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>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
45 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
46 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
47 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
48 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
49 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
50 their <file>.la</file> files.
53 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
54 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
59 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
65 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
66 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
67 Date control field is now precisely specified.
70 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
71 particular field name.
73 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
74 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
75 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
76 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
78 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
79 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
80 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
81 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
82 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
83 for <file>.changes</file> files.
86 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
90 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
93 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
94 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
95 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
96 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
100 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
101 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
102 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
103 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
104 question, but should avoid this if possible.
106 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
107 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
108 files between packages.
111 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
112 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
113 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
116 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
117 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
120 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
121 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
122 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
123 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
126 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
128 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
129 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
130 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
133 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
134 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
135 It should instead be included directly
136 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
137 common-licenses for the time being.
140 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
141 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
145 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
146 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
147 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
148 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
149 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
152 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
153 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
154 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
158 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
165 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
166 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
167 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
170 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
171 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
174 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
175 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
179 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
185 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
186 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
189 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
190 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
191 may be used in different versions of the field.
194 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
195 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
198 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
201 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
202 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
203 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
204 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
207 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
208 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
209 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
212 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
213 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
216 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
217 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
218 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
222 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
223 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
224 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
225 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
226 support partial upgrades.
229 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
230 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
234 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
241 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
242 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
243 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
244 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
248 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
249 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
250 back on other methods.
253 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
257 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
258 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
261 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
262 <file>/var/mail</file>.
265 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
269 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
270 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
274 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
281 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
282 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
283 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
286 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
289 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
293 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
294 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
297 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
298 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
301 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
304 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
305 preceding whitespace.
308 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
309 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
310 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
311 behavior of the init system in Debian.
314 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
315 start the daemon again if it's already running.
318 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
319 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
320 subdirectories dynamically.
323 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
324 variable arguments and supports assignment.
327 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
328 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
332 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
339 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
340 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
341 system is now defined by priority.
343 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
344 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
346 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
347 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
348 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
349 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
350 unknown flags be ignored.
352 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
353 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
354 processes if the package supports it
356 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
357 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
360 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
361 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
362 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
363 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
364 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
365 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
368 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
370 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
373 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
374 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
375 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
376 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
377 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
378 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
380 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
381 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
382 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
385 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
386 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
389 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
390 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
393 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
394 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
395 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
396 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
397 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
398 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
401 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
402 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
404 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
405 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
408 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
411 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
418 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
419 anything, even the end of a part.
421 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
422 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
425 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
426 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
428 <tag>menu policy</tag>
429 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
430 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
431 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
432 sections would be more appropriate.
434 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
437 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
438 critical, or emergency.
440 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
441 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
442 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
445 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
446 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
447 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
449 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
450 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
453 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
459 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
460 should to a must)</item>
463 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
469 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
472 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
479 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
480 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
481 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
482 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
483 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
484 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
487 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
488 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
489 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
492 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
499 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
500 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
501 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
503 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
504 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
506 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
507 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
508 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
509 etc. may be of interest.
510 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
511 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
512 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
513 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
514 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
515 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
516 as well, to prepare for future changes.
518 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
519 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
520 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
523 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
524 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
526 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
527 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
528 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
529 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
533 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
540 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
543 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
544 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
545 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
548 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
549 allow packages to share image files with the web server
553 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
560 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
561 user prompts are now deprecated.
571 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
572 the minor version number:
574 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
575 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
576 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
577 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
578 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
579 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
580 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
581 deb-building tool-chain.
583 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
584 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
585 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
586 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
588 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
589 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
590 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
591 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
592 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
593 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
594 sections about changelog files.
595 <tag>menu policy</tag>
596 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
599 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
601 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
602 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
604 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
608 <sect> Version 3.5.10
615 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
616 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
619 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
620 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
623 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
630 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
631 full details of the long description format.
633 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
634 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
635 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
637 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
638 the init script should start the service.
640 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
641 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
642 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
645 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
652 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
653 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
654 documented in the changelog file.
