X-Git-Url: https://git.donarmstrong.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=policy.sgml;h=0a924f78b42f7fb3b70625ca262f9f72b3989f92;hb=85949103f425b1d83cb3a514176ca766e7e85432;hp=7d54e2920623f12542491f21d95e408885d6bed3;hpb=4e4e5d8bb9e85c94c19208a79ae61b7173bba55a;p=debian%2Fdebian-policy.git diff --git a/policy.sgml b/policy.sgml index 7d54e29..0a924f7 100644 --- a/policy.sgml +++ b/policy.sgml @@ -318,8 +318,12 @@ system, but not every package we want to make accessible is free in our sense (see the Debian Free Software Guidelines, below), or may be imported/exported without - restrictions. Thus, the archive is split into the distribution - areas or categories based on their licenses and other restrictions. + restrictions. Thus, the archive is split into areas + The Debian archive software uses the term "component" internally + and in the Release file format to refer to the division of an + archive. The Debian Social Contract simply refers to "areas." + This document uses terminology similar to the Social Contract. + based on their licenses and other restrictions.

@@ -336,12 +340,12 @@

- The main category forms the - Debian GNU/Linux distribution. + The main archive area forms the Debian GNU/Linux + distribution.

- Packages in the other distribution areas (contrib, + Packages in the other archive areas (contrib, non-free) are not considered to be part of the Debian distribution, although we support their use and provide infrastructure for them (such as our bug-tracking system and @@ -448,10 +452,10 @@ - Categories + Archive areas - The main category + The main archive area

Every package in main must comply with the DFSG @@ -482,7 +486,7 @@ - The contrib category + The contrib archive area

Every package in contrib must comply with the DFSG. @@ -522,7 +526,7 @@ - The non-free category + The non-free archive area

Packages must be placed in non-free if they are @@ -638,27 +642,27 @@ Sections

- The packages in the categories main, - contrib and non-free are grouped further - into sections to simplify handling. + The packages in the archive areas main, + contrib and non-free are grouped further into + sections to simplify handling.

- The category and section for each package should be - specified in the package's Section control record - (see ). However, the maintainer of the - Debian archive may override this selection to ensure the - consistency of the Debian distribution. The - Section field should be of the form: + The archive area and section for each package should be + specified in the package's Section control record (see + ). However, the maintainer of the Debian + archive may override this selection to ensure the consistency of + the Debian distribution. The Section field should be + of the form: section if the package is in the - main category, + main archive area, - segment/section if the package is in + area/section if the package is in the contrib or non-free - distribution areas. + archive areas.

@@ -666,18 +670,20 @@

The Debian archive maintainers provide the authoritative list of sections. At present, they are: - admin, comm, - devel, doc, - editors, electronics, embedded, - games, gnome, graphics, - hamradio, interpreters, kde, - libs, libdevel, mail, - math, misc, net, news, - oldlibs, - otherosfs, perl, python, - science, shells, - sound, tex, text, - utils, web, x11. + admin, cli-mono, comm, database, + devel, debug, doc, editors, + electronics, embedded, fonts, + games, gnome, graphics, gnu-r, + gnustep, hamradio, haskell, + httpd, interpreters, java, kde, + kernel, libs, libdevel, lisp, + localization, mail, math, misc, + net, news, ocaml, oldlibs, + otherosfs, perl, php, python, + ruby, science, shells, sound, + tex, text, utils, vcs, + video, web, x11, xfce, + zope.

@@ -753,7 +759,8 @@ with required, important, standard or optional priorities, or are only likely to be useful if you already know what they are or have specialized - requirements. + requirements (such as packages containing only detached + debugging symbols).

@@ -1011,29 +1018,23 @@ (see below), and should not do so unless they depend on a particular version of that package.

- Essential is defined as the minimal set of functionality - that must be available and usable on the system even - when packages are in an unconfigured (but unpacked) - state. This is needed to avoid unresolvable dependency - loops on upgrade. If packages add unnecessary - dependencies on packages in this set, the chances that - there will be an unresolvable - dependency loop caused by forcing these Essential - packages to be configured first before they need to be - is greatly increased. It also increases the chances - that frontends will be unable to - calculate an upgrade path, even if one - exists. + Essential is needed in part to avoid unresolvable dependency + loops on upgrade. If packages add unnecessary dependencies + on packages in this set, the chances that there + will be an unresolvable dependency loop + caused by forcing these Essential packages to be configured + first before they need to be is greatly increased. It also + increases the chances that frontends will be unable to + calculate an upgrade path, even if one + exists.

