<p>
Every package must be accompanied by a verbatim copy of
its copyright and distribution license in the file
- <tt>/usr/share/doc/<em><package-name></em>/copyright</tt>
+ <tt>/usr/share/doc/<em><package></em>/copyright</tt>
(see <ref id="copyrightfile"> for further details).
</p>
<p>
<footnote>
<p>
To be precise, the string should match the following
- Perl regular expression (where $pound=<tt>#</tt>;):
- <example>
-/closes:\s*(?:bug)?${pound}?\s?\d+(?:,\s*(?:bug)?\${pound}?\s?\d+)*/i
- </example>
- <footnote>
- <p>We had to introduce the $pound variable in the
- regexp above because otherwise the utilities
- rendering the policy documents gor confused by a
- backslashed "#" symbol.
- </p>
- </footnote>
+ Perl regular expression:
+ <tt>/closes:\s*(?:bug)?\#?\s?\d+(?:,\s*(?:bug)?\#?\s?\d+)*/i</tt>
Then all of the bug numbers listed will be closed by the
archive maintenance script (<prgn>katie</prgn>), or in
the case of an NMU, marked as fixed.
</p>
<p>
- All but <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> and <tt>Conflicts</tt>
- (discussed below) take effect <em>only</em> when a package
- is to be configured. They do not prevent a package being on
- the system in an unconfigured state while its dependencies
- are unsatisfied, and it is possible to replace a package
- whose dependencies are satisfied and which is properly
- installed with a different version whose dependencies are
- not and cannot be satisfied; when this is done the depending
- package will be left unconfigured (since attempts to
- configure it will give errors) and will not function
- properly.
+ A <tt>Depends</tt> field takes effect <em>only</em> when a
+ package is to be configured. It does not prevent a package
+ being on the system in an unconfigured state while its
+ dependencies are unsatisfied, and it is possible to replace
+ a package whose dependencies are satisfied and which is
+ properly installed with a different version whose
+ dependencies are not and cannot be satisfied; when this is
+ done the depending package will be left unconfigured (since
+ attempts to configure it will give errors) and will not
+ function properly. If it is necessary, a
+ <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> field can be used, which has a partial
+ effect even when a package is being unpacked, as explained
+ in detail below. (The other three dependency fields,
+ <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt> and
+ <tt>Enhances</tt>, are only used by the various front-ends
+ to <prgn>dpkg</prgn> such as <prgn>dselect</prgn>.)
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
- Thus <tt>Depends</tt> allows package maintainers to impose
- an order in which packages should be configured.
+ The <tt>Depends</tt> field thus allows package maintainers
+ to impose an order in which packages should be configured.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The meaning of the five dependency fields is as follows:
<taglist>
<tag><tt>Depends</tt></tag>
<item>
- <p>This declares an absolute dependency.
+ <p>
+ This declares an absolute dependency. A package will
+ not be configured unless all of the packages listed in
+ its <tt>Depends</tt> field have been correctly
+ configured.
</p>
<p>
The <tt>Depends</tt> field should be used if the
depended-on package is required for the depending
package to provide a significant amount of
- functionality.</p>
+ functionality.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The <tt>Depends</tt> field should also be used if the
+ <prgn>postinst</prgn>, <prgn>prerm</prgn> or
+ <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts require the package to be
+ present in order to run. Note, however, that the
+ <prgn>postrm</prgn> cannot rely on any non-essential
+ packages to be present during the <tt>purge</tt>
+ phase.
</item>
<tag><tt>Recommends</tt></tag>
also forces <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to complete installation
of the packages named before even starting the
installation of the package which declares the
- Pre-dependency.
+ pre-dependency, as follows:
</p>
<p>
- <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> should be used sparingly,
- preferably only by packages whose premature upgrade or
- installation would hamper the ability of the system to
- continue with any upgrade that might be in progress.
+ When a package declaring a pre-dependency is about to
+ be <em>unpacked</em> the pre-dependency can be
+ satisfied if the depended-on package is either fully
+ configured, <em>or even if</em> the depended-on
+ package(s) are only unpacked or half-configured,
+ provided that they have been configured correctly at
+ some point in the past (and not removed or partially
+ removed since). In this case, both the
+ previously-configured and currently unpacked or
+ half-configured versions must satisfy any version
+ clause in the <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> field.
</p>
<p>
- When the package declaring it is being configured, a
- <tt>Pre-Dependency</tt> will be considered satisfied
- only if the depending package has been correctly
- configured, just as if an ordinary <tt>Depends</tt>
- had been used.
