]> git.donarmstrong.com Git - debian/debian-policy.git/blobdiff - policy.sgml
Merge branch 'master' into bug478295-rra
[debian/debian-policy.git] / policy.sgml
index 91ae7b08a3ce85334f845a6ca9250ab3d7f65281..0b5fc8b4cfc3b1f523ada13351afc20a881e047f 100644 (file)
        </p>
 
        <p>
-         The <var>date</var> must be in RFC822 format<footnote>
-             This is generated by <tt>date -R</tt>.
-         </footnote>; it must include the time zone specified
-         numerically, with the time zone name or abbreviation
-         optionally present as a comment in parentheses.
+         The <var>date</var> has the following format<footnote>
+             This is the same as the format generated by <tt>date
+             -R</tt>.
+         </footnote> (compatible and with the same semantics of
+         RFC 2822 and RFC 5322):
+         <example>day-of-week, dd month yyyy hh:mm:ss +zzzz</example>
+         where:
+         <list compact="compact">
+           <item>
+             day-of week is one of: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
+           </item>
+           <item>
+             dd is a one- or two-digit day of the month (01-31)
+           </item>
+           <item>
+             month is one of: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug,
+             Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
+           </item>
+           <item>yyyy is the four-digit year (e.g. 2010)</item>
+           <item>hh is the two-digit hour (00-23)</item>
+           <item>mm is the two-digit minutes (00-59)</item>
+           <item>ss is the two-digit seconds (00-60)</item>
+           <item>
+             +zzzz or -zzzz is the the time zone offset from Coordinated
+             Universal Time (UTC).  "+" indicates that the time is ahead
+             of (i.e., east of) UTC and "-" indicates that the time is
+             behind (i.e., west of) UTC.  The first two digits indicate
+             the hour difference from UTC and the last two digits
+             indicate the number of additional minutes difference from
+             UTC.  The last two digits must be in the range 00-59.
+           </item>
+         </list>
        </p>
 
        <p>
                A package may also provide both of the targets
                <tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt>.
                The <tt>build-arch</tt> target, if provided, should
-               perform all the configuration and compilation required
-               for producing all architecture-dependant binary packages
+               perform all the configuration and compilation required for
+               producing all architecture-dependant binary packages
                (those packages for which the body of the
-               <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <tt>debian/control</tt>
-               is not <tt>all</tt>).
-               Similarly, the <tt>build-indep</tt> target, if
-               provided, should perform all the configuration and
-               compilation required for producing all
-               architecture-independent binary packages
-               (those packages for which the body of the
-               <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <tt>debian/control</tt>
-               is <tt>all</tt>).
+               <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <tt>debian/control</tt> is
+               not <tt>all</tt>).  Similarly, the <tt>build-indep</tt>
+               target, if provided, should perform all the configuration
+               and compilation required for producing all
+               architecture-independent binary packages (those packages
+               for which the body of the <tt>Architecture</tt> field
+               in <tt>debian/control</tt> is <tt>all</tt>).
                The <tt>build</tt> target should depend on those of the
                targets <tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> that
-               are provided in the rules file.
+               are provided in the rules file.<footnote>
+                 The intent of this split is so that binary-only builds
+                 need not install the dependencies required for
+                 the <tt>build-indep</tt> target.  However, this is not
+                 yet used in practice since <tt>dpkg-buildpackage
+                 -B</tt>, and therefore the autobuilders,
+                 invoke <tt>build</tt> rather than <tt>build-arch</tt>
+                 due to the difficulties in determining whether the
+                 optional <tt>build-arch</tt> target exists.
+               </footnote>
              </p>
 
              <p>
@@ -2454,8 +2488,6 @@ Package: libc6
          The syntax and semantics of the fields are described below.
        </p>
 
-<!-- stuff -->
-
        <p>
          These fields are used by <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> to
          generate control files for binary packages (see below), by
@@ -2529,15 +2561,17 @@ Package: libc6
        <list compact="compact">
          <item><qref id="f-Format"><tt>Format</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
          <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
+         <item><qref id="f-Binary"><tt>Binary</tt></qref></item>
+         <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref></item>
          <item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
          <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
          <item><qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref></item>
-         <item><qref id="f-Binary"><tt>Binary</tt></qref></item>
-         <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref></item>
-          <item><qref id="sourcebinarydeps"><tt>Build-Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
+         <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
          <item><qref id="f-Standards-Version"><tt>Standards-Version</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
+         <item><qref id="sourcebinarydeps"><tt>Build-Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
+         <item><qref id="f-Checksums"><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
+             and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> (recommended)</item>
          <item><qref id="f-Files"><tt>Files</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
-         <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
        </list>
        </p>
 
