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12 <title>Debian Policy Manual</title>
13 <author><qref id="authors">The Debian Policy Mailing List</qref></author>
14 <version>version &version;, &date;</version>
17 This manual describes the policy requirements for the Debian
18 distribution. This includes the structure and
19 contents of the Debian archive and several design issues of
20 the operating system, as well as technical requirements that
21 each package must satisfy to be included in the distribution.
26 Copyright © 1996,1997,1998 Ian Jackson
27 and Christian Schwarz.
30 These are the copyright dates of the original Policy manual.
31 Since then, this manual has been updated by many others. No
32 comprehensive collection of copyright notices for subsequent
37 This manual is free software; you may redistribute it and/or
38 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
39 as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version
40 2, or (at your option) any later version.
44 This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
45 <em>without any warranty</em>; without even the implied
46 warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular
47 purpose. See the GNU General Public License for more
52 A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as
53 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL</file> in the Debian
54 distribution or on the World Wide Web at
55 <url id="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
56 name="the GNU General Public Licence">. You can also
57 obtain it by writing to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
58 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
66 <heading>About this manual</heading>
68 <heading>Scope</heading>
70 This manual describes the policy requirements for the Debian
71 distribution. This includes the structure and
72 contents of the Debian archive and several design issues of the
73 operating system, as well as technical requirements that
74 each package must satisfy to be included in the
79 This manual also describes Debian policy as it relates to
80 creating Debian packages. It is not a tutorial on how to build
81 packages, nor is it exhaustive where it comes to describing
82 the behavior of the packaging system. Instead, this manual
83 attempts to define the interface to the package management
84 system that the developers have to be conversant with.<footnote>
85 Informally, the criteria used for inclusion is that the
86 material meet one of the following requirements:
87 <taglist compact="compact">
88 <tag>Standard interfaces</tag>
90 The material presented represents an interface to
91 the packaging system that is mandated for use, and
92 is used by, a significant number of packages, and
93 therefore should not be changed without peer
94 review. Package maintainers can then rely on this
95 interface not changing, and the package management
96 software authors need to ensure compatibility with
97 this interface definition. (Control file and
98 changelog file formats are examples.)
100 <tag>Chosen Convention</tag>
102 If there are a number of technically viable choices
103 that can be made, but one needs to select one of
104 these options for inter-operability. The version
105 number format is one example.
108 Please note that these are not mutually exclusive;
109 selected conventions often become parts of standard
115 The footnotes present in this manual are
116 merely informative, and are not part of Debian policy itself.
120 The appendices to this manual are not necessarily normative,
121 either. Please see <ref id="pkg-scope"> for more information.
125 In the normative part of this manual,
126 the words <em>must</em>, <em>should</em> and
127 <em>may</em>, and the adjectives <em>required</em>,
128 <em>recommended</em> and <em>optional</em>, are used to
129 distinguish the significance of the various guidelines in
130 this policy document. Packages that do not conform to the
131 guidelines denoted by <em>must</em> (or <em>required</em>)
132 will generally not be considered acceptable for the Debian
133 distribution. Non-conformance with guidelines denoted by
134 <em>should</em> (or <em>recommended</em>) will generally be
135 considered a bug, but will not necessarily render a package
136 unsuitable for distribution. Guidelines denoted by
137 <em>may</em> (or <em>optional</em>) are truly optional and
138 adherence is left to the maintainer's discretion.
142 These classifications are roughly equivalent to the bug
143 severities <em>serious</em> (for <em>must</em> or
144 <em>required</em> directive violations), <em>minor</em>,
145 <em>normal</em> or <em>important</em>
146 (for <em>should</em> or <em>recommended</em> directive
147 violations) and <em>wishlist</em> (for <em>optional</em>
150 Compare RFC 2119. Note, however, that these words are
151 used in a different way in this document.
156 Much of the information presented in this manual will be
157 useful even when building a package which is to be
158 distributed in some other way or is intended for local use
164 <heading>New versions of this document</heading>
167 This manual is distributed via the Debian package
168 <package><url name="debian-policy"
169 id="http://packages.debian.org/debian-policy"></package>
170 (<httpsite>packages.debian.org</httpsite>
171 <httppath>/debian-policy</httppath>).
175 The current version of this document is also available from
176 the Debian web mirrors at
177 <tt><url name="/doc/debian-policy/"
178 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/"></tt>.
180 <httpsite>www.debian.org</httpsite>
181 <httppath>/doc/debian-policy/</httppath>)
182 Also available from the same directory are several other
183 formats: <file>policy.html.tar.gz</file>
184 (<httppath>/doc/debian-policy/policy.html.tar.gz</httppath>),
185 <file>policy.pdf.gz</file>
186 (<httppath>/doc/debian-policy/policy.pdf.gz</httppath>)
187 and <file>policy.ps.gz</file>
188 (<httppath>/doc/debian-policy/policy.ps.gz</httppath>).
192 The <package>debian-policy</package> package also includes the file
193 <file>upgrading-checklist.txt.gz</file> which indicates policy
194 changes between versions of this document.
199 <heading>Authors and Maintainers</heading>
202 Originally called "Debian GNU/Linux Policy Manual", this
203 manual was initially written in 1996 by Ian Jackson.
204 It was revised on November 27th, 1996 by David A. Morris.
205 Christian Schwarz added new sections on March 15th, 1997,
206 and reworked/restructured it in April-July 1997.
207 Christoph Lameter contributed the "Web Standard".
208 Julian Gilbey largely restructured it in 2001.
212 Since September 1998, the responsibility for the contents of
213 this document lies on the <url name="debian-policy mailing list"
214 id="mailto:debian-policy@lists.debian.org">. Proposals
215 are discussed there and inserted into policy after a certain
216 consensus is established.
217 <!-- insert shameless policy-process plug here eventually -->
218 The actual editing is done by a group of maintainers that have
219 no editorial powers. These are the current maintainers:
222 <item>Julian Gilbey</item>
223 <item>Branden Robinson</item>
224 <item>Josip Rodin</item>
225 <item>Manoj Srivastava</item>
230 While the authors of this document have tried hard to avoid
231 typos and other errors, these do still occur. If you discover
232 an error in this manual or if you want to give any
233 comments, suggestions, or criticisms please send an email to
234 the Debian Policy List,
235 <email>debian-policy@lists.debian.org</email>, or submit a
236 bug report against the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
240 Please do not try to reach the individual authors or maintainers
241 of the Policy Manual regarding changes to the Policy.
246 <heading>Related documents</heading>
249 There are several other documents other than this Policy Manual
250 that are necessary to fully understand some Debian policies and
255 The external "sub-policy" documents are referred to in:
256 <list compact="compact">
257 <item><ref id="fhs"></item>
258 <item><ref id="virtual_pkg"></item>
259 <item><ref id="menus"></item>
260 <item><ref id="mime"></item>
261 <item><ref id="perl"></item>
262 <item><ref id="maintscriptprompt"></item>
263 <item><ref id="emacs"></item>
268 In addition to those, which carry the weight of policy, there
269 is the Debian Developer's Reference. This document describes
270 procedures and resources for Debian developers, but it is
271 <em>not</em> normative; rather, it includes things that don't
272 belong in the Policy, such as best practices for developers.
276 The Developer's Reference is available in the
277 <package>developers-reference</package> package.
278 It's also available from the Debian web mirrors at
279 <tt><url name="/doc/developers-reference/"
280 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/developers-reference/"></tt>.
284 <sect id="definitions">
285 <heading>Definitions</heading>
288 The following terms are used in this Policy Manual:
292 The character encoding specified by ANSI X3.4-1986 and its
293 predecessor standards, referred to in MIME as US-ASCII, and
294 corresponding to an encoding in eight bits per character of
295 the first 128 <url id="http://www.unicode.org/"
296 name="Unicode"> characters, with the eighth bit always zero.
300 The transformation format (sometimes called encoding) of
301 <url id="http://www.unicode.org/" name="Unicode"> defined by
302 <url id="http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3629.txt"
303 name="RFC 3629">. UTF-8 has the useful property of having
304 ASCII as a subset, so any text encoded in ASCII is trivially
314 <heading>The Debian Archive</heading>
317 The Debian system is maintained and distributed as a
318 collection of <em>packages</em>. Since there are so many of
319 them (currently well over 15000), they are split into
320 <em>sections</em> and given <em>priorities</em> to simplify
321 the handling of them.
325 The effort of the Debian project is to build a free operating
326 system, but not every package we want to make accessible is
327 <em>free</em> in our sense (see the Debian Free Software
328 Guidelines, below), or may be imported/exported without
329 restrictions. Thus, the archive is split into areas<footnote>
330 The Debian archive software uses the term "component" internally
331 and in the Release file format to refer to the division of an
332 archive. The Debian Social Contract simply refers to "areas."
333 This document uses terminology similar to the Social Contract.
334 </footnote> based on their licenses and other restrictions.
338 The aims of this are:
340 <list compact="compact">
341 <item>to allow us to make as much software available as we can</item>
342 <item>to allow us to encourage everyone to write free software,
344 <item>to allow us to make it easy for people to produce
345 CD-ROMs of our system without violating any licenses,
346 import/export restrictions, or any other laws.</item>
351 The <em>main</em> archive area forms the <em>Debian distribution</em>.
355 Packages in the other archive areas (<tt>contrib</tt>,
356 <tt>non-free</tt>) are not considered to be part of the Debian
357 distribution, although we support their use and provide
358 infrastructure for them (such as our bug-tracking system and
359 mailing lists). This Debian Policy Manual applies to these
364 <heading>The Debian Free Software Guidelines</heading>
366 The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) form our
367 definition of "free software". These are:
369 <tag>1. Free Redistribution
372 The license of a Debian component may not restrict any
373 party from selling or giving away the software as a
374 component of an aggregate software distribution
375 containing programs from several different
376 sources. The license may not require a royalty or
377 other fee for such sale.
382 The program must include source code, and must allow
383 distribution in source code as well as compiled form.
385 <tag>3. Derived Works
388 The license must allow modifications and derived
389 works, and must allow them to be distributed under the
390 same terms as the license of the original software.
392 <tag>4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code
395 The license may restrict source-code from being
396 distributed in modified form <em>only</em> if the
397 license allows the distribution of "patch files"
398 with the source code for the purpose of modifying the
399 program at build time. The license must explicitly
400 permit distribution of software built from modified
401 source code. The license may require derived works to
402 carry a different name or version number from the
403 original software. (This is a compromise. The Debian
404 Project encourages all authors to not restrict any
405 files, source or binary, from being modified.)
407 <tag>5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
410 The license must not discriminate against any person
413 <tag>6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
416 The license must not restrict anyone from making use
417 of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For
418 example, it may not restrict the program from being
419 used in a business, or from being used for genetic
422 <tag>7. Distribution of License
425 The rights attached to the program must apply to all
426 to whom the program is redistributed without the need
427 for execution of an additional license by those
430 <tag>8. License Must Not Be Specific to Debian
433 The rights attached to the program must not depend on
434 the program's being part of a Debian system. If the
435 program is extracted from Debian and used or
436 distributed without Debian but otherwise within the
437 terms of the program's license, all parties to whom
438 the program is redistributed must have the same
439 rights as those that are granted in conjunction with
442 <tag>9. License Must Not Contaminate Other Software
445 The license must not place restrictions on other
446 software that is distributed along with the licensed
447 software. For example, the license must not insist
448 that all other programs distributed on the same medium
449 must be free software.
451 <tag>10. Example Licenses
454 The "GPL," "BSD," and "Artistic" licenses are examples of
455 licenses that we consider <em>free</em>.
462 <heading>Archive areas</heading>
465 <heading>The main archive area</heading>
468 Every package in <em>main</em> must comply with the DFSG
469 (Debian Free Software Guidelines).
473 In addition, the packages in <em>main</em>
474 <list compact="compact">
476 must not require a package outside of <em>main</em>
477 for compilation or execution (thus, the package must
478 not declare a "Depends", "Recommends", or
479 "Build-Depends" relationship on a non-<em>main</em>
483 must not be so buggy that we refuse to support them,
487 must meet all policy requirements presented in this
496 <heading>The contrib archive area</heading>
499 Every package in <em>contrib</em> must comply with the DFSG.
503 In addition, the packages in <em>contrib</em>
504 <list compact="compact">
506 must not be so buggy that we refuse to support them,
510 must meet all policy requirements presented in this
518 Examples of packages which would be included in
519 <em>contrib</em> are:
520 <list compact="compact">
522 free packages which require <em>contrib</em>,
523 <em>non-free</em> packages or packages which are not
524 in our archive at all for compilation or execution,
528 wrapper packages or other sorts of free accessories for
535 <sect1 id="non-free">
536 <heading>The non-free archive area</heading>
539 Packages must be placed in <em>non-free</em> if they are
540 not compliant with the DFSG or are encumbered by patents
541 or other legal issues that make their distribution
546 In addition, the packages in <em>non-free</em>
547 <list compact="compact">
549 must not be so buggy that we refuse to support them,
553 must meet all policy requirements presented in this
554 manual that it is possible for them to meet.
556 It is possible that there are policy
557 requirements which the package is unable to
558 meet, for example, if the source is
559 unavailable. These situations will need to be
560 handled on a case-by-case basis.
569 <sect id="pkgcopyright">
570 <heading>Copyright considerations</heading>
573 Every package must be accompanied by a verbatim copy of its
574 copyright information and distribution license in the file
575 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file>
576 (see <ref id="copyrightfile"> for further details).
580 We reserve the right to restrict files from being included
581 anywhere in our archives if
582 <list compact="compact">
584 their use or distribution would break a law,
587 there is an ethical conflict in their distribution or
591 we would have to sign a license for them, or
594 their distribution would conflict with other project
601 Programs whose authors encourage the user to make
602 donations are fine for the main distribution, provided
603 that the authors do not claim that not donating is
604 immoral, unethical, illegal or something similar; in such
605 a case they must go in <em>non-free</em>.
609 Packages whose copyright permission notices (or patent
610 problems) do not even allow redistribution of binaries
611 only, and where no special permission has been obtained,
612 must not be placed on the Debian FTP site and its mirrors
617 Note that under international copyright law (this applies
618 in the United States, too), <em>no</em> distribution or
619 modification of a work is allowed without an explicit
620 notice saying so. Therefore a program without a copyright
621 notice <em>is</em> copyrighted and you may not do anything
622 to it without risking being sued! Likewise if a program
623 has a copyright notice but no statement saying what is
624 permitted then nothing is permitted.
628 Many authors are unaware of the problems that restrictive
629 copyrights (or lack of copyright notices) can cause for
630 the users of their supposedly-free software. It is often
631 worthwhile contacting such authors diplomatically to ask
632 them to modify their license terms. However, this can be a
633 politically difficult thing to do and you should ask for
634 advice on the <tt>debian-legal</tt> mailing list first, as
639 When in doubt about a copyright, send mail to
640 <email>debian-legal@lists.debian.org</email>. Be prepared
641 to provide us with the copyright statement. Software
642 covered by the GPL, public domain software and BSD-like
643 copyrights are safe; be wary of the phrases "commercial
644 use prohibited" and "distribution restricted".
648 <sect id="subsections">
649 <heading>Sections</heading>
652 The packages in the archive areas <em>main</em>,
653 <em>contrib</em> and <em>non-free</em> are grouped further into
654 <em>sections</em> to simplify handling.
658 The archive area and section for each package should be
659 specified in the package's <tt>Section</tt> control record (see
660 <ref id="f-Section">). However, the maintainer of the Debian
661 archive may override this selection to ensure the consistency of
662 the Debian distribution. The <tt>Section</tt> field should be
664 <list compact="compact">
666 <em>section</em> if the package is in the
667 <em>main</em> archive area,
670 <em>area/section</em> if the package is in
671 the <em>contrib</em> or <em>non-free</em>
678 The Debian archive maintainers provide the authoritative
679 list of sections. At present, they are:
680 <em>admin</em>, <em>cli-mono</em>, <em>comm</em>, <em>database</em>,
681 <em>devel</em>, <em>debug</em>, <em>doc</em>, <em>editors</em>,
682 <em>electronics</em>, <em>embedded</em>, <em>fonts</em>,
683 <em>games</em>, <em>gnome</em>, <em>graphics</em>, <em>gnu-r</em>,
684 <em>gnustep</em>, <em>hamradio</em>, <em>haskell</em>,
685 <em>httpd</em>, <em>interpreters</em>, <em>java</em>, <em>kde</em>,
686 <em>kernel</em>, <em>libs</em>, <em>libdevel</em>, <em>lisp</em>,
687 <em>localization</em>, <em>mail</em>, <em>math</em>, <em>misc</em>,
688 <em>net</em>, <em>news</em>, <em>ocaml</em>, <em>oldlibs</em>,
689 <em>otherosfs</em>, <em>perl</em>, <em>php</em>, <em>python</em>,
690 <em>ruby</em>, <em>science</em>, <em>shells</em>, <em>sound</em>,
691 <em>tex</em>, <em>text</em>, <em>utils</em>, <em>vcs</em>,
692 <em>video</em>, <em>web</em>, <em>x11</em>, <em>xfce</em>,
693 <em>zope</em>. The additional section <em>debian-installer</em>
694 contains special packages used by the installer and is not used
695 for normal Debian packages.
699 For more information about the sections and their definitions,
700 see the <url id="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/"
701 name="list of sections in unstable">.
705 <sect id="priorities">
706 <heading>Priorities</heading>
709 Each package should have a <em>priority</em> value, which is
710 included in the package's <em>control record</em>
711 (see <ref id="f-Priority">).
712 This information is used by the Debian package management tools to
713 separate high-priority packages from less-important packages.
717 The following <em>priority levels</em> are recognized by the
718 Debian package management tools.
720 <tag><tt>required</tt></tag>
722 Packages which are necessary for the proper
723 functioning of the system (usually, this means that
724 dpkg functionality depends on these packages).
725 Removing a <tt>required</tt> package may cause your
726 system to become totally broken and you may not even
727 be able to use <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to put things back,
728 so only do so if you know what you are doing. Systems
729 with only the <tt>required</tt> packages are probably
730 unusable, but they do have enough functionality to
731 allow the sysadmin to boot and install more software.
733 <tag><tt>important</tt></tag>
735 Important programs, including those which one would
736 expect to find on any Unix-like system. If the
737 expectation is that an experienced Unix person who
738 found it missing would say "What on earth is going on,
739 where is <prgn>foo</prgn>?", it must be an
740 <tt>important</tt> package.<footnote>
741 This is an important criterion because we are
742 trying to produce, amongst other things, a free
745 Other packages without which the system will not run
746 well or be usable must also have priority
747 <tt>important</tt>. This does
748 <em>not</em> include Emacs, the X Window System, TeX
749 or any other large applications. The
750 <tt>important</tt> packages are just a bare minimum of
751 commonly-expected and necessary tools.
753 <tag><tt>standard</tt></tag>
755 These packages provide a reasonably small but not too
756 limited character-mode system. This is what will be
757 installed by default if the user doesn't select anything
758 else. It doesn't include many large applications.
760 <tag><tt>optional</tt></tag>
762 (In a sense everything that isn't required is
763 optional, but that's not what is meant here.) This is
764 all the software that you might reasonably want to
765 install if you didn't know what it was and don't have
766 specialized requirements. This is a much larger system
767 and includes the X Window System, a full TeX
768 distribution, and many applications. Note that
769 optional packages should not conflict with each other.
771 <tag><tt>extra</tt></tag>
773 This contains all packages that conflict with others
774 with required, important, standard or optional
775 priorities, or are only likely to be useful if you
776 already know what they are or have specialized
777 requirements (such as packages containing only detached
784 Packages must not depend on packages with lower priority
785 values (excluding build-time dependencies). In order to
786 ensure this, the priorities of one or more packages may need
795 <heading>Binary packages</heading>
798 The Debian distribution is based on the Debian
799 package management system, called <prgn>dpkg</prgn>. Thus,
800 all packages in the Debian distribution must be provided
801 in the <tt>.deb</tt> file format.
805 A <tt>.deb</tt> package contains two sets of files: a set of files
806 to install on the system when the package is installed, and a set
807 of files that provide additional metadata about the package or
808 which are executed when the package is installed or removed. This
809 second set of files is called <em>control information files</em>.
810 Among those files are the package maintainer scripts
811 and <file>control</file>, the <qref id="binarycontrolfiles">binary
812 package control file</qref> that contains the control fields for
813 the package. Other control information files
814 include <qref id="sharedlibs-shlibdeps">the <file>shlibs</file>
815 file</qref> used to store shared library dependency information
816 and the <file>conffiles</file> file that lists the package's
817 configuration files (described in <ref id="config-files">).
821 There is unfortunately a collision of terminology here between
822 control information files and files in the Debian control file
823 format. Throughout this document, a <em>control file</em> refers
824 to a file in the Debian control file format. These files are
825 documented in <ref id="controlfields">. Only files referred to
826 specifically as <em>control information files</em> are the files
827 included in the control information file member of
828 the <file>.deb</file> file format used by binary packages. Most
829 control information files are not in the Debian control file
834 <heading>The package name</heading>
837 Every package must have a name that's unique within the Debian
842 The package name is included in the control field
843 <tt>Package</tt>, the format of which is described
844 in <ref id="f-Package">.
845 The package name is also included as a part of the file name
846 of the <tt>.deb</tt> file.
851 <heading>The version of a package</heading>
854 Every package has a version number recorded in its
855 <tt>Version</tt> control file field, described in
856 <ref id="f-Version">.
860 The package management system imposes an ordering on version
861 numbers, so that it can tell whether packages are being up- or
862 downgraded and so that package system front end applications
863 can tell whether a package it finds available is newer than
864 the one installed on the system. The version number format
865 has the most significant parts (as far as comparison is
866 concerned) at the beginning.
870 If an upstream package has problematic version numbers they
871 should be converted to a sane form for use in the
872 <tt>Version</tt> field.
876 <heading>Version numbers based on dates</heading>
879 In general, Debian packages should use the same version
880 numbers as the upstream sources. However, upstream version
881 numbers based on some date formats (sometimes used for
882 development or "snapshot" releases) will not be ordered
883 correctly by the package management software. For
884 example, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will consider "96May01" to be
885 greater than "96Dec24".
889 To prevent having to use epochs for every new upstream
890 version, the date-based portion of any upstream version number
891 should be given in a way that sorts correctly: four-digit year
892 first, followed by a two-digit numeric month, followed by a
893 two-digit numeric date, possibly with punctuation between the
898 Native Debian packages (i.e., packages which have been written
899 especially for Debian) whose version numbers include dates
900 should also follow these rules. If punctuation is desired
901 between the date components, remember that hyphen (<tt>-</tt>)
902 cannot be used in native package versions. Period
903 (<tt>.</tt>) is normally a good choice.
909 <sect id="maintainer">
910 <heading>The maintainer of a package</heading>
913 Every package must have a maintainer, except for orphaned
914 packages as described below. The maintainer may be one person
915 or a group of people reachable from a common email address, such
916 as a mailing list. The maintainer is responsible for
917 maintaining the Debian packaging files, evaluating and
918 responding appropriately to reported bugs, uploading new
919 versions of the package (either directly or through a sponsor),
920 ensuring that the package is placed in the appropriate archive
921 area and included in Debian releases as appropriate for the
922 stability and utility of the package, and requesting removal of
923 the package from the Debian distribution if it is no longer
924 useful or maintainable.
