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="3.9.6.0"> Version 3.9.6.0
44 <item> The FHS is relaxed to allow a subdirectory of <file>/usr/lib</file>
45 to hold a mixture of architecture-independent and architecture-dependent
46 files, though directories entirely composed of architecture-independent files
47 should be located in <file>/usr/share</file>.
51 <sect id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
54 Released October, 2013.
58 <item>Control data fields must not start with the hyphen character
59 (<tt>-</tt>), to avoid potential confusions when parsing clearsigned control
60 data files that were not properly unescaped.
62 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
63 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
64 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
66 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
67 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
68 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
70 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
74 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
75 package control files.
78 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Dgit</tt> field in Debian
82 <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
85 <item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
86 local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
87 tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
88 <em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
91 <item>The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
92 must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when possible.
93 In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.
96 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
97 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
100 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
101 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
102 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
105 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
108 <item><tt>mp3-decoder</tt> and <tt>mp3-encoder</tt> are removed.</item>
111 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
114 Released August, 2012.
118 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
121 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
122 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
125 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
126 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
127 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
130 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
133 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
134 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
135 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
136 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
139 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
140 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
141 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
142 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
143 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
144 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
147 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
148 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
149 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
152 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
153 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
155 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
156 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
159 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
163 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
166 Released February, 2012.
170 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
171 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
174 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
175 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
176 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
179 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
180 list of architectures must be non-empty.
183 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
184 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
185 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
186 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
187 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
188 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
189 should be stored in a temporary file system.
192 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
193 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
194 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
198 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
199 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
200 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
201 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
202 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
205 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
208 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
209 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
212 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
213 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
214 they have been removed.
217 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
218 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
219 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
221 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
222 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
223 file" specification is included.
226 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
227 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
231 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
232 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
235 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
236 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
240 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
243 Released April, 2011.
247 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
248 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
252 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
253 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
254 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
255 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
258 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
259 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
260 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
264 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
265 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
266 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
267 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
271 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
274 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
275 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
276 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
277 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
281 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
282 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
283 dependencies are now a should not.
286 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
287 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
288 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
289 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
290 actions if their dependencies are not available.
293 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
294 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
297 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
298 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
299 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
300 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
301 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
304 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
305 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
306 POSIX-required interface.
310 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
317 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
318 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
322 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
323 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
324 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
327 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
328 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
329 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
332 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
333 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
334 architecture-independent.
337 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
338 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
339 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
342 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
343 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
344 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
345 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
348 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
351 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
352 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
353 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
356 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
357 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
360 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
361 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
362 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
363 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
364 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
365 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
366 their <file>.la</file> files.
369 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
370 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
371 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
372 thread-safe if the library supports this.
375 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
376 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
377 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
378 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
379 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
382 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
383 logrotate rules is now recommended.
386 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
387 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
389 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
390 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
391 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
392 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
393 for the corresponding manual page.
396 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
397 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
398 executables in those subdirectories.
401 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
402 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
407 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
413 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
414 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
415 Date control field is now precisely specified.
418 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
419 particular field name.
421 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
422 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
423 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
424 documented and recommended.
426 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
427 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
428 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
429 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
430 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
431 for <file>.changes</file> files.
434 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
438 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
441 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
442 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
443 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
444 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
448 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
449 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
450 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
451 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
452 question, but should avoid this if possible.
454 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
455 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
456 files between packages.
459 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
460 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
461 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
464 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
465 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
468 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
469 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
470 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
471 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
474 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
476 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
477 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
478 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
481 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
482 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
483 It should instead be included directly
484 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
485 common-licenses for the time being.
488 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
489 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
490 template instead of a string to allow translation.
493 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
494 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
495 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
496 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
497 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
500 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
501 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
502 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
506 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
513 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
514 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
515 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
518 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
519 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
522 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
523 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
527 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
533 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
534 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
537 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
538 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
539 may be used in different versions of the field.
542 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
543 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
546 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
549 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
550 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
551 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
552 using them should be built with RPATH.
555 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
556 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
557 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
558 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
561 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
562 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
565 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
566 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
567 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
571 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
572 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
573 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
574 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
575 support partial upgrades.
578 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
579 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
583 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
590 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
591 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
592 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
593 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
597 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
598 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
599 back on other methods.
602 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
606 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
607 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
610 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
611 <file>/var/mail</file>.
614 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
618 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
619 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
623 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
630 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
631 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
632 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
635 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
638 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
642 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
643 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
646 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
647 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
650 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
653 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
654 with no preceding whitespace.
657 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
658 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
659 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
660 behavior of the init system in Debian.
663 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
664 start the daemon again if it's already running.
667 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
668 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
669 subdirectories dynamically.
672 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
673 variable arguments and supports assignment.
676 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
677 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
681 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
688 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
689 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
690 system is now defined by priority.
692 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
693 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
695 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
696 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
697 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
698 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
699 unknown flags be ignored.
701 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
702 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
703 processes if the package supports it
705 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
706 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
709 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
710 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
711 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
712 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
713 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
714 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
717 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
719 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
722 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
723 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
724 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
725 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
726 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
727 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
729 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
730 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
731 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
734 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
735 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
738 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
739 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
742 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
743 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
744 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
745 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
746 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
747 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
750 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
751 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
753 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
754 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
757 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
760 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
767 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
768 anything, even the end of a part.