@@ -2581,6 +2615,8 @@ Package: libc6
            <item><qref id="f-Description"><tt>Description</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
            <item><qref id="f-Closes"><tt>Closes</tt></qref></item>
            <item><qref id="f-Changes"><tt>Changes</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
+           <item><qref id="f-Checksums"><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
+               and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> (recommended)</item>
            <item><qref id="f-Files"><tt>Files</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
          </list>
        </p>
@@ -2735,41 +2771,64 @@ Package: libc6
            <tt>Architecture</tt> field can include the following sets of
            values:
            <list>
-               <item>A unique single word identifying a Debian machine
-                     architecture as described in <ref id="arch-spec">.
-               <item><tt>all</tt>, which indicates an
-                     architecture-independent package.
-               <item><tt>any</tt>, which indicates a package available
-                     for building on any architecture.
-               <item><tt>source</tt>, which indicates a source package.
+               <item>
+                 A unique single word identifying a Debian machine
+                 architecture as described in <ref id="arch-spec">.
+               </item>
+               <item>
+                 An architecture wildcard identifying a set of Debian
+                 machine architectures, see <ref id="arch-wildcard-spec">.
+                 <tt>any</tt> matches all Debian machine architectures
+                 and is the most frequently used.
+               </item>
+               <item>
+                 <tt>all</tt>, which indicates an
+                 architecture-independent package.
+               </item>
+               <item>
+                 <tt>source</tt>, which indicates a source package.
+               </item>
            </list>
          </p>
 
          <p>
            In the main <file>debian/control</file> file in the source
-           package, this field may contain the special value
-           <tt>any</tt>, the special value <tt>all</tt>, or a list of
-           architectures separated by spaces.  If <tt>any</tt> or
-           <tt>all</tt> appear, they must be the entire contents of the
-           field.  Most packages will use either <tt>any</tt> or
-           <tt>all</tt>.  Specifying a specific list of architectures is
-           for the minority of cases where a program is not portable or
-           is not useful on some architectures, and where possible the
-           program should be made portable instead.
+           package, this field may contain the special
+           value <tt>all</tt>, the special architecture
+           wildcard <tt>any</tt>, or a list of specific and wildcard
+           architectures separated by spaces.  If <tt>all</tt>
+           or <tt>any</tt> appears, that value must be the entire
+           contents of the field.  Most packages will use
+           either <tt>all</tt> or <tt>any</tt>.
+         </p>
+
+         <p>
+           Specifying a specific list of architectures indicates that the
+           source will build an architecture-dependent package only on
+           architectures included in the list.  Specifying a list of
+           architecture wildcards indicates that the source will build an
+           architecture-dependent package on only those architectures
+           that match any of the specified architecture wildcards.
+           Specifying a list of architectures or architecture wildcards
+           other than <tt>any</tt> is for the minority of cases where a
+           program is not portable or is not useful on some
+           architectures.  Where possible, the program should be made
+           portable instead.
          </p>
 
          <p>
            In the source package control file <file>.dsc</file>, this
-           field may contain either the special value <tt>any</tt> or a
-           list of architectures separated by spaces. If a list is given,
-           it may include (or consist solely of) the special value
-           <tt>all</tt>.  In other words, in <file>.dsc</file> files
-           unlike the <file>debian/control</file>, <tt>all</tt> may occur
-           in combination with specific architectures.  The
-           <tt>Architecture</tt> field in the source package control file
-           <file>.dsc</file> is generally constructed from the
-           <tt>Architecture</tt> fields in the
-           <file>debian/control</file> in the source package.
+           field may contain either the architecture
+           wildcard <tt>any</tt> or a list of architectures and
+           architecture wildcards separated by spaces. If a list is
+           given, it may include (or consist solely of) the special
+           value <tt>all</tt>.  In other words, in <file>.dsc</file>
+           files unlike the <file>debian/control</file>, <tt>all</tt> may
+           occur in combination with specific architectures.
+           The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in the source package control
+           file <file>.dsc</file> is generally constructed from
+           the <tt>Architecture</tt> fields in
+           the <file>debian/control</file> in the source package.
          </p>
 
