1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery <email/rra@debian.org/ </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
43 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
44 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
45 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
47 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
48 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
49 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
51 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
55 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
56 package control files.
59 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
60 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
63 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
64 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
65 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
68 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
72 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
75 Released August, 2012.
79 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
82 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
83 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
86 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
87 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
88 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
91 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
94 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
95 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
96 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
97 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
100 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
101 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
102 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
103 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
104 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
105 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
108 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
109 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
110 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
113 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
114 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
116 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
117 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
120 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
124 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
127 Released February, 2012.
131 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
132 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
135 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
136 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
137 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
140 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
141 list of architectures must be non-empty.
144 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
145 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
146 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
147 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
148 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
149 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
150 should be stored in a temporary file system.
153 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
154 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
155 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
159 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
160 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
161 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
162 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
163 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
166 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
169 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
170 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
173 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
174 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
175 they have been removed.
178 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
179 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
180 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
182 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
183 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
184 file" specification is included.
187 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
188 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
192 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
193 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
196 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
197 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
201 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
204 Released April, 2011.
208 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
209 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
213 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
214 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
215 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
216 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
219 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
220 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
221 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
225 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
226 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
227 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
228 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
232 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
235 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
236 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
237 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
238 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
242 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
243 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
244 dependencies are now a should not.
247 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
248 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
249 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
250 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
251 actions if their dependencies are not available.
254 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
255 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
258 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
259 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
260 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
261 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
262 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
265 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
266 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
267 POSIX-required interface.
271 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
278 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
279 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
283 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
284 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
285 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
288 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
289 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
290 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
293 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
294 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
295 architecture-independent.
298 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
299 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
300 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
303 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
304 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
305 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
306 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
309 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
312 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
313 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
314 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
317 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
318 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
321 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
322 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
323 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
324 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
325 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
326 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
327 their <file>.la</file> files.
330 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
331 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
332 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
333 thread-safe if the library supports this.
336 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
337 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
338 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
339 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
340 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
343 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
344 logrotate rules is now recommended.
347 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
348 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
350 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
351 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
352 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
353 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
354 for the corresponding manual page.
357 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
358 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
359 executables in those subdirectories.
362 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
363 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
368 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
374 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
375 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
376 Date control field is now precisely specified.
379 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
380 particular field name.
382 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
383 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
384 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
385 documented and recommended.
387 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
388 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
389 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
390 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
391 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
392 for <file>.changes</file> files.
395 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
399 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
402 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
403 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
404 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
405 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
409 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
410 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
411 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
412 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
413 question, but should avoid this if possible.
415 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
416 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
417 files between packages.
420 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
421 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
422 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
425 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
426 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
429 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
430 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
431 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
432 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
435 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
437 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
438 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
439 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
442 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
443 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
444 It should instead be included directly
445 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
446 common-licenses for the time being.
449 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
450 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
451 template instead of a string to allow translation.
454 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
455 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
456 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
457 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
458 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
461 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
462 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
463 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
467 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
474 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
475 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
476 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
479 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
480 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
483 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
484 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
488 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
494 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
495 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
498 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
499 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
500 may be used in different versions of the field.
503 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
504 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
507 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
510 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
511 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
512 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
513 using them should be built with RPATH.
516 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
517 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
518 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
519 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
522 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
523 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
526 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
527 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
528 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
532 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
533 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
534 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
535 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
536 support partial upgrades.
539 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
540 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
544 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
551 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
552 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
553 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
554 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
558 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
559 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
560 back on other methods.
563 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
567 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
568 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
571 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
572 <file>/var/mail</file>.
575 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
579 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
580 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
584 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
591 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
592 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
593 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
596 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
599 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
603 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
604 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
607 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
608 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
611 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
614 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
615 with no preceding whitespace.
618 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
619 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
620 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
621 behavior of the init system in Debian.
624 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
625 start the daemon again if it's already running.
628 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
629 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
630 subdirectories dynamically.
633 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
634 variable arguments and supports assignment.
637 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
638 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
642 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
649 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
650 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
651 system is now defined by priority.
653 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
654 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
656 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
657 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
658 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
659 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
660 unknown flags be ignored.
662 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
663 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
664 processes if the package supports it
666 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
667 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
670 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
671 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
672 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
673 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
674 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
675 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
678 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
680 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
683 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
684 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
685 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
686 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
687 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
688 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
690 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
691 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
692 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
695 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
696 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
699 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
700 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
703 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
704 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
705 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
706 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
707 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
708 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
711 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
712 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
714 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
715 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
718 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
721 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
728 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
729 anything, even the end of a part.
731 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
732 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
735 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
736 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
738 <tag>menu policy</tag>
739 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
740 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
741 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
742 sections would be more appropriate.
744 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
747 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
748 critical, or emergency.
