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>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
44 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
45 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
46 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
50 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
52 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
53 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
54 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
57 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
58 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
59 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
60 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
61 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
65 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
72 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
73 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
74 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
77 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
78 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
81 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
82 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
86 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
92 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
93 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
96 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
97 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
98 may be used in different versions of the field.
101 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
102 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
105 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
108 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
109 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
110 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
111 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
114 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
115 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
116 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
119 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
120 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
123 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
124 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
125 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
129 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
130 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
131 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
132 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
133 support partial upgrades.
136 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
137 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
141 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
148 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
149 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
150 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
151 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
155 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
156 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
157 back on other methods.
160 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
164 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
165 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
168 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
169 <file>/var/mail</file>.
172 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
176 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
177 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
181 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
188 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
189 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
190 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
193 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
196 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
200 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
201 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
204 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
205 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
208 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
211 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
212 preceding whitespace.
215 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
216 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
217 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
218 behavior of the init system in Debian.
221 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
222 start the daemon again if it's already running.
225 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
226 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
227 subdirectories dynamically.
230 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
231 variable arguments and supports assignment.
234 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
235 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
239 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
246 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
247 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
248 system is now defined by priority.
250 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
251 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
253 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
254 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
255 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
256 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
257 unknown flags be ignored.
259 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
260 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
261 processes if the package supports it
263 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
264 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
267 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
268 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
269 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
270 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
271 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
272 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
275 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
277 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
280 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
281 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
282 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
283 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
284 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
285 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
287 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
288 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
289 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
292 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
293 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
296 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
297 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
300 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
301 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
302 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
303 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
304 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
305 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
308 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
309 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
311 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
312 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
315 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
318 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
325 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
326 anything, even the end of a part.
328 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
329 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
332 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
333 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
335 <tag>menu policy</tag>
336 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
337 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
338 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
339 sections would be more appropriate.
341 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
344 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
345 critical, or emergency.
347 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
348 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
349 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
352 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
353 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
354 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
356 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
357 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
360 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
366 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
367 should to a must)</item>
370 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
376 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
379 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
386 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
387 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
388 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
389 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
390 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
391 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
394 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
395 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
396 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
399 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
406 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
407 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
408 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
410 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
411 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
413 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
414 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
415 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
416 etc. may be of interest.
417 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
418 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
419 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
420 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
421 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
422 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
423 as well, to prepare for future changes.
425 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
426 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
427 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
430 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
431 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
433 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
434 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
435 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
436 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
440 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
447 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
450 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
451 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
452 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
455 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
456 allow packages to share image files with the web server
460 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
467 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
468 user prompts are now deprecated.
478 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
479 the minor version number:
481 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
482 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
483 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
484 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
485 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
486 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
487 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
488 deb-building tool-chain.
490 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
491 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
492 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
493 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
495 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
496 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
497 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
498 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
499 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
500 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
501 sections about changelog files.
502 <tag>menu policy</tag>
503 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
506 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
508 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
509 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
511 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
515 <sect> Version 3.5.10
522 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
523 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
526 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
527 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
530 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
537 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
538 full details of the long description format.
540 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
541 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
542 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
544 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
545 the init script should start the service.
547 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
548 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
549 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
552 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
559 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
560 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
561 documented in the changelog file.
563 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
564 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
566 <tag>menu policy</tag>
567 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
568 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
569 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
571 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
572 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
576 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
583 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
584 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
586 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
589 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
590 special Tasks: field in the control file.
592 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
593 they add themselves as an alternative for
594 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
596 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
597 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
598 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
599 environment variable.
601 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
602 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
603 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
604 review the new rules.
606 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
607 scripts. Long rationale.
611 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
612 rules, please see below
615 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
622 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
625 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
626 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
628 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
629 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
631 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
632 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
633 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
634 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
636 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
637 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
640 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
647 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
648 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
649 symlinks or .so pages to do this
652 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
653 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
654 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
657 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
658 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
661 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
662 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
665 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
668 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
671 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
675 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
677 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
678 fonts for the X Window System
681 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
684 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
685 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
688 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
689 OSF/Motif-linked ones
694 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
695 <p> Released Apr 2001.
699 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
700 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
701 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
704 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
705 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
706 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
711 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
712 <p> Released Apr 2001
716 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
717 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
720 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
721 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
722 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
723 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
727 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
729 <p> Released Feb 2001.
733 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
734 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
735 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
739 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
741 <p> Released Feb 2001.
745 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
746 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
750 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
752 <p> Released Jan 2001.
756 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
757 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
761 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
763 <p> Released Jan 2001.
767 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
768 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
769 <file>/etc/default/</file>
772 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
773 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
774 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
775 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
778 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
783 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
789 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
790 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
791 and the other without
795 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
801 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
802 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
803 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
806 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
807 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
808 should always be generated for the upstream changes
811 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
812 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
815 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
819 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
821 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
823 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
824 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
825 calculation guidelines)
828 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
830 <item>X application defaults </item>
834 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
838 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
840 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
841 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
846 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
848 <p> Released Nov 1999.
852 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
853 etc. Should not affect many packages
857 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
859 <p> Released Oct 1999.
863 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
864 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
868 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
870 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
871 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
872 but should use update-rc.d instead)
875 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
876 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
877 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
878 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
882 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
883 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
884 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
885 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
888 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
889 <file>/var/lib</file>
891 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
892 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
894 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
897 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
898 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
902 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
903 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
904 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
907 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
912 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
914 <p> Released Jul 1999.
918 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
919 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
920 files must go in the run-time library package
924 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
926 <p> Released Jun 1999.
930 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
931 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
935 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
936 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
939 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
940 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
941 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
945 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
946 include the .la files in the -dev packages
949 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
952 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
955 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
956 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
957 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
960 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
961 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
962 installed setgid utmp
966 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
969 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
971 <p> Released Oct 1998.
975 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
977 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
978 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
979 Section 5 and Section 6.
981 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
982 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
983 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
984 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
985 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
989 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
990 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
991 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
992 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
994 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
995 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
997 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
998 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1000 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1001 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1003 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1008 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1010 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1012 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1014 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1015 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1016 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1017 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1020 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1021 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1022 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1026 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1028 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1029 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1030 installs shared libraries
1031 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1035 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1037 <p> Released Jan 1998
1040 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1042 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1043 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1045 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1046 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1050 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1051 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1052 file extension as the referenced file
1055 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1056 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1057 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1060 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1062 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1063 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1064 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1068 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1069 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1070 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1073 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1074 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1075 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1076 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1080 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1081 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1085 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1086 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1087 reasonable default configuration
1090 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1091 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1092 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1095 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1097 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1098 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1100 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1101 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1105 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1106 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1111 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1113 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1116 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1117 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1118 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1121 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1122 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1125 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1128 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1130 <p> Released July 1997.
1133 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1136 where <arch> is one of the following:
1137 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1140 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1142 <item>user ID's</item>
1144 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1146 <item>cron jobs</item>
1148 <item>device files</item>
1150 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1152 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1155 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1157 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1160 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1163 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1165 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1167 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1169 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1173 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1175 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1178 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1181 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1183 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1186 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1188 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1189 without consultation </item>
1191 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1194 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1196 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1199 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>