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
43 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
44 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
45 Date control field is now precisely specified.
48 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
49 particular field name.
51 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
52 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
53 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
54 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
57 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
61 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
64 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
65 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
66 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
67 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
71 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
72 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
73 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
74 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
75 question, but should avoid this if possible.
78 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
79 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
80 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
81 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
84 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
86 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
87 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
88 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
91 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
92 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
93 It should instead be included directly
94 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
95 common-licenses for the time being.
98 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
99 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
103 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
104 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
105 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
106 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
107 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
110 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
111 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
112 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
116 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
123 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
124 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
125 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
128 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
129 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
132 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
133 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
137 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
143 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
144 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
147 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
148 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
149 may be used in different versions of the field.
152 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
153 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
156 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
159 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
160 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
161 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
162 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
165 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
166 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
167 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
170 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
171 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
174 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
175 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
176 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
180 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
181 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
182 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
183 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
184 support partial upgrades.
187 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
188 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
192 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
199 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
200 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
201 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
202 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
206 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
207 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
208 back on other methods.
211 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
215 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
216 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
219 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
220 <file>/var/mail</file>.
223 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
227 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
228 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
232 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
239 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
240 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
241 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
244 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
247 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
251 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
252 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
255 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
256 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
259 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
262 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
263 preceding whitespace.
266 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
267 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
268 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
269 behavior of the init system in Debian.
272 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
273 start the daemon again if it's already running.
276 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
277 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
278 subdirectories dynamically.
281 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
282 variable arguments and supports assignment.
285 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
286 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
290 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
297 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
298 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
299 system is now defined by priority.
301 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
302 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
304 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
305 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
306 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
307 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
308 unknown flags be ignored.
310 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
311 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
312 processes if the package supports it
314 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
315 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
318 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
319 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
320 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
321 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
322 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
323 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
326 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
328 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
331 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
332 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
333 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
334 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
335 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
336 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
338 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
339 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
340 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
343 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
344 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
347 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
348 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
351 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
352 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
353 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
354 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
355 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
356 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
359 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
360 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
362 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
363 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
366 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
369 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
376 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
377 anything, even the end of a part.
379 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
380 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
383 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
384 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
386 <tag>menu policy</tag>
387 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
388 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
389 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
390 sections would be more appropriate.
392 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
395 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
396 critical, or emergency.
398 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
399 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
400 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
403 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
404 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
405 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
407 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
408 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
411 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
417 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
418 should to a must)</item>
421 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
427 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
430 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
437 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
438 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
439 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
440 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
441 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
442 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
445 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
446 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
447 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
450 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
457 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
458 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
459 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
461 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
462 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
464 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
465 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
466 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
467 etc. may be of interest.
468 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
469 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
470 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
471 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
472 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
473 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
474 as well, to prepare for future changes.
476 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
477 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
478 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
481 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
482 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
484 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
485 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
486 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
487 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
491 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
498 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
501 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
502 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
503 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
506 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
507 allow packages to share image files with the web server
511 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
518 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
519 user prompts are now deprecated.
529 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
530 the minor version number:
532 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
533 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
534 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
535 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
536 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
537 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
538 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
539 deb-building tool-chain.
541 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
542 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
543 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
544 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
546 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
547 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
548 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
549 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
550 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
551 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
552 sections about changelog files.
553 <tag>menu policy</tag>
554 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
557 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
559 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
560 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
562 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
566 <sect> Version 3.5.10
573 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
574 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
577 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
578 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
581 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
588 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
589 full details of the long description format.
591 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
592 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
593 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
595 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
596 the init script should start the service.
598 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
599 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
600 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
603 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
610 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
611 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
612 documented in the changelog file.
614 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
615 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
617 <tag>menu policy</tag>
618 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
619 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
620 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
622 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
623 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
627 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
634 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
635 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
637 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
640 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
641 special Tasks: field in the control file.
643 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
644 they add themselves as an alternative for
645 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
647 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
648 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
649 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
650 environment variable.
652 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
653 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
654 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
655 review the new rules.
657 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
658 scripts. Long rationale.
662 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
663 rules, please see below
666 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
673 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
676 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
677 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
679 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
680 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
682 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
683 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
684 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
685 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
687 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
688 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
691 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
698 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
699 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
700 symlinks or .so pages to do this
703 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
704 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
705 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
708 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
709 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
712 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
713 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
716 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
719 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
722 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
726 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
728 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
729 fonts for the X Window System
732 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
735 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
736 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
739 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
740 OSF/Motif-linked ones
745 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
746 <p> Released Apr 2001.
750 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
751 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
752 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
755 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
756 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
757 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
762 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
763 <p> Released Apr 2001
767 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
768 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
771 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
772 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
773 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
774 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
778 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
780 <p> Released Feb 2001.
784 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
785 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
786 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
790 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
792 <p> Released Feb 2001.
796 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
797 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
801 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
803 <p> Released Jan 2001.
807 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
808 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
812 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
814 <p> Released Jan 2001.
818 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
819 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
820 <file>/etc/default/</file>
823 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
824 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
825 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
826 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
829 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
834 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
840 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
841 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
842 and the other without
846 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
852 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
853 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
854 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
857 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
858 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
859 should always be generated for the upstream changes
862 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
863 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
866 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
870 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
872 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
874 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
875 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
876 calculation guidelines)
879 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
881 <item>X application defaults </item>
885 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
889 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
891 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
892 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
897 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
899 <p> Released Nov 1999.
903 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
904 etc. Should not affect many packages
908 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
910 <p> Released Oct 1999.
914 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
915 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
919 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
921 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
922 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
923 but should use update-rc.d instead)
926 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
927 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
928 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
929 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
933 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
934 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
935 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
936 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
939 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
940 <file>/var/lib</file>
942 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
943 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
945 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
948 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
949 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
953 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
954 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
955 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
958 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
963 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
965 <p> Released Jul 1999.
969 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
970 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
971 files must go in the run-time library package
975 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
977 <p> Released Jun 1999.
981 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
982 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
986 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
987 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
990 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
991 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
992 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
996 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
997 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1000 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1003 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1006 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1007 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1008 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1011 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1012 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1013 installed setgid utmp
1017 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1020 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1022 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1026 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1028 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1029 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1030 Section 5 and Section 6.
1032 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1033 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1034 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1035 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1036 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1040 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1041 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1042 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1043 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1045 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1046 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1048 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1049 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1051 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1052 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1054 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1059 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1061 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1063 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1065 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1066 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1067 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1068 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1071 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1072 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1073 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1077 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1079 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1080 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1081 installs shared libraries
1082 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1086 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1088 <p> Released Jan 1998
1091 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1093 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1094 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1096 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1097 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1101 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1102 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1103 file extension as the referenced file
1106 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1107 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1108 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1111 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1113 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1114 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1115 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1119 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1120 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1121 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1124 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1125 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1126 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1127 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1131 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1132 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1136 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1137 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1138 reasonable default configuration
1141 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1142 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1143 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1146 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1148 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1149 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1151 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1152 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1156 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1157 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1162 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1164 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1167 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1168 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1169 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1172 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1173 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1176 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1179 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1181 <p> Released July 1997.
1184 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1187 where <arch> is one of the following:
1188 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1191 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1193 <item>user ID's</item>
1195 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1197 <item>cron jobs</item>
1199 <item>device files</item>
1201 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1203 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1206 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1208 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1211 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1214 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1216 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1218 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1220 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1224 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1226 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1229 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1232 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1234 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1237 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1239 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1240 without consultation </item>
1242 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1245 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1247 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1250 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>