928 The maintainer must be specified in the <tt>Maintainer</tt>
929 control field with their correct name and a working email
930 address. The email address given in the <tt>Maintainer</tt>
931 control field must accept mail from those role accounts in
932 Debian used to send automated mails regarding the package. This
933 includes non-spam mail from the bug-tracking system, all mail
934 from the Debian archive maintenance software, and other role
935 accounts or automated processes that are commonly agreed on by
936 the project.<footnote>
937 A sample implementation of such a whitelist written for the
938 Mailman mailing list management software is used for mailing
939 lists hosted by alioth.debian.org.
941 If one person or team maintains several packages, they should
942 use the same form of their name and email address in
943 the <tt>Maintainer</tt> fields of those packages.
947 The format of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field is
948 described in <ref id="f-Maintainer">.
952 If the maintainer of the package is a team of people with a
953 shared email address, the <tt>Uploaders</tt> control field must
954 be present and must contain at least one human with their
955 personal email address. See <ref id="f-Uploaders"> for the
956 syntax of that field.
960 An orphaned package is one with no current maintainer. Orphaned
961 packages should have their <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field set
962 to <tt>Debian QA Group <packages@qa.debian.org></tt>.
963 These packages are considered maintained by the Debian project
964 as a whole until someone else volunteers to take over
965 maintenance.<footnote>
966 The detailed procedure for gracefully orphaning a package can
967 be found in the Debian Developer's Reference
968 (see <ref id="related">).
973 <sect id="descriptions">
974 <heading>The description of a package</heading>
977 Every Debian package must have a <tt>Description</tt> control
978 field which contains a synopsis and extended description of the
979 package. Technical information about the format of the
980 <tt>Description</tt> field is in <ref id="f-Description">.
984 The description should describe the package (the program) to a
985 user (system administrator) who has never met it before so that
986 they have enough information to decide whether they want to
987 install it. This description should not just be copied verbatim
988 from the program's documentation.
992 Put important information first, both in the synopsis and
993 extended description. Sometimes only the first part of the
994 synopsis or of the description will be displayed. You can
995 assume that there will usually be a way to see the whole
996 extended description.
1000 The description should also give information about the
1001 significant dependencies and conflicts between this package
1002 and others, so that the user knows why these dependencies and
1003 conflicts have been declared.
1007 Instructions for configuring or using the package should
1008 not be included (that is what installation scripts,
1009 manual pages, info files, etc., are for). Copyright
1010 statements and other administrivia should not be included
1011 either (that is what the copyright file is for).
1014 <sect1 id="synopsis"><heading>The single line synopsis</heading>
1017 The single line synopsis should be kept brief - certainly
1018 under 80 characters.
1022 Do not include the package name in the synopsis line. The
1023 display software knows how to display this already, and you
1024 do not need to state it. Remember that in many situations
1025 the user may only see the synopsis line - make it as
1026 informative as you can.
1031 <sect1 id="extendeddesc"><heading>The extended description</heading>
1034 Do not try to continue the single line synopsis into the
1035 extended description. This will not work correctly when
1036 the full description is displayed, and makes no sense
1037 where only the summary (the single line synopsis) is
1042 The extended description should describe what the package
1043 does and how it relates to the rest of the system (in terms
1044 of, for example, which subsystem it is which part of).
1048 The description field needs to make sense to anyone, even
1049 people who have no idea about any of the things the
1050 package deals with.<footnote>
1051 The blurb that comes with a program in its
1052 announcements and/or <prgn>README</prgn> files is
1053 rarely suitable for use in a description. It is
1054 usually aimed at people who are already in the
1055 community where the package is used.
1064 <heading>Dependencies</heading>
1067 Every package must specify the dependency information
1068 about other packages that are required for the first to
1073 For example, a dependency entry must be provided for any
1074 shared libraries required by a dynamically-linked executable
1075 binary in a package.
1079 Packages are not required to declare any dependencies they
1080 have on other packages which are marked <tt>Essential</tt>
1081 (see below), and should not do so unless they depend on a
1082 particular version of that package.<footnote>
1084 Essential is needed in part to avoid unresolvable dependency
1085 loops on upgrade. If packages add unnecessary dependencies
1086 on packages in this set, the chances that there
1087 <strong>will</strong> be an unresolvable dependency loop
1088 caused by forcing these Essential packages to be configured
1089 first before they need to be is greatly increased. It also
1090 increases the chances that frontends will be unable to
1091 <strong>calculate</strong> an upgrade path, even if one
1095 Also, functionality is rarely ever removed from the
1096 Essential set, but <em>packages</em> have been removed from
1097 the Essential set when the functionality moved to a
1098 different package. So depending on these packages <em>just
1099 in case</em> they stop being essential does way more harm
1106 Sometimes, unpacking one package requires that another package
1107 be first unpacked <em>and</em> configured. In this case, the
1108 depending package must specify this dependency in
1109 the <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> control field.
1113 You should not specify a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> entry for a
1114 package before this has been discussed on the
1115 <tt>debian-devel</tt> mailing list and a consensus about
1116 doing that has been reached.
1120 The format of the package interrelationship control fields is
1121 described in <ref id="relationships">.
1125 <sect id="virtual_pkg">
1126 <heading>Virtual packages</heading>
1129 Sometimes, there are several packages which offer
1130 more-or-less the same functionality. In this case, it's
1131 useful to define a <em>virtual package</em> whose name
1132 describes that common functionality. (The virtual
1133 packages only exist logically, not physically; that's why
1134 they are called <em>virtual</em>.) The packages with this
1135 particular function will then <em>provide</em> the virtual
1136 package. Thus, any other package requiring that function
1137 can simply depend on the virtual package without having to
1138 specify all possible packages individually.
1142 All packages should use virtual package names where
1143 appropriate, and arrange to create new ones if necessary.
1144 They should not use virtual package names (except privately,
1145 amongst a cooperating group of packages) unless they have
1146 been agreed upon and appear in the list of virtual package
1147 names. (See also <ref id="virtual">)
1151 The latest version of the authoritative list of virtual
1152 package names can be found in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
1153 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
1154 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/virtual-package-names-list.txt"
1155 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/virtual-package-names-list.txt"></tt>.
1159 The procedure for updating the list is described in the preface
1166 <heading>Base system</heading>
1169 The <tt>base system</tt> is a minimum subset of the Debian
1170 system that is installed before everything else
1171 on a new system. Only very few packages are allowed to form
1172 part of the base system, in order to keep the required disk
1177 The base system consists of all those packages with priority
1178 <tt>required</tt> or <tt>important</tt>. Many of them will
1179 be tagged <tt>essential</tt> (see below).
1184 <heading>Essential packages</heading>
1187 Essential is defined as the minimal set of functionality that
1188 must be available and usable on the system at all times, even
1189 when packages are in an unconfigured (but unpacked) state.
1190 Packages are tagged <tt>essential</tt> for a system using the
1191 <tt>Essential</tt> control field. The format of the
1192 <tt>Essential</tt> control field is described in <ref
1197 Since these packages cannot be easily removed (one has to
1198 specify an extra <em>force option</em> to
1199 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to do so), this flag must not be used
1200 unless absolutely necessary. A shared library package
1201 must not be tagged <tt>essential</tt>; dependencies will
1202 prevent its premature removal, and we need to be able to
1203 remove it when it has been superseded.
1207 Since dpkg will not prevent upgrading of other packages
1208 while an <tt>essential</tt> package is in an unconfigured
1209 state, all <tt>essential</tt> packages must supply all of
1210 their core functionality even when unconfigured. If the
1211 package cannot satisfy this requirement it must not be
1212 tagged as essential, and any packages depending on this
1213 package must instead have explicit dependency fields as
1218 Maintainers should take great care in adding any programs,
1219 interfaces, or functionality to <tt>essential</tt> packages.
1220 Packages may assume that functionality provided by
1221 <tt>essential</tt> packages is always available without
1222 declaring explicit dependencies, which means that removing
1223 functionality from the Essential set is very difficult and is
1224 almost never done. Any capability added to an
1225 <tt>essential</tt> package therefore creates an obligation to
1226 support that capability as part of the Essential set in
1231 You must not tag any packages <tt>essential</tt> before
1232 this has been discussed on the <tt>debian-devel</tt>
1233 mailing list and a consensus about doing that has been
1238 <sect id="maintscripts">
1239 <heading>Maintainer Scripts</heading>
1242 The package installation scripts should avoid producing
1243 output which is unnecessary for the user to see and
1244 should rely on <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to stave off boredom on
1245 the part of a user installing many packages. This means,
1246 amongst other things, using the <tt>--quiet</tt> option on
1247 <prgn>install-info</prgn>.
1251 Errors which occur during the execution of an installation
1252 script must be checked and the installation must not
1253 continue after an error.
1257 Note that in general <ref id="scripts"> applies to package
1258 maintainer scripts, too.
1262 You should not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> on a file belonging
1263 to another package without consulting the maintainer of that
1264 package first. When adding or removing diversions, package
1265 maintainer scripts must provide the <tt>--package</tt> flag
1266 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> and must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
1270 All packages which supply an instance of a common command
1271 name (or, in general, filename) should generally use
1272 <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>, so that they may be
1273 installed together. If <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1274 is not used, then each package must use
1275 <tt>Conflicts</tt> to ensure that other packages are
1276 de-installed. (In this case, it may be appropriate to
1277 specify a conflict against earlier versions of something
1278 that previously did not use
1279 <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>; this is an exception to
1280 the usual rule that versioned conflicts should be
1284 <sect1 id="maintscriptprompt">
1285 <heading>Prompting in maintainer scripts</heading>
1287 Package maintainer scripts may prompt the user if
1288 necessary. Prompting must be done by communicating
1289 through a program, such as <prgn>debconf</prgn>, which
1290 conforms to the Debian Configuration Management
1291 Specification, version 2 or higher.
1295 Packages which are essential, or which are dependencies of
1296 essential packages, may fall back on another prompting method
1297 if no such interface is available when they are executed.
1301 The Debian Configuration Management Specification is included
1302 in the <file>debconf_specification</file> files in the
1303 <package>debian-policy</package> package.
1304 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
1305 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/debconf_specification.html"
1306 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/debconf_specification.html"></tt>.
1310 Packages which use the Debian Configuration Management
1311 Specification may contain the additional control information
1312 files <file>config</file>
1313 and <file>templates</file>. <file>config</file> is an
1314 additional maintainer script used for package configuration,
1315 and <file>templates</file> contains templates used for user
1316 prompting. The <prgn>config</prgn> script might be run before
1317 the <prgn>preinst</prgn> script and before the package is
1318 unpacked or any of its dependencies or pre-dependencies are
1319 satisfied. Therefore it must work using only the tools
1320 present in <em>essential</em> packages.<footnote>
1321 <package>Debconf</package> or another tool that
1322 implements the Debian Configuration Management
1323 Specification will also be installed, and any
1324 versioned dependencies on it will be satisfied
1325 before preconfiguration begins.
1330 Packages which use the Debian Configuration Management
1331 Specification must allow for translation of their user-visible
1332 messages by using a gettext-based system such as the one
1333 provided by the <package>po-debconf</package> package.
1337 Packages should try to minimize the amount of prompting
1338 they need to do, and they should ensure that the user
1339 will only ever be asked each question once. This means
1340 that packages should try to use appropriate shared
1341 configuration files (such as <file>/etc/papersize</file> and
1342 <file>/etc/news/server</file>), and shared
1343 <package>debconf</package> variables rather than each
1344 prompting for their own list of required pieces of
1349 It also means that an upgrade should not ask the same
1350 questions again, unless the user has used
1351 <tt>dpkg --purge</tt> to remove the package's configuration.
1352 The answers to configuration questions should be stored in an
1353 appropriate place in <file>/etc</file> so that the user can
1354 modify them, and how this has been done should be
1359 If a package has a vitally important piece of
1360 information to pass to the user (such as "don't run me
1361 as I am, you must edit the following configuration files
1362 first or you risk your system emitting badly-formatted
1363 messages"), it should display this in the
1364 <prgn>config</prgn> or <prgn>postinst</prgn> script and
1365 prompt the user to hit return to acknowledge the
1366 message. Copyright messages do not count as vitally
1367 important (they belong in
1368 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file>);
1369 neither do instructions on how to use a program (these
1370 should be in on-line documentation, where all the users
1375 Any necessary prompting should almost always be confined
1376 to the <prgn>config</prgn> or <prgn>postinst</prgn>
1377 script. If it is done in the <prgn>postinst</prgn>, it
1378 should be protected with a conditional so that
1379 unnecessary prompting doesn't happen if a package's
1380 installation fails and the <prgn>postinst</prgn> is
1381 called with <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>,
1382 <tt>abort-remove</tt> or <tt>abort-deconfigure</tt>.
1392 <heading>Source packages</heading>
1394 <sect id="standardsversion">
1395 <heading>Standards conformance</heading>
1398 Source packages should specify the most recent version number
1399 of this policy document with which your package complied
1400 when it was last updated.
1404 This information may be used to file bug reports
1405 automatically if your package becomes too much out of date.
1409 The version is specified in the <tt>Standards-Version</tt>
1411 The format of the <tt>Standards-Version</tt> field is
1412 described in <ref id="f-Standards-Version">.
1416 You should regularly, and especially if your package has
1417 become out of date, check for the newest Policy Manual
1418 available and update your package, if necessary. When your
1419 package complies with the new standards you should update the
1420 <tt>Standards-Version</tt> source package field and
1421 release it.<footnote>
1422 See the file <file>upgrading-checklist</file> for
1423 information about policy which has changed between
1424 different versions of this document.
1430 <sect id="pkg-relations">
1431 <heading>Package relationships</heading>
1434 Source packages should specify which binary packages they
1435 require to be installed or not to be installed in order to
1436 build correctly. For example, if building a package
1437 requires a certain compiler, then the compiler should be
1438 specified as a build-time dependency.
1442 It is not necessary to explicitly specify build-time
1443 relationships on a minimal set of packages that are always
1444 needed to compile, link and put in a Debian package a
1445 standard "Hello World!" program written in C or C++. The
1446 required packages are called <em>build-essential</em>, and
1447 an informational list can be found in
1448 <file>/usr/share/doc/build-essential/list</file> (which is
1449 contained in the <tt>build-essential</tt>
1452 <list compact="compact">
1454 This allows maintaining the list separately
1455 from the policy documents (the list does not
1456 need the kind of control that the policy
1460 Having a separate package allows one to install
1461 the build-essential packages on a machine, as
1462 well as allowing other packages such as tasks to
1463 require installation of the build-essential
1464 packages using the depends relation.
1467 The separate package allows bug reports against
1468 the list to be categorized separately from
1469 the policy management process in the BTS.
1476 When specifying the set of build-time dependencies, one
1477 should list only those packages explicitly required by the
1478 build. It is not necessary to list packages which are
1479 required merely because some other package in the list of
1480 build-time dependencies depends on them.<footnote>
1481 The reason for this is that dependencies change, and
1482 you should list all those packages, and <em>only</em>
1483 those packages that <em>you</em> need directly. What
1484 others need is their business. For example, if you
1485 only link against <file>libimlib</file>, you will need to
1486 build-depend on <package>libimlib2-dev</package> but
1487 not against any <tt>libjpeg*</tt> packages, even
1488 though <tt>libimlib2-dev</tt> currently depends on
1489 them: installation of <package>libimlib2-dev</package>
1490 will automatically ensure that all of its run-time
1491 dependencies are satisfied.
1496 If build-time dependencies are specified, it must be
1497 possible to build the package and produce working binaries
1498 on a system with only essential and build-essential
1499 packages installed and also those required to satisfy the
1500 build-time relationships (including any implied
1501 relationships). In particular, this means that version
1502 clauses should be used rigorously in build-time
1503 relationships so that one cannot produce bad or
1504 inconsistently configured packages when the relationships
1505 are properly satisfied.
1509 <ref id="relationships"> explains the technical details.
1514 <heading>Changes to the upstream sources</heading>
1517 If changes to the source code are made that are not
1518 specific to the needs of the Debian system, they should be
1519 sent to the upstream authors in whatever form they prefer
1520 so as to be included in the upstream version of the
1525 If you need to configure the package differently for
1526 Debian or for Linux, and the upstream source doesn't
1527 provide a way to do so, you should add such configuration
1528 facilities (for example, a new <prgn>autoconf</prgn> test
1529 or <tt>#define</tt>) and send the patch to the upstream
1530 authors, with the default set to the way they originally
1531 had it. You can then easily override the default in your
1532 <file>debian/rules</file> or wherever is appropriate.
1536 You should make sure that the <prgn>configure</prgn> utility
1537 detects the correct architecture specification string
1538 (refer to <ref id="arch-spec"> for details).
1542 If you need to edit a <prgn>Makefile</prgn> where GNU-style
1543 <prgn>configure</prgn> scripts are used, you should edit the
1544 <file>.in</file> files rather than editing the
1545 <prgn>Makefile</prgn> directly. This allows the user to
1546 reconfigure the package if necessary. You should
1547 <em>not</em> configure the package and edit the generated
1548 <prgn>Makefile</prgn>! This makes it impossible for someone
1549 else to later reconfigure the package without losing the
1555 <sect id="dpkgchangelog">
1556 <heading>Debian changelog: <file>debian/changelog</file></heading>
1559 Changes in the Debian version of the package should be
1560 briefly explained in the Debian changelog file
1561 <file>debian/changelog</file>.<footnote>
1563 Mistakes in changelogs are usually best rectified by
1564 making a new changelog entry rather than "rewriting
1565 history" by editing old changelog entries.
1568 This includes modifications
1569 made in the Debian package compared to the upstream one
1570 as well as other changes and updates to the package.
1572 Although there is nothing stopping an author who is also
1573 the Debian maintainer from using this changelog for all
1574 their changes, it will have to be renamed if the Debian
1575 and upstream maintainers become different people. In such
1576 a case, however, it might be better to maintain the package
1577 as a non-native package.
1582 The format of the <file>debian/changelog</file> allows the
1583 package building tools to discover which version of the package
1584 is being built and find out other release-specific information.
1588 That format is a series of entries like this:
1590 <example compact="compact">
1591 <var>package</var> (<var>version</var>) <var>distribution(s)</var>; urgency=<var>urgency</var>
1593 [optional blank line(s), stripped]
1595 * <var>change details</var>
1596 <var>more change details</var>
1598 [blank line(s), included in output of dpkg-parsechangelog]
1600 * <var>even more change details</var>
1602 [optional blank line(s), stripped]
1604 -- <var>maintainer name</var> <<var>email address</var>><var>[two spaces]</var> <var>date</var>
1609 <var>package</var> and <var>version</var> are the source
1610 package name and version number.
1614 <var>distribution(s)</var> lists the distributions where
1615 this version should be installed when it is uploaded - it
1616 is copied to the <tt>Distribution</tt> field in the
1617 <file>.changes</file> file. See <ref id="f-Distribution">.
1621 <var>urgency</var> is the value for the <tt>Urgency</tt>
1622 field in the <file>.changes</file> file for the upload
1623 (see <ref id="f-Urgency">). It is not possible to specify
1624 an urgency containing commas; commas are used to separate
1625 <tt><var>keyword</var>=<var>value</var></tt> settings in the
1626 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> changelog format (though there is
1627 currently only one useful <var>keyword</var>,
1632 The change details may in fact be any series of lines
1633 starting with at least two spaces, but conventionally each
1634 change starts with an asterisk and a separating space and
1635 continuation lines are indented so as to bring them in
1636 line with the start of the text above. Blank lines may be
1637 used here to separate groups of changes, if desired.
1641 If this upload resolves bugs recorded in the Bug Tracking
1642 System (BTS), they may be automatically closed on the
1643 inclusion of this package into the Debian archive by
1644 including the string: <tt>closes: Bug#<var>nnnnn</var></tt>
1645 in the change details.<footnote>
1646 To be precise, the string should match the following
1647 Perl regular expression:
1649 /closes:\s*(?:bug)?\#?\s?\d+(?:,\s*(?:bug)?\#?\s?\d+)*/i
1651 Then all of the bug numbers listed will be closed by the
1652 archive maintenance script (<prgn>katie</prgn>) using the
1653 <var>version</var> of the changelog entry.
1655 This information is conveyed via the <tt>Closes</tt> field
1656 in the <tt>.changes</tt> file (see <ref id="f-Closes">).
1660 The maintainer name and email address used in the changelog
1661 should be the details of the person uploading <em>this</em>
1662 version. They are <em>not</em> necessarily those of the
1663 usual package maintainer.<footnote>
1664 If the developer uploading the package is not one of the usual
1665 maintainers of the package (as listed in
1666 the <qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref>
1667 or <qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref> control
1668 fields of the package), the first line of the changelog is
1669 conventionally used to explain why a non-maintainer is
1670 uploading the package. The Debian Developer's Reference
1671 (see <ref id="related">) documents the conventions
1673 The information here will be copied to the <tt>Changed-By</tt>
1674 field in the <tt>.changes</tt> file
1675 (see <ref id="f-Changed-By">), and then later used to send an
1676 acknowledgement when the upload has been installed.
1680 The <var>date</var> has the following format<footnote>
1681 This is the same as the format generated by <tt>date
1683 </footnote> (compatible and with the same semantics of
1684 RFC 2822 and RFC 5322):
1685 <example>day-of-week, dd month yyyy hh:mm:ss +zzzz</example>
1687 <list compact="compact">
1689 day-of week is one of: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
1692 dd is a one- or two-digit day of the month (01-31)
1695 month is one of: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug,
1698 <item>yyyy is the four-digit year (e.g. 2010)</item>
1699 <item>hh is the two-digit hour (00-23)</item>
1700 <item>mm is the two-digit minutes (00-59)</item>
1701 <item>ss is the two-digit seconds (00-60)</item>
1703 +zzzz or -zzzz is the the time zone offset from Coordinated
1704 Universal Time (UTC). "+" indicates that the time is ahead
1705 of (i.e., east of) UTC and "-" indicates that the time is
1706 behind (i.e., west of) UTC. The first two digits indicate
1707 the hour difference from UTC and the last two digits
1708 indicate the number of additional minutes difference from
1709 UTC. The last two digits must be in the range 00-59.
1715 The first "title" line with the package name must start
1716 at the left hand margin. The "trailer" line with the
1717 maintainer and date details must be preceded by exactly
1718 one space. The maintainer details and the date must be
1719 separated by exactly two spaces.
1723 The entire changelog must be encoded in UTF-8.
1727 For more information on placement of the changelog files
1728 within binary packages, please see <ref id="changelogs">.
1732 <sect id="dpkgcopyright">
1733 <heading>Copyright: <file>debian/copyright</file></heading>
1735 Every package must be accompanied by a verbatim copy of its
1736 copyright information and distribution license in the file
1737 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file>
1738 (see <ref id="copyrightfile"> for further details). Also see
1739 <ref id="pkgcopyright"> for further considerations related
1740 to copyrights for packages.