- Also, it's pretty unlikely that functionality from - Essential shall ever be removed (which is one reason why - care must be taken before adding to the Essential - packages set), but packages have been removed - from the Essential set when the functionality moved to a - different package. So depending on these packages - just in case they stop being essential does way - more harm than good. + Also, functionality is rarely ever removed from the + Essential set, but packages have been removed from + the Essential set when the functionality moved to a + different package. So depending on these packages just + in case they stop being essential does way more harm + than good.

@@ -1120,10 +1121,13 @@ Essential packages

- Some packages are tagged essential for a system - using the Essential control file field. - The format of the Essential control field is - described in . + Essential is defined as the minimal set of functionality that + must be available and usable on the system at all times, even + when packages are in an unconfigured (but unpacked) state. + Packages are tagged essential for a system using the + Essential control file field. The format of the + Essential control field is described in .

@@ -1147,6 +1151,19 @@ appropriate.

+

+ Maintainers should take great care in adding any programs, + interfaces, or functionality to essential packages. + Packages may assume that functionality provided by + essential packages is always available without + declaring explicit dependencies, which means that removing + functionality from the Essential set is very difficult and is + almost never done. Any capability added to an + essential package therefore creates an obligation to + support that capability as part of the Essential set in + perpetuity. +

+

You must not tag any packages essential before this has been discussed on the debian-devel @@ -1203,21 +1220,20 @@ Prompting in maintainer scripts

Package maintainer scripts may prompt the user if - necessary. Prompting should be done by communicating + necessary. Prompting must be done by communicating through a program, such as debconf, which - conforms to the Debian Configuration management - specification, version 2 or higher. Prompting the user by - other means, such as by hand - From the Jargon file: by hand 2. By extension, - writing code which does something in an explicit or - low-level way for which a presupplied library - (debconf, in this instance) routine ought - to have been available. - , is now deprecated. + conforms to the Debian Configuration Management + Specification, version 2 or higher. +

+ +

+ Packages which are essential, or which are dependencies of + essential packages, may fall back on another prompting method + if no such interface is available when they are executed.

- The Debian Configuration management specification is included + The Debian Configuration Management Specification is included in the debconf_specification files in the debian-policy package. It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at @@ -1226,8 +1242,8 @@

- Packages which use the Debian Configuration management - specification may contain an additional + Packages which use the Debian Configuration Management + Specification may contain an additional config script and a templates file in their control archive The control.tar.gz inside the .deb. @@ -1239,18 +1255,18 @@ Therefore it must work using only the tools present in essential packages. Debconf or another tool that - implements the Debian Configuration management - specification will also be installed, and any + implements the Debian Configuration Management + Specification will also be installed, and any versioned dependencies on it will be satisfied before preconfiguration begins.

- Packages which use the Debian Configuration management - specification must allow for translation of their messages - by using a gettext-based system such as the one provided by - the po-debconf package. + Packages which use the Debian Configuration Management + Specification must allow for translation of their user-visible + messages by using a gettext-based system such as the one + provided by the po-debconf package.

@@ -2435,6 +2451,15 @@ Package: libc6 See for details.

+

+ In addition to the control file syntax described above, this file may also contain + comment lines starting with # without any preceding + whitespace. All such lines are ignored, even in the middle of + continuation lines for a multiline field, and do not end a + multiline field. +

+ @@ -2563,6 +2588,14 @@ Package: libc6 package control file when the source package has the same name and version as the binary package.

+ +

+ Package names must consist only of lower case letters + (a-z), digits (0-9), plus (+) + and minus (-) signs, and periods (.). + They must be at least two characters long and must start + with an alphanumeric character. +

@@ -3425,8 +3458,7 @@ Package: libc6 scripts this means that you almost always need to use set -e (this is usually true when writing shell scripts, in fact). It is also important, of course, that - they don't exit with a non-zero status if everything went - well. + they exit with a zero status if everything went well.

