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.
48 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
49 particular field name.
51 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
52 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
53 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
54 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
56 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
57 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
58 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
59 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
63 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
64 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
65 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
66 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
67 question, but should avoid this if possible.
70 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
71 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
72 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
73 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
76 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
78 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
79 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
80 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
83 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
84 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
85 It should instead be included directly
86 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
87 common-licenses for the time being.
90 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
91 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
92 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
93 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
94 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
97 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
98 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
99 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
103 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
110 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
111 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
112 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
115 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
116 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
119 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
120 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
124 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
130 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
131 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
134 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
135 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
136 may be used in different versions of the field.
139 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
140 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
143 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
146 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
147 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
148 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
149 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
152 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
153 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
154 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
157 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
158 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
161 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
162 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
163 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
167 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
168 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
169 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
170 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
171 support partial upgrades.
174 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
175 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
179 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
186 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
187 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
188 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
189 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
193 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
194 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
195 back on other methods.
198 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
202 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
203 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
206 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
207 <file>/var/mail</file>.
210 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
214 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
215 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
219 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
226 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
227 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
228 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
231 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
234 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
238 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
239 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
242 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
243 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
246 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
249 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
250 preceding whitespace.
253 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
254 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
255 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
256 behavior of the init system in Debian.
259 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
260 start the daemon again if it's already running.
263 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
264 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
265 subdirectories dynamically.
268 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
269 variable arguments and supports assignment.
272 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
273 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
277 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
284 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
285 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
286 system is now defined by priority.
288 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
289 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
291 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
292 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
293 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
294 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
295 unknown flags be ignored.
297 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
298 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
299 processes if the package supports it
301 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
302 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
305 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
306 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
307 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
308 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
309 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
310 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
313 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
315 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
318 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
319 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
320 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
321 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
322 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
323 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
325 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
326 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
327 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
330 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
331 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
334 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
335 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
338 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
339 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
340 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
341 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
342 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
343 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
346 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
347 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
349 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
350 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
353 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
356 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
363 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
364 anything, even the end of a part.
366 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
367 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
370 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
371 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
373 <tag>menu policy</tag>
374 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
375 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
376 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
377 sections would be more appropriate.
379 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
382 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
383 critical, or emergency.
385 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
386 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
387 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
390 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
391 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
392 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
394 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
395 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
398 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
404 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
405 should to a must)</item>
408 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
414 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
417 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
424 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
425 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
426 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
427 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
428 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
429 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
432 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
433 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
434 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
437 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
444 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
445 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
446 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
448 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
449 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
451 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
452 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
453 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
454 etc. may be of interest.
455 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
456 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
457 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
458 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
459 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
460 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
461 as well, to prepare for future changes.
463 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
464 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
465 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
468 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
469 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
471 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
472 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
473 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
474 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
478 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
485 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
488 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
489 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
490 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
493 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
494 allow packages to share image files with the web server
498 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
505 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
506 user prompts are now deprecated.
516 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
517 the minor version number:
519 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
520 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
521 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
522 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
523 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
524 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
525 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
526 deb-building tool-chain.
528 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
529 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
530 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
531 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
533 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
534 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
535 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
536 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
537 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
538 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
539 sections about changelog files.
540 <tag>menu policy</tag>
541 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
544 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
546 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
547 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
549 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
553 <sect> Version 3.5.10
560 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
561 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
564 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
565 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
568 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
575 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
576 full details of the long description format.
578 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
579 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
580 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
582 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
583 the init script should start the service.
585 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
586 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
587 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
590 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
597 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
598 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
599 documented in the changelog file.
601 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
602 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
604 <tag>menu policy</tag>
605 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
606 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
607 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
609 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
610 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
614 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
621 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
622 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
624 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
627 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
628 special Tasks: field in the control file.
630 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
631 they add themselves as an alternative for
632 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
634 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
635 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
636 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
637 environment variable.
639 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
640 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
641 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
642 review the new rules.
644 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
645 scripts. Long rationale.
649 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
650 rules, please see below
653 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
660 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
663 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
664 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
666 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
667 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
669 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
670 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
671 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
672 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
674 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
675 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
678 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
685 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
686 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
687 symlinks or .so pages to do this
690 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
691 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
692 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
695 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
696 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
699 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
700 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
703 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
706 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
709 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
713 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
715 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
716 fonts for the X Window System
719 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
722 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
723 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
726 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
727 OSF/Motif-linked ones
732 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
733 <p> Released Apr 2001.
737 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
738 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
739 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
742 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
743 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
744 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
749 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
750 <p> Released Apr 2001
754 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
755 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
758 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
759 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
760 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
761 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
765 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
767 <p> Released Feb 2001.
771 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
772 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
773 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
777 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
779 <p> Released Feb 2001.
783 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
784 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
788 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
790 <p> Released Jan 2001.
794 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
795 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
799 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
801 <p> Released Jan 2001.
805 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
806 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
807 <file>/etc/default/</file>
810 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
811 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
812 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
813 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
816 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
821 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
827 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
828 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
829 and the other without
833 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
839 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
840 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
841 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
844 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
845 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
846 should always be generated for the upstream changes
849 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
850 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
853 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
857 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
859 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
861 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
862 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
863 calculation guidelines)
866 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
868 <item>X application defaults </item>
872 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
876 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
878 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
879 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
884 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
886 <p> Released Nov 1999.
890 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
891 etc. Should not affect many packages
895 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
897 <p> Released Oct 1999.
901 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
902 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
906 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
908 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
909 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
910 but should use update-rc.d instead)
913 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
914 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
915 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
916 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
920 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
921 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
922 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
923 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
926 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
927 <file>/var/lib</file>
929 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
930 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
932 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
935 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
936 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
940 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
941 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
942 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
945 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
950 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
952 <p> Released Jul 1999.
956 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
957 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
958 files must go in the run-time library package
962 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
964 <p> Released Jun 1999.
968 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
969 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
973 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
974 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
977 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
978 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
979 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
983 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
984 include the .la files in the -dev packages
987 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
990 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
993 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
994 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
995 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
998 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
999 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1000 installed setgid utmp
1004 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1007 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1009 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1013 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1015 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1016 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1017 Section 5 and Section 6.
1019 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1020 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1021 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1022 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1023 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1027 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1028 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1029 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1030 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1032 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1033 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1035 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1036 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1038 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1039 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1041 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1046 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1048 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1050 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1052 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1053 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1054 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1055 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1058 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1059 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1060 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1064 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1066 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1067 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1068 installs shared libraries
1069 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1073 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1075 <p> Released Jan 1998
1078 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1080 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1081 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1083 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1084 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1088 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1089 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1090 file extension as the referenced file
1093 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1094 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1095 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1098 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1100 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1101 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1102 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1106 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1107 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1108 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1111 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1112 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1113 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1114 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1118 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1119 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1123 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1124 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1125 reasonable default configuration
1128 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1129 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1130 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1133 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1135 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1136 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1138 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1139 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1143 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1144 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1149 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1151 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1154 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1155 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1156 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1159 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1160 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1163 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1166 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1168 <p> Released July 1997.
1171 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1174 where <arch> is one of the following:
1175 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1178 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1180 <item>user ID's</item>
1182 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1184 <item>cron jobs</item>
1186 <item>device files</item>
1188 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1190 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1193 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1195 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1198 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1201 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1203 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1205 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1207 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1211 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1213 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1216 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1219 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1221 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1224 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1226 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1227 without consultation </item>
1229 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1232 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1234 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1237 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>