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 3.9.1.0
44 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
45 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
49 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
50 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
51 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
54 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
55 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
56 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
59 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
60 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
61 architecture-independent.
64 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
65 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
66 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
69 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
70 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
71 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
72 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
74 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
75 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
76 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
79 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
80 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
83 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
84 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
85 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
86 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
87 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
88 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
89 their <file>.la</file> files.
92 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
93 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
94 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
95 thread-safe if the library supports this.
97 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
98 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
99 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
100 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
101 for the corresponding manual page.
104 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
105 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
106 executables in those subdirectories.
109 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
110 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
115 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
121 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
122 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
123 Date control field is now precisely specified.
126 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
127 particular field name.
129 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
130 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
131 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
132 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
134 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
135 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
136 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
137 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
138 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
139 for <file>.changes</file> files.
142 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
146 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
149 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
150 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
151 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
152 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
156 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
157 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
158 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
159 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
160 question, but should avoid this if possible.
162 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
163 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
164 files between packages.
167 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
168 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
169 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
172 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
173 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
176 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
177 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
178 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
179 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
182 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
184 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
185 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
186 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
189 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
190 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
191 It should instead be included directly
192 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
193 common-licenses for the time being.
196 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
197 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
201 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
202 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
203 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
204 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
205 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
208 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
209 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
210 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
214 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
221 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
222 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
223 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
226 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
227 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
230 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
231 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
235 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
241 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
242 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
245 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
246 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
247 may be used in different versions of the field.
250 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
251 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
254 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
257 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
258 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
259 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
260 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
263 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
264 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
265 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
268 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
269 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
272 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
273 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
274 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
278 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
279 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
280 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
281 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
282 support partial upgrades.
285 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
286 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
290 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
297 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
298 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
299 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
300 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
304 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
305 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
306 back on other methods.
309 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
313 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
314 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
317 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
318 <file>/var/mail</file>.
321 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
325 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
326 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
330 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
337 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
338 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
339 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
342 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
345 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
349 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
350 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
353 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
354 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
357 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
360 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
361 preceding whitespace.
364 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
365 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
366 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
367 behavior of the init system in Debian.
370 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
371 start the daemon again if it's already running.
374 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
375 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
376 subdirectories dynamically.
379 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
380 variable arguments and supports assignment.
383 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
384 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
388 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
395 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
396 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
397 system is now defined by priority.
399 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
400 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
402 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
403 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
404 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
405 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
406 unknown flags be ignored.
408 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
409 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
410 processes if the package supports it
412 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
413 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
416 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
417 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
418 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
419 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
420 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
421 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
424 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
426 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
429 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
430 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
431 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
432 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
433 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
434 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
436 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
437 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
438 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
441 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
442 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
445 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
446 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
449 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
450 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
451 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
452 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
453 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
454 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
457 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
458 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
460 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
461 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
464 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
467 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
474 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
475 anything, even the end of a part.
477 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
478 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
481 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
482 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
484 <tag>menu policy</tag>
485 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
486 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
487 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
488 sections would be more appropriate.
490 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
493 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
494 critical, or emergency.
496 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
497 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
498 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
501 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
502 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
503 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
505 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
506 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
509 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
515 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
516 should to a must)</item>
519 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
525 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
528 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
535 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
536 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
537 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
538 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
539 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
540 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
543 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
544 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
545 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
548 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
555 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
556 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
557 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
559 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
560 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
562 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
563 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
564 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
565 etc. may be of interest.
566 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
567 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
568 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
569 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
570 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
571 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
572 as well, to prepare for future changes.
574 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
575 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
576 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
579 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
580 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
582 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
583 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
584 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
585 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
589 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
596 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
599 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
600 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
601 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
604 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
605 allow packages to share image files with the web server
609 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
616 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
617 user prompts are now deprecated.
627 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
628 the minor version number:
630 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
631 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
632 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
633 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
634 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
635 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
636 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
637 deb-building tool-chain.
639 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
640 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
641 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
642 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
644 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
645 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
646 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
647 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
648 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
649 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
650 sections about changelog files.
