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.
49 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
52 Released August, 2012.
56 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
59 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
60 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
63 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
64 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
65 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
68 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
71 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
72 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
73 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
74 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
77 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
78 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
79 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
80 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
81 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
82 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
85 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
86 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
87 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
90 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
91 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
93 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
94 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
97 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
101 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
104 Released February, 2012.
108 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
109 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
112 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
113 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
114 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
117 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
118 list of architectures must be non-empty.
121 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
122 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
123 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
124 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
125 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
126 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
127 should be stored in a temporary file system.
130 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
131 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
132 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
136 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
137 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
138 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
139 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
140 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
143 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
146 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
147 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
150 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
151 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
152 they have been removed.
155 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
156 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
157 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
159 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
160 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
161 file" specification is included.
164 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
165 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
169 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
170 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
173 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
174 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
178 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
181 Released April, 2011.
185 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
186 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
190 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
191 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
192 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
193 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
196 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
197 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
198 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
202 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
203 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
204 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
205 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
209 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
212 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
213 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
214 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
215 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
219 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
220 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
221 dependencies are now a should not.
224 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
225 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
226 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
227 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
228 actions if their dependencies are not available.
231 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
232 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
235 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
236 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
237 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
238 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
239 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
242 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
243 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
244 POSIX-required interface.
248 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
255 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
256 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
260 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
261 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
262 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
265 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
266 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
267 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
270 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
271 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
272 architecture-independent.
275 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
276 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
277 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
280 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
281 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
282 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
283 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
286 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
289 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
290 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
291 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
294 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
295 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
298 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
299 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
300 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
301 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
302 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
303 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
304 their <file>.la</file> files.
307 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
308 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
309 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
310 thread-safe if the library supports this.
313 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
314 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
315 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
316 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
317 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
320 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
321 logrotate rules is now recommended.
324 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
325 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
327 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
328 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
329 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
330 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
331 for the corresponding manual page.
334 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
335 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
336 executables in those subdirectories.
339 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
340 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
345 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
351 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
352 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
353 Date control field is now precisely specified.
356 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
357 particular field name.
359 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
360 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
361 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
362 documented and recommended.
364 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
365 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
366 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
367 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
368 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
369 for <file>.changes</file> files.
372 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
376 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
379 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
380 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
381 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
382 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
386 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
387 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
388 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
389 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
390 question, but should avoid this if possible.
392 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
393 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
394 files between packages.
397 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
398 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
399 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
402 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
403 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
406 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
407 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
408 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
409 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
412 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
414 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
415 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
416 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
419 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
420 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
421 It should instead be included directly
422 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
423 common-licenses for the time being.
426 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
427 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
428 template instead of a string to allow translation.
431 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
432 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
433 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
434 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
435 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
438 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
439 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
440 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
444 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
451 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
452 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
453 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
456 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
457 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
460 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
461 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
465 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
471 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
472 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
475 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
476 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
477 may be used in different versions of the field.
480 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
481 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
484 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
487 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
488 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
489 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
490 using them should be built with RPATH.
493 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
494 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
495 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
496 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
499 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
500 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
503 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
504 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
505 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
509 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
510 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
511 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
512 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
513 support partial upgrades.
516 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
517 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
521 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
528 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
529 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
530 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
531 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
535 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
536 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
537 back on other methods.
540 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
544 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
545 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
548 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
549 <file>/var/mail</file>.
552 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
556 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
557 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
561 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
568 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
569 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
570 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
573 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
576 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
580 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
581 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
584 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
585 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
588 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
591 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
592 with no preceding whitespace.
595 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
596 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
597 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
598 behavior of the init system in Debian.
601 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
602 start the daemon again if it's already running.
605 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
606 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
607 subdirectories dynamically.
610 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
611 variable arguments and supports assignment.
614 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
615 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
619 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
626 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
627 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
628 system is now defined by priority.
630 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
631 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
633 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
634 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
635 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
636 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
637 unknown flags be ignored.
639 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
640 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
641 processes if the package supports it
643 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
644 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
647 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
648 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
649 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
650 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
651 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
652 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
655 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
657 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
660 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
661 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
662 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
663 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
664 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
665 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
667 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
668 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
669 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
672 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
673 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
676 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
677 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
680 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
681 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
682 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
683 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
684 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
685 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
688 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
689 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
691 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
692 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
695 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
698 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
705 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
706 anything, even the end of a part.
708 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
709 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
712 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
713 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
715 <tag>menu policy</tag>
716 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
717 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
718 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
719 sections would be more appropriate.
721 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
724 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
725 critical, or emergency.
727 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
728 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
729 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
732 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
733 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
734 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
736 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
737 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
740 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
746 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
747 should to a must)</item>
750 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
756 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
759 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
766 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
767 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
768 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
769 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
770 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
771 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
774 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
775 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
776 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
779 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
786 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
787 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
788 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
790 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
791 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
793 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
794 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
795 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
796 etc. may be of interest.
