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>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
45 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
46 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
48 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
49 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
50 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
53 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
54 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
57 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
58 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
59 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
60 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
61 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
62 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
63 their <file>.la</file> files.
66 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
67 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
72 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
78 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
79 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
80 Date control field is now precisely specified.
83 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
84 particular field name.
86 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
87 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
88 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
89 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
91 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
92 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
93 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
94 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
95 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
96 for <file>.changes</file> files.
99 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
103 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
106 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
107 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
108 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
109 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
113 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
114 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
115 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
116 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
117 question, but should avoid this if possible.
119 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
120 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
121 files between packages.
124 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
125 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
126 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
129 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
130 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
133 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
134 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
135 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
136 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
139 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
141 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
142 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
143 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
146 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
147 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
148 It should instead be included directly
149 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
150 common-licenses for the time being.
153 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
154 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
158 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
159 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
160 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
161 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
162 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
165 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
166 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
167 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
171 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
178 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
179 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
180 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
183 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
184 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
187 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
188 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
192 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
198 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
199 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
202 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
203 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
204 may be used in different versions of the field.
207 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
208 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
211 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
214 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
215 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
216 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
217 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
220 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
221 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
222 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
225 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
226 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
229 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
230 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
231 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
235 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
236 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
237 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
238 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
239 support partial upgrades.
242 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
243 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
247 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
254 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
255 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
256 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
257 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
261 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
262 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
263 back on other methods.
266 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
270 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
271 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
274 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
275 <file>/var/mail</file>.
278 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
282 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
283 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
287 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
294 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
295 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
296 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
299 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
302 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
306 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
307 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
310 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
311 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
314 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
317 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
318 preceding whitespace.
321 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
322 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
323 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
324 behavior of the init system in Debian.
327 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
328 start the daemon again if it's already running.
331 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
332 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
333 subdirectories dynamically.
336 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
337 variable arguments and supports assignment.
340 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
341 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
345 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
352 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
353 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
354 system is now defined by priority.
356 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
357 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
359 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
360 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
361 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
362 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
363 unknown flags be ignored.
365 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
366 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
367 processes if the package supports it
369 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
370 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
373 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
374 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
375 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
376 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
377 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
378 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
381 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
383 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
386 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
387 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
388 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
389 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
390 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
391 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
393 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
394 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
395 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
398 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
399 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
402 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
403 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
406 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
407 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
408 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
409 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
410 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
411 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
414 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
415 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
417 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
418 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
421 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
424 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
431 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
432 anything, even the end of a part.
434 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
435 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
438 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
439 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
441 <tag>menu policy</tag>
442 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
443 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
444 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
445 sections would be more appropriate.
447 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
450 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
451 critical, or emergency.
453 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
454 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
455 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
458 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
459 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
460 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
462 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
463 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
466 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
472 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
473 should to a must)</item>
476 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
482 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
485 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
492 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
493 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
494 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
495 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
496 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
497 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
500 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
501 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
502 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
505 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
512 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
513 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
514 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
516 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
517 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
519 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
520 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
521 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
522 etc. may be of interest.
523 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
524 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
525 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
526 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
527 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
528 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
529 as well, to prepare for future changes.
531 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
532 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
533 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
536 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
537 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
539 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
540 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
541 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
542 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
546 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
553 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
556 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
557 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
558 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
561 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
562 allow packages to share image files with the web server
566 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
573 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
574 user prompts are now deprecated.
584 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
585 the minor version number:
587 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
588 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
589 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
590 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
591 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
592 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
593 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
594 deb-building tool-chain.
596 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
597 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
598 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
599 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
601 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
602 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
603 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
604 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
605 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
606 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
607 sections about changelog files.
608 <tag>menu policy</tag>
609 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
612 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
614 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
615 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
617 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
621 <sect> Version 3.5.10
628 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
629 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
632 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
633 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
636 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
643 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
644 full details of the long description format.
646 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
647 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
648 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
650 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
651 the init script should start the service.
