment variable.
1093 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1094 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1095 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1096 review the new rules.
1098 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1099 scripts. Long rationale.
1103 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1104 rules, please see below
1107 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1114 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1117 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1118 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1120 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1121 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1123 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1124 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1125 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1126 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1128 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1129 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1132 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1139 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1140 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1141 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1144 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1145 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1146 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1149 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1150 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1153 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1154 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1157 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1160 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1163 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1167 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1169 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1170 fonts for the X Window System
1173 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1176 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1177 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1180 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1181 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1186 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1187 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1191 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1192 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1193 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1195 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1196 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1197 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1202 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1203 <p> Released Apr 2001
1207 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1208 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1211 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1212 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1213 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1214 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1218 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1220 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1224 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1225 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1226 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1230 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1232 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1236 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1237 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1241 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1243 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1247 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1248 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1252 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1254 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1258 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1259 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1260 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1263 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1264 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1265 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1266 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1269 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1274 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1276 <p> Released Aug 00.
1280 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1281 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1282 and the other without
1286 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1288 <p> Released Aug 00.
1292 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1293 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1294 package with debugging information optionally.
1297 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1298 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1299 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1302 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1303 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1306 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1310 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1312 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1314 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1315 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1316 calculation guidelines)
1319 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1321 <item>X application defaults </item>
1325 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1329 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1331 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1332 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1337 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1339 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1343 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1344 etc. Should not affect many packages
1348 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1350 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1354 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1355 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1359 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1361 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1362 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1363 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1366 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1367 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1368 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1369 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1373 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1374 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1375 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1376 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1379 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1380 <file>/var/lib</file>
1382 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1383 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1385 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1388 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1389 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1393 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1394 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1395 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1398 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1403 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1405 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1409 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1410 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1411 files must go in the run-time library package
1415 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1417 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1421 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1422 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1426 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1427 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1430 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1431 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1432 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1433 other major licenses
1436 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1437 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1440 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1443 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1446 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1447 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1448 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1451 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1452 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1453 installed setgid utmp
1457 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1460 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1462 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1466 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1468 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1469 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1470 Section 5 and Section 6.
1472 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1473 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1474 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1475 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1476 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1480 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1481 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1482 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1483 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1485 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1486 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1488 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1489 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1491 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1492 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1494 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1499 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1501 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1503 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1505 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1506 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1507 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1508 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1511 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1512 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1513 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1517 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1519 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1520 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1521 installs shared libraries
1522 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1526 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1528 <p> Released Jan 1998
1531 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1533 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1534 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1536 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1537 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1541 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1542 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1543 file extension as the referenced file
1546 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1547 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1548 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1551 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1553 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1554 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1555 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1559 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1560 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1561 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1564 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1565 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1566 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1567 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1571 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1572 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1576 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1577 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1578 reasonable default configuration
1581 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1582 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1583 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1586 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1588 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1589 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1591 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1592 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1596 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1597 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1602 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1604 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1607 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1608 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1609 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1612 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1613 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1616 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1619 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1621 <p> Released July 1997.
1624 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1627 where <arch> is one of the following:
1628 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1631 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1633 <item>user ID's</item>
1635 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1637 <item>cron jobs</item>
1639 <item>device files</item>
1641 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1643 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1646 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1648 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1651 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1654 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1656 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1658 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1660 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1664 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1666 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1669 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1672 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1674 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1677 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1679 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1680 without consultation </item>
1682 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1685 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1687 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1690 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>