@@ -1133,10 +1134,10 @@
- Sometimes, a package requires another package to be installed - and configured before it can be installed. In this - case, you must specify a Pre-Depends entry for - the package. + Sometimes, unpacking one package requires that another package + be first unpacked and configured. In this case, the + depending package must specify this dependency in + the Pre-Depends control field.
@@ -2479,19 +2480,26 @@ endif
fields
Each paragraph consists of a series of data fields; each field consists of the field name, followed by a colon and - then the data/value associated with that field. It ends at - the end of the (logical) line. Horizontal whitespace + then the data/value associated with that field. The field + name is composed of printable ASCII characters (i.e., + characters that have values between 33 and 126, inclusive) + except colon and must not with a begin with #. The + field ends at the end of the line or at the end of the + last continuation line (see below). Horizontal whitespace (spaces and tabs) may occur immediately before or after the value and is ignored there; it is conventional to put a single space after the colon. For example, a field might @@ -2509,21 +2517,51 @@ Package: libc6
- Many fields' values may span several lines; in this case
- each continuation line must start with a space or a tab.
- Any trailing spaces or tabs at the end of individual
- lines of a field value are ignored.
+ There are three types of fields:
+
- In fields where it is specified that lines may not wrap, - only a single line of data is allowed and whitespace is not - significant in a field body. Whitespace must not appear + Whitespace must not appear inside names (of packages, architectures, files or anything else) or version numbers, or between the characters of multi-character version relationships.
++ The presence and purpose of a field, and the syntax of its + value may differ between types of control files. +
+Field names are not case-sensitive, but it is usual to capitalize the field names using mixed case as shown below. @@ -2532,9 +2570,17 @@ Package: libc6
- Blank lines, or lines consisting only of spaces and tabs, - are not allowed within field values or between fields - that - would mean a new paragraph. + Paragraph separators (empty lines) and lines consisting only of + spaces and tabs are not allowed within field values or between + fields. Empty lines in field values are usually escaped by + representing them by a space followed by a dot. +
+ +
+ Lines starting with # without any preceding whitespace are comments
+ lines that are only permitted in source package control files
+ (
@@ -2600,8 +2646,8 @@ Package: libc6
- In addition to the control file syntax described
- The source package control file is generated by
+ The Debian source control file is generated by
- Any parser that interprets the Uploaders field in
-
- In the source package control file
+ The list may include (or consist solely of) the special
value all. In other words, in
- Specifying any indicates that the source package + Specifying only any indicates that the source package isn't dependent on any particular architecture and should compile fine on any one. The produced binary package(s) - will either be specific to whatever the current build - architecture is or will be architecture-independent. + will be specific to whatever the current build architecture is.
Specifying only all indicates that the source package - will only build architecture-independent packages. If this is - the case, all must be used rather than any; - any implies that the source package will build at - least one architecture-dependent package. + will only build architecture-independent packages. +
+ ++ Specifying any all indicates that the source package + isn't dependent on any particular architecture. The set of + produced binary packages will include at least one + architecture-dependant package and one architecture-independent + package.
@@ -3006,7 +3046,7 @@ Package: libc6
This is a boolean field which may occur only in the control file of a binary package or in a per-package fields - paragraph of a main source control data file. + paragraph of a source package control file.
@@ -3242,7 +3282,8 @@ Package: libc6 In a source or binary control file, the Description field contains a description of the binary package, consisting of two parts, the synopsis or the short description, and the - long description. The field's format is as follows: + long description. It is a multiline field with the following + format:
@@ -3262,6 +3303,7 @@ Package: libc6
Those starting with a single space are part of a paragraph.
Successive lines of this form will be word-wrapped when
displayed. The leading space will usually be stripped off.
+ The line must contain at least one non-whitespace character.
- This field contains the human-readable changes data, describing
+ This multiline field contains the human-readable changes data, describing
the differences between the last version and the current one.
- This field is a list of binary packages. Its syntax and
+ This folded field is a list of binary packages. Its syntax and
meaning varies depending on the control file in which it
appears.
When it appears in a
- These fields contain a list of files with a checksum and size
+ These multiline fields contain a list of files with a checksum and size
for each one. Both Checksums-Sha1
and Checksums-Sha256 have the same syntax and differ
only in the checksum algorithm used: SHA-1
@@ -3687,7 +3730,7 @@ Checksums-Sha256:
Additional user-defined fields may be added to the
source package control file. Such fields will be
ignored, and not copied to (for example) binary or
- source package control files or upload control files.