          <p>
@@ -2789,23 +2848,24 @@ Package: libc6
          </p>
 
          <p>
-           Specifying a list of architectures indicates that the source
-           will build an architecture-dependent package, and will only
-           work correctly on the listed architectures.  If the source
-           package also builds at least one architecture-independent
-           package, <tt>all</tt> will also be included in the list.
+           Specifying a list of architectures or architecture wildcards
+           indicates that the source will build an architecture-dependent
+           package, and will only work correctly on the listed or
+           matching architectures.  If the source package also builds at
+           least one architecture-independent package, <tt>all</tt> will
+           also be included in the list.
          </p>
 
          <p>
            In a <file>.changes</file> file, the <tt>Architecture</tt>
-           field lists the architecture(s) of the package(s)
-           currently being uploaded.  This will be a list; if the
-           source for the package is also being uploaded, the special
+           field lists the architecture(s) of the package(s) currently
+           being uploaded.  This will be a list; if the source for the
+           package is also being uploaded, the special
            entry <tt>source</tt> is also present.  <tt>all</tt> will be
            present if any architecture-independent packages are being
-           uploaded.  <tt>any</tt> may never occur in the
-           <tt>Architecture</tt> field in the <file>.changes</file>
-           file.
+           uploaded.  Architecture wildcards such as <tt>any</tt> must
+           never occur in the <tt>Architecture</tt> field in
+           the <file>.changes</file> file.
          </p>
 
          <p>
@@ -3039,10 +3099,12 @@ Package: libc6
            <em>not</em> intended to cope with version numbers containing
            strings of letters which the package management system cannot
            interpret (such as <tt>ALPHA</tt> or <tt>pre-</tt>), or with
-           silly orderings (the author of this manual has heard of a
-           package whose versions went <tt>1.1</tt>, <tt>1.2</tt>,
-           <tt>1.3</tt>, <tt>1</tt>, <tt>2.1</tt>, <tt>2.2</tt>,
-           <tt>2</tt> and so forth).
+           silly orderings.<footnote>
+             The author of this manual has heard of a package whose
+             versions went <tt>1.1</tt>, <tt>1.2</tt>, <tt>1.3</tt>,
+             <tt>1</tt>, <tt>2.1</tt>, <tt>2.2</tt>, <tt>2</tt> and so
+             forth.
+           </footnote>
          </p>
        </sect1>
 
@@ -3174,7 +3236,9 @@ Package: libc6
          <heading><tt>Date</tt></heading>
 
          <p>
-           This field includes the date the package was built or last edited.
+           This field includes the date the package was built or last
+           edited.  It must be in the same format as the <var>date</var>
+           in a <file>debian/changelog</file> entry.
          </p>
 
          <p>
@@ -3410,6 +3474,51 @@ Files:
          </p>
        </sect1>
 
+       <sect1 id="f-Checksums">
+         <heading><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
+           and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt></heading>
+
+         <p>
+           These fields contain a list of files with a checksum and size
+           for each one.  Both <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
+           and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> have the same syntax and differ
+           only in the checksum algorithm used: SHA-1
+           for <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and SHA-256
+           for <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt>.
+         </p>
+
+         <p>
+           <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are
+           multiline fields.  The first line of the field value (the part
+           on the same line as <tt>Checksums-Sha1:</tt>
+           or <tt>Checksums-Sha256:</tt>) is always empty.  The content
+           of the field is expressed as continuation lines, one line per
+           file.  Each line consists of the checksum, a space, the file
+           size, a space, and the file name.  For example (from
+           a <file>.changes</file> file):
+           <example>
+Checksums-Sha1:
+ 1f418afaa01464e63cc1ee8a66a05f0848bd155c 1276 example_1.0-1.dsc
+ a0ed1456fad61116f868b1855530dbe948e20f06 171602 example_1.0.orig.tar.gz
+ 5e86ecf0671e113b63388dac81dd8d00e00ef298 6137 example_1.0-1.debian.tar.gz
+ 71a0ff7da0faaf608481195f9cf30974b142c183 548402 example_1.0-1_i386.deb
+Checksums-Sha256:
+ ac9d57254f7e835bed299926fd51bf6f534597cc3fcc52db01c4bffedae81272 1276 example_1.0-1.dsc
+ 0d123be7f51e61c4bf15e5c492b484054be7e90f3081608a5517007bfb1fd128 171602 example_1.0.orig.tar.gz
+ f54ae966a5f580571ae7d9ef5e1df0bd42d63e27cb505b27957351a495bc6288 6137 example_1.0-1.debian.tar.gz
+ 3bec05c03974fdecd11d020fc2e8250de8404867a8a2ce865160c250eb723664 548402 example_1.0-1_i386.deb
+           </example>
+         </p>
+
+         <p>
+           In the <file>.dsc</file> file, these fields should list all
+           files that make up the source package.  In
+           the <file>.changes</file> file, these fields should list all
+           files being uploaded.  The list of files in these fields
+           must match the list of files in the <tt>Files</tt> field.
+         </p>
+       </sect1>
+
       </sect>
 