+ When the package declaring a pre-dependency is about
+ to be <em>configured</em>, the pre-dependency will be
+ treated as a normal <tt>Depends</tt>, that is, it will
+ be considered satisfied only if the depended-on
+ package has been correctly configured.
</p>
<p>
- However, when a package declaring a Pre-dependency is
- being unpacked the predependency can be satisfied even
- if the depended-on package(s) are only unpacked or
- half-configured, provided that they have been
- configured correctly at some point in the past (and
- not removed or partially removed since). In this case
- both the previously-configured and currently unpacked
- or half-configured versions must satisfy any version
- clause in the <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> field.
+ <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> should be used sparingly,
+ preferably only by packages whose premature upgrade or
+ installation would hamper the ability of the system to
+ continue with any upgrade that might be in progress.
</p>
+
+ <p>
+ <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> are also required if the
+ <prgn>preinst</prgn> script depends on the named
+ package. It is best to avoid this situation if
+ possible.
</item>
</taglist>
</p>
</p>
- <sect id="conflicts"><heading>Alternative binary packages -
- <tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Replaces</tt>
- </heading>
+ <sect id="conflicts"><heading>Conflicting binary packages -
+ <tt>Conflicts</tt></heading>
<p>
When one binary package declares a conflict with another
- <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will refuse to allow them to be installed
- on the system at the same time.
+ using a <tt>Conflicts</tt> field, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will
+ refuse to allow them to be installed on the system at the
+ same time.
</p>
<p>
If one package is to be installed, the other must be removed
first - if the package being installed is marked as
- replacing (<ref id="replaces">) the one on the system, or
- the one on the system is marked as deselected, or both
+ replacing (see <ref id="replaces">) the one on the system,
+ or the one on the system is marked as deselected, or both
packages are marked <tt>Essential</tt>, then
<prgn>dpkg</prgn> will automatically remove the package
which is causing the conflict, otherwise it will halt the
- installation of the new package with an error. This
- mechanism specifically doesn't work when the installed
- package is <tt>Essential</tt>, but the new package is not.
+ installation of the new package with an error. This
+ mechanism is specifically designed to produce an error when
+ the installed package is <tt>Essential</tt>, but the new
+ package is not.
</p>
-
<p>
A package will not cause a conflict merely because its
configuration files are still installed; it must be at least
prevent their installation, and allows a package to conflict
with others providing a replacement for it. You use this
feature when you want the package in question to be the only
- package providing something.
+ package providing some feature.
</p>
<p>
<p>
As well as the names of actual (`concrete') packages, the
package relationship fields <tt>Depends</tt>,
+ <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>,
+ <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, <tt>Conflicts</tt>,
<tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
- <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Conflicts</tt>,
- <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> may
- mention virtual packages.
+ <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>
+ may mention `virtual packages'.
</p>
<p>
- A virtual package is one which appears in the
+ A <em>virtual package</em> is one which appears in the
<tt>Provides</tt> control file field of another package.
The effect is as if the package(s) which provide a
particular virtual package name had been listed by name
packages which provide it. This is so that, for example,
supposing we have
<example>
- Package: vm
- Depends: emacs
+ Package: foo
+ Depends: bar
</example>
- and someone else releases an xemacs package they can say
+ and someone else releases an enhanced version of the
+ <tt>bar</tt> package (for example, a non-US variant), they
+ can say:
<example>
- Package: xemacs
- Provides: emacs
- </example> and all will work in the interim (until a purely
- virtual package name is decided on and the <tt>emacs</tt>
- and <tt>vm</tt> packages are changed to use it).
+ Package: bar-plus
+ Provides: bar
+ </example>
+ and the <tt>bar-plus</tt> package will now also satisfy the
+ dependency for the <tt>foo</tt> package.
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
- If you want to specify which of a set of real packages should be the
- default to satisfy a particular dependency on a virtual package, you
- should list the real package as an alternative before the virtual.
+ If you want to specify which of a set of real packages
+ should be the default to satisfy a particular dependency on
+ a virtual package, you should list the real package as an
+ alternative before the virtual one.
</p>
</sect>
- <sect id="replaces"><heading><tt>Replaces</tt> - overwriting
- files and replacing packages
- </heading>
+ <sect id="replaces"><heading>Overwriting files and replacing
+ packages - <tt>Replaces</tt></heading>
<p>
- The <tt>Replaces</tt> control file field has two purposes,
- which come into play in different situations.
