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>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
45 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
50 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
56 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
57 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
58 Date control field is now precisely specified.
61 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
62 particular field name.
64 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
65 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
66 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
67 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
69 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
70 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
71 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
72 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
73 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
74 for <file>.changes</file> files.
77 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
81 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
84 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
85 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
86 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
87 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
91 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
92 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
93 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
94 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
95 question, but should avoid this if possible.
98 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
99 files between packages.
102 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
103 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
104 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
107 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
108 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
111 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
112 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
113 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
114 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
117 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
119 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
120 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
121 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
124 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
125 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
126 It should instead be included directly
127 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
128 common-licenses for the time being.
131 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
132 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
136 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
137 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
138 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
139 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
140 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
143 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
144 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
145 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
149 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
156 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
157 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
158 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
161 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
162 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
165 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
166 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
170 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
176 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
177 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
180 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
181 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
182 may be used in different versions of the field.
185 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
186 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
189 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
192 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
193 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
194 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
195 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
198 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
199 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
200 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
203 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
204 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
207 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
208 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
209 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
213 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
214 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
215 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
216 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
217 support partial upgrades.
220 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
221 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
225 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
232 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
233 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
234 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
235 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
239 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
240 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
241 back on other methods.
244 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
248 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
249 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
252 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
253 <file>/var/mail</file>.
256 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
260 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
261 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
265 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
272 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
273 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
274 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
277 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
280 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
284 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
285 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
288 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
289 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
292 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
295 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
296 preceding whitespace.
299 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
300 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
301 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
302 behavior of the init system in Debian.
305 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
306 start the daemon again if it's already running.
309 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
310 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
311 subdirectories dynamically.
314 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
315 variable arguments and supports assignment.
318 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
319 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
323 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
330 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
331 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
332 system is now defined by priority.
334 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
335 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
337 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
338 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
339 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
340 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
341 unknown flags be ignored.
343 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
344 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
345 processes if the package supports it
347 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
348 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
351 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
352 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
353 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
354 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
355 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
356 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
359 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
361 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
364 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
365 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
366 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
367 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
368 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
369 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
371 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
372 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
373 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
376 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
377 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
380 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
381 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
384 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
385 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
386 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
387 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
388 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
389 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
392 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
393 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
395 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
396 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
399 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
402 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
409 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
410 anything, even the end of a part.
412 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
413 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
416 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
417 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
419 <tag>menu policy</tag>
420 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
421 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
422 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
423 sections would be more appropriate.
425 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
428 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
429 critical, or emergency.
431 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
432 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
433 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
436 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
437 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
438 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
440 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
441 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
444 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
450 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
451 should to a must)</item>
454 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
460 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
463 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
470 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
471 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
472 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
473 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
474 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
475 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
478 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
479 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
480 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
483 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
490 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
491 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
492 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
494 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
495 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
497 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
498 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
499 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
500 etc. may be of interest.
501 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
502 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
503 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
504 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
505 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
506 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
507 as well, to prepare for future changes.
509 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
510 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
511 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
514 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
515 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
517 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
518 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
519 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
520 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
524 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
531 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
534 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
535 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
536 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
539 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
540 allow packages to share image files with the web server
544 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
551 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
552 user prompts are now deprecated.
562 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
563 the minor version number:
565 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
566 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
567 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
568 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
569 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
570 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
571 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
572 deb-building tool-chain.
574 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
575 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
576 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
577 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
579 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
580 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
581 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
582 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
583 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
584 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
585 sections about changelog files.
586 <tag>menu policy</tag>
587 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
590 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
592 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
593 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
595 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
599 <sect> Version 3.5.10
606 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
607 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
610 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
611 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
614 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
621 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
622 full details of the long description format.
624 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
625 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
626 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
628 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
629 the init script should start the service.
631 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
632 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
633 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
636 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
643 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
644 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
645 documented in the changelog file.