       <sect>
@@ -3557,15 +3666,26 @@ Files:
        <heading>Controlling terminal for maintainer scripts</heading>
 
        <p>
-         The maintainer scripts are guaranteed to run with a
-         controlling terminal and can interact with the user.
-         Because these scripts may be executed with standard output
-         redirected into a pipe for logging purposes, Perl scripts
-         should set unbuffered output by setting <tt>$|=1</tt> so
-         that the output is printed immediately rather than being
-         buffered.
+         Maintainer scripts are not guaranteed to run with a controlling
+         terminal and may not be able to interact with the user.  They
+         must be able to fall back to noninteractive behavior if no
+         controlling terminal is available.  Maintainer scripts that
+         prompt via a program conforming to the Debian Configuration
+         Management Specification (see <ref id="maintscriptprompt">) may
+         assume that program will handle falling back to noninteractive
+         behavior.
+       </p>
+
+       <p>
+         For high-priority prompts without a reasonable default answer,
+         maintainer scripts may abort if there is no controlling
+         terminal.  However, this situation should be avoided if at all
+         possible, since it prevents automated or unattended installs.
+         In most cases, users will consider this to be a bug in the
+         package.
        </p>
       </sect>
+
       <sect id="exitstatus">
        <heading>Exit status</heading>
 
@@ -4259,6 +4379,21 @@ Build-Depends: foo [!i386] | bar [!amd64]
          bar</tt> on all other architectures.
        </p>
 
+        <p>
+         All fields that specify build-time relationships may also be
+         restricted to a certain set of architectures using architecture
+         wildcards.  The syntax for declaring such restrictions is the
+         same as declaring restrictions using a certain set of
+         architectures without architecture wildcards.  For example:
+          <example compact="compact">
+Build-Depends: foo [linux-any], bar [any-i386], baz [!linux-any]
+          </example>
+         is equivalent to <tt>foo</tt> on architectures using the Linux
+         kernel and any cpu, <tt>bar</tt> on architectures using any
+         kernel and an i386 cpu, and <tt>baz</tt> on any architecture
+         using a kernel other than Linux.
+        </p>
+
        <p>
          Note that the binary package relationship fields such as
          <tt>Depends</tt> appear in one of the binary package
@@ -4662,6 +4797,20 @@ Provides: bar
            will no longer be listed as "owned" by the old package.
          </p>
 
+         <p>
+           For example, if a package <package>foo</package> is split
+           into <package>foo</package> and <package>foo-data</package>
+           starting at version 1.2-3, <package>foo-data</package> should
+           have the field
+           <example compact="compact">
+Replaces: foo (&lt;&lt; 1.2-3)
+           </example>
+           in its control file.  The package <package>foo</package>
+           doesn't need any special control fields in this example,
+           although would generally depend on or
+           recommend <package>foo-data</package>.
+         </p>
+
          <p>
            If a package is completely replaced in this way, so that
            <prgn>dpkg</prgn> does not know of any files it still
@@ -4752,58 +4901,44 @@ Replaces: mail-transport-agent
           The dependencies and conflicts they define must be satisfied
           (as defined earlier for binary packages) in order to invoke
           the targets in <tt>debian/rules</tt>, as follows:<footnote>
-           <p>
-             If you make "build-arch" or "binary-arch", you need
-             Build-Depends.  If you make "build-indep" or
-             "binary-indep", you need Build-Depends and
-             Build-Depends-Indep.  If you make "build" or "binary",
-             you need both.
-           </p>
            <p>
              There is no Build-Depends-Arch; this role is essentially
-              met with Build-Depends.  Anyone building the
-              <tt>build-indep</tt> and binary-indep<tt></tt> targets
-              is basically assumed to be building the whole package
-              anyway and so installs all build dependencies.  The
-              autobuilders use <tt>dpkg-buildpackage -B</tt>, which
-              calls <tt>build</tt> (not <tt>build-arch</tt>, since it
-              does not yet know how to check for its existence) and
-              <tt>binary-arch</tt>.
+             met with Build-Depends.  Anyone building the
+             <tt>build-indep</tt> and binary-indep<tt></tt> targets is
+             assumed to be building the whole package, and therefore
+             installation of all build dependencies is required.
            </p>
            <p>
-             The purpose of the original split, I recall, was so that
-             the autobuilders wouldn't need to install extra packages
-             needed only for the binary-indep targets.  But without a
-             build-arch/build-indep split, this didn't work, since
-             most of the work is done in the build target, not in the
-             binary target.
+             The autobuilders use <tt>dpkg-buildpackage -B</tt>, which
+             calls <tt>build</tt>, not <tt>build-arch</tt> since it does
+             not yet know how to check for its existence, and
+             <tt>binary-arch</tt>.  The purpose of the original split
+             between <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and
+             <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt> was so that the autobuilders
+             wouldn't need to install extra packages needed only for the
+             binary-indep targets.  But without a build-arch/build-indep
+             split, this didn't work, since most of the work is done in
+             the build target, not in the binary target.
            </p>
          </footnote>
-
          <taglist>
-           <tag><tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt></tag>
+           <tag><tt>clean</tt>, <tt>build-arch</tt>, and
+             <tt>binary-arch</tt></tag>
            <item>
-                The <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and
-               <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> fields must be satisfied when
-               any of the following targets is invoked:
-               <tt>build</tt>, <tt>clean</tt>, <tt>binary</tt>,
-               <tt>binary-arch</tt>, <tt>build-arch</tt>,
-               <tt>build-indep</tt> and <tt>binary-indep</tt>.
+             Only the <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>
+             fields must be satisfied when these targets are invoked.
            </item>
-           <tag><tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
-             <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt></tag>
+           <tag><tt>build</tt>, <tt>build-indep</tt>, <tt>binary</tt>,
+             and <tt>binary-indep</tt></tag>
            <item>
-                The <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt> and
-               <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> fields must be
-               satisfied when any of the following targets is
-               invoked: <tt>build</tt>, <tt>build-indep</tt>,
-               <tt>binary</tt> and <tt>binary-indep</tt>.
+             The <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>,
+             <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>, and
+             <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> fields must be satisfied when
+             these targets are invoked.
            </item>
          </taglist>
        </p>
-
       </sect>
-
     </chapt>
 
 
@@ -6014,7 +6149,7 @@ rmdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null || true
          </p>
        </sect1>
 
-       <sect1>
+       <sect1 id="writing-init">
          <heading>Writing the scripts</heading>
 
          <p>
@@ -6064,6 +6199,23 @@ rmdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null || true
            option.
          </p>
 
+         <p>
+           Be careful of using <tt>set -e</tt> in <file>init.d</file>
+           scripts.  Writing correct <file>init.d</file> scripts requires
+           accepting various error exit statuses when daemons are already
+           running or already stopped without aborting
+           the <file>init.d</file> script, and common <file>init.d</file>
+           function libraries are not safe to call with <tt>set -e</tt>
+           in effect<footnote>
+             <tt>/lib/lsb/init-functions</tt>, which assists in writing
+             LSB-compliant init scripts, may fail if <tt>set -e</tt> is
+             in effect and echoing status messages to the console fails,
+             for example.
+           </footnote>.  For <tt>init.d</tt> scripts, it's often easier
+           to not use <tt>set -e</tt> and instead check the result of
+           each command separately.
+         </p>
+
          <p>
            If a service reloads its configuration automatically (as
            in the case of <prgn>cron</prgn>, for example), the
@@ -7161,13 +7313,19 @@ strip --strip-unneeded <var>your-lib</var>
           language currently used to implement it.
         </p>
        <p>
-         Shell scripts (<prgn>sh</prgn> and <prgn>bash</prgn>)
-         should almost certainly start with <tt>set -e</tt> so that
-         errors are detected.  Every script should use
-         <tt>set -e</tt> or check the exit status of <em>every</em>
-         command.
+         Shell scripts (<prgn>sh</prgn> and <prgn>bash</prgn>) other than
+         <file>init.d</file> scripts should almost certainly start
+         with <tt>set -e</tt> so that errors are detected.
+         <file>init.d</file> scripts are something of a special case, due
+         to how frequently they need to call commands that are allowed to
+         fail, and it may instead be easier to check the exit status of
+         commands directly.  See <ref id="writing-init"> for more
+         information about writing <file>init.d</file> scripts.
+       </p>
+       <p>
+         Every script should use <tt>set -e</tt> or check the exit status
+         of <em>every</em> command.
        </p>
-
        <p>
          Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> implements the
          SUSv3 Shell Command Language<footnote>
@@ -7428,6 +7586,8 @@ ln -fs ../sbin/sendmail debian/tmp/usr/bin/runq
                  package is purged.
              </item>
            </list>
+           Obsolete configuration files without local changes may be
+           removed by the package during upgrade.
          </p>
 
          <p>
@@ -7898,51 +8058,10 @@ done
 
        <p>
          If a program needs to specify an <em>architecture specification
-           string</em> in some place, it should select one of the
-          strings provided by <tt>dpkg-architecture -L</tt>. The
-          strings are in the format
-          <tt><var>os</var>-<var>arch</var></tt>, though the OS part
-          is sometimes elided, as when the OS is Linux.<footnote>
-            <p>Currently, the strings are:
-              i386 ia64 alpha amd64 armeb arm hppa m32r m68k mips
-              mipsel powerpc ppc64 s390 s390x sh3 sh3eb sh4 sh4eb
-              sparc darwin-i386 darwin-ia64 darwin-alpha darwin-amd64
-              darwin-armeb darwin-arm darwin-hppa darwin-m32r
-              darwin-m68k darwin-mips darwin-mipsel darwin-powerpc
-              darwin-ppc64 darwin-s390 darwin-s390x darwin-sh3
-              darwin-sh3eb darwin-sh4 darwin-sh4eb darwin-sparc
-              freebsd-i386 freebsd-ia64 freebsd-alpha freebsd-amd64
-              freebsd-armeb freebsd-arm freebsd-hppa freebsd-m32r
-              freebsd-m68k freebsd-mips freebsd-mipsel freebsd-powerpc
-              freebsd-ppc64 freebsd-s390 freebsd-s390x freebsd-sh3
-              freebsd-sh3eb freebsd-sh4 freebsd-sh4eb freebsd-sparc
-              kfreebsd-i386 kfreebsd-ia64 kfreebsd-alpha
-              kfreebsd-amd64 kfreebsd-armeb kfreebsd-arm kfreebsd-hppa
-              kfreebsd-m32r kfreebsd-m68k kfreebsd-mips
-              kfreebsd-mipsel kfreebsd-powerpc kfreebsd-ppc64
-              kfreebsd-s390 kfreebsd-s390x kfreebsd-sh3 kfreebsd-sh3eb
-              kfreebsd-sh4 kfreebsd-sh4eb kfreebsd-sparc knetbsd-i386
-              knetbsd-ia64 knetbsd-alpha knetbsd-amd64 knetbsd-armeb
-              knetbsd-arm knetbsd-hppa knetbsd-m32r knetbsd-m68k
-              knetbsd-mips knetbsd-mipsel knetbsd-powerpc
-              knetbsd-ppc64 knetbsd-s390 knetbsd-s390x knetbsd-sh3
-              knetbsd-sh3eb knetbsd-sh4 knetbsd-sh4eb knetbsd-sparc
-              netbsd-i386 netbsd-ia64 netbsd-alpha netbsd-amd64
-              netbsd-armeb netbsd-arm netbsd-hppa netbsd-m32r
-              netbsd-m68k netbsd-mips netbsd-mipsel netbsd-powerpc
-              netbsd-ppc64 netbsd-s390 netbsd-s390x netbsd-sh3
-              netbsd-sh3eb netbsd-sh4 netbsd-sh4eb netbsd-sparc
-              openbsd-i386 openbsd-ia64 openbsd-alpha openbsd-amd64
-              openbsd-armeb openbsd-arm openbsd-hppa openbsd-m32r
-              openbsd-m68k openbsd-mips openbsd-mipsel openbsd-powerpc
-              openbsd-ppc64 openbsd-s390 openbsd-s390x openbsd-sh3
-              openbsd-sh3eb openbsd-sh4 openbsd-sh4eb openbsd-sparc
-              hurd-i386 hurd-ia64 hurd-alpha hurd-amd64 hurd-armeb
-              hurd-arm hurd-hppa hurd-m32r hurd-m68k hurd-mips
-              hurd-mipsel hurd-powerpc hurd-ppc64 hurd-s390 hurd-s390x
-              hurd-sh3 hurd-sh3eb hurd-sh4 hurd-sh4eb hurd-sparc
-            </p>
-          </footnote>
+         string</em> in some place, it should select one of the strings
+         provided by <tt>dpkg-architecture -L</tt>. The strings are in
+         the format <tt><var>os</var>-<var>arch</var></tt>, though the OS
+         part is sometimes elided, as when the OS is Linux.
        </p>
 