@@ -4178,6 +4210,22 @@ Build-Depends-Indep: texinfo Build-Depends: kernel-headers-2.2.10 [!hurd-i386], hurd-dev [hurd-i386], gnumach-dev [hurd-i386] + requires kernel-headers-2.2.10 on all architectures + other than hurd-i386 and requires hurd-dev and + gnumach-dev only on hurd-i386. +

+ +

+ If the architecture-restricted dependency is part of a set of + alternatives using |, that alternative is ignored + completely on architectures that do not match the restriction. + For example: + +Build-Depends: foo [!i386] | bar [!amd64] + + is equivalent to bar on the i386 architecture, to + foo on the amd64 architecture, and to foo | + bar on all other architectures.

@@ -4207,6 +4255,9 @@ Build-Depends: kernel-headers-2.2.10 [!hurd-i386], This is done using the Depends, Pre-Depends, Recommends, Suggests, Enhances, Breaks and Conflicts control file fields. + Breaks is described in , and + Conflicts is described in . The + rest are described below.

@@ -4394,12 +4445,6 @@ Build-Depends: kernel-headers-2.2.10 [!hurd-i386], Packages which break other packages - Breaks -

- Using Breaks may cause problems for upgrades from older - versions of Debian and should not be used until the stable - release of Debian supports Breaks. -

-

When one binary package declares that it breaks another, dpkg will refuse to allow the package which @@ -4484,8 +4529,7 @@ Build-Depends: kernel-headers-2.2.10 [!hurd-i386], dpkg from upgrading or installing the package which declared such a conflict until the upgrade or removal of the conflicted-with package had been completed. Instead, - Breaks may be used (once Breaks is supported - by the stable release of Debian). + Breaks may be used.

@@ -5486,23 +5530,16 @@ libbar 1 bar1 (>= 1.0-1) - File system Structure + File System Structure

The location of all installed files and directories must - comply with the File system Hierarchy Standard (FHS), + comply with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), version 2.3, with the exceptions noted below, and except where doing so would violate other terms of Debian Policy. The following exceptions to the FHS apply: - -

- Legacy XFree86 servers are permitted to retain the - configuration file location - /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. -

-

The optional rules related to user specific @@ -5664,12 +5701,6 @@ rmdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null || true by any particular mail agents. The use of the old location /var/spool/mail is deprecated, even though the spool may still be physically located there. - To maintain partial upgrade compatibility for systems - which have /var/spool/mail as their physical mail - spool, packages using /var/mail must depend on - either libc6 (>= 2.1.3-13), or on - base-files (>= 2.2.0), or on later - versions of either one of these packages.

@@ -5909,13 +5940,6 @@ rmdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null || true K prefix, but they too are called with the single argument stop.

- -

- Also, if the script name ends in .sh, the script - will be sourced in runlevel S rather than being - run in a forked subprocess, but will be explicitly run by - sh in all other runlevels. -

@@ -6039,6 +6063,18 @@ test -f program-executed-later-in-script || exit 0 script must behave sensibly and not fail if the /etc/default file is deleted.

+ +

+ /var/run and /var/lock may be mounted + as temporary filesystems + For example, using the RAMRUN and RAMLOCK + options in /etc/default/rcS. + , so the init.d scripts must handle this + correctly. This will typically amount to creating any required + subdirectories dynamically when the init.d script + is run, rather than including them in the package and relying on + dpkg to create them. +

@@ -8062,12 +8098,27 @@ http://localhost/doc/package/filename

- Mailboxes are generally mode 660 - user:mail unless the system - administrator has chosen otherwise. A MUA may remove a - mailbox (unless it has nonstandard permissions) in which - case the MTA or another MUA must recreate it if needed. - Mailboxes must be writable by group mail. + Mailboxes are generally either mode 600 and owned by + user or mode 660 and owned by + user:mail + There are two traditional permission schemes for mail spools: + mode 600 with all mail delivery done by processes running as + the destination user, or mode 660 and owned by group mail with + mail delivery done by a process running as a system user in + group mail. Historically, Debian required mode 660 mail + spools to enable the latter model, but that model has become + increasingly uncommon and the principle of least privilege + indicates that mail systems that use the first model should + use permissions of 600. If delivery to programs is permitted, + it's easier to keep the mail system secure if the delivery + agent runs as the destination user. Debian Policy therefore + permits either scheme. + . The local system administrator may choose a + different permission scheme; packages should not make + assumptions about the permission and ownership of mailboxes + unless required (such as when creating a new mailbox). A MUA + may remove a mailbox (unless it has nonstandard permissions) in + which case the MTA or another MUA must recreate it if needed.

@@ -8366,11 +8417,6 @@ name ["syshostname"]: - - Speedo fonts must be placed in - /usr/share/fonts/X11/Speedo/. - - Type 1 fonts must be placed in /usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/. If font @@ -8382,9 +8428,9 @@ name ["syshostname"]: Subdirectories of /usr/share/fonts/X11/ other than those listed above must be neither created nor used. (The PEX, CID, - and cyrillic directories are excepted for - historical reasons, but installation of files into - these directories remains discouraged.) + Speedo, and cyrillic directories + are excepted for historical reasons, but installation of + files into these directories remains discouraged.) @@ -8965,9 +9011,10 @@ install-info --quiet --remove /usr/share/info/foobar.info

- Packages in the contrib or non-free categories - should state in the copyright file that the package is not part - of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and briefly explain why. + Packages in the contrib or non-free archive + areas should state in the copyright file that the package is not + part of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and briefly explain + why.

@@ -8988,8 +9035,8 @@ install-info --quiet --remove /usr/share/info/foobar.info

Packages distributed under the UCB BSD license, the Apache license (version 2.0), the Artistic license, the GNU GPL - (version 2 or 3), the GNU LGPL (versions 2, 2.1, or 3), and - the GNU FDL (version 1.2) should refer to the corresponding + (version 2 or 3), the GNU LGPL (versions 2, 2.1, or 3), and the + GNU FDL (versions 1.2 or 1.3) should refer to the corresponding files under /usr/share/common-licenses,

In particular, @@ -9000,8 +9047,9 @@ install-info --quiet --remove /usr/share/info/foobar.info /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3, /usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-2, /usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-2.1, - /usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-3, and - /usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.2 + /usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-3, + /usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.2, and + /usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.3 respectively.

rather than quoting them in the copyright @@ -9286,7 +9334,7 @@ install-info --quiet --remove /usr/share/info/foobar.info To view the copyright file for a package you could use this command: - dpkg --fsys-tarfile filename.deb | tar xOf - \*/copyright | pager + dpkg --fsys-tarfile filename.deb | tar xOf - --wildcards \*/copyright | pager

@@ -10550,26 +10598,48 @@ install-info --quiet --remove /usr/share/info/foobar.info supposing that a smailwrapper package wishes to install a wrapper around /usr/sbin/smail: - if [ install = "$1" ]; then - dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --add --rename \ - --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail - fi - Testing $1 is necessary so that the script - doesn't try to add the diversion again when - smailwrapper is upgraded. The --package - smailwrapper ensures that smailwrapper's - copy of /usr/sbin/smail can bypass the diversion and - get installed as the true version. + dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --add --rename \ + --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail + The --package smailwrapper ensures that + smailwrapper's copy of /usr/sbin/smail + can bypass the diversion and get installed as the true version. + It's safe to add the diversion unconditionally on upgrades since + it will be left unchanged if it already exists, but + dpkg-divert will display a message. To suppress that + message, make the command conditional on the version from which + the package is being upgraded: + + if [ upgrade != "$1" ] || dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt 1.0-2; then + dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --add --rename \ + --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail + fi + where 1.0-2 is the version at which the + diversion was first added to the package. Running the command + during abort-upgrade is pointless but harmless.

The postrm has to do the reverse: - if [ remove = "$1" ]; then + if [ remove = "$1" -o abort-install = "$1" -o disappear = "$1" ]; then + dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --remove --rename \ + --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail + fi + If the diversion was added at a particular version, the + postrm should also handle the failure case of upgrading from an + older version (unless the older version is so old that direct + upgrades are no longer supported): + + if [ abort-upgrade = "$1" ] && dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt 1.0-2; then dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --remove --rename \ --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail fi - + where 1.02-2 is the version at which the + diversion was first added to the package. The postrm should not + remove the diversion on upgrades both because there's no reason to + remove the diversion only to immediately re-add it and since the + postrm of the old package is run after unpacking so the removal of + the diversion will fail.