Merge branch 'master' into bug184064-rra

[debian/debian-policy.git] / policy.sgml

diff --git a/policy.sgml b/policy.sgml
index 6c770fdf83181f75ead143d8e0b3f4626d543cfc..e5a5a40470a3f6ee62acc7038c06c440ac083395 100644 (file)
--- a/policy.sgml
+++ b/policy.sgml
@@ -849,36 +849,30 @@
 
          <p>
            In general, Debian packages should use the same version
-           numbers as the upstream sources.
-         </p>
-
-         <p>
-           However, in some cases where the upstream version number is
-           based on a date (e.g., a development "snapshot" release) the
-           package management system cannot handle these version
-           numbers without epochs. For example, dpkg will consider
-           "96May01" to be greater than "96Dec24".
+           numbers as the upstream sources.  However, upstream version
+           numbers based on some date formats (sometimes used for
+           development or "snapshot" releases) will not be ordered
+           correctly by the package management software.  For
+           example, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will consider "96May01" to be
+           greater than "96Dec24".
          </p>
 
          <p>
            To prevent having to use epochs for every new upstream
-           version, the date based portion of the version number
-           should be changed to the following format in such cases:
-           "19960501", "19961224". It is up to the maintainer whether
-           they want to bother the upstream maintainer to change
-           the version numbers upstream, too.
-         </p>
-
-         <p>
-           Note that other version formats based on dates which are
-           parsed correctly by the package management system should
-           <em>not</em> be changed.
+           version, the date-based portion of any upstream version number
+           should be given in a way that sorts correctly: four-digit year
+           first, followed by a two-digit numeric month, followed by a
+           two-digit numeric date, possibly with punctuation between the
+           components.
          </p>
 
          <p>
-           Native Debian packages (i.e., packages which have been
-           written especially for Debian) whose version numbers include
-           dates should always use the "YYYYMMDD" format.
+           Native Debian packages (i.e., packages which have been written
+           especially for Debian) whose version numbers include dates
+           should also follow these rules.  If punctuation is desired
+           between the date components, remember that hyphen (<tt>-</tt>)
+           cannot be used in native package versions.  Period
+           (<tt>.</tt>) is normally a good choice.
          </p>
        </sect1>
 
@@ -5055,7 +5049,7 @@ Replaces: mail-transport-agent
            <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
+             <tt>build-indep</tt> and <tt>binary-indep</tt> targets is
              assumed to be building the whole package, and therefore
              installation of all build dependencies is required.
            </p>
@@ -7258,10 +7252,10 @@ INSTALL = install -s # (or use strip on the files in debian/tmp)
           for C files) will need to be compiled twice, for the normal
           case. 
         </p>
+
        <p>
-         You must specify the gcc option <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>
-         when building a library (either static or shared) to make
-         the library compatible with LinuxThreads.
+         Libraries should be built with threading support and to be
+         thread-safe if the library supports this.
        </p>
 
         <p>
@@ -8279,10 +8273,14 @@ done
 
        <p>
          These two files are managed through the <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
-         "alternatives" mechanism.  Thus every package providing an
-         editor or pager must call the
-         <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> script to register these
-         programs.
+         "alternatives" mechanism.  Every package providing an editor or
+         pager must call the <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> script to
+         register as an alternative for <file>/usr/bin/editor</file>
+         or <file>/usr/bin/pager</file> as appropriate.  The alternative
+         should have a slave alternative
+         for <file>/usr/share/man/man1/editor.1.gz</file>
+         or <file>/usr/share/man/man1/pager.1.gz</file> pointing to the
+         corresponding manual page.
        </p>
 
        <p>
@@ -8331,11 +8329,13 @@ done
                <example compact="compact">
 /usr/lib/cgi-bin/<var>cgi-bin-name</var>
                </example>
-               and should be referred to as
+               or a subdirectory of that directory, and should be
+               referred to as
                <example compact="compact">
 http://localhost/cgi-bin/<var>cgi-bin-name</var>
                </example>
-
+               (possibly with a subdirectory name
+               before <var>cgi-bin-name</var>).
            </item>
 
            <item>
@@ -8625,7 +8625,9 @@ name ["<var>syshostname</var>"]:
            package <tt>x-terminal-emulator</tt>.  They should also
            register themselves as an alternative for
            <file>/usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator</file>, with a priority of
-           20.
+           20.  That alternative should have a slave alternative
+           for <file>/usr/share/man/man1/x-terminal-emulator.1.gz</file>
+           pointing to the corresponding manual page.
          </p>
 
          <p>
@@ -8702,6 +8704,9 @@ name ["<var>syshostname</var>"]:
                  configuration, add 10 points; otherwise add none.
              </item>
            </list>
+           That alternative should have a slave alternative
+           for <file>/usr/share/man/man1/x-window-manager.1.gz</file>
+           pointing to the corresponding manual page.
          </p>
        </sect1>