Created On : Thu Oct 29 20:54:48 1998
Created On Node : tiamat.datasync.com
Last Modified By : Manoj Srivastava
- Last Modified On : Sat Jun 7 15:11:50 2003
- Last Machine Used: glaurung.green-gryphon.com
- Update Count : 48
+ Last Modified On : Sat Jun 18 00:16:40 2005
+ Last Machine Used: glaurung.internal.golden-gryphon.com
+ Update Count : 51
Status : Unknown, Use with caution!
HISTORY :
Description :
<h2>The checklist</h2>
<pre>
+3.7.3.0 Dec 2007
+ * Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
+ anything, even the end of a part. [5.6.12]
+ * Scripts may assume that /bin/sh supports local (at a basic level)
+ and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
+ logical operators. [10.4]
+ * The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
+ of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
+ library. [8.5]
+ * Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
+ menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
+ see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
+ sections would be more appropriate. [menu policy]
+ * The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
+ in parentheses. [5.6.1]
+ * The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
+ critical, or emergency. [5.6.17]
+ * The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
+ type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
+ supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
+ Installer. [8.6]
+ * Packages following the Debian Configuration management
+ specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
+ a gettext-based system such as po-debconf. [3.9.1]
+ * GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
+ be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright. [12.5]
+3.7.2.2 Oct 2006
+ * Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
+ should to a must) [6.1]
+3.7.2.0 Apr 2006
+ * Revert the cgi-lib change. [11.5]
+
+3.7.1.0 Apr 2006
+ * It is now possible to create shared libraries without
+ relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
+ provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
+ libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
+ Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
+ consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
+ of the process. [10.2]
+ * Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
+ /usr/include/X11/and /usr/lib/X11/, but if they do so, they
+ must pre-depend on x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0) [11.8.7]
+
+3.7.0.0 Apr 2006
+ * Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
+ them in /usr/lib/cgi-lib/ directories. This location change
+ perhaps should be documented in NEWS [11.5]
+ * Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
+ cgi-lib to /usr/lib/cgi-lib. [11.5]
+ * The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
+ 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
+ though new top level directories /media, /srv, etc may be of
+ interest. [9.1.1]
+ * All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
+ are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
+ over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
+ elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
+ the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
+ as well, to prepare for future changes. [ 5.1, 5.6.3 ]
+ * When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
+ PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
+ denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
+ [ 10.4 ]
+ * packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
+ so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
+ constraints. [ 9.3.3.2 ]
+ * We no longer use /usr/X11R6, since we have migrated away to
+ using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts live in
+ /usr/share/fonts/X11/ now, and /usr/X11R6 is gone.
+ [ 11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc]
+
+
+3.6.2.0 2005
+ * Recommend doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
+ * Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
+ /usr/lib/ or /usr/share, and preferably the shared lib is named
+ the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions). [8.1]
+ * It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
+ allow packages to share image files with the web server [11.5]
+
+3.6.1.0 Aug 2003
+ + Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
+ user prompts are now deprecated. [3.10.1]
+
3.6.0 Jul 2003
- Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
- optional based on the current practice and the behaviour of the
- deb-building toolchain.
+ optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
+ deb-building tool-chain.
+ Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
sections about changelog files.
- - Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu subpolicy
+ - Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu sub-policy
[menu policy]
- Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded. [C.2.2]
- shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
- Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
`Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
- review the new rules. [7.6, 4.9]
+ review the new rules. [7.6, 4.8]
- Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
scripts. Long rationale. [8]
- [Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding
/var/log/wtmp and /var/log/lastlog must be installed setgid utmp [11.3]
+** Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date **
+
+
2.5.0.0 Oct 1998
Policy Manual: