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 3.9.2.0
44 <item>Clarify the duties of a maintainer, require that the maintainer
45 address accept mail from Debian role accounts and the BTS, and require
46 at least one human with their personal email address
47 in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email address.
50 <item><tt>mailx</tt> added as a virtual package provided by packages
51 that install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
52 POSIX-required interface.
56 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
63 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
64 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
68 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
69 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
70 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
73 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
74 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
75 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
78 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
79 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
80 architecture-independent.
83 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
84 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
85 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
88 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
89 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
90 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
91 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
94 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
97 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
98 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
99 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
102 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
103 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
106 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
107 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
108 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
109 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
110 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
111 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
112 their <file>.la</file> files.
115 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
116 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
117 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
118 thread-safe if the library supports this.
121 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
122 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
123 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
124 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
125 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
128 <item>Recommend <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
132 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
133 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
135 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
136 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
137 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
138 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
139 for the corresponding manual page.
142 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
143 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
144 executables in those subdirectories.
147 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
148 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
153 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
159 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
160 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
161 Date control field is now precisely specified.
164 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
165 particular field name.
167 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
168 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
169 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
170 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
172 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
173 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
174 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
175 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
176 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
177 for <file>.changes</file> files.
180 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
184 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
187 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
188 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
189 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
190 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
194 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
195 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
196 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
197 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
198 question, but should avoid this if possible.
200 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
201 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
202 files between packages.
205 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
206 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
207 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
210 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
211 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
214 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
215 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
216 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
217 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
220 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
222 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
223 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
224 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
227 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
228 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
229 It should instead be included directly
230 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
231 common-licenses for the time being.
234 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
235 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
239 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
240 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
241 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
242 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
243 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
246 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
247 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
248 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
252 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
259 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
260 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
261 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
264 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
265 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
268 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
269 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
273 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
279 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
280 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
283 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
284 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
285 may be used in different versions of the field.
288 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
289 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
292 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
295 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
296 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
297 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
298 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
301 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
302 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
303 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
306 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
307 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
310 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
311 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
312 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
316 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
317 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
318 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
319 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
320 support partial upgrades.
323 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
324 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
328 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
335 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
336 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
337 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
338 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
342 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
343 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
344 back on other methods.
347 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
351 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
352 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
355 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
356 <file>/var/mail</file>.
359 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
363 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
364 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
368 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
375 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
376 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
377 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
380 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
383 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
387 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
388 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
391 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
392 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
395 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
398 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
399 preceding whitespace.
402 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
403 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
404 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
405 behavior of the init system in Debian.
408 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
409 start the daemon again if it's already running.
412 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
413 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
414 subdirectories dynamically.
417 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
418 variable arguments and supports assignment.
421 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
422 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
426 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
433 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
434 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
435 system is now defined by priority.
437 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
438 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
440 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
441 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
442 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
443 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
444 unknown flags be ignored.
446 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
447 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
448 processes if the package supports it
450 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
451 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
454 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
455 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
456 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
457 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
458 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
459 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
462 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
464 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
467 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
468 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
469 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
470 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
471 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
472 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
474 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
475 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
476 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
479 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
480 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
483 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
484 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
487 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
488 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
489 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
490 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
491 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
492 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
495 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
496 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
498 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
499 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
502 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
505 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
512 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
513 anything, even the end of a part.
515 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
516 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
519 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
520 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
522 <tag>menu policy</tag>
523 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
524 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
525 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
526 sections would be more appropriate.
528 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
531 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
532 critical, or emergency.
534 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
535 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
536 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
539 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
540 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
541 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
543 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
544 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
547 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
553 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
554 should to a must)</item>
557 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
563 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
566 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
573 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
574 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
575 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
576 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
577 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
578 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
581 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
582 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
583 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
586 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
593 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
594 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
595 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
597 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
598 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
600 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
601 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
602 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
603 etc. may be of interest.
604 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
605 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
606 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
607 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
608 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
609 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
610 as well, to prepare for future changes.
612 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
613 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
614 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
617 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
618 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
620 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
621 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
622 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
623 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
627 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
634 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
637 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
638 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
639 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
642 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
643 allow packages to share image files with the web server
647 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
654 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
655 user prompts are now deprecated.
665 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
666 the minor version number:
668 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
669 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
670 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
671 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
672 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
673 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
674 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
675 deb-building tool-chain.
677 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
678 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
679 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
680 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
682 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
683 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
684 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
685 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
686 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
687 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
688 sections about changelog files.
689 <tag>menu policy</tag>
690 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
693 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
695 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
696 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
698 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
702 <sect> Version 3.5.10
709 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
710 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
713 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
714 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
717 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
724 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
725 full details of the long description format.
727 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
728 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
729 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
731 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
732 the init script should start the service.
734 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
735 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
736 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
739 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
746 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
747 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
748 documented in the changelog file.
750 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
751 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
753 <tag>menu policy</tag>
754 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
755 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
756 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
758 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
759 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
763 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
770 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
771 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
773 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
776 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
777 special Tasks: field in the control file.
779 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
780 they add themselves as an alternative for
781 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
783 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
784 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
785 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
786 environment variable.
788 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
789 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
790 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
791 review the new rules.
793 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
794 scripts. Long rationale.
798 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
799 rules, please see below
802 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
809 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
812 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
813 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
815 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
816 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
818 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
819 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
820 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
821 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
823 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
824 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
827 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
834 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
835 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
836 symlinks or .so pages to do this
839 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
840 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
841 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
844 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
845 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
848 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
849 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
852 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
855 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
858 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
862 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
864 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
865 fonts for the X Window System
868 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
871 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
872 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
875 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
876 OSF/Motif-linked ones
881 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
882 <p> Released Apr 2001.
886 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
887 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
888 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
891 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
892 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
893 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
898 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
899 <p> Released Apr 2001
903 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
904 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
907 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
908 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
909 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
910 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
914 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
916 <p> Released Feb 2001.
920 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
921 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
922 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
926 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
928 <p> Released Feb 2001.
932 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
933 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
937 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
939 <p> Released Jan 2001.
943 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
944 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
948 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
950 <p> Released Jan 2001.
954 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
955 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
956 <file>/etc/default/</file>
959 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
960 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
961 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
962 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
965 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
970 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
976 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
977 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
978 and the other without
982 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
988 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
989 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
990 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
993 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
994 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
995 should always be generated for the upstream changes
998 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
999 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1002 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1006 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1008 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1010 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1011 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1012 calculation guidelines)
1015 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1017 <item>X application defaults </item>
1021 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1025 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1027 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1028 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1033 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1035 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1039 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1040 etc. Should not affect many packages
1044 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1046 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1050 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1051 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1055 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1057 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1058 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1059 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1062 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1063 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1064 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1065 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1069 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1070 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1071 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1072 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1075 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1076 <file>/var/lib</file>
1078 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1079 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1081 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1084 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1085 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1089 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1090 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1091 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1094 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1099 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1101 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1105 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1106 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1107 files must go in the run-time library package
1111 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1113 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1117 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1118 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1122 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1123 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1126 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1127 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1128 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1129 other major licenses
1132 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1133 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1136 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1139 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1142 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1143 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1144 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1147 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1148 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1149 installed setgid utmp
1153 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1156 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1158 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1162 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1164 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1165 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1166 Section 5 and Section 6.
1168 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1169 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1170 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1171 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1172 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1176 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1177 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1178 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1179 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1181 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1182 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1184 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1185 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1187 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1188 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1190 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1195 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1197 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1199 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1201 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1202 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1203 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1204 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1207 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1208 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1209 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1213 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1215 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1216 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1217 installs shared libraries
1218 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1222 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1224 <p> Released Jan 1998
1227 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1229 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1230 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1232 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1233 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1237 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1238 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1239 file extension as the referenced file
1242 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1243 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1244 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1247 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1249 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1250 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1251 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1255 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1256 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1257 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1260 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1261 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1262 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1263 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1267 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1268 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1272 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1273 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1274 reasonable default configuration
1277 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1278 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1279 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1282 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1284 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1285 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1287 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1288 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1292 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1293 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1298 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1300 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1303 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1304 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1305 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1308 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1309 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1312 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1315 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1317 <p> Released July 1997.
1320 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1323 where <arch> is one of the following:
1324 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1327 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1329 <item>user ID's</item>
1331 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1333 <item>cron jobs</item>
1335 <item>device files</item>
1337 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1339 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1342 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1344 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1347 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1350 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1352 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1354 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1356 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1360 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1362 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1365 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1368 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1370 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1373 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1375 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1376 without consultation </item>
1378 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1381 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1383 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1386 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>