+ Debian source control files or upload control files.
@@ -3704,7 +3747,7 @@ Checksums-Sha256:
field name after the hyphen will be used in the output
file. Where the letter B is used the field
will appear in binary package control files, where the
- letter S is used in source package control
+ letter S is used in Debian source control
files and where C is used in upload control
(.changes) files.
Broadly speaking the
-
-
-
-
+ The
-
+ What follows is a summary of all the ways in which maintainer
+ scripts may be called along with what facilities those scripts
+ may rely on being available at that time. Script names preceded
+ by new- are the scripts from the new version of a
+ package being installed, upgraded to, or downgraded to. Script
+ names preceded by old- are the scripts from the old
+ version of a package that is being upgraded from or downgraded
+ from.
+
-
+
+
-
+
+
-
Relationships may also be restricted to a certain set of - architectures using architecture wildcards. The syntax for + architectures using architecture wildcards in the format + described in . The syntax for declaring such restrictions is the same as declaring restrictions using a certain set of architectures without architecture wildcards. For example: @@ -4642,31 +4776,40 @@ Build-Depends: foo [linux-any], bar [any-i386], baz [!linux-any]
- For this reason packages in an installation run are usually
- all unpacked first and all configured later; this gives
- later versions of packages with dependencies on later
- versions of other packages the opportunity to have their
- dependencies satisfied.
+ Since Depends only places requirements on the order in
+ which packages are configured, packages in an installation run
+ are usually all unpacked first and all configured later.
+
- In case of circular dependencies, since installation or - removal order honoring the dependency order can't be - established, dependency loops are broken at some point - (based on rules below), and some packages may not be able to - rely on their dependencies being present when being - installed or removed, depending on which side of the break - of the circular dependency loop they happen to be on. If one - of the packages in the loop has no postinst script, then the - cycle will be broken at that package, so as to ensure that - all postinst scripts run with the dependencies properly - configured if this is possible. Otherwise the breaking point - is arbitrary. -
-
- The Depends field thus allows package maintainers
- to impose an order in which packages should be configured.
+ If there is a circular dependency among packages being installed
+ or removed, installation or removal order honoring the
+ dependency order is impossible, requiring the dependency loop be
+ broken at some point and the dependency requirements violated
+ for at least one package. Packages involved in circular
+ dependencies may not be able to rely on their dependencies being
+ configured before they themselves are configured, depending on
+ which side of the break of the circular dependency loop they
+ happen to be on. If one of the packages in the loop has
+ no
@@ -4678,7 +4821,8 @@ Build-Depends: foo [linux-any], bar [any-i386], baz [!linux-any] This declares an absolute dependency. A package will not be configured unless all of the packages listed in its Depends field have been correctly - configured. + configured (unless there is a circular dependency as + described above).
@@ -4690,12 +4834,31 @@ Build-Depends: foo [linux-any], bar [any-i386], baz [!linux-any]
The Depends field should also be used if the
-
+ Finally, the Depends field should be used if the
+ depended-on package is needed by the
- When the package declaring a pre-dependency is about - to be configured, the pre-dependency will be - treated as a normal Depends, that is, it will - be considered satisfied only if the depended-on - package has been correctly configured. + When the package declaring a pre-dependency is about to + be configured, the pre-dependency will be treated + as a normal Depends. It will be considered + satisfied only if the depended-on package has been + correctly configured. However, unlike + with Depends, Pre-Depends does not + permit circular dependencies to be broken. If a circular + dependency is encountered while attempting to honor + Pre-Depends, the installation will be aborted. +
+ +
+ Pre-Depends are also required if the
+
@@ -4769,10 +4942,10 @@ Build-Depends: foo [linux-any], bar [any-i386], baz [!linux-any]
- Pre-Depends are also required if the
-
When one binary package declares that it breaks another,
- When one binary package declares a conflict with another
- using a Conflicts field,
- If one package is to be installed, the other must be removed
- first. If the package being installed is marked as replacing
+ If one package is to be unpacked, the other must be removed
+ first. If the package being unpacked is marked as replacing
(see , but note that Breaks should
normally be used in this case) the one on the system, or the one
on the system is marked as deselected, or both packages are
@@ -4909,7 +5082,7 @@ Build-Depends: foo [linux-any], bar [any-i386], baz [!linux-any]
During install or upgrade, the preinst is called before
- the new files are installed, so calling "ldconfig" is
+ the new files are unpacked, so calling "ldconfig" is
pointless. The preinst of an existing package can also be
called if an upgrade fails. However, this happens during
the critical time when a shared libs may exist on-disk
@@ -5582,7 +5755,7 @@ Replaces: mail-transport-agent
) to ensure that the user only installs one
development version at a time (as different development versions are
likely to have the same header files in them, which would cause a
- filename clash if both were installed).