1744 <heading>Error trapping in makefiles</heading>
1747 When <prgn>make</prgn> invokes a command in a makefile
1748 (including your package's upstream makefiles and
1749 <file>debian/rules</file>), it does so using <prgn>sh</prgn>. This
1750 means that <prgn>sh</prgn>'s usual bad error handling
1751 properties apply: if you include a miniature script as one
1752 of the commands in your makefile you'll find that if you
1753 don't do anything about it then errors are not detected
1754 and <prgn>make</prgn> will blithely continue after
1759 Every time you put more than one shell command (this
1760 includes using a loop) in a makefile command you
1761 must make sure that errors are trapped. For
1762 simple compound commands, such as changing directory and
1763 then running a program, using <tt>&&</tt> rather
1764 than semicolon as a command separator is sufficient. For
1765 more complex commands including most loops and
1766 conditionals you should include a separate <tt>set -e</tt>
1767 command at the start of every makefile command that's
1768 actually one of these miniature shell scripts.
1772 <sect id="timestamps">
1773 <heading>Time Stamps</heading>
1775 Maintainers should preserve the modification times of the
1776 upstream source files in a package, as far as is reasonably
1778 The rationale is that there is some information conveyed
1779 by knowing the age of the file, for example, you could
1780 recognize that some documentation is very old by looking
1781 at the modification time, so it would be nice if the
1782 modification time of the upstream source would be
1788 <sect id="restrictions">
1789 <heading>Restrictions on objects in source packages</heading>
1792 The source package may not contain any hard links<footnote>
1794 This is not currently detected when building source
1795 packages, but only when extracting
1799 Hard links may be permitted at some point in the
1800 future, but would require a fair amount of
1803 </footnote>, device special files, sockets or setuid or
1804 setgid files.<footnote>
1805 Setgid directories are allowed.
1810 <sect id="debianrules">
1811 <heading>Main building script: <file>debian/rules</file></heading>
1814 This file must be an executable makefile, and contains the
1815 package-specific recipes for compiling the package and
1816 building binary package(s) from the source.
1820 It must start with the line <tt>#!/usr/bin/make -f</tt>,
1821 so that it can be invoked by saying its name rather than
1822 invoking <prgn>make</prgn> explicitly. That is, invoking
1823 either of <tt>make -f debian/rules <em>args...</em></tt>
1824 or <tt>./debian/rules <em>args...</em></tt> must result in
1829 The following targets are required and must be implemented
1830 by <file>debian/rules</file>: <tt>clean</tt>, <tt>binary</tt>,
1831 <tt>binary-arch</tt>, <tt>binary-indep</tt>, and <tt>build</tt>.
1832 These are the targets called by <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>.
1836 Since an interactive <file>debian/rules</file> script makes it
1837 impossible to auto-compile that package and also makes it hard
1838 for other people to reproduce the same binary package, all
1839 required targets must be non-interactive. It also follows that
1840 any target that these targets depend on must also be
1845 The targets are as follows:
1847 <tag><tt>build</tt> (required)</tag>
1850 The <tt>build</tt> target should perform all the
1851 configuration and compilation of the package.
1852 If a package has an interactive pre-build
1853 configuration routine, the Debian source package
1854 must either be built after this has taken place (so
1855 that the binary package can be built without rerunning
1856 the configuration) or the configuration routine
1857 modified to become non-interactive. (The latter is
1858 preferable if there are architecture-specific features
1859 detected by the configuration routine.)
1863 For some packages, notably ones where the same
1864 source tree is compiled in different ways to produce
1865 two binary packages, the <tt>build</tt> target
1866 does not make much sense. For these packages it is
1867 good enough to provide two (or more) targets
1868 (<tt>build-a</tt> and <tt>build-b</tt> or whatever)
1869 for each of the ways of building the package, and a
1870 <tt>build</tt> target that does nothing. The
1871 <tt>binary</tt> target will have to build the
1872 package in each of the possible ways and make the
1873 binary package out of each.
1877 The <tt>build</tt> target must not do anything
1878 that might require root privilege.
1882 The <tt>build</tt> target may need to run the
1883 <tt>clean</tt> target first - see below.
1887 When a package has a configuration and build routine
1888 which takes a long time, or when the makefiles are
1889 poorly designed, or when <tt>build</tt> needs to
1890 run <tt>clean</tt> first, it is a good idea to
1891 <tt>touch build</tt> when the build process is
1892 complete. This will ensure that if <tt>debian/rules
1893 build</tt> is run again it will not rebuild the whole
1895 Another common way to do this is for <tt>build</tt>
1896 to depend on <prgn>build-stamp</prgn> and to do
1897 nothing else, and for the <prgn>build-stamp</prgn>
1898 target to do the building and to <tt>touch
1899 build-stamp</tt> on completion. This is
1900 especially useful if the build routine creates a
1901 file or directory called <tt>build</tt>; in such a
1902 case, <tt>build</tt> will need to be listed as
1903 a phony target (i.e., as a dependency of the
1904 <tt>.PHONY</tt> target). See the documentation of
1905 <prgn>make</prgn> for more information on phony
1911 <tag><tt>build-arch</tt> (optional),
1912 <tt>build-indep</tt> (optional)
1916 A package may also provide both of the targets
1917 <tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt>.
1918 The <tt>build-arch</tt> target, if provided, should
1919 perform all the configuration and compilation required for
1920 producing all architecture-dependant binary packages
1921 (those packages for which the body of the
1922 <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <tt>debian/control</tt> is
1923 not <tt>all</tt>). Similarly, the <tt>build-indep</tt>
1924 target, if provided, should perform all the configuration
1925 and compilation required for producing all
1926 architecture-independent binary packages (those packages
1927 for which the body of the <tt>Architecture</tt> field
1928 in <tt>debian/control</tt> is <tt>all</tt>).
1929 The <tt>build</tt> target should depend on those of the
1930 targets <tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> that
1931 are provided in the rules file.<footnote>
1932 The intent of this split is so that binary-only builds
1933 need not install the dependencies required for
1934 the <tt>build-indep</tt> target. However, this is not
1935 yet used in practice since <tt>dpkg-buildpackage
1936 -B</tt>, and therefore the autobuilders,
1937 invoke <tt>build</tt> rather than <tt>build-arch</tt>
1938 due to the difficulties in determining whether the
1939 optional <tt>build-arch</tt> target exists.
1944 If one or both of the targets <tt>build-arch</tt> and
1945 <tt>build-indep</tt> are not provided, then invoking
1946 <file>debian/rules</file> with one of the not-provided
1947 targets as arguments should produce a exit status code
1948 of 2. Usually this is provided automatically by make
1949 if the target is missing.
1953 The <tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> targets
1954 must not do anything that might require root privilege.
1958 <tag><tt>binary</tt> (required), <tt>binary-arch</tt>
1959 (required), <tt>binary-indep</tt> (required)
1963 The <tt>binary</tt> target must be all that is
1964 necessary for the user to build the binary package(s)
1965 produced from this source package. It is
1966 split into two parts: <prgn>binary-arch</prgn> builds
1967 the binary packages which are specific to a particular
1968 architecture, and <tt>binary-indep</tt> builds
1969 those which are not.
1972 <tt>binary</tt> may be (and commonly is) a target with
1973 no commands which simply depends on
1974 <tt>binary-arch</tt> and <tt>binary-indep</tt>.
1977 Both <tt>binary-*</tt> targets should depend on the
1978 <tt>build</tt> target, or on the appropriate
1979 <tt>build-arch</tt> or <tt>build-indep</tt> target, if
1980 provided, so that the package is built if it has not
1981 been already. It should then create the relevant
1982 binary package(s), using <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> to
1983 make their control files and <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> to
1984 build them and place them in the parent of the top
1989 Both the <tt>binary-arch</tt> and
1990 <tt>binary-indep</tt> targets <em>must</em> exist.
1991 If one of them has nothing to do (which will always be
1992 the case if the source generates only a single binary
1993 package, whether architecture-dependent or not), it
1994 must still exist and must always succeed.
1998 The <tt>binary</tt> targets must be invoked as
2000 The <prgn>fakeroot</prgn> package often allows one
2001 to build a package correctly even without being
2007 <tag><tt>clean</tt> (required)</tag>
2010 This must undo any effects that the <tt>build</tt>
2011 and <tt>binary</tt> targets may have had, except
2012 that it should leave alone any output files created in
2013 the parent directory by a run of a <tt>binary</tt>
2018 If a <tt>build</tt> file is touched at the end of
2019 the <tt>build</tt> target, as suggested above, it
2020 should be removed as the first action that
2021 <tt>clean</tt> performs, so that running
2022 <tt>build</tt> again after an interrupted
2023 <tt>clean</tt> doesn't think that everything is
2028 The <tt>clean</tt> target may need to be
2029 invoked as root if <tt>binary</tt> has been
2030 invoked since the last <tt>clean</tt>, or if
2031 <tt>build</tt> has been invoked as root (since
2032 <tt>build</tt> may create directories, for
2037 <tag><tt>get-orig-source</tt> (optional)</tag>
2040 This target fetches the most recent version of the
2041 original source package from a canonical archive site
2042 (via FTP or WWW, for example), does any necessary
2043 rearrangement to turn it into the original source
2044 tar file format described below, and leaves it in the
2049 This target may be invoked in any directory, and
2050 should take care to clean up any temporary files it
2055 This target is optional, but providing it if
2056 possible is a good idea.
2060 <tag><tt>patch</tt> (optional)</tag>
2063 This target performs whatever additional actions are
2064 required to make the source ready for editing (unpacking
2065 additional upstream archives, applying patches, etc.).
2066 It is recommended to be implemented for any package where
2067 <tt>dpkg-source -x</tt> does not result in source ready
2068 for additional modification. See
2069 <ref id="readmesource">.
2075 The <tt>build</tt>, <tt>binary</tt> and
2076 <tt>clean</tt> targets must be invoked with the current
2077 directory being the package's top-level directory.
2082 Additional targets may exist in <file>debian/rules</file>,
2083 either as published or undocumented interfaces or for the
2084 package's internal use.
2088 The architectures we build on and build for are determined
2089 by <prgn>make</prgn> variables using the
2090 utility <qref id="pkg-dpkg-architecture"><prgn>dpkg-architecture</prgn></qref>.
2091 You can determine the Debian architecture and the GNU style
2092 architecture specification string for the build architecture as
2093 well as for the host architecture. The build architecture is
2094 the architecture on which <file>debian/rules</file> is run and
2095 the package build is performed. The host architecture is the
2096 architecture on which the resulting package will be installed
2097 and run. These are normally the same, but may be different in
2098 the case of cross-compilation (building packages for one
2099 architecture on machines of a different architecture).
2103 Here is a list of supported <prgn>make</prgn> variables:
2104 <list compact="compact">
2106 <tt>DEB_*_ARCH</tt> (the Debian architecture)
2109 <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU</tt> (the Debian CPU name)
2112 <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_OS</tt> (the Debian System name)
2115 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_TYPE</tt> (the GNU style architecture
2116 specification string)
2119 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_CPU</tt> (the CPU part of
2120 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_TYPE</tt>)
2123 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_SYSTEM</tt> (the System part of
2124 <tt>DEB_*_GNU_TYPE</tt>)
2126 where <tt>*</tt> is either <tt>BUILD</tt> for specification of
2127 the build architecture or <tt>HOST</tt> for specification of the
2132 Backward compatibility can be provided in the rules file
2133 by setting the needed variables to suitable default
2134 values; please refer to the documentation of
2135 <prgn>dpkg-architecture</prgn> for details.
2139 It is important to understand that the <tt>DEB_*_ARCH</tt>
2140 string only determines which Debian architecture we are
2141 building on or for. It should not be used to get the CPU
2142 or system information; the <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU</tt> and
2143 <tt>DEB_*_ARCH_OS</tt> variables should be used for that.
2144 GNU style variables should generally only be used with upstream
2148 <sect1 id="debianrules-options">
2149 <heading><file>debian/rules</file> and
2150 <tt>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</tt></heading>
2153 Supporting the standardized environment variable
2154 <tt>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</tt> is recommended. This variable can
2155 contain several flags to change how a package is compiled and
2156 built. Each flag must be in the form <var>flag</var> or
2157 <var>flag</var>=<var>options</var>. If multiple flags are
2158 given, they must be separated by whitespace.<footnote>
2159 Some packages support any delimiter, but whitespace is the
2160 easiest to parse inside a makefile and avoids ambiguity with
2161 flag values that contain commas.
2163 <var>flag</var> must start with a lowercase letter
2164 (<tt>a-z</tt>) and consist only of lowercase letters,
2165 numbers (<tt>0-9</tt>), and the characters
2166 <tt>-</tt> and <tt>_</tt> (hyphen and underscore).
2167 <var>options</var> must not contain whitespace. The same
2168 tag should not be given multiple times with conflicting
2169 values. Package maintainers may assume that
2170 <tt>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</tt> will not contain conflicting tags.
2174 The meaning of the following tags has been standardized:
2178 This tag says to not run any build-time test suite
2179 provided by the package.
2183 The presence of this tag means that the package should
2184 be compiled with a minimum of optimization. For C
2185 programs, it is best to add <tt>-O0</tt> to
2186 <tt>CFLAGS</tt> (although this is usually the default).
2187 Some programs might fail to build or run at this level
2188 of optimization; it may be necessary to use
2189 <tt>-O1</tt>, for example.
2193 This tag means that the debugging symbols should not be
2194 stripped from the binary during installation, so that
2195 debugging information may be included in the package.
2197 <tag>parallel=n</tag>
2199 This tag means that the package should be built using up
2200 to <tt>n</tt> parallel processes if the package build
2201 system supports this.<footnote>
2202 Packages built with <tt>make</tt> can often implement
2203 this by passing the <tt>-j</tt><var>n</var> option to
2206 If the package build system does not support parallel
2207 builds, this string must be ignored. If the package
2208 build system only supports a lower level of concurrency
2209 than <var>n</var>, the package should be built using as
2210 many parallel processes as the package build system
2211 supports. It is up to the package maintainer to decide
2212 whether the package build times are long enough and the
2213 package build system is robust enough to make supporting
2214 parallel builds worthwhile.
2220 Unknown flags must be ignored by <file>debian/rules</file>.
2224 The following makefile snippet is an example of how one may
2225 implement the build options; you will probably have to
2226 massage this example in order to make it work for your
2228 <example compact="compact">
2231 INSTALL_FILE = $(INSTALL) -p -o root -g root -m 644
2232 INSTALL_PROGRAM = $(INSTALL) -p -o root -g root -m 755
2233 INSTALL_SCRIPT = $(INSTALL) -p -o root -g root -m 755
2234 INSTALL_DIR = $(INSTALL) -p -d -o root -g root -m 755
2236 ifneq (,$(filter noopt,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2241 ifeq (,$(filter nostrip,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2242 INSTALL_PROGRAM += -s
2244 ifneq (,$(filter parallel=%,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2245 NUMJOBS = $(patsubst parallel=%,%,$(filter parallel=%,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2246 MAKEFLAGS += -j$(NUMJOBS)
2251 ifeq (,$(filter nocheck,$(DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS)))
2252 # Code to run the package test suite.
2259 <!-- FIXME: section pkg-srcsubstvars is the same as substvars -->
2260 <sect id="substvars">
2261 <heading>Variable substitutions: <file>debian/substvars</file></heading>
2264 When <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>
2265 generates <qref id="binarycontrolfiles">binary package control
2266 files</qref> (<file>DEBIAN/control</file>), it performs variable
2267 substitutions on its output just before writing it. Variable
2268 substitutions have the form <tt>${<var>variable</var>}</tt>.
2269 The optional file <file>debian/substvars</file> contains
2270 variable substitutions to be used; variables can also be set
2271 directly from <file>debian/rules</file> using the <tt>-V</tt>
2272 option to the source packaging commands, and certain predefined
2273 variables are also available.
2277 The <file>debian/substvars</file> file is usually generated and
2278 modified dynamically by <file>debian/rules</file> targets, in
2279 which case it must be removed by the <tt>clean</tt> target.
2283 See <manref name="deb-substvars" section="5"> for full
2284 details about source variable substitutions, including the
2285 format of <file>debian/substvars</file>.</p>
2288 <sect id="debianwatch">
2289 <heading>Optional upstream source location: <file>debian/watch</file></heading>
2292 This is an optional, recommended configuration file for the
2293 <tt>uscan</tt> utility which defines how to automatically scan
2294 ftp or http sites for newly available updates of the
2295 package. This is used
2296 by <url id="http://dehs.alioth.debian.org/"> and other Debian QA
2297 tools to help with quality control and maintenance of the
2298 distribution as a whole.
2303 <sect id="debianfiles">
2304 <heading>Generated files list: <file>debian/files</file></heading>
2307 This file is not a permanent part of the source tree; it
2308 is used while building packages to record which files are
2309 being generated. <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> uses it
2310 when it generates a <file>.changes</file> file.
2314 It should not exist in a shipped source package, and so it
2315 (and any backup files or temporary files such as
2316 <file>files.new</file><footnote>
2317 <file>files.new</file> is used as a temporary file by
2318 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> and
2319 <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn> - they write a new
2320 version of <tt>files</tt> here before renaming it,
2321 to avoid leaving a corrupted copy if an error
2323 </footnote>) should be removed by the
2324 <tt>clean</tt> target. It may also be wise to
2325 ensure a fresh start by emptying or removing it at the
2326 start of the <tt>binary</tt> target.
2330 When <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> is run for a binary
2331 package, it adds an entry to <file>debian/files</file> for the
2332 <file>.deb</file> file that will be created when <tt>dpkg-deb
2333 --build</tt> is run for that binary package. So for most
2334 packages all that needs to be done with this file is to
2335 delete it in the <tt>clean</tt> target.
2339 If a package upload includes files besides the source
2340 package and any binary packages whose control files were
2341 made with <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> then they should be
2342 placed in the parent of the package's top-level directory
2343 and <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn> should be called to add
2344 the file to the list in <file>debian/files</file>.</p>
2347 <sect id="embeddedfiles">
2348 <heading>Convenience copies of code</heading>
2351 Some software packages include in their distribution convenience
2352 copies of code from other software packages, generally so that
2353 users compiling from source don't have to download multiple
2354 packages. Debian packages should not make use of these
2355 convenience copies unless the included package is explicitly
2356 intended to be used in this way.<footnote>
2357 For example, parts of the GNU build system work like this.
2359 If the included code is already in the Debian archive in the
2360 form of a library, the Debian packaging should ensure that
2361 binary packages reference the libraries already in Debian and
2362 the convenience copy is not used. If the included code is not
2363 already in Debian, it should be packaged separately as a
2364 prerequisite if possible.
2366 Having multiple copies of the same code in Debian is
2367 inefficient, often creates either static linking or shared
2368 library conflicts, and, most importantly, increases the
2369 difficulty of handling security vulnerabilities in the
2375 <sect id="readmesource">
2376 <heading>Source package handling:
2377 <file>debian/README.source</file></heading>
2380 If running <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> on a source package
2381 doesn't produce the source of the package, ready for editing,
2382 and allow one to make changes and run
2383 <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn> to produce a modified package
2384 without taking any additional steps, creating a
2385 <file>debian/README.source</file> documentation file is
2386 recommended. This file should explain how to do all of the
2389 <item>Generate the fully patched source, in a form ready for
2390 editing, that would be built to create Debian
2391 packages. Doing this with a <tt>patch</tt> target in
2392 <file>debian/rules</file> is recommended; see
2393 <ref id="debianrules">.</item>
2394 <item>Modify the source and save those modifications so that
2395 they will be applied when building the package.</item>
2396 <item>Remove source modifications that are currently being
2397 applied when building the package.</item>
2398 <item>Optionally, document what steps are necessary to
2399 upgrade the Debian source package to a new upstream version,
2400 if applicable.</item>
2402 This explanation should include specific commands and mention
2403 any additional required Debian packages. It should not assume
2404 familiarity with any specific Debian packaging system or patch
2409 This explanation may refer to a documentation file installed by
2410 one of the package's build dependencies provided that the
2411 referenced documentation clearly explains these tasks and is not
2412 a general reference manual.
2416 <file>debian/README.source</file> may also include any other
2417 information that would be helpful to someone modifying the
2418 source package. Even if the package doesn't fit the above
2419 description, maintainers are encouraged to document in a
2420 <file>debian/README.source</file> file any source package with a
2421 particularly complex or unintuitive source layout or build
2422 system (for example, a package that builds the same source
2423 multiple times to generate different binary packages).
2429 <chapt id="controlfields">
2430 <heading>Control files and their fields</heading>
2433 The package management system manipulates data represented in
2434 a common format, known as <em>control data</em>, stored in
2435 <em>control files</em>.
2436 Control files are used for source packages, binary packages and
2437 the <file>.changes</file> files which control the installation
2438 of uploaded files<footnote>
2439 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s internal databases are in a similar
2444 <sect id="controlsyntax">
2445 <heading>Syntax of control files</heading>
2448 A control file consists of one or more paragraphs of
2450 The paragraphs are also sometimes referred to as stanzas.
2452 The paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Some control
2453 files allow only one paragraph; others allow several, in
2454 which case each paragraph usually refers to a different
2455 package. (For example, in source packages, the first
2456 paragraph refers to the source package, and later paragraphs
2457 refer to binary packages generated from the source.)
2461 Each paragraph consists of a series of data fields; each
2462 field consists of the field name, followed by a colon and
2463 then the data/value associated with that field. It ends at
2464 the end of the (logical) line. Horizontal whitespace
2465 (spaces and tabs) may occur immediately before or after the
2466 value and is ignored there; it is conventional to put a
2467 single space after the colon. For example, a field might
2469 <example compact="compact">
2472 the field name is <tt>Package</tt> and the field value
2477 A paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
2478 particular field name.
2482 Many fields' values may span several lines; in this case
2483 each continuation line must start with a space or a tab.
2484 Any trailing spaces or tabs at the end of individual
2485 lines of a field value are ignored.
2489 In fields where it is specified that lines may not wrap,
2490 only a single line of data is allowed and whitespace is not
2491 significant in a field body. Whitespace must not appear
2492 inside names (of packages, architectures, files or anything
2493 else) or version numbers, or between the characters of
2494 multi-character version relationships.
2498 Field names are not case-sensitive, but it is usual to
2499 capitalize the field names using mixed case as shown below.
2500 Field values are case-sensitive unless the description of the
2501 field says otherwise.
2505 Blank lines, or lines consisting only of spaces and tabs,
2506 are not allowed within field values or between fields - that
2507 would mean a new paragraph.
2511 All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
2515 <sect id="sourcecontrolfiles">
2516 <heading>Source package control files -- <file>debian/control</file></heading>
2519 The <file>debian/control</file> file contains the most vital
2520 (and version-independent) information about the source package
2521 and about the binary packages it creates.
2525 The first paragraph of the control file contains information about
2526 the source package in general. The subsequent sets each describe a
2527 binary package that the source tree builds.
