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
40 Released September, 2014.
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>.
50 <item>The FHS requirement for <file>/usr/local/lib64</file> to exist
51 if <file>/lib64</file> or <file>/usr/lib64</file> exists is removed.
54 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch include files,
55 permitting header files to instead be installed to
56 <file>/usr/include/triplet</file>.
59 <item> Binaries must not be statically linked with the GNU C library,
60 see policy for exceptions.
63 <item> It is clarified that signature appearing in debian/changelog should be
64 the details of the person who prepared this release of the package.
67 <item> The default web document root is now <file>/var/www/html</file>
70 <item><tt>java1-runtime</tt> and <tt>java2-runtime</tt> are removed,
71 <tt>javaN-runtime</tt> and <tt>javaN-runtime-headless</tt> are added
72 for all N between 5 and 9.
75 <item>Added <tt>httpd-wsgi</tt> for WSGI capable HTTP servers.
78 <item> Perl packages should use the <tt>%Config</tt> hash to locate module
79 paths instead of hardcoding paths in <tt>@INC</tt>.
82 <item> Perl binary modules and any modules installed into
83 <tt>$Config{vendorarch}</tt> must depend on the relevant
84 <package>perlapi-*</package> package.
85 </item> </taglist></p>
87 <sect id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
90 Released October, 2013.
94 <item>Control data fields must not start with the hyphen character
95 (<tt>-</tt>), to avoid potential confusions when parsing clearsigned control
96 data files that were not properly unescaped.
98 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
99 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
100 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
102 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
103 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
104 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
106 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
107 source control files.
110 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
111 package control files.
114 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Dgit</tt> field in Debian
115 source control files.
118 <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
121 <item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
122 local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
123 tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
124 <em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
127 <item>The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
128 must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when possible.
129 In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.
132 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
133 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
136 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
137 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
138 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
141 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
144 <item><tt>mp3-decoder</tt> and <tt>mp3-encoder</tt> are removed.</item>
147 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
150 Released August, 2012.
154 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
157 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
158 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
161 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
162 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
163 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
166 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
169 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
170 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
171 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
172 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
175 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
176 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
177 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
178 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
179 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
180 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
183 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
184 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
185 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
188 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
189 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
191 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
192 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
195 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
199 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
202 Released February, 2012.
206 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
207 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
210 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
211 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
212 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
215 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
216 list of architectures must be non-empty.
219 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
220 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
221 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
222 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
223 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
224 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
225 should be stored in a temporary file system.
228 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
229 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
230 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
234 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
235 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
236 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
237 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
238 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
241 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
244 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
245 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
248 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
249 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
250 they have been removed.
253 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
254 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
255 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
257 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
258 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
259 file" specification is included.
262 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
263 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
267 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
268 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
271 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
272 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
276 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
279 Released April, 2011.
283 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
284 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
288 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
289 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
290 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
291 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
294 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
295 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
296 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
300 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
301 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
302 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
303 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
307 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
310 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
311 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
312 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
313 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
317 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
318 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
319 dependencies are now a should not.
322 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
323 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
324 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
325 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
326 actions if their dependencies are not available.
329 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
330 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
333 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
334 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
335 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
336 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
337 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
340 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
341 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
342 POSIX-required interface.
346 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
353 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
354 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
358 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
359 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
360 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
363 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
364 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
365 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
368 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
369 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
370 architecture-independent.
373 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
374 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
375 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
378 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
379 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
380 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
381 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
384 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
387 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
388 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
389 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
392 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
393 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
396 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
397 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
398 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
399 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
400 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
401 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
402 their <file>.la</file> files.
405 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
406 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
407 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
408 thread-safe if the library supports this.
411 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
412 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
413 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
414 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
415 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
418 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
419 logrotate rules is now recommended.
422 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
423 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
425 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
426 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
427 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
428 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
429 for the corresponding manual page.
432 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
433 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
434 executables in those subdirectories.
