X-Git-Url: https://git.donarmstrong.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=perl-policy.sgml;h=58c33328fb8eec1aea378294862c3df1cc79cc5c;hb=cc34dcc0;hp=ce9c4ee8e83c756dc87511a98847311d7b4e54ea;hpb=98a652c6d166ecc78182c29f3429c52c9f834315;p=debian%2Fdebian-policy.git

diff --git a/perl-policy.sgml b/perl-policy.sgml
index ce9c4ee..58c3332 100644
--- a/perl-policy.sgml
+++ b/perl-policy.sgml
@@ -47,14 +47,26 @@
 	</p>
 	<p>
 	  You can also obtain it by writing to the
-	  Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
-	  Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+	  Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor,
+	  Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. 
 	</p>
       </copyright>
     </titlepag>
 
     <toc detail="sect">
 
+    <chapt>
+      <heading>About this document</heading>
+      <p>
+	This document is distributed as the <tt>perl-policy</tt> files
+	in the Debian package
+        <package><url name="debian-policy" id="http://packages.debian.org/debian-policy"></package>.
+	It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
+	<tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/perl-policy/"
+		id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/perl-policy/"></tt>.
+      </p>
+    </chapt>
+
     <chapt id="perl">
       <heading>Perl Packaging</heading>
       <sect id="versions">
@@ -77,8 +89,11 @@
 	</p>
 	<p>
 	  The <package>perl-base</package> package must provide
-	  <package>perlapi-<var>version</var></package> for all released
-	  versions it is compatible with.
+	  <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> for all released
+	  package versions it is compatible with. The choice of
+	  <var>abiname</var> is arbitrary, but if it differs from
+	  <tt>$Config{version}</tt>, it must be specified in
+	  <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt>.
 	</p>
       </sect>
 
@@ -91,18 +106,18 @@
 	  the binary and a basic set of modules.
 	</p>
 	<p>
-	  As Perl is currently used by such things as
-	  <file>update-alternatives</file> and some package maintainer
-	  scripts, it must be priority <em>required</em> and marked as
-	  <em>essential</em>.
+	  As Perl has been part of the essential set for some time and is
+	  used without dependencies by such things as package maintainer
+	  scripts, <package>perl-base</package> must be
+	  priority <em>required</em> and marked as <em>essential</em>.
 	</p>
 	<p>
 	  Note that the <package>perl-base</package> package is intended
 	  only to provide for exceptional circumstances and the contents
-	  may change.  In general only packages which form part of the
-	  base system should declare a dependency on
-	  <package>perl-base</package> rather than
-	  <package>perl</package>.
+	  may change.  In general, only packages which form part of the
+	  base system should use only the facilities
+	  of <package>perl-base</package> rather than declaring a
+	  dependency on <package>perl</package>.
 	</p>
       </sect>
 
@@ -307,10 +322,6 @@ $(MAKE) install PREFIX=$(CURDIR)/debian/&lt;tmp&gt;/usr
 	    (nominally just tmp)</p>
 	  </footnote>
 	</p>
-	<p>
-	  A <tt>Build-Depends</tt> on <tt>perl (>= 5.6.0-16)</tt> is
-	  required.
-	</p>
       </sect>
 
       <sect id="module_deps">
@@ -330,13 +341,6 @@ $(MAKE) install PREFIX=$(CURDIR)/debian/&lt;tmp&gt;/usr
 	    the minimum required version, or more simply the current
 	    version.
 	  </p>
-	  <p>
-	    In the absence of an explicit requirement,
-	    architecture-independent modules must depend on a minimum
-	    <package>perl</package> or <package>perl-base</package>
-	    version of <tt>5.6.0-16</tt> due to the changes in
-	    <tt>@INC</tt> introduced by that version.
-	  </p>
 	</sect1>
 
 	<sect1 id="binary_modules">
@@ -347,8 +351,9 @@ $(MAKE) install PREFIX=$(CURDIR)/debian/&lt;tmp&gt;/usr
 	    a minimum version of the <package>perl</package> package
 	    used to build the module, and must additionally depend on
 	    the expansion of
-	    <package>perlapi-$Config{version}</package> using
-	    the <tt>Config</tt> module.
+	    <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package> using
+	    the <tt>Config</tt> module. If <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt>
+	    is empty or not set, <tt>$Config{version}</tt> must be used.
 	  </p>
 	</sect1>
 
@@ -358,8 +363,13 @@ $(MAKE) install PREFIX=$(CURDIR)/debian/&lt;tmp&gt;/usr
 	    Rather than hard-coding the dependencies into the control
 	    file, using a substitution such as <tt>${perl:Depends}</tt>
 	    is suggested.  This allows the dependencies to be determined
-	    as build time and written to the <file>substvars</file> file
-	    in the form <tt>perl:Depends=<var>deps</var></tt>.
+	    at build time and written to the <file>substvars</file> file
+	    in the form
+	    <tt>perl:Depends=<var>deps</var></tt>.<footnote>
+	      <p>Please note that dependencies caused by versioned
+	      uses and on separately packaged modules are not included
+	      in this variable and must be explicitly included.</p>
+	    </footnote>
 	  </p>
 	  <p>
 	    Packages built with <prgn>debhelper</prgn> may use
@@ -471,3 +481,6 @@ perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ldopts
     </appendix>
   </book>
 </debiandoc>
+<!-- Local variables: -->
+<!-- indent-tabs-mode: t -->
+<!-- End: -->