2531 The fields in the general paragraph (the first one, for the source
2534 <list compact="compact">
2535 <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2536 <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2537 <item><qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref></item>
2538 <item><qref id="f-Section"><tt>Section</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2539 <item><qref id="f-Priority"><tt>Priority</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2540 <item><qref id="sourcebinarydeps"><tt>Build-Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
2541 <item><qref id="f-Standards-Version"><tt>Standards-Version</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2542 <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
2547 The fields in the binary package paragraphs are:
2549 <list compact="compact">
2550 <item><qref id="f-Package"><tt>Package</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2551 <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2552 <item><qref id="f-Section"><tt>Section</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2553 <item><qref id="f-Priority"><tt>Priority</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2554 <item><qref id="f-Essential"><tt>Essential</tt></qref></item>
2555 <item><qref id="binarydeps"><tt>Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
2556 <item><qref id="f-Description"><tt>Description</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2557 <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
2562 The syntax and semantics of the fields are described below.
2566 These fields are used by <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> to
2567 generate control files for binary packages (see below), by
2568 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> to generate the
2569 <file>.changes</file> file to accompany the upload, and by
2570 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> when it creates the
2571 <file>.dsc</file> source control file as part of a source
2572 archive. Many fields are permitted to span multiple lines in
2573 <file>debian/control</file> but not in any other control
2574 file. These tools are responsible for removing the line
2575 breaks from such fields when using fields from
2576 <file>debian/control</file> to generate other control files.
2580 The fields here may contain variable references - their
2581 values will be substituted by <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>,
2582 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> or <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>
2583 when they generate output control files.
2584 See <ref id="substvars"> for details.
2588 In addition to the control file syntax described <qref
2589 id="controlsyntax">above</qref>, this file may also contain
2590 comment lines starting with <tt>#</tt> without any preceding
2591 whitespace. All such lines are ignored, even in the middle of
2592 continuation lines for a multiline field, and do not end a
2598 <sect id="binarycontrolfiles">
2599 <heading>Binary package control files -- <file>DEBIAN/control</file></heading>
2602 The <file>DEBIAN/control</file> file contains the most vital
2603 (and version-dependent) information about a binary package. It
2604 consists of a single paragraph.
2608 The fields in this file are:
2610 <list compact="compact">
2611 <item><qref id="f-Package"><tt>Package</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2612 <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref></item>
2613 <item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2614 <item><qref id="f-Section"><tt>Section</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2615 <item><qref id="f-Priority"><tt>Priority</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2616 <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2617 <item><qref id="f-Essential"><tt>Essential</tt></qref></item>
2618 <item><qref id="binarydeps"><tt>Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
2619 <item><qref id="f-Installed-Size"><tt>Installed-Size</tt></qref></item>
2620 <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2621 <item><qref id="f-Description"><tt>Description</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2622 <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
2627 <sect id="debiansourcecontrolfiles">
2628 <heading>Debian source control files -- <tt>.dsc</tt></heading>
2631 This file consists of a single paragraph, possibly surrounded by
2632 a PGP signature. The fields of that paragraph are listed below.
2633 Their syntax is described above, in <ref id="pkg-controlfields">.
2635 <list compact="compact">
2636 <item><qref id="f-Format"><tt>Format</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2637 <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2638 <item><qref id="f-Binary"><tt>Binary</tt></qref></item>
2639 <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref></item>
2640 <item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2641 <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2642 <item><qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref></item>
2643 <item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
2644 <item><qref id="f-Standards-Version"><tt>Standards-Version</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2645 <item><qref id="sourcebinarydeps"><tt>Build-Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
2646 <item><qref id="f-Checksums"><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
2647 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2648 <item><qref id="f-Files"><tt>Files</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2653 The source package control file is generated by
2654 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> when it builds the source
2655 archive, from other files in the source package,
2656 described above. When unpacking, it is checked against
2657 the files and directories in the other parts of the
2663 <sect id="debianchangesfiles">
2664 <heading>Debian changes files -- <file>.changes</file></heading>
2667 The <file>.changes</file> files are used by the Debian archive
2668 maintenance software to process updates to packages. They
2669 consist of a single paragraph, possibly surrounded by a PGP
2670 signature. That paragraph contains information from the
2671 <file>debian/control</file> file and other data about the
2672 source package gathered via <file>debian/changelog</file>
2673 and <file>debian/rules</file>.
2677 <file>.changes</file> files have a format version that is
2678 incremented whenever the documented fields or their meaning
2679 change. This document describes format &changesversion;.
2683 The fields in this file are:
2685 <list compact="compact">
2686 <item><qref id="f-Format"><tt>Format</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2687 <item><qref id="f-Date"><tt>Date</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2688 <item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2689 <item><qref id="f-Binary"><tt>Binary</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2690 <item><qref id="f-Architecture"><tt>Architecture</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2691 <item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2692 <item><qref id="f-Distribution"><tt>Distribution</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2693 <item><qref id="f-Urgency"><tt>Urgency</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2694 <item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2695 <item><qref id="f-Changed-By"><tt>Changed-By</tt></qref></item>
2696 <item><qref id="f-Description"><tt>Description</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2697 <item><qref id="f-Closes"><tt>Closes</tt></qref></item>
2698 <item><qref id="f-Changes"><tt>Changes</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2699 <item><qref id="f-Checksums"><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
2700 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
2701 <item><qref id="f-Files"><tt>Files</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
2706 <sect id="controlfieldslist">
2707 <heading>List of fields</heading>
2709 <sect1 id="f-Source">
2710 <heading><tt>Source</tt></heading>
2713 This field identifies the source package name.
2717 In <file>debian/control</file> or a <file>.dsc</file> file,
2718 this field must contain only the name of the source package.
2722 In a binary package control file or a <file>.changes</file>
2723 file, the source package name may be followed by a version
2724 number in parentheses<footnote>
2725 It is customary to leave a space after the package name
2726 if a version number is specified.
2728 This version number may be omitted (and is, by
2729 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>) if it has the same value as
2730 the <tt>Version</tt> field of the binary package in
2731 question. The field itself may be omitted from a binary
2732 package control file when the source package has the same
2733 name and version as the binary package.
2737 Package names (both source and binary,
2738 see <ref id="f-Package">) must consist only of lower case
2739 letters (<tt>a-z</tt>), digits (<tt>0-9</tt>), plus
2740 (<tt>+</tt>) and minus (<tt>-</tt>) signs, and periods
2741 (<tt>.</tt>). They must be at least two characters long and
2742 must start with an alphanumeric character.
2746 <sect1 id="f-Maintainer">
2747 <heading><tt>Maintainer</tt></heading>
2750 The package maintainer's name and email address. The name
2751 must come first, then the email address inside angle
2752 brackets <tt><></tt> (in RFC822 format).
2756 If the maintainer's name contains a full stop then the
2757 whole field will not work directly as an email address due
2758 to a misfeature in the syntax specified in RFC822; a
2759 program using this field as an address must check for this
2760 and correct the problem if necessary (for example by
2761 putting the name in round brackets and moving it to the
2762 end, and bringing the email address forward).
2766 See <ref id="maintainer"> for additional requirements and
2767 information about package maintainers.
2771 <sect1 id="f-Uploaders">
2772 <heading><tt>Uploaders</tt></heading>
2775 List of the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of the
2776 package, if any. If the package has other maintainers besides
2777 the one named in the <qref id="f-Maintainer">Maintainer
2778 field</qref>, their names and email addresses should be listed
2779 here. The format of each entry is the same as that of the
2780 Maintainer field, and multiple entries must be comma
2785 This is normally an optional field, but if
2786 the <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field names a group of people
2787 and a shared email address, the <tt>Uploaders</tt> field must
2788 be present and must contain at least one human with their
2789 personal email address.
2793 Any parser that interprets the Uploaders field in
2794 <file>debian/control</file> must permit it to span multiple
2795 lines. Line breaks in an Uploaders field that spans multiple
2796 lines are not significant and the semantics of the field are
2797 the same as if the line breaks had not been present.
2801 <sect1 id="f-Changed-By">
2802 <heading><tt>Changed-By</tt></heading>
2805 The name and email address of the person who prepared this
2806 version of the package, usually a maintainer. The syntax is
2807 the same as for the <qref id="f-Maintainer">Maintainer
2812 <sect1 id="f-Section">
2813 <heading><tt>Section</tt></heading>
2816 This field specifies an application area into which the package
2817 has been classified. See <ref id="subsections">.
2821 When it appears in the <file>debian/control</file> file,
2822 it gives the value for the subfield of the same name in
2823 the <tt>Files</tt> field of the <file>.changes</file> file.
2824 It also gives the default for the same field in the binary
2829 <sect1 id="f-Priority">
2830 <heading><tt>Priority</tt></heading>
2833 This field represents how important it is that the user
2834 have the package installed. See <ref id="priorities">.
2838 When it appears in the <file>debian/control</file> file,
2839 it gives the value for the subfield of the same name in
2840 the <tt>Files</tt> field of the <file>.changes</file> file.
2841 It also gives the default for the same field in the binary
2846 <sect1 id="f-Package">
2847 <heading><tt>Package</tt></heading>
2850 The name of the binary package.
2854 Binary package names must follow the same syntax and
2855 restrictions as source package names. See <ref id="f-Source">
2860 <sect1 id="f-Architecture">
2861 <heading><tt>Architecture</tt></heading>
2864 Depending on context and the control file used, the
2865 <tt>Architecture</tt> field can include the following sets of
2869 A unique single word identifying a Debian machine
2870 architecture as described in <ref id="arch-spec">.
2873 An architecture wildcard identifying a set of Debian
2874 machine architectures, see <ref id="arch-wildcard-spec">.
2875 <tt>any</tt> matches all Debian machine architectures
2876 and is the most frequently used.
2879 <tt>all</tt>, which indicates an
2880 architecture-independent package.
2883 <tt>source</tt>, which indicates a source package.
2889 In the main <file>debian/control</file> file in the source
2890 package, this field may contain the special
2891 value <tt>all</tt>, the special architecture
2892 wildcard <tt>any</tt>, or a list of specific and wildcard
2893 architectures separated by spaces. If <tt>all</tt>
2894 or <tt>any</tt> appears, that value must be the entire
2895 contents of the field. Most packages will use
2896 either <tt>all</tt> or <tt>any</tt>.
2900 Specifying a specific list of architectures indicates that the
2901 source will build an architecture-dependent package only on
2902 architectures included in the list. Specifying a list of
2903 architecture wildcards indicates that the source will build an
2904 architecture-dependent package on only those architectures
2905 that match any of the specified architecture wildcards.
2906 Specifying a list of architectures or architecture wildcards
2907 other than <tt>any</tt> is for the minority of cases where a
2908 program is not portable or is not useful on some
2909 architectures. Where possible, the program should be made
2914 In the source package control file <file>.dsc</file>, this
2915 field may contain either the architecture
2916 wildcard <tt>any</tt> or a list of architectures and
2917 architecture wildcards separated by spaces. If a list is
2918 given, it may include (or consist solely of) the special
2919 value <tt>all</tt>. In other words, in <file>.dsc</file>
2920 files unlike the <file>debian/control</file>, <tt>all</tt> may
2921 occur in combination with specific architectures.
2922 The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in the source package control
2923 file <file>.dsc</file> is generally constructed from
2924 the <tt>Architecture</tt> fields in
2925 the <file>debian/control</file> in the source package.
2929 Specifying <tt>any</tt> indicates that the source package
2930 isn't dependent on any particular architecture and should
2931 compile fine on any one. The produced binary package(s)
2932 will either be specific to whatever the current build
2933 architecture is or will be architecture-independent.
2937 Specifying only <tt>all</tt> indicates that the source package
2938 will only build architecture-independent packages. If this is
2939 the case, <tt>all</tt> must be used rather than <tt>any</tt>;
2940 <tt>any</tt> implies that the source package will build at
2941 least one architecture-dependent package.
2945 Specifying a list of architectures or architecture wildcards
2946 indicates that the source will build an architecture-dependent
2947 package, and will only work correctly on the listed or
2948 matching architectures. If the source package also builds at
2949 least one architecture-independent package, <tt>all</tt> will
2950 also be included in the list.
2954 In a <file>.changes</file> file, the <tt>Architecture</tt>
2955 field lists the architecture(s) of the package(s) currently
2956 being uploaded. This will be a list; if the source for the
2957 package is also being uploaded, the special
2958 entry <tt>source</tt> is also present. <tt>all</tt> will be
2959 present if any architecture-independent packages are being
2960 uploaded. Architecture wildcards such as <tt>any</tt> must
2961 never occur in the <tt>Architecture</tt> field in
2962 the <file>.changes</file> file.
2966 See <ref id="debianrules"> for information on how to get
2967 the architecture for the build process.
2971 <sect1 id="f-Essential">
2972 <heading><tt>Essential</tt></heading>
2975 This is a boolean field which may occur only in the
2976 control file of a binary package or in a per-package fields
2977 paragraph of a main source control data file.
2981 If set to <tt>yes</tt> then the package management system
2982 will refuse to remove the package (upgrading and replacing
2983 it is still possible). The other possible value is <tt>no</tt>,
2984 which is the same as not having the field at all.
2989 <heading>Package interrelationship fields:
2990 <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>,
2991 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>,
2992 <tt>Breaks</tt>, <tt>Conflicts</tt>,
2993 <tt>Provides</tt>, <tt>Replaces</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>
2997 These fields describe the package's relationships with
2998 other packages. Their syntax and semantics are described
2999 in <ref id="relationships">.</p>
3002 <sect1 id="f-Standards-Version">
3003 <heading><tt>Standards-Version</tt></heading>
3006 The most recent version of the standards (the policy
3007 manual and associated texts) with which the package
3012 The version number has four components: major and minor
3013 version number and major and minor patch level. When the
3014 standards change in a way that requires every package to
3015 change the major number will be changed. Significant
3016 changes that will require work in many packages will be
3017 signaled by a change to the minor number. The major patch
3018 level will be changed for any change to the meaning of the
3019 standards, however small; the minor patch level will be
3020 changed when only cosmetic, typographical or other edits
3021 are made which neither change the meaning of the document
3022 nor affect the contents of packages.
3026 Thus only the first three components of the policy version
3027 are significant in the <em>Standards-Version</em> control
3028 field, and so either these three components or all four
3029 components may be specified.<footnote>
3030 In the past, people specified the full version number
3031 in the Standards-Version field, for example "2.3.0.0".
3032 Since minor patch-level changes don't introduce new
3033 policy, it was thought it would be better to relax
3034 policy and only require the first 3 components to be
3035 specified, in this example "2.3.0". All four
3036 components may still be used if someone wishes to do so.
3042 <sect1 id="f-Version">
3043 <heading><tt>Version</tt></heading>
3046 The version number of a package. The format is:
3047 [<var>epoch</var><tt>:</tt>]<var>upstream_version</var>[<tt>-</tt><var>debian_revision</var>]
3051 The three components here are:
3053 <tag><var>epoch</var></tag>
3056 This is a single (generally small) unsigned integer. It
3057 may be omitted, in which case zero is assumed. If it is
3058 omitted then the <var>upstream_version</var> may not
3063 It is provided to allow mistakes in the version numbers
3064 of older versions of a package, and also a package's
3065 previous version numbering schemes, to be left behind.
3069 <tag><var>upstream_version</var></tag>
3072 This is the main part of the version number. It is
3073 usually the version number of the original ("upstream")
3074 package from which the <file>.deb</file> file has been made,
3075 if this is applicable. Usually this will be in the same
3076 format as that specified by the upstream author(s);
3077 however, it may need to be reformatted to fit into the
3078 package management system's format and comparison
3083 The comparison behavior of the package management system
3084 with respect to the <var>upstream_version</var> is
3085 described below. The <var>upstream_version</var>
3086 portion of the version number is mandatory.
3090 The <var>upstream_version</var> may contain only
3091 alphanumerics<footnote>
3092 Alphanumerics are <tt>A-Za-z0-9</tt> only.
3094 and the characters <tt>.</tt> <tt>+</tt> <tt>-</tt>
3095 <tt>:</tt> <tt>~</tt> (full stop, plus, hyphen, colon,
3096 tilde) and should start with a digit. If there is no
3097 <var>debian_revision</var> then hyphens are not allowed;
3098 if there is no <var>epoch</var> then colons are not
3103 <tag><var>debian_revision</var></tag>
3106 This part of the version number specifies the version of
3107 the Debian package based on the upstream version. It
3108 may contain only alphanumerics and the characters
3109 <tt>+</tt> <tt>.</tt> <tt>~</tt> (plus, full stop,
3110 tilde) and is compared in the same way as the
3111 <var>upstream_version</var> is.
3115 It is optional; if it isn't present then the
3116 <var>upstream_version</var> may not contain a hyphen.
3117 This format represents the case where a piece of
3118 software was written specifically to be a Debian
3119 package, where the Debian package source must always
3120 be identical to the pristine source and therefore no
3121 revision indication is required.
3125 It is conventional to restart the
3126 <var>debian_revision</var> at <tt>1</tt> each time the
3127 <var>upstream_version</var> is increased.
3131 The package management system will break the version
3132 number apart at the last hyphen in the string (if there
3133 is one) to determine the <var>upstream_version</var> and
3134 <var>debian_revision</var>. The absence of a
3135 <var>debian_revision</var> is equivalent to a
3136 <var>debian_revision</var> of <tt>0</tt>.
3143 When comparing two version numbers, first the <var>epoch</var>
3144 of each are compared, then the <var>upstream_version</var> if
3145 <var>epoch</var> is equal, and then <var>debian_revision</var>
3146 if <var>upstream_version</var> is also equal.
3147 <var>epoch</var> is compared numerically. The
3148 <var>upstream_version</var> and <var>debian_revision</var>
3149 parts are compared by the package management system using the
3150 following algorithm:
3154 The strings are compared from left to right.
3158 First the initial part of each string consisting entirely of
3159 non-digit characters is determined. These two parts (one of
3160 which may be empty) are compared lexically. If a difference
3161 is found it is returned. The lexical comparison is a
3162 comparison of ASCII values modified so that all the letters
3163 sort earlier than all the non-letters and so that a tilde
3164 sorts before anything, even the end of a part. For example,
3165 the following parts are in sorted order from earliest to
3166 latest: <tt>~~</tt>, <tt>~~a</tt>, <tt>~</tt>, the empty part,
3167 <tt>a</tt>.<footnote>
3168 One common use of <tt>~</tt> is for upstream pre-releases.
3169 For example, <tt>1.0~beta1~svn1245</tt> sorts earlier than
3170 <tt>1.0~beta1</tt>, which sorts earlier than <tt>1.0</tt>.
3175 Then the initial part of the remainder of each string which
3176 consists entirely of digit characters is determined. The
3177 numerical values of these two parts are compared, and any
3178 difference found is returned as the result of the comparison.
3179 For these purposes an empty string (which can only occur at
3180 the end of one or both version strings being compared) counts
3185 These two steps (comparing and removing initial non-digit
3186 strings and initial digit strings) are repeated until a
3187 difference is found or both strings are exhausted.
3191 Note that the purpose of epochs is to allow us to leave behind
3192 mistakes in version numbering, and to cope with situations
3193 where the version numbering scheme changes. It is
3194 <em>not</em> intended to cope with version numbers containing
3195 strings of letters which the package management system cannot
3196 interpret (such as <tt>ALPHA</tt> or <tt>pre-</tt>), or with
3197 silly orderings.<footnote>
3198 The author of this manual has heard of a package whose
3199 versions went <tt>1.1</tt>, <tt>1.2</tt>, <tt>1.3</tt>,
3200 <tt>1</tt>, <tt>2.1</tt>, <tt>2.2</tt>, <tt>2</tt> and so
3206 <sect1 id="f-Description">
3207 <heading><tt>Description</tt></heading>
3210 In a source or binary control file, the <tt>Description</tt>
3211 field contains a description of the binary package, consisting
3212 of two parts, the synopsis or the short description, and the
3213 long description. The field's format is as follows:
3218 Description: <single line synopsis>
3219 <extended description over several lines>
3224 The lines in the extended description can have these formats:
3230 Those starting with a single space are part of a paragraph.
3231 Successive lines of this form will be word-wrapped when
3232 displayed. The leading space will usually be stripped off.
3236 Those starting with two or more spaces. These will be
3237 displayed verbatim. If the display cannot be panned
3238 horizontally, the displaying program will line wrap them "hard"
3239 (i.e., without taking account of word breaks). If it can they
3240 will be allowed to trail off to the right. None, one or two
3241 initial spaces may be deleted, but the number of spaces
3242 deleted from each line will be the same (so that you can have
3243 indenting work correctly, for example).
3247 Those containing a single space followed by a single full stop
3248 character. These are rendered as blank lines. This is the
3249 <em>only</em> way to get a blank line<footnote>
3250 Completely empty lines will not be rendered as blank lines.
3251 Instead, they will cause the parser to think you're starting
3252 a whole new record in the control file, and will therefore
3253 likely abort with an error.
3258 Those containing a space, a full stop and some more characters.
3259 These are for future expansion. Do not use them.
3265 Do not use tab characters. Their effect is not predictable.
3269 See <ref id="descriptions"> for further information on this.
3273 In a <file>.changes</file> file, the <tt>Description</tt>
3274 field contains a summary of the descriptions for the packages
3275 being uploaded. For this case, the first line of the field
3276 value (the part on the same line as <tt>Description:</tt>) is
3277 always empty. The content of the field is expressed as
3278 continuation lines, one line per package. Each line is
3279 indented by one space and contains the name of a binary
3280 package, a space, a hyphen (<tt>-</tt>), a space, and the
3281 short description line from that package.
3285 <sect1 id="f-Distribution">
3286 <heading><tt>Distribution</tt></heading>
3289 In a <file>.changes</file> file or parsed changelog output
3290 this contains the (space-separated) name(s) of the
3291 distribution(s) where this version of the package should
3292 be installed. Valid distributions are determined by the
3293 archive maintainers.<footnote>
3294 Example distribution names in the Debian archive used in
3295 <file>.changes</file> files are:
3296 <taglist compact="compact">
3297 <tag><em>unstable</em></tag>
3299 This distribution value refers to the
3300 <em>developmental</em> part of the Debian distribution
3301 tree. Most new packages, new upstream versions of
3302 packages and bug fixes go into the <em>unstable</em>
3306 <tag><em>experimental</em></tag>
3308 The packages with this distribution value are deemed
3309 by their maintainers to be high risk. Oftentimes they
3310 represent early beta or developmental packages from
3311 various sources that the maintainers want people to
3312 try, but are not ready to be a part of the other parts
3313 of the Debian distribution tree.
3318 Others are used for updating stable releases or for
3319 security uploads. More information is available in the
3320 Debian Developer's Reference, section "The Debian
3324 The Debian archive software only supports listing a single
3325 distribution. Migration of packages to other distributions is
3326 handled outside of the upload process.
3331 <heading><tt>Date</tt></heading>
3334 This field includes the date the package was built or last
3335 edited. It must be in the same format as the <var>date</var>
3336 in a <file>debian/changelog</file> entry.
3340 The value of this field is usually extracted from the
3341 <file>debian/changelog</file> file - see
3342 <ref id="dpkgchangelog">).
3346 <sect1 id="f-Format">
3347 <heading><tt>Format</tt></heading>
3350 In <qref id="debianchangesfiles"><file>.changes</file></qref>
3351 files, this field declares the format version of that file.
