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 <email/rra@debian.org/ </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 id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
43 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
44 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
45 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
47 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
48 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
49 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
51 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
55 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
56 package control files.
59 <item>The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
60 must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when possible.
61 In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.
64 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
65 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
68 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
69 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
70 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
73 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
76 <item><tt>mp3-encoder</tt> is removed.</item>
79 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
82 Released August, 2012.
86 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
89 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
90 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
93 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
94 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
95 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
98 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
101 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
102 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
103 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
104 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
107 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
108 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
109 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
110 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
111 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
112 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
115 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
116 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
117 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
120 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
121 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
123 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
124 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
127 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
131 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
134 Released February, 2012.
138 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
139 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
142 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
143 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
144 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
147 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
148 list of architectures must be non-empty.
151 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
152 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
153 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
154 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
155 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
156 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
157 should be stored in a temporary file system.
160 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
161 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
162 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
166 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
167 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
168 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
169 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
170 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
173 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
176 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
177 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
180 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
181 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
182 they have been removed.
185 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
186 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
187 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
189 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
190 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
191 file" specification is included.
194 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
195 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
199 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
200 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
203 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
204 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
208 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
211 Released April, 2011.
215 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
216 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
220 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
221 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
222 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
223 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
226 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
227 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
228 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
232 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
233 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
234 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
235 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
239 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
242 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
243 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
244 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
245 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
249 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
250 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
251 dependencies are now a should not.
254 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
255 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
256 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
257 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
258 actions if their dependencies are not available.
261 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
262 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
265 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
266 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
267 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
268 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
269 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
272 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
273 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
274 POSIX-required interface.
278 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
285 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
286 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
290 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
291 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
292 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
295 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
296 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
297 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
300 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
301 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
302 architecture-independent.
305 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
306 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
307 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
310 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
311 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
312 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
313 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
316 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
319 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
320 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
321 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
324 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
325 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
328 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
329 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
330 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
331 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
332 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
333 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
334 their <file>.la</file> files.
337 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
338 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
339 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
340 thread-safe if the library supports this.
343 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
344 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
345 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
346 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
347 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
350 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
351 logrotate rules is now recommended.
354 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
355 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
357 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
358 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
359 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
360 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
361 for the corresponding manual page.
364 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
365 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
366 executables in those subdirectories.
369 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
370 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
375 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
381 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
382 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
383 Date control field is now precisely specified.
386 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
387 particular field name.
389 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
390 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
391 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
392 documented and recommended.
394 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
395 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
396 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
397 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
398 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
399 for <file>.changes</file> files.
402 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
406 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
409 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
410 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
411 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
412 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
416 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
417 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
418 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
419 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
420 question, but should avoid this if possible.
422 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
423 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
424 files between packages.
427 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
428 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
429 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
432 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
433 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
436 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
437 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
438 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
439 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
442 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
444 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
445 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
446 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
449 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
450 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
451 It should instead be included directly
452 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
453 common-licenses for the time being.
456 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
457 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
458 template instead of a string to allow translation.
461 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
462 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
463 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
464 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
465 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
468 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
469 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
470 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
474 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
481 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
482 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
483 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
486 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
487 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
490 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
491 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
495 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
501 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
502 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
505 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
506 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
507 may be used in different versions of the field.
510 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
511 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
514 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
517 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
518 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
519 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
520 using them should be built with RPATH.
523 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
524 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
525 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
526 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
529 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
530 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
533 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
534 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
535 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
539 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
540 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
541 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
542 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
543 support partial upgrades.
546 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
547 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
551 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
558 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
559 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
560 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
561 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
565 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
566 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
567 back on other methods.
570 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
574 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
575 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
578 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
579 <file>/var/mail</file>.
582 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
586 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
587 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
591 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
598 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
599 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
600 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
603 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
606 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
610 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
611 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
614 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
615 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
618 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
621 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
622 with no preceding whitespace.
625 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
626 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
627 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
628 behavior of the init system in Debian.
631 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
632 start the daemon again if it's already running.
635 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
636 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
637 subdirectories dynamically.
640 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
641 variable arguments and supports assignment.
644 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
645 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
649 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
656 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
657 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
658 system is now defined by priority.
660 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
661 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
663 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
664 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
665 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
666 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
667 unknown flags be ignored.
669 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
670 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
671 processes if the package supports it
673 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
674 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
677 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
678 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
679 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
680 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
681 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
682 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
685 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
687 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
690 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
691 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
692 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
693 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
694 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
695 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
697 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
698 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
699 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
702 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
703 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
706 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
707 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
710 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
711 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
712 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
713 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
714 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
715 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
718 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
719 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
721 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
722 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
725 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
728 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
735 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
736 anything, even the end of a part.
738 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
739 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
742 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
743 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
745 <tag>menu policy</tag>
746 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
747 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
748 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
749 sections would be more appropriate.
751 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
754 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
755 critical, or emergency.
