1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.8.5.0
44 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
46 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
47 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
48 normal requirement to use <code>set -e</code> in each shell script.
52 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
59 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
60 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
61 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
64 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
65 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
68 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
69 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
73 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
79 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
80 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
83 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
84 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
85 may be used in different versions of the field.
88 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
89 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
92 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
95 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
96 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
97 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
98 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
101 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
102 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
103 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
106 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
107 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
110 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
111 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
112 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
116 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
117 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
118 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
119 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
120 support partial upgrades.
123 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
124 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
128 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
135 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
136 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
137 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
138 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
142 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
143 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
144 back on other methods.
147 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
151 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
152 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
155 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
156 <file>/var/mail</file>.
159 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
163 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
164 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
168 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
175 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
176 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
177 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
180 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
183 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
187 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
188 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
191 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
192 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
195 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
198 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
199 preceding whitespace.
202 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
203 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
204 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
205 behavior of the init system in Debian.
208 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
209 start the daemon again if it's already running.
212 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
213 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
214 subdirectories dynamically.
217 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
218 variable arguments and supports assignment.
221 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
222 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
226 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
233 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
234 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
235 system is now defined by priority.
237 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
238 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
240 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
241 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
242 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
243 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
244 unknown flags be ignored.
246 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
247 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
248 processes if the package supports it
250 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
251 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
254 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
255 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
256 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
257 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
258 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
259 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
262 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
264 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
267 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
268 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
269 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
270 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
271 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
272 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
274 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
275 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
276 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
279 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
280 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
283 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
284 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
287 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
288 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
289 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
290 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
291 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
292 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
295 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
296 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
298 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
299 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
302 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
305 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
312 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
313 anything, even the end of a part.
315 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
316 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
319 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
320 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
322 <tag>menu policy</tag>
323 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
324 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
325 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
326 sections would be more appropriate.
328 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
331 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
332 critical, or emergency.
334 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
335 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
336 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
339 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
340 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
341 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
343 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
344 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
347 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
353 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
354 should to a must)</item>
357 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
363 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
366 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
373 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
374 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
375 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
376 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
377 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
378 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
381 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
382 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
383 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
386 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
393 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
394 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
395 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
397 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
398 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
400 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
401 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
402 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
403 etc. may be of interest.
404 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
405 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
406 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
407 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
408 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
409 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
410 as well, to prepare for future changes.
412 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
413 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
414 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
417 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
418 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
420 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
421 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
422 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
423 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
427 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
434 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
437 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
438 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
439 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
442 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
443 allow packages to share image files with the web server
447 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
454 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
455 user prompts are now deprecated.
465 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
466 the minor version number:
468 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
469 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
470 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
471 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
472 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
473 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
474 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
475 deb-building tool-chain.
477 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
478 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
479 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
480 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
482 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
483 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
484 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
485 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
486 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
487 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
488 sections about changelog files.
489 <tag>menu policy</tag>
490 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
493 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
495 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
496 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
498 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
502 <sect> Version 3.5.10
509 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
510 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
513 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
514 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
517 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
524 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
525 full details of the long description format.
527 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
528 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
529 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
531 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
532 the init script should start the service.
534 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
535 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
536 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
539 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
546 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
547 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
548 documented in the changelog file.
550 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
551 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
553 <tag>menu policy</tag>
554 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
555 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
556 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
558 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
559 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
563 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
570 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
571 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
573 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
576 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
577 special Tasks: field in the control file.
579 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
580 they add themselves as an alternative for
581 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
583 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
584 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
585 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
586 environment variable.
588 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
589 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
590 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
591 review the new rules.
593 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
594 scripts. Long rationale.
598 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
599 rules, please see below
602 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
609 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
612 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
613 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
615 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
616 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
618 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
619 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
620 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
621 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
623 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
624 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
627 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
634 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
635 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
636 symlinks or .so pages to do this
639 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
640 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
641 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
644 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
645 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
648 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
649 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
652 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
655 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
658 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
662 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
664 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
665 fonts for the X Window System
668 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
671 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
672 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
675 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
676 OSF/Motif-linked ones
681 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
682 <p> Released Apr 2001.
686 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
687 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
688 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
691 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
692 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
693 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
698 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
699 <p> Released Apr 2001
703 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
704 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
707 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
708 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
709 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
710 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
714 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
716 <p> Released Feb 2001.
720 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
721 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
722 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
726 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
728 <p> Released Feb 2001.
732 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
733 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
737 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
739 <p> Released Jan 2001.
743 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
744 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
748 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
750 <p> Released Jan 2001.
754 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
755 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
756 <file>/etc/default/</file>
759 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
760 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
761 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
762 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
765 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
770 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
776 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
777 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
778 and the other without
782 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
788 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
789 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
790 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
793 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
794 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
795 should always be generated for the upstream changes
798 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
799 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
802 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
806 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
808 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
810 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
811 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
812 calculation guidelines)
815 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
817 <item>X application defaults </item>
821 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
825 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
827 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
828 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
833 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
835 <p> Released Nov 1999.
839 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
840 etc. Should not affect many packages
844 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
846 <p> Released Oct 1999.
850 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
851 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
855 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
857 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
858 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
859 but should use update-rc.d instead)
862 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
863 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
864 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
865 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
869 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
870 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
871 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
872 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
875 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
876 <file>/var/lib</file>
878 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
879 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
881 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
884 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
885 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
889 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
890 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
891 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
894 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
899 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
901 <p> Released Jul 1999.
905 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
906 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
907 files must go in the run-time library package
911 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
913 <p> Released Jun 1999.
917 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
918 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
922 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
923 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
926 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
927 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
928 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
932 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
933 include the .la files in the -dev packages
936 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
939 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
942 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
943 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
944 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
947 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
948 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
949 installed setgid utmp
953 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
956 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
958 <p> Released Oct 1998.
962 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
964 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
965 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
966 Section 5 and Section 6.
968 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
969 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
970 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
971 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
972 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
976 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
977 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
978 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
979 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
981 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
982 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
984 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
985 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
987 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
988 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
990 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
995 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
997 <p> Released Apr 1998.
999 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1001 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1002 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1003 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1004 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1007 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1008 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1009 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1013 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1015 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1016 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1017 installs shared libraries
1018 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1022 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1024 <p> Released Jan 1998
1027 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1029 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1030 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1032 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1033 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1037 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1038 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1039 file extension as the referenced file
1042 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1043 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1044 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1047 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1049 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1050 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1051 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1055 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1056 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1057 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1060 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1061 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1062 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1063 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1067 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1068 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1072 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1073 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1074 reasonable default configuration
1077 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1078 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1079 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1082 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1084 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1085 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1087 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1088 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1092 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1093 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1098 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1100 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1103 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1104 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1105 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1108 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1109 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1112 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1115 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1117 <p> Released July 1997.
1120 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1123 where <arch> is one of the following:
1124 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1127 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1129 <item>user ID's</item>
1131 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1133 <item>cron jobs</item>
1135 <item>device files</item>
1137 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1139 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1142 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1144 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1147 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1150 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1152 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1154 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1156 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1160 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1162 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1165 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1168 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1170 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1173 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1175 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1176 without consultation </item>
1178 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1181 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1183 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1186 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>