797 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
798 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
799 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
800 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
801 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
802 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
803 as well, to prepare for future changes.
805 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
806 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
807 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
810 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
811 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
813 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
814 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
815 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
816 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
820 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
827 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
830 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
831 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
832 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
835 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
836 allow packages to share image files with the web server
840 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
847 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
848 user prompts are now deprecated.
851 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
858 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
859 the minor version number:
861 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
862 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
863 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
864 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
865 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
866 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
867 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
868 deb-building tool-chain.
870 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
871 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
872 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
873 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
875 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
876 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
877 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
878 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
879 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
880 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
881 sections about changelog files.
882 <tag>menu policy</tag>
883 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
886 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
888 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
889 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
891 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
895 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
902 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
903 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
906 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
907 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
910 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
917 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
918 full details of the long description format.
920 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
921 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
922 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
924 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
925 the init script should start the service.
927 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
928 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
929 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
932 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
939 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
940 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
941 documented in the changelog file.
943 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
944 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
946 <tag>menu policy</tag>
947 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
948 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
949 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
951 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
952 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
956 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
963 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
964 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
966 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
969 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
970 special Tasks: field in the control file.
972 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
973 they add themselves as an alternative for
974 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
976 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
977 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
978 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
979 environment variable.
981 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
982 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
983 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
984 review the new rules.
986 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
987 scripts. Long rationale.
991 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
992 rules, please see below
995 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1002 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1005 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1006 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1008 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1009 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1011 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1012 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1013 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1014 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1016 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1017 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1020 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1027 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1028 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1029 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1032 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1033 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1034 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1037 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1038 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1041 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1042 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1045 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1048 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1051 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1055 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1057 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1058 fonts for the X Window System
1061 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1064 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1065 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1068 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1069 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1074 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1075 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1079 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1080 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1081 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1084 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1085 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1086 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1091 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1092 <p> Released Apr 2001
1096 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1097 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1100 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1101 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1102 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1103 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1107 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1109 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1113 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1114 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1115 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1119 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1121 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1125 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1126 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1130 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1132 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1136 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1137 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1141 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1143 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1147 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1148 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1149 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1152 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1153 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1154 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1155 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1158 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1163 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1165 <p> Released Aug 00.
1169 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1170 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1171 and the other without
1175 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1177 <p> Released Aug 00.
1181 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1182 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1183 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1186 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1187 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1188 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1191 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1192 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1195 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1199 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1201 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1203 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1204 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1205 calculation guidelines)
1208 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1210 <item>X application defaults </item>
1214 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1218 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1220 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1221 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1226 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1228 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1232 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1233 etc. Should not affect many packages
1237 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1239 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1243 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1244 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1248 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1250 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1251 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1252 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1255 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1256 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1257 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1258 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1262 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1263 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1264 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1265 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1268 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1269 <file>/var/lib</file>
1271 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1272 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1274 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1277 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1278 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1282 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1283 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1284 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1287 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1292 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1294 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1298 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1299 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1300 files must go in the run-time library package
1304 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1306 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1310 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1311 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1315 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1316 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1319 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1320 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1321 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1322 other major licenses
1325 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1326 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1329 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1332 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1335 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1336 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1337 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1340 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1341 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1342 installed setgid utmp
1346 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1349 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1351 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1355 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1357 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1358 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1359 Section 5 and Section 6.
1361 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1362 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1363 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1364 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1365 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1369 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1370 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1371 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1372 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1374 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1375 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1377 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1378 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1380 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1381 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1383 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1388 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1390 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1392 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1394 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1395 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1396 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1397 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1400 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1401 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1402 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1406 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1408 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1409 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1410 installs shared libraries
1411 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1415 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1417 <p> Released Jan 1998
1420 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1422 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1423 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1425 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1426 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1430 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1431 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1432 file extension as the referenced file
1435 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1436 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1437 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1440 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1442 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1443 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1444 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1448 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1449 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1450 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1453 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1454 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1455 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1456 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1460 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1461 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1465 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1466 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1467 reasonable default configuration
1470 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1471 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1472 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1475 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1477 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1478 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1480 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1481 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1485 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1486 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1491 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1493 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1496 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1497 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1498 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1501 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1502 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1505 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1508 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1510 <p> Released July 1997.
1513 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1516 where <arch> is one of the following:
1517 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1520 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1522 <item>user ID's</item>
1524 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1526 <item>cron jobs</item>
1528 <item>device files</item>
1530 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1532 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1535 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1537 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1540 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1543 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1545 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1547 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1549 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1553 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1555 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1558 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1561 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1563 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1566 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1568 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1569 without consultation </item>
1571 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1574 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1576 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1579 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>