757 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
758 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
759 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
762 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
763 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
764 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
766 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
767 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
770 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
776 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
777 should to a must)</item>
780 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
786 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
789 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
796 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
797 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
798 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
799 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
800 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
801 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
804 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
805 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
806 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
809 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
816 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
817 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
818 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
820 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
821 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
823 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
824 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
825 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
826 etc. may be of interest.
827 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
828 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
829 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
830 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
831 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
832 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
833 as well, to prepare for future changes.
835 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
836 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
837 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
840 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
841 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
843 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
844 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
845 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
846 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
850 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
857 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
860 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
861 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
862 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
865 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
866 allow packages to share image files with the web server
870 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
877 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
878 user prompts are now deprecated.
881 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
888 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
889 the minor version number:
891 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
892 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
893 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
894 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
895 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
896 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
897 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
898 deb-building tool-chain.
900 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
901 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
902 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
903 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
905 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
906 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
907 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
908 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
909 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
910 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
911 sections about changelog files.
912 <tag>menu policy</tag>
913 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
916 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
918 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
919 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
921 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
925 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
932 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
933 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
936 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
937 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
940 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
947 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
948 full details of the long description format.
950 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
951 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
952 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
954 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
955 the init script should start the service.
957 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
958 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
959 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
962 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
969 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
970 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
971 documented in the changelog file.
973 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
974 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
976 <tag>menu policy</tag>
977 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
978 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
979 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
981 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
982 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
986 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
993 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
994 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
996 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
999 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
1000 special Tasks: field in the control file.
1002 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
1003 they add themselves as an alternative for
1004 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1006 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1007 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1008 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1009 environment variable.
1011 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1012 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1013 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1014 review the new rules.
1016 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1017 scripts. Long rationale.
1021 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1022 rules, please see below
1025 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1032 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1035 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1036 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1038 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1039 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1041 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1042 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1043 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1044 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1046 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1047 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1050 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1057 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1058 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1059 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1062 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1063 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1064 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1067 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1068 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1071 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1072 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1075 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1078 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1081 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1085 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1087 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1088 fonts for the X Window System
1091 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1094 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1095 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1098 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1099 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1104 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1105 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1109 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1110 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1111 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1114 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1115 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1116 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1121 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1122 <p> Released Apr 2001
1126 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1127 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1130 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1131 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1132 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1133 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1137 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1139 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1143 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1144 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1145 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1149 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1151 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1155 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1156 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1160 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1162 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1166 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1167 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1171 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1173 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1177 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1178 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1179 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1182 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1183 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1184 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1185 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1188 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1193 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1195 <p> Released Aug 00.
1199 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1200 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1201 and the other without
1205 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1207 <p> Released Aug 00.
1211 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1212 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1213 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1216 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1217 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1218 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1221 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1222 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1225 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1229 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1231 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1233 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1234 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1235 calculation guidelines)
1238 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1240 <item>X application defaults </item>
1244 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1248 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1250 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1251 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1256 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1258 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1262 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1263 etc. Should not affect many packages
1267 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1269 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1273 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1274 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1278 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1280 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1281 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1282 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1285 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1286 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1287 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1288 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1292 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1293 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1294 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1295 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1298 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1299 <file>/var/lib</file>
1301 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1302 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1304 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1307 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1308 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1312 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1313 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1314 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1317 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1322 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1324 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1328 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1329 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1330 files must go in the run-time library package
1334 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1336 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1340 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1341 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1345 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1346 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1349 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1350 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1351 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1352 other major licenses
1355 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1356 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1359 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1362 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1365 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1366 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1367 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1370 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1371 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1372 installed setgid utmp
1376 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1379 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1381 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1385 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1387 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1388 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1389 Section 5 and Section 6.
1391 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1392 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1393 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1394 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1395 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1399 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1400 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1401 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1402 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1404 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1405 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1407 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1408 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1410 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1411 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1413 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1418 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1420 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1422 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1424 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1425 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1426 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1427 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1430 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1431 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1432 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1436 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1438 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1439 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1440 installs shared libraries
1441 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1445 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1447 <p> Released Jan 1998
1450 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1452 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1453 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1455 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1456 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1460 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1461 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1462 file extension as the referenced file
1465 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1466 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1467 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1470 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1472 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1473 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1474 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1478 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1479 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1480 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1483 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1484 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1485 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1486 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1490 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1491 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1495 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1496 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1497 reasonable default configuration
1500 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1501 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1502 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1505 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1507 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1508 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1510 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1511 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1515 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1516 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1521 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1523 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1526 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1527 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1528 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1531 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1532 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1535 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1538 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1540 <p> Released July 1997.
1543 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1546 where <arch> is one of the following:
1547 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1550 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1552 <item>user ID's</item>
1554 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1556 <item>cron jobs</item>
1558 <item>device files</item>
1560 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1562 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1565 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1567 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1570 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1573 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1575 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1577 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1579 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1583 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1585 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1588 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1591 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1593 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1596 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1598 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1599 without consultation </item>
1601 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1604 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1606 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1609 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>