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>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
51 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
52 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
53 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
54 question, but should avoid this if possible.
57 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
59 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
60 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
61 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
64 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
65 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
66 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
67 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
68 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
71 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
72 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
73 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
77 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
84 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
85 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
86 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
89 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
90 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
93 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
94 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
98 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
104 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
105 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
108 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
109 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
110 may be used in different versions of the field.
113 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
114 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
117 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
120 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
121 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
122 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
123 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
126 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
127 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
128 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
131 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
132 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
135 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
136 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
137 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
141 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
142 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
143 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
144 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
145 support partial upgrades.
148 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
149 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
153 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
160 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
161 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
162 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
163 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
167 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
168 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
169 back on other methods.
172 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
176 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
177 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
180 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
181 <file>/var/mail</file>.
184 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
188 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
189 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
193 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
200 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
201 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
202 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
205 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
208 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
212 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
213 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
216 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
217 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
220 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
223 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
224 preceding whitespace.
227 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
228 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
229 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
230 behavior of the init system in Debian.
233 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
234 start the daemon again if it's already running.
237 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
238 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
239 subdirectories dynamically.
242 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
243 variable arguments and supports assignment.
246 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
247 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
251 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
258 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
259 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
260 system is now defined by priority.
262 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
263 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
265 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
266 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
267 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
268 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
269 unknown flags be ignored.
271 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
272 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
273 processes if the package supports it
275 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
276 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
279 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
280 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
281 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
282 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
283 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
284 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
287 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
289 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
292 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
293 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
294 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
295 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
296 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
297 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
299 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
300 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
301 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
304 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
305 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
308 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
309 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
312 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
313 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
314 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
315 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
316 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
317 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
320 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
321 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
323 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
324 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
327 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
330 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
337 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
338 anything, even the end of a part.
340 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
341 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
344 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
345 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
347 <tag>menu policy</tag>
348 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
349 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
350 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
351 sections would be more appropriate.
353 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
356 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
357 critical, or emergency.
359 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
360 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
361 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
364 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
365 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
366 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
368 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
369 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
372 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
378 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
379 should to a must)</item>
382 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
388 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
391 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
398 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
399 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
400 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
401 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
402 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
403 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
406 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
407 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
408 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
411 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
418 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
419 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
420 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
422 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
423 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
425 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
426 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
427 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
428 etc. may be of interest.
429 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
430 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
431 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
432 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
433 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
434 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
435 as well, to prepare for future changes.
437 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
438 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
439 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
442 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
443 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
445 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
446 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
447 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
448 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
452 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
459 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
462 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
463 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
464 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
467 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
468 allow packages to share image files with the web server
472 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
479 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
480 user prompts are now deprecated.
490 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
491 the minor version number:
493 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
494 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
495 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
496 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
497 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
498 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
499 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
500 deb-building tool-chain.
502 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
503 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
504 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
505 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
507 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
508 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
509 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
510 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
511 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
512 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
513 sections about changelog files.
514 <tag>menu policy</tag>
515 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
518 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
520 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
521 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
523 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
527 <sect> Version 3.5.10
534 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
535 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
538 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
539 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
542 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
549 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
550 full details of the long description format.
552 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
553 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
554 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
556 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
557 the init script should start the service.
559 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
560 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
561 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
564 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
571 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
572 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
573 documented in the changelog file.
575 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
576 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
578 <tag>menu policy</tag>
579 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
580 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
581 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
583 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
584 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
588 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
595 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
596 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
598 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
601 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
602 special Tasks: field in the control file.
604 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
605 they add themselves as an alternative for
606 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
608 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
609 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
610 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
611 environment variable.
613 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
614 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
615 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
616 review the new rules.
618 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
619 scripts. Long rationale.
623 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
624 rules, please see below
627 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
634 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
637 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
638 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
640 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
641 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
643 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
644 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
645 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
646 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
648 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
649 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
652 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
659 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
660 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
661 symlinks or .so pages to do this
664 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
665 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
666 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
669 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
670 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
673 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
674 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
677 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
680 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
683 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
687 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
689 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
690 fonts for the X Window System
693 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
696 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
697 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
700 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
701 OSF/Motif-linked ones
706 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
707 <p> Released Apr 2001.
711 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
712 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
713 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
716 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
717 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
718 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
723 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
724 <p> Released Apr 2001
728 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
729 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
732 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
733 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
734 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
735 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
739 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
741 <p> Released Feb 2001.
745 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
746 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
747 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
751 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
753 <p> Released Feb 2001.
757 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
758 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
762 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
764 <p> Released Jan 2001.
768 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
769 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
773 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
775 <p> Released Jan 2001.
779 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
780 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
781 <file>/etc/default/</file>
784 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
785 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
786 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
787 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
790 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
795 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
801 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
802 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
803 and the other without
807 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
813 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
814 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
815 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
818 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
819 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
820 should always be generated for the upstream changes
823 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
824 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
827 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
831 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
833 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
835 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
836 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
837 calculation guidelines)
840 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
842 <item>X application defaults </item>
846 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
850 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
852 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
853 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
858 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
860 <p> Released Nov 1999.
864 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
865 etc. Should not affect many packages
869 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
871 <p> Released Oct 1999.
875 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
876 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
880 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
882 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
883 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
884 but should use update-rc.d instead)
887 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
888 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
889 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
890 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
894 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
895 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
896 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
897 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
900 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
901 <file>/var/lib</file>
903 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
904 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
906 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
909 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
910 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
914 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
915 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
916 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
919 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
924 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
926 <p> Released Jul 1999.
930 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
931 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
932 files must go in the run-time library package
936 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
938 <p> Released Jun 1999.
942 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
943 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
947 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
948 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
951 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
952 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
953 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
957 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
958 include the .la files in the -dev packages
961 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
964 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
967 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
968 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
969 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
972 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
973 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
974 installed setgid utmp
978 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
981 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
983 <p> Released Oct 1998.
987 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
989 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
990 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
991 Section 5 and Section 6.
993 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
994 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
995 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
996 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
997 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1001 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1002 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1003 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1004 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1006 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1007 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1009 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1010 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1012 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1013 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1015 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1020 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1022 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1024 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1026 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1027 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1028 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1029 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1032 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1033 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1034 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1038 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1040 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1041 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1042 installs shared libraries
1043 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1047 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1049 <p> Released Jan 1998
1052 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1054 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1055 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1057 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1058 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1062 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1063 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1064 file extension as the referenced file
1067 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1068 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1069 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1072 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1074 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1075 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1076 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1080 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1081 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1082 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1085 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1086 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1087 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1088 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1092 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1093 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1097 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1098 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1099 reasonable default configuration
1102 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1103 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1104 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1107 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1109 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1110 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1112 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1113 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1117 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1118 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1123 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1125 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1128 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1129 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1130 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1133 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1134 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1137 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1140 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1142 <p> Released July 1997.
1145 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1148 where <arch> is one of the following:
1149 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1152 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1154 <item>user ID's</item>
1156 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1158 <item>cron jobs</item>
1160 <item>device files</item>
1162 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1164 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1167 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1169 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1172 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1175 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1177 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1179 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1181 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1185 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1187 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1190 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1193 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1195 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1198 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1200 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1201 without consultation </item>
1203 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1206 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1208 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1211 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>