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 3.8.4.0
44 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
45 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
46 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
49 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
50 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
53 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
54 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
58 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
64 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
65 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
68 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
69 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
70 may be used in different versions of the field.
73 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
74 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
77 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
80 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
81 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
82 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
83 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
86 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
87 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
88 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
91 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
92 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
95 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
96 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
97 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
101 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
102 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
103 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
104 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
105 support partial upgrades.
108 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
109 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
113 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
120 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
121 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
122 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
123 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
127 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
128 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
129 back on other methods.
132 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
136 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
137 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
140 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
141 <file>/var/mail</file>.
144 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
148 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
149 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
153 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
160 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
161 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
162 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
165 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
168 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
172 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
173 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
176 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
177 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
180 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
183 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
184 preceding whitespace.
187 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
188 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
189 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
190 behavior of the init system in Debian.
193 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
194 start the daemon again if it's already running.
197 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
198 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
199 subdirectories dynamically.
202 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
203 variable arguments and supports assignment.
206 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
207 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
211 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
218 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
219 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
220 system is now defined by priority.
222 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
223 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
225 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
226 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
227 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
228 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
229 unknown flags be ignored.
231 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
232 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
233 processes if the package supports it
235 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
236 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
239 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
240 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
241 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
242 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
243 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
244 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
247 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
249 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
252 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
253 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
254 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
255 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
256 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
257 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
259 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
260 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
261 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
264 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
265 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
268 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
269 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
272 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
273 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
274 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
275 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
276 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
277 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
280 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
281 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
283 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
284 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
287 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
290 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
297 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
298 anything, even the end of a part.
300 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
301 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
304 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
305 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
307 <tag>menu policy</tag>
308 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
309 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
310 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
311 sections would be more appropriate.
313 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
316 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
317 critical, or emergency.
319 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
320 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
321 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
324 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
325 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
326 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
328 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
329 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
332 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
338 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
339 should to a must)</item>
342 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
348 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
351 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
358 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
359 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
360 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
361 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
362 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
363 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
366 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
367 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
368 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
371 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
378 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
379 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
380 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
382 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
383 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
385 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
386 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
387 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
388 etc. may be of interest.
389 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
390 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
391 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
392 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
393 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
394 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
395 as well, to prepare for future changes.
397 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
398 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
399 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
402 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
403 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
405 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
406 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
407 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
408 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
412 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
419 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
422 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
423 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
424 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
427 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
428 allow packages to share image files with the web server
432 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
439 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
440 user prompts are now deprecated.
450 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
451 the minor version number:
453 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
454 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
455 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
456 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
457 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
458 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
459 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
460 deb-building tool-chain.
462 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
463 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
464 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
465 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
467 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
468 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
469 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
470 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
471 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
472 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
473 sections about changelog files.
474 <tag>menu policy</tag>
475 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
478 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
480 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
481 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
483 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
487 <sect> Version 3.5.10
494 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
495 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
498 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
499 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
502 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
509 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
510 full details of the long description format.
512 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
513 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
514 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
516 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
517 the init script should start the service.
519 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
520 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
521 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
524 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
531 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
532 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
533 documented in the changelog file.
535 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
536 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
538 <tag>menu policy</tag>
539 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
540 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
541 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
543 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
544 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
548 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
555 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
556 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
558 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
561 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
562 special Tasks: field in the control file.
564 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
565 they add themselves as an alternative for
566 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
568 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
569 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
570 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
571 environment variable.
573 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
574 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
575 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
576 review the new rules.
578 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
579 scripts. Long rationale.
583 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
584 rules, please see below
587 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
594 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
597 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
598 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
600 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
601 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
603 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
604 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
605 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
606 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
608 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
609 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
612 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
619 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
620 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
621 symlinks or .so pages to do this
624 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
625 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
626 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
629 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
630 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
633 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
634 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
637 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
640 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
643 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
647 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
649 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
650 fonts for the X Window System
653 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
656 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
657 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
660 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
661 OSF/Motif-linked ones
666 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
667 <p> Released Apr 2001.
671 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
672 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
673 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
676 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
677 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
678 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
683 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
684 <p> Released Apr 2001
688 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
689 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
692 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
693 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
694 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
695 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
699 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
701 <p> Released Feb 2001.
705 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
706 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
707 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
711 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
713 <p> Released Feb 2001.
717 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
718 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
722 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
724 <p> Released Jan 2001.
728 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
729 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
733 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
735 <p> Released Jan 2001.
739 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
740 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
741 <file>/etc/default/</file>
744 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
745 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
746 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
747 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
750 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
755 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
761 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
762 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
763 and the other without
767 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
773 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
774 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
775 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
778 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
779 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
780 should always be generated for the upstream changes
783 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
784 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
787 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
791 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
793 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
795 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
796 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
797 calculation guidelines)
800 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
802 <item>X application defaults </item>
806 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
810 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
812 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
813 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
818 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
820 <p> Released Nov 1999.
824 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
825 etc. Should not affect many packages
829 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
831 <p> Released Oct 1999.
835 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
836 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
840 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
842 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
843 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
844 but should use update-rc.d instead)
847 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
848 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
849 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
850 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
854 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
855 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
856 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
857 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
860 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
861 <file>/var/lib</file>
863 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
864 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
866 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
869 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
870 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
874 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
875 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
876 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
879 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
884 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
886 <p> Released Jul 1999.
890 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
891 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
892 files must go in the run-time library package
896 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
898 <p> Released Jun 1999.
902 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
903 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
907 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
908 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
911 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
912 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
913 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
917 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
918 include the .la files in the -dev packages
921 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
924 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
927 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
928 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
929 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
932 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
933 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
934 installed setgid utmp
938 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
941 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
943 <p> Released Oct 1998.
947 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
949 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
950 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
951 Section 5 and Section 6.
953 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
954 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
955 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
956 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
957 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
961 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
962 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
963 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
964 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
966 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
967 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
969 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
970 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
972 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
973 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
975 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
980 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
982 <p> Released Apr 1998.
984 <sect1> Policy Manual:
986 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
987 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
988 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
989 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
992 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
993 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
994 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
998 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1000 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1001 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1002 installs shared libraries
1003 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1007 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1009 <p> Released Jan 1998
1012 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1014 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1015 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1017 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1018 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1022 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1023 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1024 file extension as the referenced file
1027 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1028 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1029 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1032 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1034 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1035 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1036 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1040 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1041 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1042 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1045 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1046 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1047 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1048 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1052 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1053 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1057 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1058 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1059 reasonable default configuration
1062 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1063 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1064 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1067 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1069 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1070 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1072 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1073 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1077 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1078 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1083 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1085 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1088 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1089 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1090 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1093 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1094 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1097 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1100 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1102 <p> Released July 1997.
1105 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1108 where <arch> is one of the following:
1109 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1112 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1114 <item>user ID's</item>
1116 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1118 <item>cron jobs</item>
1120 <item>device files</item>
1122 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1124 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1127 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1129 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1132 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1135 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1137 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1139 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1141 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1145 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1147 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1150 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1153 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1155 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1158 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1160 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1161 without consultation </item>
1163 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1166 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1168 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1171 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>