+ The <tt>Replaces</tt> control file field has two distinct
+ purposes, which come into play in different situations.
</p>
- <p>
- Virtual packages (<ref id="virtual">) are not considered
- when looking at a <tt>Replaces</tt> field - the packages
- declared as being replaced must be mentioned by their real
- names.
- </p>
-
- <sect1><heading>Overwriting files in other packages
- </heading>
+ <sect1><heading>Overwriting files in other packages</heading>
<p>
Firstly, as mentioned before, it is usually an error for a
package to contain files which are on the system in
- another package, though currently the
- <tt>--force-overwrite</tt> flag is enabled by default,
- downgrading the error to a warning,
+ another package.
</p>
<p>
- If the overwriting package declares that it replaces the
- one containing the file being overwritten then
- <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will proceed, and replace the file from
- the old package with that from the new. The file will no
- longer be listed as `owned' by the old package.
+ However, if the overwriting package declares that it
+ <tt>Replaces</tt> the one containing the file being
+ overwritten, then <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will replace the file
+ from the old package with that from the new. The file
+ will no longer be listed as `owned' by the old 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
- contains, it is considered to have disappeared. It will
+ contains, it is considered to have `disappeared'. It will
be marked as not wanted on the system (selected for
- removal) and not installed. Any conffiles details noted
- in the package will be ignored, as they will have been
- taken over by the replacing package(s). The package's
- <prgn>postrm</prgn> script will be run to allow the
- package to do any final cleanup required. See <ref
- id="mscriptsinstact">.
+ removal) and not installed. Any <tt>conffile</tt>s
+ details noted for the package will be ignored, as they
+ will have been taken over by the overwriting package. The
+ package's <prgn>postrm</prgn> script will be run with a
+ special argument to allow the package to do any final
+ cleanup required. See <ref id="mscriptsinstact">.
</p>
<p>
- In the future <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will discard files which
- would overwrite those from an already installed package
- which declares that it replaces the package being
- installed. This is so that you can install an older
- version of a package without problems.
+ If an installed package, <tt>foo</tt> say, declares that
+ it replaces another, <tt>bar</tt>, and an attempt is made
+ to install <tt>bar</tt>, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will discard
+ files in the <tt>bar</tt> package which would overwrite
+ those already present in <tt>foo</tt>. This is so that
+ you can install an older version of a package without
+ problems.
</p>
<p>
- This usage of <tt>Replaces</tt> only takes effect when
- both packages are at least partially on the system at
- once, so that it can only happen if they do not conflict
- or if the conflict has been overridden.</p>
+ For this usage of <tt>Replaces</tt>, virtual packages (see
+ <ref id="virtual">) are not considered when looking at a
+ <tt>Replaces</tt> field - the packages declared as being
+ replaced must be mentioned by their real names.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Furthermore, this usage of <tt>Replaces</tt> only takes
+ effect when both packages are at least partially on the
+ system at once, so that it can only happen if they do not
+ conflict or if the conflict has been overridden.
+ </p>
+
</sect1>
<sect1><heading>Replacing whole packages, forcing their
- removal
- </heading>
+ removal</heading>
<p>
Secondly, <tt>Replaces</tt> allows the packaging system to
resolve which package should be removed when there is a
conflict - see <ref id="conflicts">. This usage only
takes effect when the two packages <em>do</em> conflict,
- so that the two effects do not interfere with each other.
+ so that the two usages of this field do not interfere with
+ each other.
</p>
+
+ <p>
+ In this situation, the package declared as being replaced
+ can be a virtual package, so for example, all mail
+ transport agents (MTAs) would have the following fields in
+ their control files:
+ <example>
+Provides: mail-transport-agent
+Conflicts: mail-transport-agent
+Replaces: mail-transport-agent
+ </example>
+ ensuring that only one MTA can be installed at any one
+ time.
</sect1>
</sect>
<p>
A source package may declare a dependency or a conflict on a
- binary package. This is done with the control file fields
- <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
- <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>, and
- <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>. Their semantics are that
- the dependencies and conflicts they define must be satisfied
- (as defined earlier for binary packages), when one of the
- targets in <tt>debian/rules</tt> that the particular field
- applies to is invoked.
+ binary package, indicating which packages are required to be
+ present on the system in order to build the binary packages
+ from the source package. This is done with the control file
+ fields <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
+ <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>.