770 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
771 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
774 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
775 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
777 <tag>menu policy</tag>
778 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
779 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
780 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
781 sections would be more appropriate.
783 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
786 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
787 critical, or emergency.
789 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
790 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
791 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
794 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
795 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
796 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
798 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
799 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
802 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
808 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
809 should to a must)</item>
812 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
818 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
821 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
828 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
829 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
830 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
831 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
832 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
833 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
836 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
837 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
838 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
841 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
848 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
849 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
850 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
852 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
853 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
855 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
856 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
857 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
858 etc. may be of interest.
859 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
860 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
861 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
862 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
863 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
864 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
865 as well, to prepare for future changes.
867 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
868 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
869 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
872 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
873 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
875 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
876 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
877 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
878 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
882 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
889 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
892 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
893 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
894 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
897 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
898 allow packages to share image files with the web server
902 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
909 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
910 user prompts are now deprecated.
913 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
920 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
921 the minor version number:
923 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
924 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
925 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
926 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
927 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
928 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
929 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
930 deb-building tool-chain.
932 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
933 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
934 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
935 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
937 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
938 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
939 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
940 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
941 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
942 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
943 sections about changelog files.
944 <tag>menu policy</tag>
945 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
948 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
950 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
951 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
953 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
957 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
964 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
965 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
968 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
969 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
972 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
979 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
980 full details of the long description format.
982 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
983 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
984 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
986 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
987 the init script should start the service.
989 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
990 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
991 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
994 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
1001 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
1002 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
1003 documented in the changelog file.
1005 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
1006 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
1008 <tag>menu policy</tag>
1009 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
1010 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
1011 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
1013 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
1014 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
1018 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
1025 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
1026 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
1028 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
1031 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
1032 special Tasks: field in the control file.
1034 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
1035 they add themselves as an alternative for
1036 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1038 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1039 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1040 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1041 environment variable.
1043 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1044 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1045 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1046 review the new rules.
1048 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1049 scripts. Long rationale.
1053 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1054 rules, please see below
1057 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1064 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1067 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1068 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1070 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1071 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1073 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1074 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1075 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1076 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1078 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1079 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1082 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1089 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1090 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1091 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1094 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1095 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1096 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1099 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1100 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1103 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1104 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1107 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1110 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1113 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1117 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1119 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1120 fonts for the X Window System
1123 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1126 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1127 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1130 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1131 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1136 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1137 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1141 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1142 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1143 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1145 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1146 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1147 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1152 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1153 <p> Released Apr 2001
1157 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1158 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1161 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1162 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1163 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1164 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1168 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1170 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1174 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1175 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1176 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1180 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1182 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1186 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1187 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1191 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1193 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1197 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1198 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1202 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1204 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1208 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1209 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1210 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1213 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1214 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1215 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1216 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1219 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1224 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1226 <p> Released Aug 00.
1230 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1231 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1232 and the other without
1236 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1238 <p> Released Aug 00.
1242 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1243 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1244 package with debugging information optionally.
1247 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1248 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1249 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1252 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1253 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1256 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1260 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1262 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1264 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1265 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1266 calculation guidelines)
1269 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1271 <item>X application defaults </item>
1275 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1279 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1281 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1282 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1287 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1289 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1293 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1294 etc. Should not affect many packages
1298 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1300 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1304 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1305 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1309 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1311 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1312 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1313 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1316 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1317 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1318 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1319 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1323 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1324 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1325 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1326 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1329 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1330 <file>/var/lib</file>
1332 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1333 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1335 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1338 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1339 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1343 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1344 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1345 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1348 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1353 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1355 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1359 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1360 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1361 files must go in the run-time library package
1365 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1367 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1371 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1372 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1376 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1377 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1380 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1381 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1382 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1383 other major licenses
1386 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1387 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1390 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1393 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1396 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1397 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1398 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1401 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1402 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1403 installed setgid utmp
1407 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1410 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1412 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1416 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1418 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1419 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1420 Section 5 and Section 6.
1422 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1423 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1424 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1425 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1426 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1430 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1431 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1432 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1433 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1435 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1436 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1438 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1439 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1441 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1442 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1444 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1449 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1451 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1453 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1455 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1456 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1457 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1458 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1461 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1462 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1463 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1467 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1469 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1470 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1471 installs shared libraries
1472 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1476 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1478 <p> Released Jan 1998
1481 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1483 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1484 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1486 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1487 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1491 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1492 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1493 file extension as the referenced file
1496 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1497 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1498 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1501 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1503 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1504 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1505 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1509 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1510 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1511 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1514 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1515 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1516 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1517 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1521 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1522 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1526 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1527 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1528 reasonable default configuration
1531 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1532 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1533 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1536 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1538 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1539 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1541 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1542 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1546 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1547 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1552 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1554 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1557 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1558 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1559 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1562 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1563 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1566 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1569 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1571 <p> Released July 1997.
1574 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1577 where <arch> is one of the following:
1578 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1581 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1583 <item>user ID's</item>
1585 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1587 <item>cron jobs</item>
1589 <item>device files</item>
1591 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1593 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1596 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1598 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1601 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1604 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1606 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1608 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1610 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1614 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1616 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1619 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1622 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1624 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1627 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1629 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1630 without consultation </item>
1632 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1635 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1637 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1640 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>