<chapt> The checklist
-<sect> Version 3.8.5.0
+<sect> Version 3.9.2.0
<p>
-Release Jun 2010.
+Unreleased.
</p><p><taglist>
+<tag>3.3</tag>
+ <item>Clarify the duties of a maintainer, require that the maintainer
+ address accept mail from Debian role accounts and the BTS, and require
+ at least one human with their personal email address
+ in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email address.
+ </item>
+<tag>9.1.1</tag>
+ <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
+ and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
+ </item>
+<tag>virtual</tag>
+ <item><tt>mailx</tt> added as a virtual package provided by packages
+ that install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
+ POSIX-required interface.
+ </item>
+</taglist></p>
+
+<sect> Version 3.9.1.0
+<p>
+
+Released July, 2010.
+
+</p><p><taglist>
+<tag>3.2.1</tag>
+ <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
+ year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
+ punctuation.
+ </item>
+<tag>3.9</tag>
+ <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
+ to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
+ must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
+ </item>
+<tag>4.10</tag>
+ <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
+ <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
+ and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
+ </item>
+<tag>7.1</tag>
+ <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
+ package relationships provided that the binary package is not
+ architecture-independent.
+ </item>
+<tag>7.4</tag>
+ <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
+ there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
+ because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
+ </item>
+<tag>8.1</tag>
+ <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
+ library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
+ change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
+ bundling shared libraries together in one package.
+ </item>
+<tag>8.4</tag>
+ <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
+ installed read-only.
+ </item>
+<tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
+ <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
+ file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
+ </item>
+<tag>8.6.3</tag>
+ <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
+ form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
+ </item>
+<tag>10.2</tag>
+ <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
+ libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
+ the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
+ packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
+ include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
+ that depend on that library have removed or emptied
+ their <file>.la</file> files.
+ </item>
+<tag>10.2</tag>
+ <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
+ which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
+ that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
+ thread-safe if the library supports this.
+ </item>
+<tag>10.4</tag>
+ <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
+ supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
+ that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
+ listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
+ with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
+ </item>
+<tag>10.8</tag>
+ <item>Recommend <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
+ logrotate rules.
+ </item>
+<tag>10.9</tag>
+ <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
+ and either mode 644 or mode 755.
+ </item>
+<tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
+ <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
+ <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
+ <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
+ for the corresponding manual page.
+ </item>
+<tag>11.5</tag>
+ <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
+ of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
+ executables in those subdirectories.
+ </item>
+<tag>12.5</tag>
+ <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
+ referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
+ file.
+ </item>
+</taglist></p>
+
+<sect> Version 3.9.0.0
+<p>
+
+Released June, 2010.
+
+</p><p><taglist>
+<tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
+ <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
+ Date control field is now precisely specified.
+ </item>
+<tag>5.1</tag>
+ <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
+ particular field name.
+ </item>
+<tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
+ <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
+ and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
+ and <file>*.changes</file> files.
+ </item>
+<tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
+ <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
+ 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
+ package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
+ is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
+ for <file>.changes</file> files.
+ </item>
+<tag>5.6.2</tag>
+ <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
+ than should.
+ </item>
+<tag>5.6.3</tag>
+ <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
+ rather than should.
+ </item>
<tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
<item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
question, but should avoid this if possible.
</item>
+<tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
+ <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
+ files between packages.
+ </item>
+<tag>7.4</tag>
+ <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
+ of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
+ packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
+ </item>
+<tag>7.5</tag>
+ <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
+ of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
+ </item>
+<tag>8.4</tag>
+ <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
+ in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
+ package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
+ as long as it depends on the additional packages.
+ </item>
<tag>9.2.2</tag>
<item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
</item>
<item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
</item>
+<tag>12.5</tag>
+ <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
+ should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
+ It should instead be included directly
+ in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
+ common-licenses for the time being.
+ </item>
+<tag>debconf</tag>
+ <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
+ Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
+ translation.
+ </item>
<tag>perl</tag>
<item><package>perl-base</package> now
provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
</item>
+<tag>perl</tag>
+ <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
+ <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
+ staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
+ </item>
</taglist></p>
<sect> Version 3.8.4.0