653 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
654 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
655 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
658 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
665 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
666 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
667 documented in the changelog file.
669 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
670 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
672 <tag>menu policy</tag>
673 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
674 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
675 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
677 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
678 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
682 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
689 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
690 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
692 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
695 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
696 special Tasks: field in the control file.
698 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
699 they add themselves as an alternative for
700 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
702 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
703 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
704 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
705 environment variable.
707 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
708 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
709 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
710 review the new rules.
712 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
713 scripts. Long rationale.
717 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
718 rules, please see below
721 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
728 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
731 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
732 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
734 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
735 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
737 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
738 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
739 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
740 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
742 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
743 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
746 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
753 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
754 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
755 symlinks or .so pages to do this
758 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
759 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
760 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
763 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
764 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
767 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
768 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
771 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
774 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
777 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
781 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
783 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
784 fonts for the X Window System
787 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
790 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
791 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
794 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
795 OSF/Motif-linked ones
800 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
801 <p> Released Apr 2001.
805 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
806 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
807 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
810 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
811 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
812 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
817 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
818 <p> Released Apr 2001
822 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
823 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
826 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
827 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
828 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
829 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
833 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
835 <p> Released Feb 2001.
839 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
840 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
841 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
845 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
847 <p> Released Feb 2001.
851 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
852 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
856 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
858 <p> Released Jan 2001.
862 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
863 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
867 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
869 <p> Released Jan 2001.
873 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
874 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
875 <file>/etc/default/</file>
878 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
879 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
880 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
881 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
884 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
889 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
895 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
896 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
897 and the other without
901 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
907 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
908 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
909 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
912 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
913 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
914 should always be generated for the upstream changes
917 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
918 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
921 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
925 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
927 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
929 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
930 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
931 calculation guidelines)
934 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
936 <item>X application defaults </item>
940 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
944 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
946 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
947 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
952 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
954 <p> Released Nov 1999.
958 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
959 etc. Should not affect many packages
963 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
965 <p> Released Oct 1999.
969 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
970 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
974 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
976 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
977 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
978 but should use update-rc.d instead)
981 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
982 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
983 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
984 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
988 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
989 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
990 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
991 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
994 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
995 <file>/var/lib</file>
997 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
998 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1000 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1003 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1004 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1008 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1009 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1010 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1013 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1018 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1020 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1024 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1025 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1026 files must go in the run-time library package
1030 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1032 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1036 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1037 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1041 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1042 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1045 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1046 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1047 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1048 other major licenses
1051 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1052 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1055 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1058 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1061 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1062 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1063 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1066 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1067 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1068 installed setgid utmp
1072 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1075 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1077 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1081 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1083 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1084 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1085 Section 5 and Section 6.
1087 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1088 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1089 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1090 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1091 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1095 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1096 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1097 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1098 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1100 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1101 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1103 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1104 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1106 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1107 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1109 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1114 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1116 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1118 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1120 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1121 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1122 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1123 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1126 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1127 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1128 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1132 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1134 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1135 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1136 installs shared libraries
1137 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1141 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1143 <p> Released Jan 1998
1146 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1148 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1149 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1151 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1152 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1156 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1157 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1158 file extension as the referenced file
1161 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1162 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1163 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1166 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1168 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1169 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1170 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1174 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1175 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1176 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1179 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1180 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1181 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1182 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1186 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1187 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1191 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1192 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1193 reasonable default configuration
1196 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1197 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1198 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1201 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1203 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1204 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1206 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1207 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1211 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1212 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1217 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1219 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1222 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1223 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1224 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1227 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1228 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1231 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1234 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1236 <p> Released July 1997.
1239 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1242 where <arch> is one of the following:
1243 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1246 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1248 <item>user ID's</item>
1250 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1252 <item>cron jobs</item>
1254 <item>device files</item>
1256 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1258 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1261 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1263 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1266 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1269 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1271 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1273 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1275 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1279 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1281 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1284 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1287 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1289 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1292 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1294 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1295 without consultation </item>
1297 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1300 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1302 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1305 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>