Copyright © 1996,1997,1998 Ian Jackson
and Christian Schwarz.
</copyrightsummary>
+ <p>
+ These are the copyright dates of the original Policy manual.
+ Since then, this manual has been updated by many others. No
+ comprehensive collection of copyright notices for subsequent
+ work exists.
+ </p>
+
<p>
This manual is free software; you may redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
<item>
<tt>DEB_*_ARCH</tt> (the Debian architecture)
</item>
+ <item>
+ <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU</tt> (the Debian CPU name)
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_OS</tt> (the Debian System name)
+ </item>
<item>
<tt>DEB_*_GNU_TYPE</tt> (the GNU style architecture
specification string)
It is important to understand that the <tt>DEB_*_ARCH</tt>
string only determines which Debian architecture we are
building on or for. It should not be used to get the CPU
- or system information; the GNU style variables should be
- used for that.
+ or system information; the <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU</tt> and
+ <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_OS</tt> variables should be used for that.
+ GNU style variables should generally only be used with upstream
+ build systems.
</p>
<sect1 id="debianrules-options">
values:
<list>
<item>A unique single word identifying a Debian machine
- architecture, see <ref id="arch-spec">.
+ 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
<p>
In the main <file>debian/control</file> file in the source
- package, or in the source package control file
- <file>.dsc</file>, one may specify a list of architectures
- separated by spaces, or the special values <tt>any</tt> or
- <tt>all</tt>.
+ 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.
+ </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.
</p>
<p>
Specifying <tt>any</tt> indicates that the source package
isn't dependent on any particular architecture and should
compile fine on any one. The produced binary package(s)
- will be specific to whatever the current build architecture
- is.<footnote>
- This is the most often used setting, and is recommended
- for new packages that aren't <tt>Architecture: all</tt>.
- </footnote>
+ will either be specific to whatever the current build
+ architecture is or will be architecture-independent.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Specifying only <tt>all</tt> indicates that the source package
+ will only build architecture-independent packages. If this is
+ the case, <tt>all</tt> must be used rather than <tt>any</tt>;
+ <tt>any</tt> implies that the source package will build at
+ least one architecture-dependent package.
</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.<footnote>
- This is a setting used for a minority of cases where the
- program is not portable. Generally, it should not be used
- for new packages.
- </footnote>
+ 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.
</p>
<p>
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.
+ 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.
</p>
<p>
distribution(s) where this version of the package should
be installed. Valid distributions are determined by the
archive maintainers.<footnote>
- Current distribution names are:
+ Example distribution names in the Debian archive used in
+ <file>.changes</file> files are:
<taglist compact="compact">
- <tag><em>stable</em></tag>
- <item>
- This is the current "released" version of Debian
- GNU/Linux. Once the distribution is
- <em>stable</em> only security fixes and other
- major bug fixes are allowed. When changes are
- made to this distribution, the release number is
- increased (for example: 2.2r1 becomes 2.2r2 then
- 2.2r3, etc).
- </item>
-
<tag><em>unstable</em></tag>
<item>
- This distribution value refers to the
- <em>developmental</em> part of the Debian
- distribution tree. New packages, new upstream
- versions of packages and bug fixes go into the
- <em>unstable</em> directory tree. Download from
- this distribution at your own risk.
- </item>
-
- <tag><em>testing</em></tag>
- <item>
- This distribution value refers to the
- <em>testing</em> part of the Debian distribution
- tree. It receives its packages from the
- unstable distribution after a short time lag to
- ensure that there are no major issues with the
- unstable packages. It is less prone to breakage
- than unstable, but still risky. It is not
- possible to upload packages directly to
- <em>testing</em>.
- </item>
-
- <tag><em>frozen</em></tag>
- <item>
- From time to time, the <em>testing</em>
- distribution enters a state of "code-freeze" in
- anticipation of release as a <em>stable</em>
- version. During this period of testing only
- fixes for existing or newly-discovered bugs will
- be allowed. The exact details of this stage are
- determined by the Release Manager.
+ This distribution value refers to the
+ <em>developmental</em> part of the Debian distribution
+ tree. Most new packages, new upstream versions of
+ packages and bug fixes go into the <em>unstable</em>
+ directory tree.