647 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
648 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
650 <tag>menu policy</tag>
651 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
652 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
653 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
655 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
656 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
660 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
667 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
668 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
670 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
673 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
674 special Tasks: field in the control file.
676 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
677 they add themselves as an alternative for
678 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
680 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
681 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
682 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
683 environment variable.
685 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
686 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
687 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
688 review the new rules.
690 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
691 scripts. Long rationale.
695 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
696 rules, please see below
699 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
706 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
709 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
710 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
712 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
713 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
715 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
716 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
717 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
718 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
720 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
721 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
724 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
731 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
732 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
733 symlinks or .so pages to do this
736 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
737 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
738 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
741 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
742 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
745 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
746 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
749 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
752 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
755 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
759 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
761 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
762 fonts for the X Window System
765 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
768 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
769 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
772 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
773 OSF/Motif-linked ones
778 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
779 <p> Released Apr 2001.
783 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
784 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
785 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
788 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
789 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
790 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
795 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
796 <p> Released Apr 2001
800 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
801 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
804 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
805 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
806 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
807 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
811 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
813 <p> Released Feb 2001.
817 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
818 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
819 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
823 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
825 <p> Released Feb 2001.
829 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
830 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
834 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
836 <p> Released Jan 2001.
840 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
841 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
845 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
847 <p> Released Jan 2001.
851 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
852 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
853 <file>/etc/default/</file>
856 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
857 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
858 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
859 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
862 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
867 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
873 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
874 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
875 and the other without
879 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
885 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
886 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
887 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
890 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
891 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
892 should always be generated for the upstream changes
895 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
896 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
899 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
903 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
905 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
907 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
908 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
909 calculation guidelines)
912 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
914 <item>X application defaults </item>
918 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
922 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
924 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
925 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
930 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
932 <p> Released Nov 1999.
936 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
937 etc. Should not affect many packages
941 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
943 <p> Released Oct 1999.
947 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
948 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
952 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
954 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
955 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
956 but should use update-rc.d instead)
959 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
960 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
961 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
962 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
966 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
967 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
968 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
969 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
972 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
973 <file>/var/lib</file>
975 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
976 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
978 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
981 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
982 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
986 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
987 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
988 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
991 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
996 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
998 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1002 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1003 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1004 files must go in the run-time library package
1008 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1010 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1014 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1015 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1019 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1020 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1023 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1024 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1025 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1026 other major licenses
1029 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1030 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1033 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1036 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1039 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1040 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1041 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1044 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1045 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1046 installed setgid utmp
1050 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1053 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1055 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1059 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1061 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1062 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1063 Section 5 and Section 6.
1065 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1066 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1067 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1068 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1069 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1073 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1074 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1075 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1076 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1078 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1079 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1081 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1082 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1084 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1085 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1087 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1092 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1094 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1096 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1098 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1099 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1100 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1101 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1104 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1105 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1106 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1110 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1112 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1113 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1114 installs shared libraries
1115 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1119 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1121 <p> Released Jan 1998
1124 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1126 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1127 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1129 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1130 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1134 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1135 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1136 file extension as the referenced file
1139 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1140 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1141 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1144 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1146 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1147 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1148 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1152 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1153 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1154 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1157 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1158 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1159 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1160 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1164 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1165 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1169 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1170 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1171 reasonable default configuration
1174 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1175 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1176 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1179 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1181 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1182 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1184 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1185 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1189 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1190 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1195 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1197 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1200 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1201 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1202 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1205 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1206 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1209 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1212 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1214 <p> Released July 1997.
1217 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1220 where <arch> is one of the following:
1221 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1224 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1226 <item>user ID's</item>
1228 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1230 <item>cron jobs</item>
1232 <item>device files</item>
1234 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1236 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1239 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1241 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1244 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1247 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1249 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1251 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1253 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1257 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1259 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1262 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1265 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1267 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1270 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1272 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1273 without consultation </item>
1275 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1278 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1280 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1283 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>