3352 The syntax of the field value is the same as that of
3353 a <qref id="f-Version">package version number</qref> except
3354 that no epoch or Debian revision is allowed. The format
3355 described in this document is <tt>&changesversion;</tt>.
3359 In <qref id="debiansourcecontrolfiles"><file>.dsc</file>
3360 Debian source control</qref> files, this field declares the
3361 format of the source package. The field value is used by
3362 programs acting on a source package to interpret the list of
3363 files in the source package and determine how to unpack it.
3364 The syntax of the field value is a numeric major revision, a
3365 period, a numeric minor revision, and then an optional subtype
3366 after whitespace, which if specified is an alphanumeric word
3367 in parentheses. The subtype is optional in the syntax but may
3368 be mandatory for particular source format revisions.
3370 The source formats currently supported by the Debian archive
3371 software are <tt>1.0</tt>, <tt>3.0 (native)</tt>,
3372 and <tt>3.0 (quilt)</tt>.
3377 <sect1 id="f-Urgency">
3378 <heading><tt>Urgency</tt></heading>
3381 This is a description of how important it is to upgrade to
3382 this version from previous ones. It consists of a single
3383 keyword taking one of the values <tt>low</tt>,
3384 <tt>medium</tt>, <tt>high</tt>, <tt>emergency</tt>, or
3385 <tt>critical</tt><footnote>
3386 Other urgency values are supported with configuration
3387 changes in the archive software but are not used in Debian.
3388 The urgency affects how quickly a package will be considered
3389 for inclusion into the <tt>testing</tt> distribution and
3390 gives an indication of the importance of any fixes included
3391 in the upload. <tt>Emergency</tt> and <tt>critical</tt> are
3392 treated as synonymous.
3393 </footnote> (not case-sensitive) followed by an optional
3394 commentary (separated by a space) which is usually in
3395 parentheses. For example:
3398 Urgency: low (HIGH for users of diversions)
3404 The value of this field is usually extracted from the
3405 <file>debian/changelog</file> file - see
3406 <ref id="dpkgchangelog">.
3410 <sect1 id="f-Changes">
3411 <heading><tt>Changes</tt></heading>
3414 This field contains the human-readable changes data, describing
3415 the differences between the last version and the current one.
3419 The first line of the field value (the part on the same line
3420 as <tt>Changes:</tt>) is always empty. The content of the
3421 field is expressed as continuation lines, with each line
3422 indented by at least one space. Blank lines must be
3423 represented by a line consisting only of a space and a full
3428 The value of this field is usually extracted from the
3429 <file>debian/changelog</file> file - see
3430 <ref id="dpkgchangelog">).
3434 Each version's change information should be preceded by a
3435 "title" line giving at least the version, distribution(s)
3436 and urgency, in a human-readable way.
3440 If data from several versions is being returned the entry
3441 for the most recent version should be returned first, and
3442 entries should be separated by the representation of a
3443 blank line (the "title" line may also be followed by the
3444 representation of a blank line).
3448 <sect1 id="f-Binary">
3449 <heading><tt>Binary</tt></heading>
3452 This field is a list of binary packages. Its syntax and
3453 meaning varies depending on the control file in which it
3458 When it appears in the <file>.dsc</file> file, it lists binary
3459 packages which a source package can produce, separated by
3461 A space after each comma is conventional.
3462 </footnote>. It may span multiple lines. The source package
3463 does not necessarily produce all of these binary packages for
3464 every architecture. The source control file doesn't contain
3465 details of which architectures are appropriate for which of
3466 the binary packages.
3470 When it appears in a <file>.changes</file> file, it lists the
3471 names of the binary packages being uploaded, separated by
3472 whitespace (not commas). It may span multiple lines.
3476 <sect1 id="f-Installed-Size">
3477 <heading><tt>Installed-Size</tt></heading>
3480 This field appears in the control files of binary packages,
3481 and in the <file>Packages</file> files. It gives an estimate
3482 of the total amount of disk space required to install the
3483 named package. Actual installed size may vary based on block
3484 size, file system properties, or actions taken by package
3489 The disk space is given as the integer value of the estimated
3490 installed size in bytes, divided by 1024 and rounded up.
3494 <sect1 id="f-Files">
3495 <heading><tt>Files</tt></heading>
3498 This field contains a list of files with information about
3499 each one. The exact information and syntax varies with
3504 In all cases, Files is a multiline field. The first line of
3505 the field value (the part on the same line as <tt>Files:</tt>)
3506 is always empty. The content of the field is expressed as
3507 continuation lines, one line per file. Each line must be
3508 indented by one space and contain a number of sub-fields,
3509 separated by spaces, as described below.
3513 In the <file>.dsc</file> file, each line contains the MD5
3514 checksum, size and filename of the tar file and (if
3515 applicable) diff file which make up the remainder of the
3516 source package<footnote>
3517 That is, the parts which are not the <tt>.dsc</tt>.
3518 </footnote>. For example:
3521 c6f698f19f2a2aa07dbb9bbda90a2754 571925 example_1.2.orig.tar.gz
3522 938512f08422f3509ff36f125f5873ba 6220 example_1.2-1.diff.gz
3524 The exact forms of the filenames are described
3525 in <ref id="pkg-sourcearchives">.
3529 In the <file>.changes</file> file this contains one line per
3530 file being uploaded. Each line contains the MD5 checksum,
3531 size, section and priority and the filename. For example:
3534 4c31ab7bfc40d3cf49d7811987390357 1428 text extra example_1.2-1.dsc
3535 c6f698f19f2a2aa07dbb9bbda90a2754 571925 text extra example_1.2.orig.tar.gz
3536 938512f08422f3509ff36f125f5873ba 6220 text extra example_1.2-1.diff.gz
3537 7c98fe853b3bbb47a00e5cd129b6cb56 703542 text extra example_1.2-1_i386.deb
3539 The <qref id="f-Section">section</qref>
3540 and <qref id="f-Priority">priority</qref> are the values of
3541 the corresponding fields in the main source control file. If
3542 no section or priority is specified then <tt>-</tt> should be
3543 used, though section and priority values must be specified for
3544 new packages to be installed properly.
3548 The special value <tt>byhand</tt> for the section in a
3549 <tt>.changes</tt> file indicates that the file in question
3550 is not an ordinary package file and must by installed by
3551 hand by the distribution maintainers. If the section is
3552 <tt>byhand</tt> the priority should be <tt>-</tt>.
3556 If a new Debian revision of a package is being shipped and
3557 no new original source archive is being distributed the
3558 <tt>.dsc</tt> must still contain the <tt>Files</tt> field
3559 entry for the original source archive
3560 <file><var>package</var>_<var>upstream-version</var>.orig.tar.gz</file>,
3561 but the <file>.changes</file> file should leave it out. In
3562 this case the original source archive on the distribution
3563 site must match exactly, byte-for-byte, the original
3564 source archive which was used to generate the
3565 <file>.dsc</file> file and diff which are being uploaded.</p>
3568 <sect1 id="f-Closes">
3569 <heading><tt>Closes</tt></heading>
3572 A space-separated list of bug report numbers that the upload
3573 governed by the .changes file closes.
3577 <sect1 id="f-Homepage">
3578 <heading><tt>Homepage</tt></heading>
3581 The URL of the web site for this package, preferably (when
3582 applicable) the site from which the original source can be
3583 obtained and any additional upstream documentation or
3584 information may be found. The content of this field is a
3585 simple URL without any surrounding characters such as
3590 <sect1 id="f-Checksums">
3591 <heading><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
3592 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt></heading>
3595 These fields contain a list of files with a checksum and size
3596 for each one. Both <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
3597 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> have the same syntax and differ
3598 only in the checksum algorithm used: SHA-1
3599 for <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and SHA-256
3600 for <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt>.
3604 <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are
3605 multiline fields. The first line of the field value (the part
3606 on the same line as <tt>Checksums-Sha1:</tt>
3607 or <tt>Checksums-Sha256:</tt>) is always empty. The content
3608 of the field is expressed as continuation lines, one line per
3609 file. Each line consists of the checksum, a space, the file
3610 size, a space, and the file name. For example (from
3611 a <file>.changes</file> file):
3614 1f418afaa01464e63cc1ee8a66a05f0848bd155c 1276 example_1.0-1.dsc
3615 a0ed1456fad61116f868b1855530dbe948e20f06 171602 example_1.0.orig.tar.gz
3616 5e86ecf0671e113b63388dac81dd8d00e00ef298 6137 example_1.0-1.debian.tar.gz
3617 71a0ff7da0faaf608481195f9cf30974b142c183 548402 example_1.0-1_i386.deb
3619 ac9d57254f7e835bed299926fd51bf6f534597cc3fcc52db01c4bffedae81272 1276 example_1.0-1.dsc
3620 0d123be7f51e61c4bf15e5c492b484054be7e90f3081608a5517007bfb1fd128 171602 example_1.0.orig.tar.gz
3621 f54ae966a5f580571ae7d9ef5e1df0bd42d63e27cb505b27957351a495bc6288 6137 example_1.0-1.debian.tar.gz
3622 3bec05c03974fdecd11d020fc2e8250de8404867a8a2ce865160c250eb723664 548402 example_1.0-1_i386.deb
3627 In the <file>.dsc</file> file, these fields should list all
3628 files that make up the source package. In
3629 the <file>.changes</file> file, these fields should list all
3630 files being uploaded. The list of files in these fields
3631 must match the list of files in the <tt>Files</tt> field.
3637 <heading>User-defined fields</heading>
3640 Additional user-defined fields may be added to the
3641 source package control file. Such fields will be
3642 ignored, and not copied to (for example) binary or
3643 source package control files or upload control files.
3647 If you wish to add additional unsupported fields to
3648 these output files you should use the mechanism
3653 Fields in the main source control information file with
3654 names starting <tt>X</tt>, followed by one or more of
3655 the letters <tt>BCS</tt> and a hyphen <tt>-</tt>, will
3656 be copied to the output files. Only the part of the
3657 field name after the hyphen will be used in the output
3658 file. Where the letter <tt>B</tt> is used the field
3659 will appear in binary package control files, where the
3660 letter <tt>S</tt> is used in source package control
3661 files and where <tt>C</tt> is used in upload control
3662 (<tt>.changes</tt>) files.
3666 For example, if the main source information control file
3669 XBS-Comment: I stand between the candle and the star.
3671 then the binary and source package control files will contain the
3674 Comment: I stand between the candle and the star.
3683 <chapt id="maintainerscripts">
3684 <heading>Package maintainer scripts and installation procedure</heading>
3687 <heading>Introduction to package maintainer scripts</heading>
3690 It is possible to supply scripts as part of a package which
3691 the package management system will run for you when your
3692 package is installed, upgraded or removed.
3696 These scripts are the control information
3697 files <prgn>preinst</prgn>, <prgn>postinst</prgn>, <prgn>prerm</prgn>
3698 and <prgn>postrm</prgn>. They must be proper executable files;
3699 if they are scripts (which is recommended), they must start with
3700 the usual <tt>#!</tt> convention. They should be readable and
3701 executable by anyone, and must not be world-writable.
3705 The package management system looks at the exit status from
3706 these scripts. It is important that they exit with a
3707 non-zero status if there is an error, so that the package
3708 management system can stop its processing. For shell
3709 scripts this means that you <em>almost always</em> need to
3710 use <tt>set -e</tt> (this is usually true when writing shell
3711 scripts, in fact). It is also important, of course, that
3712 they exit with a zero status if everything went well.
3716 Additionally, packages interacting with users
3717 using <prgn>debconf</prgn> in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script
3718 should install a <prgn>config</prgn> script as a control
3719 information file. See <ref id="maintscriptprompt"> for details.
3723 When a package is upgraded a combination of the scripts from
3724 the old and new packages is called during the upgrade
3725 procedure. If your scripts are going to be at all
3726 complicated you need to be aware of this, and may need to
3727 check the arguments to your scripts.
3731 Broadly speaking the <prgn>preinst</prgn> is called before
3732 (a particular version of) a package is unpacked, and the
3733 <prgn>postinst</prgn> afterwards; the <prgn>prerm</prgn>
3734 before (a version of) a package is removed and the
3735 <prgn>postrm</prgn> afterwards.
3739 Programs called from maintainer scripts should not normally
3740 have a path prepended to them. Before installation is
3741 started, the package management system checks to see if the
3742 programs <prgn>ldconfig</prgn>,
3743 <prgn>start-stop-daemon</prgn>, <prgn>install-info</prgn>,
3744 and <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> can be found via the
3745 <tt>PATH</tt> environment variable. Those programs, and any
3746 other program that one would expect to be in the
3747 <tt>PATH</tt>, should thus be invoked without an absolute
3748 pathname. Maintainer scripts should also not reset the
3749 <tt>PATH</tt>, though they might choose to modify it by
3750 prepending or appending package-specific directories. These
3751 considerations really apply to all shell scripts.</p>
3754 <sect id="idempotency">
3755 <heading>Maintainer scripts idempotency</heading>
3758 It is necessary for the error recovery procedures that the
3759 scripts be idempotent. This means that if it is run
3760 successfully, and then it is called again, it doesn't bomb
3761 out or cause any harm, but just ensures that everything is
3762 the way it ought to be. If the first call failed, or
3763 aborted half way through for some reason, the second call
3764 should merely do the things that were left undone the first
3765 time, if any, and exit with a success status if everything
3767 This is so that if an error occurs, the user interrupts
3768 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> or some other unforeseen circumstance
3769 happens you don't leave the user with a badly-broken
3770 package when <prgn>dpkg</prgn> attempts to repeat the
3776 <sect id="controllingterminal">
3777 <heading>Controlling terminal for maintainer scripts</heading>
3780 Maintainer scripts are not guaranteed to run with a controlling
3781 terminal and may not be able to interact with the user. They
3782 must be able to fall back to noninteractive behavior if no
3783 controlling terminal is available. Maintainer scripts that
3784 prompt via a program conforming to the Debian Configuration
3785 Management Specification (see <ref id="maintscriptprompt">) may
3786 assume that program will handle falling back to noninteractive
3791 For high-priority prompts without a reasonable default answer,
3792 maintainer scripts may abort if there is no controlling
3793 terminal. However, this situation should be avoided if at all
3794 possible, since it prevents automated or unattended installs.
3795 In most cases, users will consider this to be a bug in the
3800 <sect id="exitstatus">
3801 <heading>Exit status</heading>
3804 Each script must return a zero exit status for
3805 success, or a nonzero one for failure, since the package
3806 management system looks for the exit status of these scripts
3807 and determines what action to take next based on that datum.
3811 <sect id="mscriptsinstact"><heading>Summary of ways maintainer
3816 What follows is a summary of all the ways in which maintainer
3817 scripts may be called along with what facilities those scripts
3818 may rely on being available at that time. Script names preceded
3819 by <var>new-</var> are the scripts from the new version of a
3820 package being installed, upgraded to, or downgraded to. Script
3821 names preceded by <var>old-</var> are the scripts from the old
3822 version of a package that is being upgraded from or downgraded
3827 The <prgn>preinst</prgn> script may be called in the following
3830 <tag><var>new-preinst</var> <tt>install</tt></tag>
3831 <tag><var>new-preinst</var> <tt>install</tt>
3832 <var>old-version</var></tag>
3833 <tag><var>new-preinst</var> <tt>upgrade</tt>
3834 <var>old-version</var></tag>
3836 The package will not yet be unpacked, so
3837 the <prgn>preinst</prgn> script cannot rely on any files
3838 included in its package. Only essential packages and
3839 pre-dependencies (<tt>Pre-Depends</tt>) may be assumed to be
3840 available. Pre-dependencies will have been configured at
3841 least once, but at the time the <prgn>preinst</prgn> is
3842 called they may only be in an unpacked or "Half-Configured"
3843 state if a previous version of the pre-dependency was
3844 completely configured and has not been removed since then.
3847 <tag><var>old-preinst</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
3848 <var>new-version</var></tag>
3850 Called during error handling of an upgrade that failed after
3851 unpacking the new package because the <tt>postrm
3852 upgrade</tt> action failed. The unpacked files may be
3853 partly from the new version or partly missing, so the script
3854 cannot rely on files included in the package. Package
3855 dependencies may not be available. Pre-dependencies will be
3856 at least unpacked following the same rules as above, except
3857 they may be only "Half-Installed" if an upgrade of the
3858 pre-dependency failed.<footnote>
3859 This can happen if the new version of the package no
3860 longer pre-depends on a package that had been partially
3868 The <prgn>postinst</prgn> script may be called in the following
3871 <tag><var>postinst</var> <tt>configure</tt>
3872 <var>most-recently-configured-version</var></tag>
3874 The files contained in the package will be unpacked. All
3875 package dependencies will at least be unpacked. If there
3876 are no circular dependencies involved, all package
3877 dependencies will be configured. For behavior in the case
3878 of circular dependencies, see the discussion
3879 in <ref id="binarydeps">.
3882 <tag><var>old-postinst</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
3883 <var>new-version</var></tag>
3884 <tag><var>conflictor's-postinst</var> <tt>abort-remove</tt>
3885 <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package</var>
3886 <var>new-version</var></tag>
3887 <tag><var>postinst</var> <tt>abort-remove</tt></tag>
3888 <tag><var>deconfigured's-postinst</var>
3889 <tt>abort-deconfigure</tt> <tt>in-favour</tt>
3890 <var>failed-install-package</var> <var>version</var>
3891 [<tt>removing</tt> <var>conflicting-package</var>
3892 <var>version</var>]</tag>
3894 The files contained in the package will be unpacked. All
3895 package dependencies will at least be "Half-Installed" and
3896 will have previously been configured and not removed.
3897 However, dependencies may not be configured or even fully
3898 unpacked in some error situations.<footnote>
3899 For example, suppose packages foo and bar are installed
3900 with foo depending on bar. If an upgrade of bar were
3901 started and then aborted, and then an attempt to remove
3902 foo failed because its <prgn>prerm</prgn> script failed,
3903 foo's <tt>postinst abort-remove</tt> would be called with
3904 bar only "Half-Installed".
3906 The <prgn>postinst</prgn> should still attempt any actions
3907 for which its dependencies are required, since they will
3908 normally be available, but consider the correct error
3909 handling approach if those actions fail. Aborting
3910 the <prgn>postinst</prgn> action if commands or facilities
3911 from the package dependencies are not available is often the
3918 The <prgn>prerm</prgn> script may be called in the following
3921 <tag><var>prerm</var> <tt>remove</tt></tag>
3922 <tag><var>old-prerm</var>
3923 <tt>upgrade</tt><var>new-version</var></tag>
3924 <tag><var>conflictor's-prerm</var> <tt>remove</tt>
3925 <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package</var>
3926 <var>new-version</var></tag>
3927 <tag><var>deconfigured's-prerm</var> <tt>deconfigure</tt>
3928 <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package-being-installed</var>
3929 <var>version</var> [<tt>removing</tt>
3930 <var>conflicting-package</var> <var>version</var>]</tag>
3932 The package whose <prgn>prerm</prgn> is being called will be
3933 at least "Half-Installed". All package dependencies will at
3934 least be "Half-Installed" and will have previously been
3935 configured and not removed. If there was no error, all
3936 dependencies will at least be unpacked, but these actions
3937 may be called in various error states where dependencies are
3938 only "Half-Installed" due to a partial upgrade.
3941 <tag><var>new-prerm</var> <tt>failed-upgrade</tt>
3942 <var>old-version</var></tag>
3944 Called during error handling when <tt>prerm upgrade</tt>
3945 fails. The new package will not yet be unpacked, and all
3946 the same constraints as for <tt>preinst upgrade</tt> apply.
3952 The <prgn>postrm</prgn> script may be called in the following
3955 <tag><var>postrm</var> <tt>remove</tt></tag>
3956 <tag><var>postrm</var> <tt>purge</tt></tag>
3957 <tag><var>old-postrm</var> <tt>upgrade</tt>
3958 <var>new-version</var></tag>
3959 <tag><var>disappearer's-postrm</var> <tt>disappear</tt>
3960 <var>overwriter</var> <var>overwriter-version</var></tag>
3962 The <prgn>postrm</prgn> script is called after the package's
3963 files have been removed or replaced. The package
3964 whose <prgn>postrm</prgn> is being called may have
3965 previously been deconfigured and only be unpacked, at which
3966 point subsequent package changes do not consider its
3967 dependencies. Therefore, all <prgn>postrm</prgn> actions
3968 may only rely on essential packages and must gracefully skip
3969 any actions that require the package's dependencies if those
3970 dependencies are unavailable.<footnote>
3971 This is often done by checking whether the command or
3972 facility the <prgn>postrm</prgn> intends to call is
3973 available before calling it. For example:
3975 if [ "$1" = purge ] && [ -e /usr/share/debconf/confmodule ]; then
3976 . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
3980 in <prgn>postrm</prgn> purges the <prgn>debconf</prgn>
3981 configuration for the package
3982 if <package>debconf</package> is installed.
3986 <tag><var>new-postrm</var> <tt>failed-upgrade</tt>
3987 <var>old-version</var></tag>
3989 Called when the old <tt>postrm upgrade</tt> action fails.
3990 The new package will be unpacked, but only essential
3991 packages and pre-dependencies can be relied on.
3992 Pre-dependencies will either be configured or will be
3993 "Unpacked" or "Half-Configured" but previously had been
3994 configured and was never removed.
3997 <tag><var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-install</tt></tag>
3998 <tag><var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-install</tt>
3999 <var>old-version</var></tag>
4000 <tag><var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
4001 <var>old-version</var></tag>
4003 Called before unpacking the new package as part of the
4004 error handling of <prgn>preinst</prgn> failures. May assume
4005 the same state as <prgn>preinst</prgn> can assume.
4011 <sect id="unpackphase">
4012 <heading>Details of unpack phase of installation or upgrade</heading>
4015 The procedure on installation/upgrade/overwrite/disappear
4016 (i.e., when running <tt>dpkg --unpack</tt>, or the unpack
4017 stage of <tt>dpkg --install</tt>) is as follows. In each
4018 case, if a major error occurs (unless listed below) the
4019 actions are, in general, run backwards - this means that the
4020 maintainer scripts are run with different arguments in
4021 reverse order. These are the "error unwind" calls listed
4028 If a version of the package is already installed, call
4029 <example compact="compact">
4030 <var>old-prerm</var> upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4034 If the script runs but exits with a non-zero
4035 exit status, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will attempt:
4036 <example compact="compact">
4037 <var>new-prerm</var> failed-upgrade <var>old-version</var>
4039 If this works, the upgrade continues. If this
4040 does not work, the error unwind:
4041 <example compact="compact">
4042 <var>old-postinst</var> abort-upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4044 If this works, then the old-version is
4045 "Installed", if not, the old version is in a
4046 "Half-Configured" state.
4052 If a "conflicting" package is being removed at the same time,
4053 or if any package will be broken (due to <tt>Breaks</tt>):
4056 If <tt>--auto-deconfigure</tt> is
4057 specified, call, for each package to be deconfigured
4058 due to <tt>Breaks</tt>:
4059 <example compact="compact">
4060 <var>deconfigured's-prerm</var> deconfigure \
4061 in-favour <var>package-being-installed</var> <var>version</var>
4064 <example compact="compact">
4065 <var>deconfigured's-postinst</var> abort-deconfigure \
4066 in-favour <var>package-being-installed-but-failed</var> <var>version</var>
4068 The deconfigured packages are marked as
4069 requiring configuration, so that if
4070 <tt>--install</tt> is used they will be
4071 configured again if possible.
4074 If any packages depended on a conflicting
4075 package being removed and <tt>--auto-deconfigure</tt> is
4076 specified, call, for each such package:
4077 <example compact="compact">
4078 <var>deconfigured's-prerm</var> deconfigure \
4079 in-favour <var>package-being-installed</var> <var>version</var> \
4080 removing <var>conflicting-package</var> <var>version</var>
4083 <example compact="compact">
4084 <var>deconfigured's-postinst</var> abort-deconfigure \
4085 in-favour <var>package-being-installed-but-failed</var> <var>version</var> \
4086 removing <var>conflicting-package</var> <var>version</var>
4088 The deconfigured packages are marked as
4089 requiring configuration, so that if
4090 <tt>--install</tt> is used they will be
4091 configured again if possible.
4094 To prepare for removal of each conflicting package, call:
4095 <example compact="compact">
4096 <var>conflictor's-prerm</var> remove \
4097 in-favour <var>package</var> <var>new-version</var>
4100 <example compact="compact">
4101 <var>conflictor's-postinst</var> abort-remove \
4102 in-favour <var>package</var> <var>new-version</var>
4111 If the package is being upgraded, call:
4112 <example compact="compact">
4113 <var>new-preinst</var> upgrade <var>old-version</var>
4115 If this fails, we call:
4117 <var>new-postrm</var> abort-upgrade <var>old-version</var>
4124 <var>old-postinst</var> abort-upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4126 is called. If this works, then the old version
4127 is in an "Installed" state, or else it is left
4128 in an "Unpacked" state.
4133 If it fails, then the old version is left
4134 in an "Half-Installed" state.
4141 Otherwise, if the package had some configuration
4142 files from a previous version installed (i.e., it
4143 is in the "configuration files only" state):
4144 <example compact="compact">
4145 <var>new-preinst</var> install <var>old-version</var>
4149 <var>new-postrm</var> abort-install <var>old-version</var>
4151 If this fails, the package is left in a
4152 "Half-Installed" state, which requires a
4153 reinstall. If it works, the packages is left in
4154 a "Config-Files" state.
4157 Otherwise (i.e., the package was completely purged):
4158 <example compact="compact">
4159 <var>new-preinst</var> install
4162 <example compact="compact">
4163 <var>new-postrm</var> abort-install
4165 If the error-unwind fails, the package is in a
4166 "Half-Installed" phase, and requires a
4167 reinstall. If the error unwind works, the
4168 package is in a not installed state.
4175 The new package's files are unpacked, overwriting any
4176 that may be on the system already, for example any
4177 from the old version of the same package or from
4178 another package. Backups of the old files are kept
4179 temporarily, and if anything goes wrong the package
4180 management system will attempt to put them back as
4181 part of the error unwind.
4185 It is an error for a package to contain files which
4186 are on the system in another package, unless
4187 <tt>Replaces</tt> is used (see <ref id="replaces">).
4189 The following paragraph is not currently the case:
4190 Currently the <tt>- - force-overwrite</tt> flag is
4191 enabled, downgrading it to a warning, but this may not
4197 It is a more serious error for a package to contain a
4198 plain file or other kind of non-directory where another
4199 package has a directory (again, unless
4200 <tt>Replaces</tt> is used). This error can be
4201 overridden if desired using
4202 <tt>--force-overwrite-dir</tt>, but this is not
4207 Packages which overwrite each other's files produce
4208 behavior which, though deterministic, is hard for the
4209 system administrator to understand. It can easily
4210 lead to "missing" programs if, for example, a package
4211 is unpacked which overwrites a file from another
4212 package, and is then removed again.<footnote>
4213 Part of the problem is due to what is arguably a
4214 bug in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>.
4219 A directory will never be replaced by a symbolic link
4220 to a directory or vice versa; instead, the existing
4221 state (symlink or not) will be left alone and
4222 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will follow the symlink if there is
4231 If the package is being upgraded, call
4232 <example compact="compact">
4233 <var>old-postrm</var> upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4237 If this fails, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will attempt:
4238 <example compact="compact">
4239 <var>new-postrm</var> failed-upgrade <var>old-version</var>
4241 If this works, installation continues. If not,
4243 <example compact="compact">
4244 <var>old-preinst</var> abort-upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4246 If this fails, the old version is left in a
4247 "Half-Installed" state. If it works, dpkg now
4249 <example compact="compact">
4250 <var>new-postrm</var> abort-upgrade <var>old-version</var>
4252 If this fails, the old version is left in a
4253 "Half-Installed" state. If it works, dpkg now
4255 <example compact="compact">
4256 <var>old-postinst</var> abort-upgrade <var>new-version</var>
4258 If this fails, the old version is in an
4265 This is the point of no return - if
4266 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> gets this far, it won't back off
4267 past this point if an error occurs. This will
4268 leave the package in a fairly bad state, which
4269 will require a successful re-installation to clear
4270 up, but it's when <prgn>dpkg</prgn> starts doing
4271 things that are irreversible.
4276 Any files which were in the old version of the package
4277 but not in the new are removed.
4281 The new file list replaces the old.
4285 The new maintainer scripts replace the old.
4289 Any packages all of whose files have been overwritten
4290 during the installation, and which aren't required for
4291 dependencies, are considered to have been removed.
4292 For each such package
4295 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> calls:
4296 <example compact="compact">
4297 <var>disappearer's-postrm</var> disappear \
4298 <var>overwriter</var> <var>overwriter-version</var>
4302 The package's maintainer scripts are removed.
4305 It is noted in the status database as being in a
4306 sane state, namely not installed (any conffiles
4307 it may have are ignored, rather than being
4308 removed by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>). Note that
4309 disappearing packages do not have their prerm
4310 called, because <prgn>dpkg</prgn> doesn't know
4311 in advance that the package is going to
4318 Any files in the package we're unpacking that are also
4319 listed in the file lists of other packages are removed
4320 from those lists. (This will lobotomize the file list
4321 of the "conflicting" package if there is one.)
4325 The backup files made during installation, above, are
4331 The new package's status is now sane, and recorded as
4336 Here is another point of no return - if the
4337 conflicting package's removal fails we do not unwind
4338 the rest of the installation; the conflicting package
4339 is left in a half-removed limbo.
4344 If there was a conflicting package we go and do the
4345 removal actions (described below), starting with the
4346 removal of the conflicting package's files (any that
4347 are also in the package being unpacked have already
4348 been removed from the conflicting package's file list,
4349 and so do not get removed now).
4355 <sect id="configdetails"><heading>Details of configuration</heading>
4358 When we configure a package (this happens with <tt>dpkg
4359 --install</tt> and <tt>dpkg --configure</tt>), we first
4360 update any <tt>conffile</tt>s and then call:
4361 <example compact="compact">
4362 <var>postinst</var> configure <var>most-recently-configured-version</var>
4367 No attempt is made to unwind after errors during
4368 configuration. If the configuration fails, the package is in
4369 a "Failed Config" state, and an error message is generated.
4373 If there is no most recently configured version
4374 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will pass a null argument.
4377 Historical note: Truly ancient (pre-1997) versions of
4378 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> passed <tt><unknown></tt>
4379 (including the angle brackets) in this case. Even older
4380 ones did not pass a second argument at all, under any
4381 circumstance. Note that upgrades using such an old dpkg
4382 version are unlikely to work for other reasons, even if
4383 this old argument behavior is handled by your postinst script.
4389 <sect id="removedetails"><heading>Details of removal and/or
4390 configuration purging</heading>
4396 <example compact="compact">
4397 <var>prerm</var> remove
4401 If prerm fails during replacement due to conflict
4403 <var>conflictor's-postinst</var> abort-remove \
4404 in-favour <var>package</var> <var>new-version</var>
4408 <var>postinst</var> abort-remove
4412 If this fails, the package is in a "Half-Configured"
4413 state, or else it remains "Installed".
4417 The package's files are removed (except <tt>conffile</tt>s).
4420 <example compact="compact">
4421 <var>postrm</var> remove
4425 If it fails, there's no error unwind, and the package is in
4426 an "Half-Installed" state.
4431 All the maintainer scripts except the <prgn>postrm</prgn>
4436 If we aren't purging the package we stop here. Note
4437 that packages which have no <prgn>postrm</prgn> and no
4438 <tt>conffile</tt>s are automatically purged when
4439 removed, as there is no difference except for the
4440 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> status.
4444 The <tt>conffile</tt>s and any backup files
4445 (<tt>~</tt>-files, <tt>#*#</tt> files,
4446 <tt>%</tt>-files, <tt>.dpkg-{old,new,tmp}</tt>, etc.)
4451 <example compact="compact">
4452 <var>postrm</var> purge
4456 If this fails, the package remains in a "Config-Files"
4461 The package's file list is removed.
4470 <chapt id="relationships">
4471 <heading>Declaring relationships between packages</heading>
4473 <sect id="depsyntax">
4474 <heading>Syntax of relationship fields</heading>
4477 These fields all have a uniform syntax. They are a list of
4478 package names separated by commas.
4482 In the <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Recommends</tt>,
4483 <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>,
4484 <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>
4485 control fields of the package, which declare
4486 dependencies on other packages, the package names listed may
4487 also include lists of alternative package names, separated
4488 by vertical bar (pipe) symbols <tt>|</tt>. In such a case,
4489 if any one of the alternative packages is installed, that
4490 part of the dependency is considered to be satisfied.
4494 All of the fields except for <tt>Provides</tt> may restrict
4495 their applicability to particular versions of each named
4496 package. This is done in parentheses after each individual
4497 package name; the parentheses should contain a relation from
4498 the list below followed by a version number, in the format
4499 described in <ref id="f-Version">.
4503 The relations allowed are <tt><<</tt>, <tt><=</tt>,
4504 <tt>=</tt>, <tt>>=</tt> and <tt>>></tt> for
4505 strictly earlier, earlier or equal, exactly equal, later or
4506 equal and strictly later, respectively. The deprecated
4507 forms <tt><</tt> and <tt>></tt> were used to mean
4508 earlier/later or equal, rather than strictly earlier/later,
4509 so they should not appear in new packages (though
4510 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> still supports them).
4514 Whitespace may appear at any point in the version
4515 specification subject to the rules in <ref
4516 id="controlsyntax">, and must appear where it's necessary to
4517 disambiguate; it is not otherwise significant. All of the
4518 relationship fields may span multiple lines. For
4519 consistency and in case of future changes to
4520 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> it is recommended that a single space be
4521 used after a version relationship and before a version
4522 number; it is also conventional to put a single space after
4523 each comma, on either side of each vertical bar, and before
4524 each open parenthesis. When wrapping a relationship field, it
4525 is conventional to do so after a comma and before the space
4526 following that comma.
4530 For example, a list of dependencies might appear as:
4531 <example compact="compact">
4534 Depends: libc6 (>= 2.2.1), exim | mail-transport-agent
4539 Relationships may be restricted to a certain set of
4540 architectures. This is indicated in brackets after each
4541 individual package name and the optional version specification.
4542 The brackets enclose a list of Debian architecture names
4543 separated by whitespace. Exclamation marks may be prepended to
4544 each of the names. (It is not permitted for some names to be
4545 prepended with exclamation marks while others aren't.)
4549 For build relationship fields
4550 (<tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
4551 <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>), if
4552 the current Debian host architecture is not in this list and
4553 there are no exclamation marks in the list, or it is in the list
4554 with a prepended exclamation mark, the package name and the
4555 associated version specification are ignored completely for the
4556 purposes of defining the relationships.
4561 <example compact="compact">
4563 Build-Depends-Indep: texinfo
4564 Build-Depends: kernel-headers-2.2.10 [!hurd-i386],
4565 hurd-dev [hurd-i386], gnumach-dev [hurd-i386]
4567 requires <tt>kernel-headers-2.2.10</tt> on all architectures
4568 other than hurd-i386 and requires <tt>hurd-dev</tt> and
4569 <tt>gnumach-dev</tt> only on hurd-i386.
4573 For binary relationship fields, the architecture restriction
4574 syntax is only supported in the source package control
4575 file <file>debian/control</file>. When the corresponding binary
4576 package control file is generated, the relationship will either
4577 be omitted or included without the architecture restriction
4578 based on the architecture of the binary package. This means
4579 that architecture restrictions must not be used in binary
4580 relationship fields for architecture-independent packages
4581 (<tt>Architecture: all</tt>).
4586 <example compact="compact">
4587 Depends: foo [i386], bar [amd64]
4589 becomes <tt>Depends: foo</tt> when the package is built on
4590 the <tt>i386</tt> architecture, <tt>Depends: bar</tt> when the
4591 package is built on the <tt>amd64</tt> architecture, and omitted
4592 entirely in binary packages built on all other architectures.
4596 If the architecture-restricted dependency is part of a set of
4597 alternatives using <tt>|</tt>, that alternative is ignored
4598 completely on architectures that do not match the restriction.
4600 <example compact="compact">
4601 Build-Depends: foo [!i386] | bar [!amd64]
4603 is equivalent to <tt>bar</tt> on the i386 architecture, to
4604 <tt>foo</tt> on the amd64 architecture, and to <tt>foo |
4605 bar</tt> on all other architectures.
4609 Relationships may also be restricted to a certain set of
4610 architectures using architecture wildcards. The syntax for
4611 declaring such restrictions is the same as declaring
4612 restrictions using a certain set of architectures without
4613 architecture wildcards. For example:
4614 <example compact="compact">
4615 Build-Depends: foo [linux-any], bar [any-i386], baz [!linux-any]
4617 is equivalent to <tt>foo</tt> on architectures using the Linux
4618 kernel and any cpu, <tt>bar</tt> on architectures using any
4619 kernel and an i386 cpu, and <tt>baz</tt> on any architecture
4620 using a kernel other than Linux.
4624 Note that the binary package relationship fields such as
4625 <tt>Depends</tt> appear in one of the binary package
4626 sections of the control file, whereas the build-time
4627 relationships such as <tt>Build-Depends</tt> appear in the
4628 source package section of the control file (which is the
4633 <sect id="binarydeps">
4634 <heading>Binary Dependencies - <tt>Depends</tt>,
4635 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>,
4636 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>
4640 Packages can declare in their control file that they have
4641 certain relationships to other packages - for example, that
4642 they may not be installed at the same time as certain other
4643 packages, and/or that they depend on the presence of others.
4647 This is done using the <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>,
4648 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>,
4649 <tt>Breaks</tt> and <tt>Conflicts</tt> control fields.
4650 <tt>Breaks</tt> is described in <ref id="breaks">, and
4651 <tt>Conflicts</tt> is described in <ref id="conflicts">. The
4652 rest are described below.
4656 These seven fields are used to declare a dependency
4657 relationship by one package on another. Except for
4658 <tt>Enhances</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt>, they appear in the
4659 depending (binary) package's control file.
4660 (<tt>Enhances</tt> appears in the recommending package's
4661 control file, and <tt>Breaks</tt> appears in the version of
4662 depended-on package which causes the named package to
4667 A <tt>Depends</tt> field takes effect <em>only</em> when a
4668 package is to be configured. It does not prevent a package
4669 being on the system in an unconfigured state while its
4670 dependencies are unsatisfied, and it is possible to replace
4671 a package whose dependencies are satisfied and which is
4672 properly installed with a different version whose
4673 dependencies are not and cannot be satisfied; when this is
4674 done the depending package will be left unconfigured (since
4675 attempts to configure it will give errors) and will not
4676 function properly. If it is necessary, a
4677 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> field can be used, which has a partial
4678 effect even when a package is being unpacked, as explained
4679 in detail below. (The other three dependency fields,
4680 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt> and
4681 <tt>Enhances</tt>, are only used by the various front-ends
4682 to <prgn>dpkg</prgn> such as <prgn>apt-get</prgn>,
4683 <prgn>aptitude</prgn>, and <prgn>dselect</prgn>.)
4687 Since <tt>Depends</tt> only places requirements on the order in
4688 which packages are configured, packages in an installation run
4689 are usually all unpacked first and all configured later.
4691 This approach makes dependency resolution easier. If two
4692 packages A and B are being upgraded, the installed package A
4693 depends on exactly the installed package B, and the new
4694 package A depends on exactly the new package B (a common
4695 situation when upgrading shared libraries and their
4696 corresponding development packages), satisfying the
4697 dependencies at every stage of the upgrade would be
4698 impossible. This relaxed restriction means that both new
4699 packages can be unpacked together and then configured in their
4705 If there is a circular dependency among packages being installed
4706 or removed, installation or removal order honoring the
4707 dependency order is impossible, requiring the dependency loop be
4708 broken at some point and the dependency requirements violated
4709 for at least one package. Packages involved in circular
4710 dependencies may not be able to rely on their dependencies being
4711 configured before they themselves are configured, depending on
4712 which side of the break of the circular dependency loop they
4713 happen to be on. If one of the packages in the loop has
4714 no <prgn>postinst</prgn> script, then the cycle will be broken
4715 at that package; this ensures that all <prgn>postinst</prgn>
4716 scripts are run with their dependencies properly configured if
4717 this is possible. Otherwise the breaking point is arbitrary.
4718 Packages should therefore avoid circular dependencies where
4719 possible, particularly if they have <prgn>postinst</prgn>
4724 The meaning of the five dependency fields is as follows:
4726 <tag><tt>Depends</tt></tag>
4729 This declares an absolute dependency. A package will
4730 not be configured unless all of the packages listed in
4731 its <tt>Depends</tt> field have been correctly
4732 configured (unless there is a circular dependency as
4737 The <tt>Depends</tt> field should be used if the
4738 depended-on package is required for the depending
4739 package to provide a significant amount of
4744 The <tt>Depends</tt> field should also be used if the
4745 <prgn>postinst</prgn> or <prgn>prerm</prgn> scripts
4746 require the depended-on package to be unpacked or
4747 configured in order to run. In the case of <tt>postinst
4748 configure</tt>, the depended-on packages will be unpacked
4749 and configured first. (If both packages are involved in a
4750 dependency loop, this might not work as expected; see the
4751 explanation a few paragraphs back.) In the case
4752 of <prgn>prerm</prgn> or other <prgn>postinst</prgn>
4753 actions, the package dependencies will normally be at
4754 least unpacked, but they may be only "Half-Installed" if a
4755 previous upgrade of the dependency failed.
4759 Finally, the <tt>Depends</tt> field should be used if the
4760 depended-on package is needed by the <prgn>postrm</prgn>
4761 script to fully clean up after the package removal. There
4762 is no guarantee that package dependencies will be
4763 available when <prgn>postrm</prgn> is run, but the
4764 depended-on package is more likely to be available if the
4765 package declares a dependency (particularly in the case
4766 of <tt>postrm remove</tt>). The <prgn>postrm</prgn>
4767 script must gracefully skip actions that require a
4768 dependency if that dependency isn't available.
4772 <tag><tt>Recommends</tt></tag>
4775 This declares a strong, but not absolute, dependency.
4779 The <tt>Recommends</tt> field should list packages
4780 that would be found together with this one in all but
4781 unusual installations.
4785 <tag><tt>Suggests</tt></tag>
4787 This is used to declare that one package may be more
4788 useful with one or more others. Using this field
4789 tells the packaging system and the user that the
4790 listed packages are related to this one and can
4791 perhaps enhance its usefulness, but that installing
4792 this one without them is perfectly reasonable.
4795 <tag><tt>Enhances</tt></tag>
4797 This field is similar to Suggests but works in the
4798 opposite direction. It is used to declare that a
4799 package can enhance the functionality of another
4803 <tag><tt>Pre-Depends</tt></tag>
4806 This field is like <tt>Depends</tt>, except that it
4807 also forces <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to complete installation
4808 of the packages named before even starting the
4809 installation of the package which declares the
4810 pre-dependency, as follows:
4814 When a package declaring a pre-dependency is about to
4815 be <em>unpacked</em> the pre-dependency can be
4816 satisfied if the depended-on package is either fully
4817 configured, <em>or even if</em> the depended-on
4818 package(s) are only unpacked or in the "Half-Configured"
4819 state, provided that they have been configured
4820 correctly at some point in the past (and not removed
4821 or partially removed since). In this case, both the
4822 previously-configured and currently unpacked or
4823 "Half-Configured" versions must satisfy any version
4824 clause in the <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> field.
4828 When the package declaring a pre-dependency is about to
4829 be <em>configured</em>, the pre-dependency will be treated
4830 as a normal <tt>Depends</tt>. It will be considered
4831 satisfied only if the depended-on package has been
4832 correctly configured. However, unlike
4833 with <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> does not
4834 permit circular dependencies to be broken. If a circular
4835 dependency is encountered while attempting to honor
4836 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, the installation will be aborted.
4840 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> are also required if the
4841 <prgn>preinst</prgn> script depends on the named package.
4842 It is best to avoid this situation if possible.
4846 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> should be used sparingly,
4847 preferably only by packages whose premature upgrade or
4848 installation would hamper the ability of the system to
4849 continue with any upgrade that might be in progress.
4856 When selecting which level of dependency to use you should
4857 consider how important the depended-on package is to the
4858 functionality of the one declaring the dependency. Some
4859 packages are composed of components of varying degrees of
4860 importance. Such a package should list using
4861 <tt>Depends</tt> the package(s) which are required by the
4862 more important components. The other components'
4863 requirements may be mentioned as Suggestions or
4864 Recommendations, as appropriate to the components' relative
4870 <heading>Packages which break other packages - <tt>Breaks</tt></heading>
4873 When one binary package declares that it breaks another,
4874 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will refuse to allow the package which
4875 declares <tt>Breaks</tt> to be unpacked unless the broken
4876 package is deconfigured first, and it will refuse to
4877 allow the broken package to be reconfigured.
4881 A package will not be regarded as causing breakage merely
4882 because its configuration files are still installed; it must
4883 be at least "Half-Installed".
4887 A special exception is made for packages which declare that
4888 they break their own package name or a virtual package which
4889 they provide (see below): this does not count as a real
4894 Normally a <tt>Breaks</tt> entry will have an "earlier than"
4895 version clause; such a <tt>Breaks</tt> is introduced in the
4896 version of an (implicit or explicit) dependency which violates
4897 an assumption or reveals a bug in earlier versions of the broken
4898 package, or which takes over a file from earlier versions of the
4899 package named in <tt>Breaks</tt>. This use of <tt>Breaks</tt>
4900 will inform higher-level package management tools that the
4901 broken package must be upgraded before the new one.
4905 If the breaking package also overwrites some files from the
4906 older package, it should use <tt>Replaces</tt> to ensure this
4907 goes smoothly. See <ref id="replaces"> for a full discussion
4908 of taking over files from other packages, including how to
4909 use <tt>Breaks</tt> in those cases.
4913 Many of the cases where <tt>Breaks</tt> should be used were
4914 previously handled with <tt>Conflicts</tt>
4915 because <tt>Breaks</tt> did not yet exist.
