1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
44 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
45 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
49 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
50 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
51 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
54 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
55 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
56 architecture-independent.
59 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
60 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
61 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
63 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
64 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
65 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
68 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
69 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
72 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
73 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
74 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
75 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
76 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
77 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
78 their <file>.la</file> files.
81 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
82 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
83 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
84 thread-safe if the library supports this.
87 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
88 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
89 executables in those subdirectories.
92 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
93 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
98 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
104 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
105 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
106 Date control field is now precisely specified.
109 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
110 particular field name.
112 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
113 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
114 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
115 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
117 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
118 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
119 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
120 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
121 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
122 for <file>.changes</file> files.
125 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
129 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
132 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
133 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
134 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
135 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
139 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
140 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
141 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
142 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
143 question, but should avoid this if possible.
145 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
146 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
147 files between packages.
150 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
151 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
152 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
155 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
156 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
159 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
160 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
161 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
162 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
165 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
167 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
168 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
169 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
172 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
173 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
174 It should instead be included directly
175 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
176 common-licenses for the time being.
179 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
180 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
184 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
185 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
186 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
187 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
188 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
191 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
192 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
193 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
197 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
204 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
205 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
206 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
209 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
210 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
213 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
214 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
218 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
224 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
225 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
228 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
229 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
230 may be used in different versions of the field.
233 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
234 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
237 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
240 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
241 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
242 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
243 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
246 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
247 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
248 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
251 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
252 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
255 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
256 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
257 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
261 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
262 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
263 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
264 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
265 support partial upgrades.
268 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
269 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
273 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
280 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
281 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
282 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
283 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
287 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
288 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
289 back on other methods.
292 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
296 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
297 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
300 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
301 <file>/var/mail</file>.
304 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
308 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
309 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
313 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
320 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
321 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
322 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
325 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
328 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
332 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
333 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
336 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
337 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
340 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
343 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
344 preceding whitespace.
347 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
348 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
349 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
350 behavior of the init system in Debian.
353 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
354 start the daemon again if it's already running.
357 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
358 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
359 subdirectories dynamically.
362 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
363 variable arguments and supports assignment.
366 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
367 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
371 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
378 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
379 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
380 system is now defined by priority.
382 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
383 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
385 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
386 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
387 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
388 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
389 unknown flags be ignored.
391 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
392 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
393 processes if the package supports it
395 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
396 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
399 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
400 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
401 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
402 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
403 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
404 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
407 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
409 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
412 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
413 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
414 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
415 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
416 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
417 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
419 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
420 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
421 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
424 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
425 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
428 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
429 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
432 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
433 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
434 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
435 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
436 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
437 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
440 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
441 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
443 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
444 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
447 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
450 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
457 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
458 anything, even the end of a part.
460 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
461 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
464 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
465 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
467 <tag>menu policy</tag>
468 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
469 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
470 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
471 sections would be more appropriate.
473 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
476 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
477 critical, or emergency.
479 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
480 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
481 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
484 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
485 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
486 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
488 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
489 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
492 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
498 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
499 should to a must)</item>
502 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
508 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
511 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
518 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
519 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
520 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
521 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
522 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
523 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
526 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
527 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
528 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
531 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
538 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
539 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
540 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
542 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
543 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
545 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
546 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
547 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
548 etc. may be of interest.
549 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
550 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
551 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
552 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
553 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
554 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
555 as well, to prepare for future changes.
557 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
558 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
559 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
562 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
563 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
565 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
566 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
567 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
568 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
572 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
579 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
582 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
583 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
584 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
587 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
588 allow packages to share image files with the web server
592 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
599 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
600 user prompts are now deprecated.
610 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
611 the minor version number:
613 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
614 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
615 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
616 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
617 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
618 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
619 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
620 deb-building tool-chain.
622 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
623 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
624 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
625 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
627 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
628 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
629 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
630 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
631 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
632 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
633 sections about changelog files.
634 <tag>menu policy</tag>
635 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
638 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
640 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
641 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
643 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
647 <sect> Version 3.5.10
654 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
655 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
658 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
659 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
662 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
669 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
670 full details of the long description format.