656 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
657 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
659 <tag>menu policy</tag>
660 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
661 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
662 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
664 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
665 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
669 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
676 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
677 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
679 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
682 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
683 special Tasks: field in the control file.
685 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
686 they add themselves as an alternative for
687 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
689 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
690 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
691 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
692 environment variable.
694 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
695 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
696 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
697 review the new rules.
699 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
700 scripts. Long rationale.
704 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
705 rules, please see below
708 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
715 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
718 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
719 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
721 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
722 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
724 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
725 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
726 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
727 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
729 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
730 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
733 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
740 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
741 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
742 symlinks or .so pages to do this
745 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
746 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
747 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
750 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
751 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
754 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
755 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
758 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
761 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
764 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
768 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
770 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
771 fonts for the X Window System
774 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
777 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
778 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
781 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
782 OSF/Motif-linked ones
787 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
788 <p> Released Apr 2001.
792 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
793 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
794 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
797 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
798 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
799 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
804 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
805 <p> Released Apr 2001
809 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
810 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
813 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
814 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
815 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
816 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
820 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
822 <p> Released Feb 2001.
826 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
827 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
828 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
832 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
834 <p> Released Feb 2001.
838 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
839 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
843 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
845 <p> Released Jan 2001.
849 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
850 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
854 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
856 <p> Released Jan 2001.
860 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
861 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
862 <file>/etc/default/</file>
865 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
866 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
867 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
868 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
871 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
876 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
882 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
883 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
884 and the other without
888 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
894 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
895 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
896 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
899 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
900 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
901 should always be generated for the upstream changes
904 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
905 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
908 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
912 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
914 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
916 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
917 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
918 calculation guidelines)
921 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
923 <item>X application defaults </item>
927 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
931 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
933 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
934 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
939 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
941 <p> Released Nov 1999.
945 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
946 etc. Should not affect many packages
950 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
952 <p> Released Oct 1999.
956 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
957 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
961 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
963 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
964 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
965 but should use update-rc.d instead)
968 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
969 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
970 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
971 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
975 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
976 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
977 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
978 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
981 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
982 <file>/var/lib</file>
984 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
985 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
987 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
990 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
991 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
995 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
996 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
997 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1000 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1005 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1007 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1011 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1012 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1013 files must go in the run-time library package
1017 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1019 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1023 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1024 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1028 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1029 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1032 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1033 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1034 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1035 other major licenses
1038 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1039 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1042 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1045 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1048 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1049 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1050 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1053 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1054 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1055 installed setgid utmp
1059 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1062 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1064 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1068 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1070 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1071 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1072 Section 5 and Section 6.
1074 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1075 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1076 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1077 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1078 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1082 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1083 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1084 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1085 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1087 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1088 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1090 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1091 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1093 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1094 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1096 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1101 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1103 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1105 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1107 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1108 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1109 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1110 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1113 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1114 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1115 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1119 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1121 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1122 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1123 installs shared libraries
1124 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1128 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1130 <p> Released Jan 1998
1133 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1135 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1136 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1138 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1139 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1143 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1144 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1145 file extension as the referenced file
1148 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1149 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1150 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1153 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1155 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1156 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1157 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1161 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1162 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1163 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1166 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1167 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1168 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1169 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1173 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1174 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1178 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1179 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1180 reasonable default configuration
1183 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1184 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1185 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1188 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1190 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1191 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1193 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1194 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1198 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1199 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1204 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1206 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1209 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1210 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1211 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1214 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1215 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1218 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1221 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1223 <p> Released July 1997.
1226 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1229 where <arch> is one of the following:
1230 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1233 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1235 <item>user ID's</item>
1237 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1239 <item>cron jobs</item>
1241 <item>device files</item>
1243 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1245 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1248 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1250 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1253 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1256 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1258 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1260 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1262 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1266 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1268 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1271 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1274 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1276 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1279 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1281 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1282 without consultation </item>
1284 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1287 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1289 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1292 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>