437 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
438 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
443 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
449 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
450 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
451 Date control field is now precisely specified.
454 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
455 particular field name.
457 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
458 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
459 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
460 documented and recommended.
462 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
463 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
464 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
465 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
466 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
467 for <file>.changes</file> files.
470 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
474 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
477 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
478 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
479 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
480 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
484 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
485 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
486 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
487 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
488 question, but should avoid this if possible.
490 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
491 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
492 files between packages.
495 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
496 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
497 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
500 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
501 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
504 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
505 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
506 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
507 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
510 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
512 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
513 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
514 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
517 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
518 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
519 It should instead be included directly
520 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
521 common-licenses for the time being.
524 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
525 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
526 template instead of a string to allow translation.
529 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
530 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
531 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
532 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
533 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
536 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
537 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
538 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
542 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
549 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
550 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
551 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
554 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
555 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
558 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
559 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
563 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
569 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
570 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
573 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
574 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
575 may be used in different versions of the field.
578 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
579 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
582 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
585 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
586 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
587 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
588 using them should be built with RPATH.
591 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
592 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
593 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
594 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
597 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
598 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
601 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
602 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
603 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
607 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
608 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
609 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
610 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
611 support partial upgrades.
614 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
615 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
619 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
626 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
627 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
628 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
629 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
633 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
634 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
635 back on other methods.
638 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
642 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
643 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
646 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
647 <file>/var/mail</file>.
650 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
654 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
655 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
659 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
666 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
667 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
668 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
671 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
674 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
678 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
679 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
682 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
683 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
686 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
689 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
690 with no preceding whitespace.
693 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
694 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
695 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
696 behavior of the init system in Debian.
699 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
700 start the daemon again if it's already running.
703 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
704 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
705 subdirectories dynamically.
708 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
709 variable arguments and supports assignment.
712 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
713 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
717 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
724 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
725 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
726 system is now defined by priority.
728 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
729 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
731 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
732 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
733 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
734 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
735 unknown flags be ignored.
737 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
738 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
739 processes if the package supports it
741 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
742 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
745 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
746 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
747 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
748 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
749 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
750 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
753 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
755 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
758 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
759 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
760 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
761 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
762 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
763 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
765 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
766 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
767 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
770 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
771 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
774 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
775 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
778 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
779 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
780 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
781 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
782 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
783 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
786 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
787 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
789 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
790 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
793 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
796 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
803 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
804 anything, even the end of a part.
806 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
807 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
810 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
811 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
813 <tag>menu policy</tag>
814 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
815 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
816 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
817 sections would be more appropriate.
819 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
822 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
823 critical, or emergency.
825 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
826 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
827 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
830 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
831 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
832 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
834 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
835 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
838 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
844 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
845 should to a must)</item>
848 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
854 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
857 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
864 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
865 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
866 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
867 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
868 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
869 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
872 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
873 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
874 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
877 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
884 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
885 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
886 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
888 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
889 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
891 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
892 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
893 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
894 etc. may be of interest.
895 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
896 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
897 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
898 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
899 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
900 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
901 as well, to prepare for future changes.
903 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
904 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
905 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
908 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
909 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
911 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
912 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
913 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
914 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
918 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
925 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
928 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
929 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
930 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
933 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
934 allow packages to share image files with the web server
938 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
945 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
946 user prompts are now deprecated.
949 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
956 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
957 the minor version number:
959 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
960 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
961 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
962 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
963 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
964 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
965 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
966 deb-building tool-chain.
968 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
969 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
970 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
971 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
973 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
974 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
975 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
976 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
977 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
978 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
979 sections about changelog files.
980 <tag>menu policy</tag>
981 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
984 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
986 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
987 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
989 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
993 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
1000 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
1001 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
1004 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
1005 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
1008 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
1015 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
1016 full details of the long description format.
1018 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
1019 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
1020 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
1022 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
1023 the init script should start the service.