+ 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:
<taglist>
<tag><tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt></tag>
<item>
<p>
The <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and
- <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> fields apply to the targets
+ <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> fields must be satisfied when
+ any of the following targets is invoked:
<tt>build</tt>, <tt>binary</tt>, <tt>binary-arch</tt>
and <tt>binary-indep</tt>.
</p>
<item>
<p>
The <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt> and
- <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> fields apply to the
- targets <tt>binary</tt> and <tt>binary-indep</tt>.
+ <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> fields must be
+ satisfied when any of the following targets is
+ invoked: <tt>binary</tt> and <tt>binary-indep</tt>.
</p>
</item>
</taglist>
</heading>
<p>
- <prgn>dpkg</prgn> can do a certain amount of automatic
- handling of package configuration files.
+ This chapter has been superseded by <ref id="config files">.
</p>
- <p>
- Whether this mechanism is appropriate depends on a number of
- factors, but basically there are two approaches to any
- particular configuration file.
- </p>
- <p>
- The easy method is to ship a best-effort configuration in the
- package, and use <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s conffile mechanism to
- handle updates. If the user is unlikely to want to edit the
- file, but you need them to be able to without losing their
- changes, and a new package with a changed version of the file
- is only released infrequently, this is a good approach.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The hard method is to build the configuration file from
- scratch in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script, and to take the
- responsibility for fixing any mistakes made in earlier
- versions of the package automatically. This will be
- appropriate if the file is likely to need to be different on
- each system.
- </p>
-
-
- <chapt id="sharedlibs"><heading>Shared libraries
- </heading>
+ <chapt id="sharedlibs"><heading>Shared libraries</heading>
<p>
Packages containing shared libraries must be constructed with
a little care to make sure that the shared library is always
available. This is especially important for packages whose
- shared libraries are vitally important, such as the libc.
+ shared libraries are vitally important, such as the C library
+ (currently <tt>libc6</tt>).
</p>
<p>
- Firstly, your package should install the shared libraries
- under their normal names. For example, the
- <prgn>libgdbm1</prgn> package should install
- <tt>libgdbm.so.1.7.3</tt> as
+ Firstly, the package should install the shared libraries under
+ their normal names. For example, the <tt>libgdbmg1</tt>
+ package should install <tt>libgdbm.so.1.7.3</tt> as
<tt>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.1.7.3</tt>. The files should not be
- renamed or re-linked by any prerm or postrm scripts;
- <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will take care of renaming things safely
- without affecting running programs, and attempts to interfere
- with this are likely to lead to problems.
+ renamed or re-linked by any <prgn>prerm</prgn> or
+ <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts; <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will take care
+ of renaming things safely without affecting running programs,
+ and attempts to interfere with this are likely to lead to
+ problems.
</p>
<p>
- Secondly, your package should include the symlink that
+ Secondly, the package should include the symbolic link that
<prgn>ldconfig</prgn> would create for the shared libraries.
- For example, the <prgn>libgdbm1</prgn> package should include
- a symlink from <tt>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.1</tt> to
- <tt>libgdbm.so.1.7.3</tt>. This is needed so that
- <prgn>ld.so</prgn> can find the library in between the time
- <prgn>dpkg</prgn> installs it and <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> is run
- in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script. Furthermore, older
- versions of the package management system required the library
- must be placed before the symlink pointing to it in the
- <tt>.deb</tt> file. This is so that by the time
- <prgn>dpkg</prgn> comes to install the symlink (overwriting
- the previous symlink pointing at an older version of the
- library) the new shared library is already in place.
- Unfortunately, this was not not always possible, since it
- highly depends on the behavior of the file system. Some
- file systems (such as reiserfs) will reorder the files so it
- doesn't matter in what order you create them. Starting with
- release <tt>1.7.0</tt> <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will reorder the
- files itself when building a package.
+ For example, the <prgn>libgdbmg1</prgn> package should include
+ a symbolic link from <tt>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.1</tt> to
+ <tt>libgdbm.so.1.7.3</tt>. This is needed so that the dynamic
+ linker (for example <prgn>ld.so</prgn> or
+ <prgn>ld-linux.so.*</prgn>) can find the library between the
+ time that <prgn>dpkg</prgn> installs it and the time that
+ <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> is run in the <prgn>postinst</prgn>
+ script.
