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 3.8.5.0
43 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
44 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
45 Date control field is now precisely specified.
47 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
48 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
49 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
50 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
54 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
55 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
56 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
57 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
58 question, but should avoid this if possible.
61 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
63 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
64 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
65 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
68 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
69 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
70 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
71 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
72 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
75 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
76 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
77 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
81 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
88 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
89 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
90 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
93 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
94 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
97 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
98 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
102 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
108 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
109 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
112 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
113 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
114 may be used in different versions of the field.
117 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
118 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
121 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
124 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
125 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
126 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
127 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
130 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
131 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
132 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
135 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
136 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
139 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
140 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
141 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
145 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
146 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
147 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
148 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
149 support partial upgrades.
152 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
153 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
157 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
164 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
165 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
166 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
167 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
171 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
172 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
173 back on other methods.
176 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
180 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
181 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
184 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
185 <file>/var/mail</file>.
188 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
192 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
193 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
197 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
204 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
205 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
206 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
209 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
212 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
216 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
217 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
220 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
221 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
224 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
227 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
228 preceding whitespace.
231 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
232 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
233 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
234 behavior of the init system in Debian.
237 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
238 start the daemon again if it's already running.
241 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
242 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
243 subdirectories dynamically.
246 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
247 variable arguments and supports assignment.
250 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
251 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
255 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
262 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
263 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
264 system is now defined by priority.
266 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
267 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
269 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
270 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
271 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
272 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
273 unknown flags be ignored.
275 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
276 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
277 processes if the package supports it
279 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
280 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
283 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
284 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
285 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
286 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
287 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
288 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
291 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
293 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
296 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
297 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
298 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
299 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
300 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
301 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
303 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
304 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
305 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
308 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
309 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
312 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
313 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
316 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
317 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
318 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
319 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
320 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
321 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
324 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
325 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
327 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
328 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
331 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
334 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
341 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
342 anything, even the end of a part.
344 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
345 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
348 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
349 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
351 <tag>menu policy</tag>
352 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
353 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
354 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
355 sections would be more appropriate.
357 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
360 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
361 critical, or emergency.
363 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
364 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
365 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
368 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
369 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
370 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
372 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
373 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
376 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
382 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
383 should to a must)</item>
386 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
392 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
395 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
402 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
403 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
404 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
405 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
406 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
407 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
410 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
411 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
412 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
415 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
422 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
423 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
424 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
426 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
427 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
429 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
430 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
431 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
432 etc. may be of interest.
433 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
434 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
435 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
436 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
437 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
438 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
439 as well, to prepare for future changes.
441 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
442 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
443 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
446 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
447 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
449 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
450 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
451 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
452 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
456 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
463 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
466 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
467 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
468 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
471 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
472 allow packages to share image files with the web server
476 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
483 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
484 user prompts are now deprecated.
494 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
495 the minor version number:
497 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
498 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
499 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
500 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
501 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
502 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
503 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
504 deb-building tool-chain.
506 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
507 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
508 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
509 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
511 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
512 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
513 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
514 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
515 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
516 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
517 sections about changelog files.
518 <tag>menu policy</tag>
519 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
522 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
524 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
525 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
527 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
531 <sect> Version 3.5.10
538 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
539 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
542 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
543 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
546 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
553 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
554 full details of the long description format.
556 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
557 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
558 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
560 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
561 the init script should start the service.
563 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
564 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
565 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
568 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
575 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
576 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
577 documented in the changelog file.
579 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
580 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
582 <tag>menu policy</tag>
583 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
584 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
585 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
587 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
588 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
592 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
599 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
600 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
602 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
605 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
606 special Tasks: field in the control file.
608 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
609 they add themselves as an alternative for
610 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
612 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
613 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
614 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
615 environment variable.
617 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
618 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
619 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
620 review the new rules.
622 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
623 scripts. Long rationale.
627 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
628 rules, please see below
631 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
638 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
641 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
642 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
644 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
645 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
647 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
648 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
649 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
650 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
652 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
653 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
656 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
663 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
664 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
665 symlinks or .so pages to do this
668 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
669 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
670 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
673 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
674 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
677 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
678 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
681 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
684 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
687 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
691 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
693 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
694 fonts for the X Window System
697 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
700 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
701 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
704 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
705 OSF/Motif-linked ones
710 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
711 <p> Released Apr 2001.
715 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
716 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
717 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
720 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
721 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
722 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
727 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
728 <p> Released Apr 2001
732 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
733 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
736 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
737 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
738 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
739 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
743 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
745 <p> Released Feb 2001.
749 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
750 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
751 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
755 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
757 <p> Released Feb 2001.
761 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
762 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
766 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
768 <p> Released Jan 2001.
772 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
773 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
777 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
779 <p> Released Jan 2001.
783 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
784 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
785 <file>/etc/default/</file>
788 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
789 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
790 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
791 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
794 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
799 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
805 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
806 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
807 and the other without
811 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
817 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
818 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
819 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
822 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
823 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
824 should always be generated for the upstream changes
827 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
828 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
831 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
835 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
837 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
839 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
840 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
841 calculation guidelines)
844 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
846 <item>X application defaults </item>
850 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
854 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
856 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
857 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
862 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
864 <p> Released Nov 1999.
868 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
869 etc. Should not affect many packages
873 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
875 <p> Released Oct 1999.
879 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
880 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
884 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
886 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
887 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
888 but should use update-rc.d instead)
891 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
892 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
893 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
894 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
898 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
899 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
900 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
901 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
904 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
905 <file>/var/lib</file>
907 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
908 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
910 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
913 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
914 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
918 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
919 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
920 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
923 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
928 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
930 <p> Released Jul 1999.
934 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
935 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
936 files must go in the run-time library package
940 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
942 <p> Released Jun 1999.
946 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
947 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
951 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
952 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
955 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
956 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
957 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
961 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
962 include the .la files in the -dev packages
965 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
968 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
971 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
972 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
973 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
976 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
977 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
978 installed setgid utmp
982 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
985 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
987 <p> Released Oct 1998.
991 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
993 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
994 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
995 Section 5 and Section 6.
997 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
998 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
999 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1000 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1001 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1005 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1006 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1007 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1008 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1010 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1011 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1013 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1014 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1016 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1017 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1019 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1024 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1026 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1028 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1030 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1031 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1032 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1033 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1036 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1037 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1038 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1042 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1044 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1045 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1046 installs shared libraries
1047 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1051 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1053 <p> Released Jan 1998
1056 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1058 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1059 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1061 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1062 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1066 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1067 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1068 file extension as the referenced file
1071 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1072 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1073 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1076 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1078 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1079 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1080 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1084 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1085 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1086 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1089 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1090 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1091 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1092 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1096 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1097 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1101 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1102 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1103 reasonable default configuration
1106 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1107 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1108 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1111 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1113 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1114 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1116 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1117 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1121 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1122 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1127 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1129 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1132 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1133 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1134 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1137 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1138 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1141 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1144 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1146 <p> Released July 1997.
1149 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1152 where <arch> is one of the following:
1153 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1156 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1158 <item>user ID's</item>
1160 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1162 <item>cron jobs</item>
1164 <item>device files</item>
1166 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1168 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1171 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1173 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1176 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1179 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1181 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1183 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1185 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1189 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1191 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1194 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1197 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1199 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1202 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1204 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1205 without consultation </item>
1207 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1210 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1212 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1215 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>