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 3.9.3.0
44 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
45 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
48 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
49 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
50 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
53 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
56 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
57 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
58 they have been removed.
61 <item> Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
62 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
65 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
66 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
70 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
77 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
78 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
82 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
83 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
84 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
85 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
88 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
89 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
90 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
94 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
95 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
96 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
97 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
101 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
104 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
105 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
106 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
107 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
111 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
112 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
113 dependencies are now a should not.
116 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
117 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
118 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
119 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
120 actions if their dependencies are not available.
123 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
124 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
127 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
128 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
129 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
130 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
131 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
134 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
135 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
136 POSIX-required interface.
140 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
147 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
148 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
152 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
153 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
154 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
157 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
158 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
159 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
162 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
163 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
164 architecture-independent.
167 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
168 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
169 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
172 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
173 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
174 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
175 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
178 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
181 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
182 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
183 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
186 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
187 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
190 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
191 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
192 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
193 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
194 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
195 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
196 their <file>.la</file> files.
199 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
200 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
201 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
202 thread-safe if the library supports this.
205 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
206 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
207 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
208 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
209 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
212 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
213 logrotate rules is now recommended.
216 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
217 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
219 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
220 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
221 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
222 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
223 for the corresponding manual page.
226 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
227 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
228 executables in those subdirectories.
231 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
232 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
237 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
243 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
244 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
245 Date control field is now precisely specified.
248 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
249 particular field name.
251 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
252 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
253 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
254 documented and recommended.
256 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
257 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
258 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
259 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
260 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
261 for <file>.changes</file> files.
264 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
268 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
271 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
272 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
273 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
274 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
278 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
279 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
280 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
281 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
282 question, but should avoid this if possible.
284 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
285 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
286 files between packages.
289 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
290 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
291 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
294 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
295 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
298 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
299 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
300 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
301 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
304 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
306 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
307 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
308 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
311 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
312 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
313 It should instead be included directly
314 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
315 common-licenses for the time being.
318 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
319 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
320 template instead of a string to allow translation.
323 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
324 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
325 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
326 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
327 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
330 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
331 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
332 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
336 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
343 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
344 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
345 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
348 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
349 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
352 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
353 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
357 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
363 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
364 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
367 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
368 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
369 may be used in different versions of the field.
372 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
373 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
376 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
379 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
380 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
381 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
382 using them should be built with RPATH.
385 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
386 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
387 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
388 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
391 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
392 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
395 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
396 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
397 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
401 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
402 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
403 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
404 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
405 support partial upgrades.
408 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
409 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
413 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
420 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
421 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
422 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
423 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
427 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
428 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
429 back on other methods.
432 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
436 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
437 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
440 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
441 <file>/var/mail</file>.
444 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
448 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
449 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
453 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
460 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
461 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
462 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
465 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
468 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
472 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
473 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
476 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
477 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
480 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
483 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
484 with no preceding whitespace.
487 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
488 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
489 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
490 behavior of the init system in Debian.
493 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
494 start the daemon again if it's already running.
497 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
498 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
499 subdirectories dynamically.
502 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
503 variable arguments and supports assignment.
506 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
507 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
511 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
518 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
519 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
520 system is now defined by priority.
522 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
523 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
525 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
526 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
527 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
528 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
529 unknown flags be ignored.
531 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
532 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
533 processes if the package supports it
535 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
536 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
539 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
540 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
541 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
542 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
543 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
544 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
547 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
549 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
552 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
553 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
554 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
555 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
556 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
557 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
559 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
560 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
561 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
564 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
565 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
568 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
569 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
572 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
573 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
574 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
575 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
576 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
577 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
580 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
581 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
583 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
584 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
587 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
590 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
597 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
598 anything, even the end of a part.
600 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
601 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
604 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
605 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
607 <tag>menu policy</tag>
608 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
609 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
610 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
611 sections would be more appropriate.
613 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
616 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
617 critical, or emergency.
619 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
620 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
621 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
624 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
625 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
626 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
628 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
629 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
632 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
638 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
639 should to a must)</item>
642 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
648 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
651 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
658 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
659 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
660 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
661 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
662 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
663 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
666 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
667 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
668 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
671 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
678 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
679 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
680 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
682 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
683 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
685 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
686 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
687 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
688 etc. may be of interest.
689 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
690 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
691 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
692 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
693 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
694 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
695 as well, to prepare for future changes.
697 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
698 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
699 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
702 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
703 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
705 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
706 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
707 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
708 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
712 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
719 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
722 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
723 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
724 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
727 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
728 allow packages to share image files with the web server
732 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
739 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
740 user prompts are now deprecated.
750 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
751 the minor version number:
753 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
754 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
755 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
756 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
757 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
758 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
759 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
760 deb-building tool-chain.
762 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
763 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
764 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
765 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
767 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
768 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
769 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
770 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
771 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
772 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
773 sections about changelog files.
774 <tag>menu policy</tag>
775 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
778 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
780 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
781 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
783 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
787 <sect> Version 3.5.10
794 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
795 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
798 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
799 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
802 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
809 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
810 full details of the long description format.
812 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
813 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
814 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
816 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
817 the init script should start the service.
819 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
820 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
821 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
824 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
831 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
832 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
833 documented in the changelog file.
835 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
836 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
838 <tag>menu policy</tag>
839 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
840 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
841 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
843 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
844 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
848 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
855 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
856 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
858 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
861 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
862 special Tasks: field in the control file.
864 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
865 they add themselves as an alternative for
866 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
868 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
869 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
870 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
871 environment variable.
873 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
874 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
875 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
876 review the new rules.
878 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
879 scripts. Long rationale.
883 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
884 rules, please see below
887 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
894 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
897 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
898 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
900 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
901 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
903 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
904 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
905 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
906 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
908 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
909 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
912 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
919 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
920 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
921 symlinks or .so pages to do this
924 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
925 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
926 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
929 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
930 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
933 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
934 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
937 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
940 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
943 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
947 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
949 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
950 fonts for the X Window System
953 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
956 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
957 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
960 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
961 OSF/Motif-linked ones
966 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
967 <p> Released Apr 2001.
971 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
972 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
973 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
976 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
977 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
978 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
983 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
984 <p> Released Apr 2001
988 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
989 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
992 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
993 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
994 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
995 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
999 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
1001 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1005 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1006 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1007 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1011 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
1013 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1017 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1018 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1022 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
1024 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1028 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1029 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1033 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
1035 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1039 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1040 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1041 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1044 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1045 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1046 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1047 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1050 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1055 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
1057 <p> Released Aug 00.
1061 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1062 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1063 and the other without
1067 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
1069 <p> Released Aug 00.
1073 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1074 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1075 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1078 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1079 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1080 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1083 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1084 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1087 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1091 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1093 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1095 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1096 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1097 calculation guidelines)
1100 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1102 <item>X application defaults </item>
1106 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1110 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1112 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1113 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1118 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1120 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1124 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1125 etc. Should not affect many packages
1129 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1131 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1135 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1136 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1140 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1142 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1143 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1144 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1147 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1148 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1149 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1150 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1154 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1155 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1156 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1157 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1160 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1161 <file>/var/lib</file>
1163 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1164 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1166 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1169 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1170 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1174 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1175 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1176 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1179 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1184 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1186 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1190 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1191 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1192 files must go in the run-time library package
1196 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1198 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1202 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1203 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1207 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1208 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1211 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1212 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1213 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1214 other major licenses
1217 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1218 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1221 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1224 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1227 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1228 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1229 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1232 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1233 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1234 installed setgid utmp
1238 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1241 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1243 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1247 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1249 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1250 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1251 Section 5 and Section 6.
1253 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1254 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1255 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1256 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1257 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1261 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1262 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1263 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1264 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1266 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1267 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1269 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1270 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1272 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1273 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1275 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1280 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1282 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1284 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1286 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1287 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1288 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1289 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1292 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1293 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1294 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1298 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1300 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1301 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1302 installs shared libraries
1303 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1307 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1309 <p> Released Jan 1998
1312 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1314 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1315 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1317 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1318 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1322 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1323 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1324 file extension as the referenced file
1327 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1328 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1329 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1332 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1334 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1335 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1336 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1340 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1341 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1342 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1345 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1346 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1347 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1348 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1352 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1353 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1357 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1358 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1359 reasonable default configuration
1362 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1363 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1364 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1367 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1369 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1370 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1372 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1373 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1377 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1378 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1383 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1385 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1388 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1389 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1390 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1393 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1394 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1397 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1400 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1402 <p> Released July 1997.
1405 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1408 where <arch> is one of the following:
1409 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1412 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1414 <item>user ID's</item>
1416 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1418 <item>cron jobs</item>
1420 <item>device files</item>
1422 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1424 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1427 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1429 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1432 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1435 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1437 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1439 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1441 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1445 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1447 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1450 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1453 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1455 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1458 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1460 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1461 without consultation </item>
1463 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1466 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1468 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1471 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>