+ <footnote>
+ <p>
+ The package management system requires the library to be
+ placed before the symbolic link pointing to it in the
+ <tt>.deb</tt> file. This is so that when
+ <prgn>dpkg</prgn> comes to install the symlink
+ (overwriting the previous symlink pointing at an older
+ version of the library), the new shared library is already
+ in place. In the past, this was achieved by creating the
+ library in the temporary packaging directory before
+ creating the symlink. Unfortunately, this was not always
+ effective, since the building of the tar file in the
+ <tt>.deb</tt> depended on the behavior of the underlying
+ file system. Some file systems (such as reiserfs) reorder
+ the files so that the order of creation is forgotten.
+ Starting with release <tt>1.7.0</tt>, <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
+ will reorder the files itself as necessary when building a
+ package. Thus it is no longer important to concern
+ oneself with the order of file creation.
+ </p>
+ </footnote>
</p>
<p>
- Thirdly, the development package should contain a symlink for
- the shared library without a version number. For example, the
- <tt>libgdbm1-dev</tt> package should include a symlink from
- <tt>/usr/lib/libgdm.so</tt> to <tt>libgdm.so.1.7.3</tt>. This
- symlink is needed by <prgn>ld</prgn> when compiling packages
- as it will only look for <tt>libgdm.so</tt> and
- <tt>libgdm.a</tt> when compiling dynamically or statically,
- respectively.
+ Thirdly, the associated development package should contain a
+ symlink for the shared library without a version number. For
+ example, the <tt>libgdbmg1-dev</tt> package should include a
+ symlink from <tt>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so</tt> to
+ <tt>libgdbm.so.1.7.3</tt>. This symlink is needed by the
+ linker (<prgn>ld</prgn>) when compiling packages, as it will
+ only look for <tt>libgdbm.so</tt> when compiling dynamically.
</p>
<p>
- Any package installing shared libraries in a directory that's listed
- in <tt>/etc/ld.so.conf</tt> or in one of the default library
- directories of <prgn>ld.so</prgn> (currently, these are <tt>/usr/lib</tt>
- and <tt>/lib</tt>) must call <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> in its <prgn>postinst</prgn>
- script if and only if the first argument is `configure'. However, it
- is important not to call <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> in the postrm or preinst
- scripts in the case where the package is being upgraded (see <ref
- id="unpackphase">), as <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> will see the temporary names
- that <prgn>dpkg</prgn> uses for the files while it is
- installing them and will make the shared library links point
- to them, just before <prgn>dpkg</prgn> continues the
- installation and removes the links!
+ Any package installing shared libraries in a directory that is
+ listed in <tt>/etc/ld.so.conf</tt> or in one of the default
+ library directories of the dynamic linker (currently, these
+ are <tt>/usr/lib</tt> and <tt>/lib</tt>) must call
+ <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> in its <prgn>postinst</prgn> script if
+ and only if the first argument is `configure'. However, it is
+ important not to call <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> in the postrm or
+ preinst scripts in the case where the package is being
+ upgraded (see <ref id="unpackphase">), as
+ <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> will see the temporary names that
+ <prgn>dpkg</prgn> uses for the files while it is installing
+ them and will make the shared library links point to them,
+ just before <prgn>dpkg</prgn> continues the installation and
+ removes the links!
</p>
<sect id="shlibs"><heading>The <tt>shlibs</tt> File Format
<p>
If a certain job has to be executed more frequently than
daily, the package should install a file
- <tt>/etc/cron.d/<var>package-name</var></tt>. This file uses
+ <tt>/etc/cron.d/<var>package</var></tt>. This file uses
the same syntax as <tt>/etc/crontab</tt> and is processed by
<prgn>cron</prgn> automatically. The file must also be
treated as a configuration file. (Note, that entries in the
<item>
BDF fonts should be converted to PCF fonts with the
<tt>bdftopcf</tt> utility (available in the
- <tt>xutils</tt> package, <tt>gzip</tt>ped, and
+ <tt>xutils</tt> package), <tt>gzip</tt>ped, and
placed in a directory that corresponds to their
resolution:
<list>
<p>
Every package must be accompanied by a verbatim copy of its
copyright and distribution license in the file
- /usr/share/doc/<package-name>/copyright. This file must
+ /usr/share/doc/<package>/copyright. This file must
neither be compressed nor be a symbolic link.</p>
<p>
<p>
- /usr/share/doc/<package-name> may be a symbolic link to a
+ /usr/share/doc/<package> may be a symbolic link to a
directory in /usr/share/doc only if two packages both come from
the same source and the first package has a "Depends"
relationship on the second. These rules are important
projects / debian / debian-policy.git / blobdiff