1025 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
1026 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
1027 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
1030 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
1037 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
1038 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
1039 documented in the changelog file.
1041 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
1042 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
1044 <tag>menu policy</tag>
1045 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
1046 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
1047 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
1049 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
1050 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
1054 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
1061 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
1062 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
1064 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
1067 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
1068 special Tasks: field in the control file.
1070 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
1071 they add themselves as an alternative for
1072 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1074 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1075 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1076 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1077 environment variable.
1079 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1080 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1081 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1082 review the new rules.
1084 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1085 scripts. Long rationale.
1089 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1090 rules, please see below
1093 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1100 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1103 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1104 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1106 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1107 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1109 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1110 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1111 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1112 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1114 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1115 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1118 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1125 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1126 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1127 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1130 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1131 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1132 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1135 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1136 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1139 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1140 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1143 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1146 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1149 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1153 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1155 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1156 fonts for the X Window System
1159 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1162 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1163 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1166 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1167 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1172 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1173 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1177 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1178 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1179 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1181 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1182 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1183 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1188 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1189 <p> Released Apr 2001
1193 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1194 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1197 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1198 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1199 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1200 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1204 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1206 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1210 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1211 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1212 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1216 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1218 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1222 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1223 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1227 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1229 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1233 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1234 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1238 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1240 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1244 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1245 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1246 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1249 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1250 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1251 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1252 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1255 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1260 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1262 <p> Released Aug 00.
1266 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1267 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1268 and the other without
1272 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1274 <p> Released Aug 00.
1278 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1279 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1280 package with debugging information optionally.
1283 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1284 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1285 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1288 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1289 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1292 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1296 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1298 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1300 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1301 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1302 calculation guidelines)
1305 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1307 <item>X application defaults </item>
1311 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1315 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1317 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1318 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1323 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1325 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1329 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1330 etc. Should not affect many packages
1334 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1336 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1340 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1341 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1345 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1347 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1348 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1349 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1352 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1353 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1354 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1355 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1359 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1360 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1361 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1362 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1365 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1366 <file>/var/lib</file>
1368 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1369 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1371 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1374 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1375 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1379 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1380 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1381 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1384 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1389 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1391 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1395 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1396 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1397 files must go in the run-time library package
1401 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1403 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1407 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1408 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1412 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1413 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1416 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1417 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1418 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1419 other major licenses
1422 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1423 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1426 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1429 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1432 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1433 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1434 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1437 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1438 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1439 installed setgid utmp
1443 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1446 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1448 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1452 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1454 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1455 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1456 Section 5 and Section 6.
1458 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1459 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1460 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1461 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1462 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1466 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1467 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1468 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1469 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1471 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1472 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1474 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1475 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1477 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1478 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1480 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1485 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1487 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1489 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1491 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1492 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1493 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1494 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1497 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1498 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1499 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1503 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1505 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1506 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1507 installs shared libraries
1508 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1512 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1514 <p> Released Jan 1998
1517 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1519 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1520 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1522 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1523 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1527 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1528 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1529 file extension as the referenced file
1532 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1533 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1534 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1537 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1539 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1540 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1541 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1545 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1546 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1547 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1550 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1551 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1552 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1553 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1557 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1558 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1562 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1563 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1564 reasonable default configuration
1567 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1568 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1569 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1572 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1574 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1575 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1577 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1578 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1582 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1583 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1588 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1590 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1593 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1594 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1595 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1598 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1599 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1602 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1605 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1607 <p> Released July 1997.
1610 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1613 where <arch> is one of the following:
1614 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1617 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1619 <item>user ID's</item>
1621 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1623 <item>cron jobs</item>
1625 <item>device files</item>
1627 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1629 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1632 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1634 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1637 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1640 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1642 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1644 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1646 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1650 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1652 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1655 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1658 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1660 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1663 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1665 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1666 without consultation </item>
1668 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1671 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1673 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1676 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>