4916 Many <tt>Conflicts</tt> fields should now be <tt>Breaks</tt>.
4917 See <ref id="conflicts"> for more information about the
4922 <sect id="conflicts">
4923 <heading>Conflicting binary packages - <tt>Conflicts</tt></heading>
4926 When one binary package declares a conflict with another using
4927 a <tt>Conflicts</tt> field, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will refuse to
4928 allow them to be unpacked on the system at the same time. This
4929 is a stronger restriction than <tt>Breaks</tt>, which prevents
4930 the broken package from being configured while the breaking
4931 package is in the "Unpacked" state but allows both packages to
4932 be unpacked at the same time.
4936 If one package is to be unpacked, the other must be removed
4937 first. If the package being unpacked is marked as replacing
4938 (see <ref id="replaces">, but note that <tt>Breaks</tt> should
4939 normally be used in this case) the one on the system, or the one
4940 on the system is marked as deselected, or both packages are
4941 marked <tt>Essential</tt>, then <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will
4942 automatically remove the package which is causing the conflict.
4943 Otherwise, it will halt the installation of the new package with
4944 an error. This mechanism is specifically designed to produce an
4945 error when the installed package is <tt>Essential</tt>, but the
4950 A package will not cause a conflict merely because its
4951 configuration files are still installed; it must be at least
4956 A special exception is made for packages which declare a
4957 conflict with their own package name, or with a virtual
4958 package which they provide (see below): this does not
4959 prevent their installation, and allows a package to conflict
4960 with others providing a replacement for it. You use this
4961 feature when you want the package in question to be the only
4962 package providing some feature.
4966 Normally, <tt>Breaks</tt> should be used instead
4967 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> since <tt>Conflicts</tt> imposes a
4968 stronger restriction on the ordering of package installation or
4969 upgrade and can make it more difficult for the package manager
4970 to find a correct solution to an upgrade or installation
4971 problem. <tt>Breaks</tt> should be used
4973 <item>when moving a file from one package to another (see
4974 <ref id="replaces">),</item>
4975 <item>when splitting a package (a special case of the previous
4977 <item>when the breaking package exposes a bug in or interacts
4978 badly with particular versions of the broken
4981 <tt>Conflicts</tt> should be used
4983 <item>when two packages provide the same file and will
4984 continue to do so,</item>
4985 <item>in conjunction with <tt>Provides</tt> when only one
4986 package providing a given virtual facility may be unpacked
4987 at a time (see <ref id="virtual">),</item>
4988 <item>in other cases where one must prevent simultaneous
4989 installation of two packages for reasons that are ongoing
4990 (not fixed in a later version of one of the packages) or
4991 that must prevent both packages from being unpacked at the
4992 same time, not just configured.</item>
4994 Be aware that adding <tt>Conflicts</tt> is normally not the best
4995 solution when two packages provide the same files. Depending on
4996 the reason for that conflict, using alternatives or renaming the
4997 files is often a better approach. See, for
4998 example, <ref id="binaries">.
5002 Neither <tt>Breaks</tt> nor <tt>Conflicts</tt> should be used
5003 unless two packages cannot be installed at the same time or
5004 installing them both causes one of them to be broken or
5005 unusable. Having similar functionality or performing the same
5006 tasks as another package is not sufficient reason to
5007 declare <tt>Breaks</tt> or <tt>Conflicts</tt> with that package.
5011 A <tt>Conflicts</tt> entry may have an "earlier than" version
5012 clause if the reason for the conflict is corrected in a later
5013 version of one of the packages. However, normally the presence
5014 of an "earlier than" version clause is a sign
5015 that <tt>Breaks</tt> should have been used instead. An "earlier
5016 than" version clause in <tt>Conflicts</tt>
5017 prevents <prgn>dpkg</prgn> from upgrading or installing the
5018 package which declares such a conflict until the upgrade or
5019 removal of the conflicted-with package has been completed, which
5020 is a strong restriction.
5024 <sect id="virtual"><heading>Virtual packages - <tt>Provides</tt>
5028 As well as the names of actual ("concrete") packages, the
5029 package relationship fields <tt>Depends</tt>,
5030 <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Suggests</tt>, <tt>Enhances</tt>,
5031 <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, <tt>Breaks</tt>, <tt>Conflicts</tt>,
5032 <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
5033 <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>
5034 may mention "virtual packages".
5038 A <em>virtual package</em> is one which appears in the
5039 <tt>Provides</tt> control field of another package. The effect
5040 is as if the package(s) which provide a particular virtual
5041 package name had been listed by name everywhere the virtual
5042 package name appears. (See also <ref id="virtual_pkg">)
5046 If there are both concrete and virtual packages of the same
5047 name, then the dependency may be satisfied (or the conflict
5048 caused) by either the concrete package with the name in
5049 question or any other concrete package which provides the
5050 virtual package with the name in question. This is so that,
5051 for example, supposing we have
5052 <example compact="compact">
5055 </example> and someone else releases an enhanced version of
5056 the <tt>bar</tt> package they can say:
5057 <example compact="compact">
5061 and the <tt>bar-plus</tt> package will now also satisfy the
5062 dependency for the <tt>foo</tt> package.
5066 If a relationship field has a version number attached, only real
5067 packages will be considered to see whether the relationship is
5068 satisfied (or the prohibition violated, for a conflict or
5069 breakage). In other words, if a version number is specified,
5070 this is a request to ignore all <tt>Provides</tt> for that
5071 package name and consider only real packages. The package
5072 manager will assume that a package providing that virtual
5073 package is not of the "right" version. A <tt>Provides</tt>
5074 field may not contain version numbers, and the version number of
5075 the concrete package which provides a particular virtual package
5076 will not be considered when considering a dependency on or
5077 conflict with the virtual package name.<footnote>
5078 It is possible that a future release of <prgn>dpkg</prgn> may
5079 add the ability to specify a version number for each virtual
5080 package it provides. This feature is not yet present,
5081 however, and is expected to be used only infrequently.
5086 To specify which of a set of real packages should be the default
5087 to satisfy a particular dependency on a virtual package, list
5088 the real package as an alternative before the virtual one.
5092 If the virtual package represents a facility that can only be
5093 provided by one real package at a time, such as
5094 the <package>mail-transport-agent</package> virtual package that
5095 requires installation of a binary that would conflict with all
5096 other providers of that virtual package (see
5097 <ref id="mail-transport-agents">), all packages providing that
5098 virtual package should also declare a conflict with it
5099 using <tt>Conflicts</tt>. This will ensure that at most one
5100 provider of that virtual package is unpacked or installed at a
5105 <sect id="replaces"><heading>Overwriting files and replacing
5106 packages - <tt>Replaces</tt></heading>
5109 Packages can declare in their control file that they should
5110 overwrite files in certain other packages, or completely replace
5111 other packages. The <tt>Replaces</tt> control field has these
5112 two distinct purposes.
5115 <sect1><heading>Overwriting files in other packages</heading>
5118 It is usually an error for a package to contain files which
5119 are on the system in another package. However, if the
5120 overwriting package declares that it <tt>Replaces</tt> the one
5121 containing the file being overwritten, then <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
5122 will replace the file from the old package with that from the
5123 new. The file will no longer be listed as "owned" by the old
5124 package and will be taken over by the new package.
5125 Normally, <tt>Breaks</tt> should be used in conjunction
5126 with <tt>Replaces</tt>.<footnote>
5127 To see why <tt>Breaks</tt> is normally needed in addition
5128 to <tt>Replaces</tt>, consider the case of a file in the
5129 package <package>foo</package> being taken over by the
5130 package <package>foo-data</package>.
5131 <tt>Replaces</tt> will allow <package>foo-data</package> to
5132 be installed and take over that file. However,
5133 without <tt>Breaks</tt>, nothing
5134 requires <package>foo</package> to be upgraded to a newer
5135 version that knows it does not include that file and instead
5136 depends on <package>foo-data</package>. Nothing would
5137 prevent the new <package>foo-data</package> package from
5138 being installed and then removed, removing the file that it
5139 took over from <package>foo</package>. After that
5140 operation, the package manager would think the system was in
5141 a consistent state, but the <package>foo</package> package
5142 would be missing one of its files.
5147 For example, if a package <package>foo</package> is split
5148 into <package>foo</package> and <package>foo-data</package>
5149 starting at version 1.2-3, <package>foo-data</package> would
5151 <example compact="compact">
5152 Replaces: foo (<< 1.2-3)
5153 Breaks: foo (<< 1.2-3)
5155 in its control file. The new version of the
5156 package <package>foo</package> would normally have the field
5157 <example compact="compact">
5158 Depends: foo-data (>= 1.2-3)
5160 (or possibly <tt>Recommends</tt> or even <tt>Suggests</tt> if
5161 the files moved into <package>foo-data</package> are not
5162 required for normal operation).
5166 If a package is completely replaced in this way, so that
5167 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> does not know of any files it still
5168 contains, it is considered to have "disappeared". It will
5169 be marked as not wanted on the system (selected for
5170 removal) and not installed. Any <tt>conffile</tt>s
5171 details noted for the package will be ignored, as they
5172 will have been taken over by the overwriting package. The
5173 package's <prgn>postrm</prgn> script will be run with a
5174 special argument to allow the package to do any final
5175 cleanup required. See <ref id="mscriptsinstact">.
5177 Replaces is a one way relationship. You have to install
5178 the replacing package after the replaced package.
5183 For this usage of <tt>Replaces</tt>, virtual packages (see
5184 <ref id="virtual">) are not considered when looking at a
5185 <tt>Replaces</tt> field. The packages declared as being
5186 replaced must be mentioned by their real names.
5190 This usage of <tt>Replaces</tt> only takes effect when both
5191 packages are at least partially on the system at once. It is
5192 not relevant if the packages conflict unless the conflict has
5197 <sect1><heading>Replacing whole packages, forcing their
5201 Second, <tt>Replaces</tt> allows the packaging system to
5202 resolve which package should be removed when there is a
5203 conflict (see <ref id="conflicts">). This usage only takes
5204 effect when the two packages <em>do</em> conflict, so that the
5205 two usages of this field do not interfere with each other.
5209 In this situation, the package declared as being replaced
5210 can be a virtual package, so for example, all mail
5211 transport agents (MTAs) would have the following fields in
5212 their control files:
5213 <example compact="compact">
5214 Provides: mail-transport-agent
5215 Conflicts: mail-transport-agent
5216 Replaces: mail-transport-agent
5218 ensuring that only one MTA can be unpacked at any one
5219 time. See <ref id="virtual"> for more information about this
5224 <sect id="sourcebinarydeps">
5225 <heading>Relationships between source and binary packages -
5226 <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>,
5227 <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt>
5231 Source packages that require certain binary packages to be
5232 installed or absent at the time of building the package
5233 can declare relationships to those binary packages.
5237 This is done using the <tt>Build-Depends</tt>,
5238 <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt> and
5239 <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> control fields.
5243 Build-dependencies on "build-essential" binary packages can be
5244 omitted. Please see <ref id="pkg-relations"> for more information.
5248 The dependencies and conflicts they define must be satisfied
5249 (as defined earlier for binary packages) in order to invoke
5250 the targets in <tt>debian/rules</tt>, as follows:<footnote>
5252 There is no Build-Depends-Arch; this role is essentially
5253 met with Build-Depends. Anyone building the
5254 <tt>build-indep</tt> and <tt>binary-indep</tt> targets is
5255 assumed to be building the whole package, and therefore
5256 installation of all build dependencies is required.
5259 The autobuilders use <tt>dpkg-buildpackage -B</tt>, which
5260 calls <tt>build</tt>, not <tt>build-arch</tt> since it does
5261 not yet know how to check for its existence, and
5262 <tt>binary-arch</tt>. The purpose of the original split
5263 between <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and
5264 <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt> was so that the autobuilders
5265 wouldn't need to install extra packages needed only for the
5266 binary-indep targets. But without a build-arch/build-indep
5267 split, this didn't work, since most of the work is done in
5268 the build target, not in the binary target.
5272 <tag><tt>clean</tt>, <tt>build-arch</tt>, and
5273 <tt>binary-arch</tt></tag>
5275 Only the <tt>Build-Depends</tt> and <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>
5276 fields must be satisfied when these targets are invoked.
5278 <tag><tt>build</tt>, <tt>build-indep</tt>, <tt>binary</tt>,
5279 and <tt>binary-indep</tt></tag>
5281 The <tt>Build-Depends</tt>, <tt>Build-Conflicts</tt>,
5282 <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt>, and
5283 <tt>Build-Conflicts-Indep</tt> fields must be satisfied when
5284 these targets are invoked.
5292 <chapt id="sharedlibs"><heading>Shared libraries</heading>
5295 Packages containing shared libraries must be constructed with
5296 a little care to make sure that the shared library is always
5297 available. This is especially important for packages whose
5298 shared libraries are vitally important, such as the C library
5299 (currently <tt>libc6</tt>).
5303 This section deals only with public shared libraries: shared
5304 libraries that are placed in directories searched by the dynamic
5305 linker by default or which are intended to be linked against
5306 normally and possibly used by other, independent packages. Shared
5307 libraries that are internal to a particular package or that are
5308 only loaded as dynamic modules are not covered by this section and
5309 are not subject to its requirements.
5313 A shared library is identified by the <tt>SONAME</tt> attribute
5314 stored in its dynamic section. When a binary is linked against a
5315 shared library, the <tt>SONAME</tt> of the shared library is
5316 recorded in the binary's <tt>NEEDED</tt> section so that the
5317 dynamic linker knows that library must be loaded at runtime. The
5318 shared library file's full name (which usually contains additional
5319 version information not needed in the <tt>SONAME</tt>) is
5320 therefore normally not referenced directly. Instead, the shared
5321 library is loaded by its <tt>SONAME</tt>, which exists on the file
5322 system as a symlink pointing to the full name of the shared
5323 library. This symlink must be provided by the
5324 package. <ref id="sharedlibs-runtime"> describes how to do this.
5326 This is a convention of shared library versioning, but not a
5327 requirement. Some libraries use the <tt>SONAME</tt> as the full
5328 library file name instead and therefore do not need a symlink.
5329 Most, however, encode additional information about
5330 backwards-compatible revisions as a minor version number in the
5331 file name. The <tt>SONAME</tt> itself only changes when
5332 binaries linked with the earlier version of the shared library
5333 may no longer work, but the filename may change with each
5334 release of the library. See <ref id="sharedlibs-runtime"> for
5340 When linking a binary or another shared library against a shared
5341 library, the <tt>SONAME</tt> for that shared library is not yet
5342 known. Instead, the shared library is found by looking for a file
5343 matching the library name with <tt>.so</tt> appended. This file
5344 exists on the file system as a symlink pointing to the shared
5349 Shared libraries are normally split into several binary packages.
5350 The <tt>SONAME</tt> symlink is installed by the runtime shared
5351 library package, and the bare <tt>.so</tt> symlink is installed in
5352 the development package since it's only used when linking binaries
5353 or shared libraries. However, there are some exceptions for
5354 unusual shared libraries or for shared libraries that are also
5355 loaded as dynamic modules by other programs.
5359 This section is primarily concerned with how the separation of
5360 shared libraries into multiple packages should be done and how
5361 dependencies on and between shared library binary packages are
5362 managed in Debian. <ref id="libraries"> should be read in
5363 conjunction with this section and contains additional rules for
5364 the files contained in the shared library packages.
5367 <sect id="sharedlibs-runtime">
5368 <heading>Run-time shared libraries</heading>
5371 The run-time shared library must be placed in a package
5372 whose name changes whenever the <tt>SONAME</tt> of the shared
5373 library changes. This allows several versions of the shared
5374 library to be installed at the same time, allowing installation
5375 of the new version of the shared library without immediately
5376 breaking binaries that depend on the old version. Normally, the
5377 run-time shared library and its <tt>SONAME</tt> symlink should
5378 be placed in a package named
5379 <package><var>libraryname</var><var>soversion</var></package>,
5380 where <var>soversion</var> is the version number in
5381 the <tt>SONAME</tt> of the shared library.
5382 See <ref id="shlibs"> for detailed information on how to
5383 determine this version. Alternatively, if it would be confusing
5384 to directly append <var>soversion</var>
5385 to <var>libraryname</var> (if, for example, <var>libraryname</var>
5386 itself ends in a number), you should use
5387 <package><var>libraryname</var>-<var>soversion</var></package>
5392 If you have several shared libraries built from the same source
5393 tree, you may lump them all together into a single shared
5394 library package provided that all of their <tt>SONAME</tt>s will
5395 always change together. Be aware that this is not normally the
5396 case, and if the <tt>SONAME</tt>s do not change together,
5397 upgrading such a merged shared library package will be
5398 unnecessarily difficult because of file conflicts with the old
5399 version of the package. When in doubt, always split shared
5400 library packages so that each binary package installs a single
5405 Every time the shared library ABI changes in a way that may
5406 break binaries linked against older versions of the shared
5407 library, the <tt>SONAME</tt> of the library and the
5408 corresponding name for the binary package containing the runtime
5409 shared library should change. Normally, this means
5410 the <tt>SONAME</tt> should change any time an interface is
5411 removed from the shared library or the signature of an interface
5412 (the number of parameters or the types of parameters that it
5413 takes, for example) is changed. This practice is vital to
5414 allowing clean upgrades from older versions of the package and
5415 clean transitions between the old ABI and new ABI without having
5416 to upgrade every affected package simultaneously.
5420 The <tt>SONAME</tt> and binary package name need not, and indeed
5421 normally should not, change if new interfaces are added but none
5422 are removed or changed, since this will not break binaries
5423 linked against the old shared library. Correct versioning of
5424 dependencies on the newer shared library by binaries that use
5425 the new interfaces is handled via
5426 the <qref id="sharedlibs-shlibdeps"><tt>shlibs</tt>
5427 system</qref> or via symbols files (see
5428 <manref name="deb-symbols" section="5">).
5432 The package should install the shared libraries under
5433 their normal names. For example, the <package>libgdbm3</package>
5434 package should install <file>libgdbm.so.3.0.0</file> as
5435 <file>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.3.0.0</file>. The files should not be
5436 renamed or re-linked by any <prgn>prerm</prgn> or
5437 <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts; <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will take care
5438 of renaming things safely without affecting running programs,
5439 and attempts to interfere with this are likely to lead to
5444 Shared libraries should not be installed executable, since
5445 the dynamic linker does not require this and trying to
5446 execute a shared library usually results in a core dump.
5450 The run-time library package should include the symbolic link for
5451 the <tt>SONAME</tt> that <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> would create for
5452 the shared libraries. For example,
5453 the <package>libgdbm3</package> package should include a symbolic
5454 link from <file>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so.3</file> to
5455 <file>libgdbm.so.3.0.0</file>. This is needed so that the dynamic
5456 linker (for example <prgn>ld.so</prgn> or
5457 <prgn>ld-linux.so.*</prgn>) can find the library between the
5458 time that <prgn>dpkg</prgn> installs it and the time that
5459 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> is run in the <prgn>postinst</prgn>
5461 The package management system requires the library to be
5462 placed before the symbolic link pointing to it in the
5463 <file>.deb</file> file. This is so that when
5464 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> comes to install the symlink
5465 (overwriting the previous symlink pointing at an older
5466 version of the library), the new shared library is already
5467 in place. In the past, this was achieved by creating the
5468 library in the temporary packaging directory before
5469 creating the symlink. Unfortunately, this was not always
5470 effective, since the building of the tar file in the
5471 <file>.deb</file> depended on the behavior of the underlying
5472 file system. Some file systems (such as reiserfs) reorder
5473 the files so that the order of creation is forgotten.
5474 Since version 1.7.0, <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
5475 reorders the files itself as necessary when building a
5476 package. Thus it is no longer important to concern
5477 oneself with the order of file creation.
5481 <sect1 id="ldconfig">
5482 <heading><tt>ldconfig</tt></heading>
5485 Any package installing shared libraries in one of the default
5486 library directories of the dynamic linker (which are currently
5487 <file>/usr/lib</file> and <file>/lib</file>) or a directory that is
5488 listed in <file>/etc/ld.so.conf</file><footnote>
5489 These are currently <file>/usr/local/lib</file> plus
5490 directories under <file>/lib</file> and <file>/usr/lib</file>
5491 matching the multiarch triplet for the system architecture.
5493 must use <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> to update the shared library
5498 The package maintainer scripts must only call
5499 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> under these circumstances:
5500 <list compact="compact">
5501 <item>When the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script is run with a
5502 first argument of <tt>configure</tt>, the script must call
5503 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn>, and may optionally invoke
5504 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> at other times.
5506 <item>When the <prgn>postrm</prgn> script is run with a
5507 first argument of <tt>remove</tt>, the script should call
5508 <prgn>ldconfig</prgn>.
5513 During install or upgrade, the preinst is called before
5514 the new files are unpacked, so calling "ldconfig" is
5515 pointless. The preinst of an existing package can also be
5516 called if an upgrade fails. However, this happens during
5517 the critical time when a shared libs may exist on-disk
5518 under a temporary name. Thus, it is dangerous and
5519 forbidden by current policy to call "ldconfig" at this
5524 When a package is installed or upgraded, "postinst
5525 configure" runs after the new files are safely on-disk.
5526 Since it is perfectly safe to invoke ldconfig
5527 unconditionally in a postinst, it is OK for a package to
5528 simply put ldconfig in its postinst without checking the
5529 argument. The postinst can also be called to recover from
5530 a failed upgrade. This happens before any new files are
5531 unpacked, so there is no reason to call "ldconfig" at this
5536 For a package that is being removed, prerm is
5537 called with all the files intact, so calling ldconfig is
5538 useless. The other calls to "prerm" happen in the case of
5539 upgrade at a time when all the files of the old package
5540 are on-disk, so again calling "ldconfig" is pointless.
5544 postrm, on the other hand, is called with the "remove"
5545 argument just after the files are removed, so this is
5546 the proper time to call "ldconfig" to notify the system
5547 of the fact that the shared libraries from the package
5548 are removed. The postrm can be called at several other
5549 times. At the time of "postrm purge", "postrm
5550 abort-install", or "postrm abort-upgrade", calling
5551 "ldconfig" is useless because the shared lib files are
5552 not on-disk. However, when "postrm" is invoked with
5553 arguments "upgrade", "failed-upgrade", or "disappear", a
5554 shared lib may exist on-disk under a temporary filename.
5562 <sect id="sharedlibs-support-files">
5563 <heading>Shared library support files</heading>
5566 If your package contains files whose names do not change with
5567 each change in the library shared object version, you must not
5568 put them in the shared library package. Otherwise, several
5569 versions of the shared library cannot be installed at the same
5570 time without filename clashes, making upgrades and transitions
5571 unnecessarily difficult.
5575 It is recommended that supporting files and run-time support
5576 programs that do not need to be invoked manually by users, but
5577 are nevertheless required for the package to function, be placed
5578 (if they are binary) in a subdirectory of <file>/usr/lib</file>,
5579 preferably under <file>/usr/lib/</file><var>package-name</var>.
5580 If the program or file is architecture independent, the
5581 recommendation is for it to be placed in a subdirectory of
5582 <file>/usr/share</file> instead, preferably under
5583 <file>/usr/share/</file><var>package-name</var>. Following the
5584 <var>package-name</var> naming convention ensures that the file
5585 names change when the shared object version changes.