+ filename clash if both were unpacked).
@@ -6164,12 +6337,11 @@ install -m644 debian/shlibs.package debian/package/DEBIAN/
For example, the emacsen-common package could
contain something like
Packages must not modify the configuration file
- If a package wants to install a job that has to be executed
- via cron, it should place a file with the name of the
- package in one or more of the following directories:
+ If a package wants to install a job that has to be executed via
+ cron, it should place a file named as specified
+ in into one or more of the following
+ directories:
All files installed in any of these directories must be @@ -7000,15 +7175,18 @@ Reloading description configuration...done.
If a certain job has to be executed at some other frequency or
- at a specific time, the package should install a file
-
Unlike
+ The file name of a cron job file should normally match the + name of the package from which it comes. +
+ ++ If a package supplies multiple cron job files files in the + same directory, the file names should all start with the name + of the package (possibly modified as described below) followed + by a hyphen (-) and a suitable suffix. +
+ ++ A cron job file name must not include any period or plus + characters (. or +) characters as this will + cause cron to ignore the file. Underscores (_) + should be used instead of . and + + characters. +
+
Please refer to the documentation that comes with the
@@ -7747,11 +7946,23 @@ fname () {
- In general, symbolic links within a top-level directory
- should be relative, and symbolic links pointing from one
- top-level directory into another should be absolute. (A
- top-level directory is a sub-directory of the root
- directory
@@ -8004,22 +8215,6 @@ ln -fs ../sbin/sendmail debian/tmp/usr/bin/runq
- Packages which specify the same file as a
- conffile must be tagged as conflicting
- with each other. (This is an instance of the general rule
- about not sharing files. Note that neither alternatives
- nor diversions are likely to be appropriate in this case;
- in particular,
- The maintainer scripts must not alter a conffile
- of any package, including the one the scripts
- belong to.
-
If two or more packages use the same configuration file
and it is reasonable for both to be installed at the same
@@ -8069,6 +8264,34 @@ ln -fs ../sbin/sendmail debian/tmp/usr/bin/runq
and which manages the shared configuration files. (The
sgml-base package is a good example.)
+ If the configuration file cannot be shared as described above,
+ the packages must be marked as conflicting with each other.
+ Two packages that specify the same file as
+ a conffile must conflict. This is an instance of the
+ general rule about not sharing files. Neither alternatives
+ nor diversions are likely to be appropriate in this case; in
+ particular,
+ When two packages both declare the same conffile, they
+ may see left-over configuration files from each other even
+ though they conflict with each other. If a user removes
+ (without purging) one of the packages and installs the other,
+ the new package will take over the conffile from the
+ old package. If the file was modified by the user, it will be
+ treated the same as any other locally
+ modified conffile during an upgrade.
+
+ The maintainer scripts must not alter a conffile
+ of any package, including the one the scripts
+ belong to.
+
- Programs that require the non-DFSG-compliant OSF/Motif or
- OpenMotif libraries
- Both Motif-linked versions are dependent - upon non-DFSG-compliant software and thus cannot be - uploaded to the main distribution; if the - software is itself DFSG-compliant it may be uploaded to - the contrib distribution. While known existing - versions of Motif permit unlimited redistribution of - binaries linked against the library (whether statically or - dynamically), it is the package maintainer's - responsibility to determine whether this is permitted by - the license of the copy of Motif in their possession. -
-In addition, the copyright file must say where the upstream - sources (if any) were obtained. It should name the original - authors of the package and the Debian maintainer(s) who were - involved with its creation. + sources (if any) were obtained, and should name the original + authors.
@@ -9630,8 +9817,8 @@ END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
The
@@ -11147,4 +11334,4 @@ END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY - +