</p>
<p>
- Each paragraph consists of a series of data fields; each
- field consists of the field name, followed by a colon and
- then the data/value associated with that field. The field
- name is composed of printable ASCII characters (i.e.,
- characters that have values between 33 and 126, inclusive)
- except colon and must not with a begin with #. The
- field ends at the end of the line or at the end of the
- last continuation line (see below). Horizontal whitespace
- (spaces and tabs) may occur immediately before or after the
- value and is ignored there; it is conventional to put a
- single space after the colon. For example, a field might
- be:
+ Each paragraph consists of a series of data fields. Each field
+ consists of the field name followed by a colon and then the
+ data/value associated with that field. The field name is
+ composed of US-ASCII characters excluding control characters,
+ space, and colon (i.e., characters in the ranges 33-57 and
+ 59-126, inclusive). Field names must not begin with the comment
+ character, <tt>#</tt>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The field ends at the end of the line or at the end of the last
+ continuation line (see below). Horizontal whitespace (spaces
+ and tabs) may occur immediately before or after the value and is
+ ignored there; it is conventional to put a single space after
+ the colon. For example, a field might be:
<example compact="compact">
Package: libc6
</example>
<heading>File System Structure</heading>
<p>
- The location of all installed files and directories must
- comply with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS),
- version 2.3, with the exceptions noted below, and except
- where doing so would violate other terms of Debian
- Policy. The following exceptions to the FHS apply:
+ The location of all files and directories must comply with the
+ Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), version 2.3, with the
+ exceptions noted below, and except where doing so would
+ violate other terms of Debian Policy. The following
+ exceptions to the FHS apply:
<enumlist>
<item>
<p>
You may wish to restrict your script to SUSv3 features plus the
above set when possible so that it may use <file>/bin/sh</file>
- as its interpreter. If your script works with <prgn>dash</prgn>
- (originally called <prgn>ash</prgn>), it probably complies with
- the above requirements, but if you are in doubt, use
- <file>/bin/bash</file>.
+ as its interpreter. Checking your script
+ with <prgn>checkbashisms</prgn> from
+ the <package>devscripts</package> package or running your script
+ with <prgn>posh</prgn> may help uncover violations of the above
+ requirements. If in doubt whether a script complies with these
+ requirements, use <file>/bin/bash</file>.
</p>
<p>