        <p>
@@ -7954,6 +8073,27 @@ done
          <tt><var>arch</var>-unknown-linux</tt>, since the
          <tt>unknown</tt> does not look very good.
        </p>
+
+       <sect1 id="arch-wildcard-spec">
+          <heading>Architecture wildcards</heading>
+
+          <p>
+           A package may specify an architecture wildcard. Architecture
+           wildcards are in the format <tt>any</tt> (which matches every
+           architecture), <tt><var>os</var></tt>-any, or
+           any-<tt><var>cpu</var></tt>. <footnote>
+             Internally, the package system normalizes the GNU triplets
+             and the Debian arches into Debian arch triplets (which are
+             kind of inverted GNU triplets), with the first component of
+             the triplet representing the libc and ABI in use, and then
+             does matching against those triplets.  However, such
+             triplets are an internal implementation detail that should
+             not be used by packages directly.  The libc and ABI portion
+             is handled internally by the package system based on
+             the <var>os</var> and <var>cpu</var>.
+            </footnote>
+          </p>
+       </sect1>
       </sect>
 
       <sect>
@@ -8868,7 +9008,7 @@ name ["<var>syshostname</var>"]:
                name="Man-Page-HOWTO">,
              <manref name="man" section="7">, the examples
               created by <prgn>debmake</prgn> or <prgn>dh_make</prgn>,
-             the helper programs <prgn>help2man</prgn>, or the
+             the helper program <prgn>help2man</prgn>, or the
               directory <file>/usr/share/doc/man-db/examples</file>.
           </footnote>
        </p>
@@ -9143,14 +9283,13 @@ END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
        </p>
 
        <p>
-         Packages distributed under the UCB BSD license, the Apache
-         license (version 2.0), the Artistic license, the GNU GPL
-         (version 2 or 3), the GNU LGPL (versions 2, 2.1, or 3), and the
-         GNU FDL (versions 1.2 or 1.3) should refer to the corresponding
-         files under <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>,<footnote>
+         Packages distributed under the Apache license (version 2.0), the
+         Artistic license, the GNU GPL (version 2 or 3), the GNU LGPL
+         (versions 2, 2.1, or 3), and the GNU FDL (versions 1.2 or 1.3)
+         should refer to the corresponding files
+         under <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>,<footnote>
            <p>
              In particular,
-              <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>,
               <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/Apache-2.0</file>,
               <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/Artistic</file>,
               <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2</file>,
@@ -9160,7 +9299,14 @@ END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
               <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-3</file>,
               <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.2</file>, and
               <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.3</file>
-              respectively.
+             respectively.  The University of California BSD license is
+             also included in <package>base-files</package> as
+             <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>, but given the
+             brevity of this license, its specificity to code whose
+             copyright is held by the Regents of the University of
+             California, and the frequency of minor wording changes, its
+             text should be included in the copyright file rather than
+             referencing this file.
             </p>
           </footnote> rather than quoting them in the copyright
          file. 
@@ -9514,9 +9660,9 @@ END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
              </p>
 
              <p>
-               The maintainer scripts are guaranteed to run with a
-               controlling terminal and can interact with the user.
-               See <ref id="controllingterminal">.
+               The maintainer scripts are not guaranteed to run with a
+               controlling terminal and may not be able to interact with
+               the user.  See <ref id="controllingterminal">.
              </p>
            </item>