</item>
<tag><em>experimental</em></tag>
<item>
- The packages with this distribution value are
- deemed by their maintainers to be high
- risk. Oftentimes they represent early beta or
- developmental packages from various sources that
- the maintainers want people to try, but are not
- ready to be a part of the other parts of the
- Debian distribution tree. Download at your own
- risk.
+ The packages with this distribution value are deemed
+ by their maintainers to be high risk. Oftentimes they
+ represent early beta or developmental packages from
+ various sources that the maintainers want people to
+ try, but are not ready to be a part of the other parts
+ of the Debian distribution tree.
</item>
</taglist>
<p>
- You should list <em>all</em> distributions that the
- package should be installed into.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- More information is available in the Debian Developer's
- Reference, section "The Debian archive".
+ Others are used for updating stable releases or for
+ security uploads. More information is available in the
+ Debian Developer's Reference, section "The Debian
+ archive".
</p>
</footnote>
+ The Debian archive software only supports listing a single
+ distribution. Migration of packages to other distributions is
+ handled outside of the upload process.
</p>
</sect1>
</p>
<p>
- The disk space is represented in kilobytes as a simple
- decimal number.
+ The disk space is given as the integer value of the installed
+ size divided by 1024 (in other words, the size in kibibytes)
+ and rounded up.
</p>
</sect1>
This is done using the <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>,
<tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>,
<tt>Breaks</tt> and <tt>Conflicts</tt> control file fields.
+ <tt>Breaks</tt> is described in <ref id="breaks">, and
+ <tt>Conflicts</tt> is described in <ref id="conflicts">. The
+ rest are described below.
</p>
<p>
<heading>Installation directory issues</heading>
<p>
- Packages using the X Window System should not be
- configured to install files under the
- <file>/usr/X11R6/</file> directory. The
- <file>/usr/X11R6/</file> directory hierarchy should be
+ Historically, packages using the X Window System used a
+ separate set of installation directories from other packages.
+ This practice has been discontinued and packages using the X
+ Window System should now generally be installed in the same
+ directories as any other package. Specifically, packages must
+ not install files under the <file>/usr/X11R6/</file> directory
+ and the <file>/usr/X11R6/</file> directory hierarchy should be
regarded as obsolete.
</p>
<p>
- Programs that use GNU <prgn>autoconf</prgn> and
- <prgn>automake</prgn> are usually easily configured at
- compile time to use <file>/usr/</file> instead of
- <file>/usr/X11R6/</file>, and this should be done whenever
- possible. Configuration files for window managers and
- display managers should be placed in a subdirectory of
- <file>/etc/X11/</file> corresponding to the package name due
- to these programs' tight integration with the mechanisms
- of the X Window System. Application-level programs should
- use the <file>/etc/</file> directory unless otherwise mandated
- by policy.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The installation of files into subdirectories
- of <file>/usr/X11R6/include/X11/</file> and
- <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/</file> is now prohibited;
- package maintainers should determine if subdirectories of
- <file>/usr/lib/</file> and <file>/usr/share/</file> can be used
- instead.
+ Include files previously installed under
+ <file>/usr/X11R6/include/X11/</file> should be installed into
+ <file>/usr/include/X11/</file>. For files previously
+ installed into subdirectories of
+ <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/</file>, package maintainers should
+ determine if subdirectories of <file>/usr/lib/</file> and
+ <file>/usr/share/</file> can be used. If not, a subdirectory
+ of <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file> should be used.
</p>
<p>
- Packages should install any relevant files into the
- directories <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and
- <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if they do so, they must
- pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>=
- 1:7.0.0)</tt><footnote>
- <p>
- These libraries used to be all symbolic
- links. However, with <tt>X11R7</tt>,
- <tt>/usr/include/X11</tt> and <tt>/usr/lib/X11</tt>
- are now real directories, and packages
- <strong>should</strong> ship their files here instead
- of in <tt>/usr/X11R6/{include,lib}/X11</tt>.
- <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0) </tt> is the package
- responsible for converting these symlinks into
- directories.
- </p>
- </footnote>
+ Configuration files for window managers and display managers
+ should be placed in a subdirectory of <file>/etc/X11/</file>
+ corresponding to the package name due to these programs' tight
+ integration with the mechanisms of the X Window System.
+ Application-level programs should use the <file>/etc/</file>
+ directory unless otherwise mandated by policy.
</p>
</sect1>
projects / debian / debian-policy.git / blobdiff