672 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
673 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
674 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
676 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
677 the init script should start the service.
679 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
680 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
681 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
684 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
691 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
692 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
693 documented in the changelog file.
695 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
696 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
698 <tag>menu policy</tag>
699 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
700 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
701 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
703 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
704 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
708 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
715 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
716 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
718 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
721 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
722 special Tasks: field in the control file.
724 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
725 they add themselves as an alternative for
726 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
728 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
729 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
730 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
731 environment variable.
733 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
734 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
735 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
736 review the new rules.
738 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
739 scripts. Long rationale.
743 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
744 rules, please see below
747 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
754 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
757 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
758 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
760 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
761 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
763 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
764 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
765 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
766 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
768 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
769 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
772 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
779 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
780 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
781 symlinks or .so pages to do this
784 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
785 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
786 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
789 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
790 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
793 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
794 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
797 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
800 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
803 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
807 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
809 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
810 fonts for the X Window System
813 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
816 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
817 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
820 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
821 OSF/Motif-linked ones
826 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
827 <p> Released Apr 2001.
831 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
832 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
833 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
836 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
837 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
838 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
843 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
844 <p> Released Apr 2001
848 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
849 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
852 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
853 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
854 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
855 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
859 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
861 <p> Released Feb 2001.
865 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
866 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
867 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
871 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
873 <p> Released Feb 2001.
877 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
878 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
882 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
884 <p> Released Jan 2001.
888 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
889 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
893 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
895 <p> Released Jan 2001.
899 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
900 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
901 <file>/etc/default/</file>
904 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
905 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
906 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
907 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
910 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
915 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
921 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
922 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
923 and the other without
927 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
933 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
934 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
935 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
938 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
939 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
940 should always be generated for the upstream changes
943 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
944 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
947 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
951 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
953 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
955 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
956 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
957 calculation guidelines)
960 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
962 <item>X application defaults </item>
966 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
970 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
972 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
973 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
978 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
980 <p> Released Nov 1999.
984 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
985 etc. Should not affect many packages
989 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
991 <p> Released Oct 1999.
995 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
996 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1000 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1002 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1003 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1004 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1007 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1008 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1009 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1010 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1014 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1015 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1016 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1017 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1020 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1021 <file>/var/lib</file>
1023 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1024 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1026 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1029 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1030 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1034 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1035 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1036 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1039 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1044 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1046 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1050 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1051 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1052 files must go in the run-time library package
1056 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1058 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1062 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1063 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1067 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1068 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1071 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1072 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1073 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1074 other major licenses
1077 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1078 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1081 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1084 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1087 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1088 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1089 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1092 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1093 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1094 installed setgid utmp
1098 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1101 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1103 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1107 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1109 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1110 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1111 Section 5 and Section 6.
1113 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1114 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1115 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1116 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1117 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1121 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1122 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1123 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1124 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1126 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1127 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1129 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1130 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1132 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1133 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1135 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1140 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1142 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1144 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1146 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1147 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1148 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1149 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1152 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1153 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1154 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1158 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1160 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1161 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1162 installs shared libraries
1163 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1167 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1169 <p> Released Jan 1998
1172 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1174 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1175 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1177 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1178 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1182 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1183 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1184 file extension as the referenced file
1187 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1188 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1189 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1192 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1194 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1195 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1196 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1200 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1201 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1202 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1205 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1206 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1207 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1208 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1212 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1213 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1217 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1218 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1219 reasonable default configuration
1222 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1223 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1224 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1227 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1229 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1230 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1232 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1233 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1237 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1238 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1243 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1245 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1248 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1249 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1250 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1253 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1254 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1257 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1260 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1262 <p> Released July 1997.
1265 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1268 where <arch> is one of the following:
1269 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1272 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1274 <item>user ID's</item>
1276 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1278 <item>cron jobs</item>
1280 <item>device files</item>
1282 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1284 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1287 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1289 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1292 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1295 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1297 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1299 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1301 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1305 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1307 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1310 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1313 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1315 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1318 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1320 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1321 without consultation </item>
1323 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1326 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1328 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1331 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>