750 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
751 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
752 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
755 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
756 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
757 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
759 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
760 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
763 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
769 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
770 should to a must)</item>
773 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
779 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
782 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
789 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
790 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
791 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
792 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
793 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
794 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
797 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
798 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
799 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
802 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
809 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
810 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
811 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
813 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
814 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
816 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
817 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
818 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
819 etc. may be of interest.
820 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
821 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
822 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
823 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
824 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
825 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
826 as well, to prepare for future changes.
828 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
829 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
830 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
833 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
834 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
836 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
837 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
838 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
839 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
843 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
850 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
853 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
854 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
855 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
858 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
859 allow packages to share image files with the web server
863 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
870 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
871 user prompts are now deprecated.
874 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
881 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
882 the minor version number:
884 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
885 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
886 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
887 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
888 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
889 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
890 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
891 deb-building tool-chain.
893 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
894 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
895 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
896 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
898 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
899 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
900 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
901 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
902 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
903 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
904 sections about changelog files.
905 <tag>menu policy</tag>
906 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
909 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
911 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
912 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
914 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
918 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
925 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
926 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
929 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
930 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
933 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
940 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
941 full details of the long description format.
943 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
944 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
945 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
947 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
948 the init script should start the service.
950 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
951 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
952 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
955 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
962 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
963 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
964 documented in the changelog file.
966 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
967 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
969 <tag>menu policy</tag>
970 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
971 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
972 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
974 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
975 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
979 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
986 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
987 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
989 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
992 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
993 special Tasks: field in the control file.
995 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
996 they add themselves as an alternative for
997 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
999 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1000 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1001 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1002 environment variable.
1004 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1005 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1006 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1007 review the new rules.
1009 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1010 scripts. Long rationale.
1014 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1015 rules, please see below
1018 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1025 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1028 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1029 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1031 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1032 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1034 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1035 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1036 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1037 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1039 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1040 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1043 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1050 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1051 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1052 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1055 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1056 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1057 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1060 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1061 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1064 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1065 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1068 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1071 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1074 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1078 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1080 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1081 fonts for the X Window System
1084 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1087 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1088 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1091 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1092 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1097 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1098 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1102 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1103 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1104 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1107 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1108 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1109 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1114 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1115 <p> Released Apr 2001
1119 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1120 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1123 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1124 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1125 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1126 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1130 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1132 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1136 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1137 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1138 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1142 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1144 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1148 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1149 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1153 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1155 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1159 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1160 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1164 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1166 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1170 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1171 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1172 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1175 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1176 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1177 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1178 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1181 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1186 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1188 <p> Released Aug 00.
1192 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1193 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1194 and the other without
1198 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1200 <p> Released Aug 00.
1204 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1205 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1206 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1209 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1210 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1211 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1214 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1215 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1218 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1222 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1224 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1226 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1227 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1228 calculation guidelines)
1231 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1233 <item>X application defaults </item>
1237 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1241 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1243 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1244 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1249 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1251 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1255 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1256 etc. Should not affect many packages
1260 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1262 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1266 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1267 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1271 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1273 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1274 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1275 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1278 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1279 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1280 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1281 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1285 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1286 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1287 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1288 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1291 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1292 <file>/var/lib</file>
1294 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1295 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1297 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1300 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1301 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1305 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1306 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1307 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1310 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1315 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1317 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1321 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1322 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1323 files must go in the run-time library package
1327 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1329 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1333 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1334 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1338 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1339 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1342 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1343 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1344 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1345 other major licenses
1348 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1349 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1352 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1355 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1358 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1359 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1360 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1363 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1364 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1365 installed setgid utmp
1369 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1372 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1374 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1378 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1380 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1381 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1382 Section 5 and Section 6.
1384 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1385 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1386 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1387 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1388 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1392 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1393 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1394 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1395 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1397 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1398 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1400 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1401 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1403 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1404 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1406 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1411 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1413 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1415 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1417 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1418 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1419 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1420 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1423 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1424 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1425 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1429 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1431 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1432 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1433 installs shared libraries
1434 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1438 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1440 <p> Released Jan 1998
1443 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1445 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1446 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1448 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1449 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1453 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1454 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1455 file extension as the referenced file
1458 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1459 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1460 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1463 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1465 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1466 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1467 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1471 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1472 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1473 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1476 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1477 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1478 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1479 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1483 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1484 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1488 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1489 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1490 reasonable default configuration
1493 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1494 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1495 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1498 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1500 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1501 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1503 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1504 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1508 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1509 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1514 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1516 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1519 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1520 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1521 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1524 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1525 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1528 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1531 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1533 <p> Released July 1997.
1536 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1539 where <arch> is one of the following:
1540 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1543 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1545 <item>user ID's</item>
1547 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1549 <item>cron jobs</item>
1551 <item>device files</item>
1553 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1555 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1558 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1560 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1563 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1566 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1568 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1570 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1572 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1576 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1578 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1581 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1584 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1586 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1589 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1591 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1592 without consultation </item>
1594 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1597 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1599 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1602 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>