651 <tag>menu policy</tag>
652 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
655 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
657 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
658 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
660 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
664 <sect> Version 3.5.10
671 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
672 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
675 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
676 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
679 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
686 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
687 full details of the long description format.
689 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
690 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
691 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
693 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
694 the init script should start the service.
696 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
697 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
698 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
701 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
708 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
709 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
710 documented in the changelog file.
712 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
713 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
715 <tag>menu policy</tag>
716 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
717 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
718 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
720 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
721 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
725 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
732 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
733 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
735 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
738 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
739 special Tasks: field in the control file.
741 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
742 they add themselves as an alternative for
743 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
745 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
746 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
747 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
748 environment variable.
750 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
751 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
752 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
753 review the new rules.
755 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
756 scripts. Long rationale.
760 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
761 rules, please see below
764 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
771 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
774 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
775 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
777 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
778 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
780 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
781 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
782 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
783 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
785 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
786 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
789 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
796 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
797 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
798 symlinks or .so pages to do this
801 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
802 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
803 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
806 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
807 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
810 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
811 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
814 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
817 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
820 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
824 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
826 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
827 fonts for the X Window System
830 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
833 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
834 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
837 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
838 OSF/Motif-linked ones
843 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
844 <p> Released Apr 2001.
848 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
849 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
850 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
853 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
854 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
855 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
860 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
861 <p> Released Apr 2001
865 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
866 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
869 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
870 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
871 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
872 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
876 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
878 <p> Released Feb 2001.
882 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
883 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
884 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
888 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
890 <p> Released Feb 2001.
894 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
895 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
899 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
901 <p> Released Jan 2001.
905 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
906 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
910 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
912 <p> Released Jan 2001.
916 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
917 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
918 <file>/etc/default/</file>
921 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
922 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
923 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
924 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
927 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
932 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
938 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
939 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
940 and the other without
944 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
950 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
951 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
952 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
955 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
956 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
957 should always be generated for the upstream changes
960 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
961 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
964 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
968 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
970 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
972 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
973 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
974 calculation guidelines)
977 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
979 <item>X application defaults </item>
983 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
987 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
989 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
990 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
995 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
997 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1001 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1002 etc. Should not affect many packages
1006 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1008 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1012 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1013 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1017 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1019 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1020 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1021 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1024 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1025 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1026 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1027 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1031 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1032 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1033 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1034 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1037 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1038 <file>/var/lib</file>
1040 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1041 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1043 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1046 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1047 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1051 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1052 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1053 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1056 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1061 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1063 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1067 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1068 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1069 files must go in the run-time library package
1073 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1075 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1079 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1080 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1084 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1085 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1088 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1089 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1090 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1091 other major licenses
1094 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1095 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1098 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1101 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1104 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1105 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1106 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1109 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1110 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1111 installed setgid utmp
1115 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1118 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1120 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1124 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1126 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1127 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1128 Section 5 and Section 6.
1130 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1131 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1132 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1133 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1134 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1138 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1139 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1140 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1141 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1143 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1144 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1146 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1147 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1149 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1150 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1152 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1157 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1159 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1161 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1163 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1164 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1165 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1166 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1169 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1170 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1171 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1175 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1177 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1178 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1179 installs shared libraries
1180 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1184 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1186 <p> Released Jan 1998
1189 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1191 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1192 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1194 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1195 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1199 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1200 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1201 file extension as the referenced file
1204 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1205 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1206 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1209 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1211 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1212 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1213 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1217 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1218 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1219 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1222 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1223 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1224 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1225 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1229 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1230 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1234 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1235 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1236 reasonable default configuration
1239 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1240 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1241 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1244 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1246 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1247 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1249 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1250 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1254 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1255 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1260 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1262 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1265 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1266 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1267 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1270 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1271 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1274 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1277 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1279 <p> Released July 1997.
1282 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1285 where <arch> is one of the following:
1286 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1289 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1291 <item>user ID's</item>
1293 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1295 <item>cron jobs</item>
1297 <item>device files</item>
1299 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1301 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1304 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1306 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1309 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1312 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1314 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1316 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1318 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1322 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1324 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1327 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1330 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1332 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1335 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1337 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1338 without consultation </item>
1340 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1343 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1345 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1348 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>