5589 Run-time support programs that use the shared library but are
5590 not required for the library to function or files used by the
5591 shared library that can be used by any version of the shared
5592 library package should instead be put in a separate package.
5593 This package might typically be named
5594 <package><var>libraryname</var>-tools</package>; note the
5595 absence of the <var>soversion</var> in the package name.
5599 Files and support programs only useful when compiling software
5600 against the library should be included in the development
5601 package for the library.<footnote>
5602 For example, a <file><var>package-name</var>-config</file>
5603 script or <package>pkg-config</package> configuration files.
5608 <sect id="sharedlibs-static">
5609 <heading>Static libraries</heading>
5612 The static library (<file><var>libraryname.a</var></file>)
5613 is usually provided in addition to the shared version.
5614 It is placed into the development package (see below).
5618 In some cases, it is acceptable for a library to be
5619 available in static form only; these cases include:
5621 <item>libraries for languages whose shared library support
5622 is immature or unstable</item>
5623 <item>libraries whose interfaces are in flux or under
5624 development (commonly the case when the library's
5625 major version number is zero, or where the ABI breaks
5626 across patchlevels)</item>
5627 <item>libraries which are explicitly intended to be
5628 available only in static form by their upstream
5633 <sect id="sharedlibs-dev">
5634 <heading>Development files</heading>
5637 If there are development files associated with a shared library,
5638 the source package needs to generate a binary development package
5639 named <package><var>libraryname</var><var>soversion</var>-dev</package>,
5640 or if you prefer only to support one development version at a
5641 time, <package><var>libraryname</var>-dev</package>. Installing
5642 the development package must result in installation of all the
5643 development files necessary for compiling programs against that
5644 shared library.<footnote>
5645 This wording allows the development files to be split into
5646 several packages, such as a separate architecture-independent
5647 <package><var>libraryname</var>-headers</package>, provided that
5648 the development package depends on all the required additional
5654 In case several development versions of a library exist, you may
5655 need to use <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s Conflicts mechanism (see
5656 <ref id="conflicts">) to ensure that the user only installs one
5657 development version at a time (as different development versions are
5658 likely to have the same header files in them, which would cause a
5659 filename clash if both were unpacked).
5663 The development package should contain a symlink for the associated
5664 shared library without a version number. For example, the
5665 <package>libgdbm-dev</package> package should include a symlink
5666 from <file>/usr/lib/libgdbm.so</file> to
5667 <file>libgdbm.so.3.0.0</file>. This symlink is needed by the linker
5668 (<prgn>ld</prgn>) when compiling packages, as it will only look for
5669 <file>libgdbm.so</file> when compiling dynamically.
5673 If the package provides Ada Library Information
5674 (<file>*.ali</file>) files for use with GNAT, these files must be
5675 installed read-only (mode 0444) so that GNAT will not attempt to
5676 recompile them. This overrides the normal file mode requirements
5677 given in <ref id="permissions-owners">.
5681 <sect id="sharedlibs-intradeps">
5682 <heading>Dependencies between the packages of the same library</heading>
5685 Typically the development version should have an exact
5686 version dependency on the runtime library, to make sure that
5687 compilation and linking happens correctly. The
5688 <tt>${binary:Version}</tt> substitution variable can be
5689 useful for this purpose.
5691 Previously, <tt>${Source-Version}</tt> was used, but its name
5692 was confusing and it has been deprecated since dpkg 1.13.19.
5697 <sect id="sharedlibs-shlibdeps">
5698 <heading>Dependencies between the library and other packages -
5699 the <tt>shlibs</tt> system</heading>
5702 If a package contains a binary or library which links to a
5703 shared library, we must ensure that when the package is
5704 installed on the system, all of the libraries needed are
5705 also installed. This requirement led to the creation of the
5706 <tt>shlibs</tt> system, which is very simple in its design:
5707 any package which <em>provides</em> a shared library also
5708 provides information on the package dependencies required to
5709 ensure the presence of this library, and any package which
5710 <em>uses</em> a shared library uses this information to
5711 determine the dependencies it requires. The files which
5712 contain the mapping from shared libraries to the necessary
5713 dependency information are called <file>shlibs</file> files.
5717 When a package is built which contains any shared libraries, it
5718 must provide a <file>shlibs</file> file for other packages to
5719 use. When a package is built which contains any shared
5720 libraries or compiled binaries, it must run
5721 <qref id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps"><prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn></qref>
5722 on these to determine the libraries used and hence the
5723 dependencies needed by this package.<footnote>
5725 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> will use a program
5726 like <prgn>objdump</prgn> or <prgn>readelf</prgn> to find
5727 the libraries directly needed by the binaries or shared
5728 libraries in the package.
5732 We say that a binary <tt>foo</tt> <em>directly</em> uses
5733 a library <tt>libbar</tt> if it is explicitly linked
5734 with that library (that is, the library is listed in the ELF
5735 <tt>NEEDED</tt> attribute, caused by adding <tt>-lbar</tt>
5736 to the link line when the binary is created). Other
5737 libraries that are needed by <tt>libbar</tt> are linked
5738 <em>indirectly</em> to <tt>foo</tt>, and the dynamic
5739 linker will load them automatically when it loads
5740 <tt>libbar</tt>. A package should depend on the libraries
5741 it directly uses, but not the libraries it indirectly uses.
5742 The dependencies for those libraries will automatically pull
5743 in the other libraries.
5747 A good example of where this helps is the following. We
5748 could update <tt>libimlib</tt> with a new version that
5749 supports a new graphics format called dgf (but retaining the
5750 same major version number) and depends on <tt>libdgf</tt>.
5751 If we used <prgn>ldd</prgn> to add dependencies for every
5752 library directly or indirectly linked with a binary, every
5753 package that uses <tt>libimlib</tt> would need to be
5754 recompiled so it would also depend on <tt>libdgf</tt> or it
5755 wouldn't run due to missing symbols. Since dependencies are
5756 only added based on ELF <tt>NEEDED</tt> attribute, packages
5757 using <tt>libimlib</tt> can rely on <tt>libimlib</tt> itself
5758 having the dependency on <tt>libdgf</tt> and so they would
5759 not need rebuilding.
5765 In the following sections, we will first describe where the
5766 various <tt>shlibs</tt> files are to be found, then how to
5767 use <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>, and finally the <tt>shlibs</tt>
5768 file format and how to create them if your package contains a
5773 <heading>The <tt>shlibs</tt> files present on the system</heading>
5776 There are several places where <tt>shlibs</tt> files are
5777 found. The following list gives them in the order in which
5779 <qref id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps"><prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn></qref>.
5780 (The first one which gives the required information is used.)
5786 <p><file>debian/shlibs.local</file></p>
5789 This lists overrides for this package. This file should
5790 normally not be used, but may be needed temporarily in
5791 unusual situations to work around bugs in other packages,
5792 or in unusual cases where the normally declared dependency
5793 information in the installed <file>shlibs</file> file for
5794 a library cannot be used. This file overrides information
5795 obtained from any other source.
5800 <p><file>/etc/dpkg/shlibs.override</file></p>
5803 This lists global overrides. This list is normally
5804 empty. It is maintained by the local system
5810 <p><file>DEBIAN/shlibs</file> files in the "build directory"</p>
5813 When packages are being built,
5814 any <file>debian/shlibs</file> files are copied into the
5815 control information file area of the temporary build
5816 directory and given the name <file>shlibs</file>. These
5817 files give details of any shared libraries included in the
5818 same package.<footnote>
5819 An example may help here. Let us say that the source
5820 package <tt>foo</tt> generates two binary
5821 packages, <tt>libfoo2</tt> and <tt>foo-runtime</tt>.
5822 When building the binary packages, the two packages are
5823 created in the directories <file>debian/libfoo2</file>
5824 and <file>debian/foo-runtime</file> respectively.
5825 (<file>debian/tmp</file> could be used instead of one of
5826 these.) Since <tt>libfoo2</tt> provides the
5827 <tt>libfoo</tt> shared library, it will require a
5828 <tt>shlibs</tt> file, which will be installed in
5829 <file>debian/libfoo2/DEBIAN/shlibs</file>, eventually to
5830 become <file>/var/lib/dpkg/info/libfoo2.shlibs</file>.
5831 When <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> is run on the
5832 executable <file>debian/foo-runtime/usr/bin/foo-prog</file>,
5834 the <file>debian/libfoo2/DEBIAN/shlibs</file> file to
5835 determine whether <tt>foo-prog</tt>'s library
5836 dependencies are satisfied by any of the libraries
5837 provided by <tt>libfoo2</tt>. For this reason,
5838 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> must only be run once all of
5839 the individual binary packages' <tt>shlibs</tt> files
5840 have been installed into the build directory.
5846 <p><file>/var/lib/dpkg/info/*.shlibs</file></p>
5849 These are the <file>shlibs</file> files corresponding to
5850 all of the packages installed on the system, and are
5851 maintained by the relevant package maintainers.
5856 <p><file>/etc/dpkg/shlibs.default</file></p>
5859 This file lists any shared libraries whose packages
5860 have failed to provide correct <file>shlibs</file> files.
5861 It was used when the <file>shlibs</file> setup was first
5862 introduced, but it is now normally empty. It is
5863 maintained by the <tt>dpkg</tt> maintainer.
5871 <heading>How to use <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> and the
5872 <file>shlibs</file> files</heading>
5876 <qref id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps"><prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn></qref>
5877 into your <file>debian/rules</file> file. If your package
5878 contains only compiled binaries and libraries (but no scripts),
5879 you can use a command such as:
5880 <example compact="compact">
5881 dpkg-shlibdeps debian/tmp/usr/bin/* debian/tmp/usr/sbin/* \
5882 debian/tmp/usr/lib/*
5884 Otherwise, you will need to explicitly list the compiled
5885 binaries and libraries.<footnote>
5886 If you are using <tt>debhelper</tt>, the
5887 <prgn>dh_shlibdeps</prgn> program will do this work for you.
5888 It will also correctly handle multi-binary packages.
5893 This command puts the dependency information into the
5894 <file>debian/substvars</file> file, which is then used by
5895 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>. You will need to place a
5896 <tt>${shlibs:Depends}</tt> variable in the <tt>Depends</tt>
5897 field in the control file for this to work.
5901 If you have multiple binary packages, you will need to call
5902 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> on each one which contains
5903 compiled libraries or binaries. In such a case, you will
5904 need to use the <tt>-T</tt> option to the <tt>dpkg</tt>
5905 utilities to specify a different <file>substvars</file> file.
5909 If you are creating a udeb for use in the Debian Installer,
5910 you will need to specify that <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>
5911 should use the dependency line of type <tt>udeb</tt> by
5912 adding the <tt>-tudeb</tt> option<footnote>
5913 <prgn>dh_shlibdeps</prgn> from the <tt>debhelper</tt> suite
5914 will automatically add this option if it knows it is
5916 </footnote>. If there is no dependency line of
5917 type <tt>udeb</tt> in the <file>shlibs</file>
5918 file, <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> will fall back to the regular
5923 For more details on <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>, please see
5924 <ref id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps"> and
5925 <manref name="dpkg-shlibdeps" section="1">.
5930 <heading>The <file>shlibs</file> File Format</heading>
5933 Each <file>shlibs</file> file has the same format. Lines
5934 beginning with <tt>#</tt> are considered to be comments and
5935 are ignored. Each line is of the form:
5936 <example compact="compact">
5937 [<var>type</var>: ]<var>library-name</var> <var>soname-version</var> <var>dependencies ...</var>
5942 We will explain this by reference to the example of the
5943 <tt>zlib1g</tt> package, which (at the time of writing)
5944 installs the shared library <file>/usr/lib/libz.so.1.1.3</file>.
5948 <var>type</var> is an optional element that indicates the type
5949 of package for which the line is valid. The only type currently
5950 in use is <tt>udeb</tt>. The colon and space after the type are
5955 <var>library-name</var> is the name of the shared library,
5956 in this case <tt>libz</tt>. (This must match the name part
5957 of the soname, see below.)
5961 <var>soname-version</var> is the version part of the soname of
5962 the library. The soname is the thing that must exactly match
5963 for the library to be recognized by the dynamic linker, and is
5965 <tt><var>name</var>.so.<var>major-version</var></tt>, in our
5966 example, <tt>libz.so.1</tt>.<footnote>
5967 This can be determined using the command
5968 <example compact="compact">
5969 objdump -p /usr/lib/libz.so.1.1.3 | grep SONAME
5972 The version part is the part which comes after
5973 <tt>.so.</tt>, so in our case, it is <tt>1</tt>. The soname may
5974 instead be of the form
5975 <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>, such
5976 as <tt>libdb-4.8.so</tt>, in which case the name would
5977 be <tt>libdb</tt> and the version would be <tt>4.8</tt>.
5981 <var>dependencies</var> has the same syntax as a dependency
5982 field in a binary package control file. It should give
5983 details of which packages are required to satisfy a binary
5984 built against the version of the library contained in the
5985 package. See <ref id="depsyntax"> for details.
5989 In our example, if the first version of the <tt>zlib1g</tt>
5990 package which contained a minor number of at least
5991 <tt>1.3</tt> was <var>1:1.1.3-1</var>, then the
5992 <tt>shlibs</tt> entry for this library could say:
5993 <example compact="compact">
5994 libz 1 zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.3)
5996 The version-specific dependency is to avoid warnings from
5997 the dynamic linker about using older shared libraries with
6002 As zlib1g also provides a udeb containing the shared library,
6003 there would also be a second line:
6004 <example compact="compact">
6005 udeb: libz 1 zlib1g-udeb (>= 1:1.1.3)
6011 <heading>Providing a <file>shlibs</file> file</heading>
6014 If your package provides a shared library, you need to create
6015 a <file>shlibs</file> file following the format described above.
6016 It is usual to call this file <file>debian/shlibs</file> (but if
6017 you have multiple binary packages, you might want to call it
6018 <file>debian/shlibs.<var>package</var></file> instead). Then
6019 let <file>debian/rules</file> install it in the control
6020 information file area:
6021 <example compact="compact">
6022 install -m644 debian/shlibs debian/tmp/DEBIAN
6024 or, in the case of a multi-binary package:
6025 <example compact="compact">
6026 install -m644 debian/shlibs.<var>package</var> debian/<var>package</var>/DEBIAN/shlibs
6028 An alternative way of doing this is to create the
6029 <file>shlibs</file> file in the control information file area
6030 directly from <file>debian/rules</file> without using
6031 a <file>debian/shlibs</file> file at all,<footnote>
6032 This is what <prgn>dh_makeshlibs</prgn> in
6033 the <package>debhelper</package> suite does. If your package
6034 also has a udeb that provides a shared
6035 library, <prgn>dh_makeshlibs</prgn> can automatically generate
6036 the <tt>udeb:</tt> lines if you specify the name of the udeb
6037 with the <tt>--add-udeb</tt> option.
6039 since the <file>debian/shlibs</file> file itself is ignored by
6040 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>.
6044 As <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> reads the
6045 <file>DEBIAN/shlibs</file> files in all of the binary packages
6046 being built from this source package, all of the
6047 <file>DEBIAN/shlibs</file> files should be installed before
6048 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> is called on any of the binary
6056 <chapt id="opersys"><heading>The Operating System</heading>
6059 <heading>File system hierarchy</heading>
6063 <heading>File System Structure</heading>
6066 The location of all installed files and directories must
6067 comply with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS),
6068 version 2.3, with the exceptions noted below, and except
6069 where doing so would violate other terms of Debian
6070 Policy. The following exceptions to the FHS apply:
6075 The optional rules related to user specific
6076 configuration files for applications are stored in
6077 the user's home directory are relaxed. It is
6078 recommended that such files start with the
6079 '<tt>.</tt>' character (a "dot file"), and if an
6080 application needs to create more than one dot file
6081 then the preferred placement is in a subdirectory
6082 with a name starting with a '.' character, (a "dot
6083 directory"). In this case it is recommended the
6084 configuration files not start with the '.'
6090 The requirement for amd64 to use <file>/lib64</file>
6091 for 64 bit binaries is removed.
6096 The requirement for object files, internal binaries, and
6097 libraries, including <file>libc.so.*</file>, to be located
6098 directly under <file>/lib{,32}</file> and
6099 <file>/usr/lib{,32}</file> is amended, permitting files
6100 to instead be installed to
6101 <file>/lib/<var>triplet</var></file> and
6102 <file>/usr/lib/<var>triplet</var></file>, where
6103 <tt><var>triplet</var></tt> is the value returned by
6104 <tt>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</tt> for the
6105 architecture of the package. Packages may <em>not</em>
6106 install files to any <var>triplet</var> path other
6107 than the one matching the architecture of that package;
6108 for instance, an <tt>Architecture: amd64</tt> package
6109 containing 32-bit x86 libraries may not install these
6110 libraries to <file>/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu</file>.
6112 This is necessary in order to reserve the directories for
6113 use in cross-installation of library packages from other
6114 architectures, as part of the planned deployment of
6119 Applications may also use a single subdirectory under
6120 <file>/usr/lib/<var>triplet</var></file>.
6123 The execution time linker/loader, ld*, must still be made
6124 available in the existing location under /lib or /lib64
6125 since this is part of the ELF ABI for the architecture.
6130 The requirement that
6131 <file>/usr/local/share/man</file> be "synonymous"
6132 with <file>/usr/local/man</file> is relaxed to a
6137 The requirement that windowmanagers with a single
6138 configuration file call it <file>system.*wmrc</file>
6139 is removed, as is the restriction that the window
6140 manager subdirectory be named identically to the
6141 window manager name itself.
6146 The requirement that boot manager configuration
6147 files live in <file>/etc</file>, or at least are
6148 symlinked there, is relaxed to a recommendation.
6153 The following directories in the root filesystem are
6154 additionally allowed: <file>/sys</file> and
6155 <file>/selinux</file>. <footnote>These directories
6156 are used as mount points to mount virtual filesystems
6157 to get access to kernel information.</footnote>
6162 On GNU/Hurd systems, the following additional
6163 directories are allowed in the root
6164 filesystem: <file>/hurd</file>
6165 and <file>/servers</file>.<footnote>
6166 These directories are used to store translators and as
6167 a set of standard names for mount points,
6176 The version of this document referred here can be
6177 found in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package or on <url
6178 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/fhs/"
6179 name="FHS (Debian copy)"> alongside this manual (or, if
6180 you have the <package>debian-policy</package> installed,
6182 id="file:///usr/share/doc/debian-policy/fhs/" name="FHS
6183 (local copy)">). The
6184 latest version, which may be a more recent version, may
6186 <url id="http://www.pathname.com/fhs/" name="FHS (upstream)">.
6187 Specific questions about following the standard may be
6188 asked on the <tt>debian-devel</tt> mailing list, or
6189 referred to the FHS mailing list (see the
6190 <url id="http://www.pathname.com/fhs/" name="FHS web site"> for
6196 <heading>Site-specific programs</heading>
6199 As mandated by the FHS, packages must not place any
6200 files in <file>/usr/local</file>, either by putting them in
6201 the file system archive to be unpacked by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
6202 or by manipulating them in their maintainer scripts.
6206 However, the package may create empty directories below
6207 <file>/usr/local</file> so that the system administrator knows
6208 where to place site-specific files. These are not
6209 directories <em>in</em> <file>/usr/local</file>, but are
6210 children of directories in <file>/usr/local</file>. These
6211 directories (<file>/usr/local/*/dir/</file>)
6212 should be removed on package removal if they are
6217 Note that this applies only to
6218 directories <em>below</em> <file>/usr/local</file>,
6219 not <em>in</em> <file>/usr/local</file>. Packages must
6220 not create sub-directories in the
6221 directory <file>/usr/local</file> itself, except those
6222 listed in FHS, section 4.5. However, you may create
6223 directories below them as you wish. You must not remove
6224 any of the directories listed in 4.5, even if you created
6229 Since <file>/usr/local</file> can be mounted read-only from a
6230 remote server, these directories must be created and
6231 removed by the <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
6232 maintainer scripts and not be included in the
6233 <file>.deb</file> archive. These scripts must not fail if
6234 either of these operations fail.
6238 For example, the <tt>emacsen-common</tt> package could
6239 contain something like
6240 <example compact="compact">
6241 if [ ! -e /usr/local/share/emacs ]
6243 if mkdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null
6245 chown root:staff /usr/local/share/emacs
6246 chmod 2775 /usr/local/share/emacs
6250 in its <prgn>postinst</prgn> script, and
6251 <example compact="compact">
6252 rmdir /usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp 2>/dev/null || true
6253 rmdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null || true
6255 in the <prgn>prerm</prgn> script. (Note that this form is
6256 used to ensure that if the script is interrupted, the
6257 directory <file>/usr/local/share/emacs</file> will still be
6262 If you do create a directory in <file>/usr/local</file> for
6263 local additions to a package, you should ensure that
6264 settings in <file>/usr/local</file> take precedence over the
6265 equivalents in <file>/usr</file>.
6269 However, because <file>/usr/local</file> and its contents are
6270 for exclusive use of the local administrator, a package
6271 must not rely on the presence or absence of files or
6272 directories in <file>/usr/local</file> for normal operation.
6276 The <file>/usr/local</file> directory itself and all the
6277 subdirectories created by the package should (by default) have
6278 permissions 2775 (group-writable and set-group-id) and be
6279 owned by <tt>root:staff</tt>.
6284 <heading>The system-wide mail directory</heading>
6286 The system-wide mail directory
6287 is <file>/var/mail</file>. This directory is part of the
6288 base system and should not be owned by any particular mail
6289 agents. The use of the old
6290 location <file>/var/spool/mail</file> is deprecated, even
6291 though the spool may still be physically located there.
6297 <heading>Users and groups</heading>
6300 <heading>Introduction</heading>
6302 The Debian system can be configured to use either plain or
6307 Some user ids (UIDs) and group ids (GIDs) are reserved
6308 globally for use by certain packages. Because some
6309 packages need to include files which are owned by these
6310 users or groups, or need the ids compiled into binaries,
6311 these ids must be used on any Debian system only for the
6312 purpose for which they are allocated. This is a serious
6313 restriction, and we should avoid getting in the way of
6314 local administration policies. In particular, many sites
6315 allocate users and/or local system groups starting at 100.
6319 Apart from this we should have dynamically allocated ids,
6320 which should by default be arranged in some sensible
6321 order, but the behavior should be configurable.
6325 Packages other than <tt>base-passwd</tt> must not modify
6326 <file>/etc/passwd</file>, <file>/etc/shadow</file>,
6327 <file>/etc/group</file> or <file>/etc/gshadow</file>.
6332 <heading>UID and GID classes</heading>
6334 The UID and GID numbers are divided into classes as
6340 Globally allocated by the Debian project, the same
6341 on every Debian system. These ids will appear in
6342 the <file>passwd</file> and <file>group</file> files of all
6343 Debian systems, new ids in this range being added
6344 automatically as the <tt>base-passwd</tt> package is
6349 Packages which need a single statically allocated
6350 uid or gid should use one of these; their
6351 maintainers should ask the <tt>base-passwd</tt>
6359 Dynamically allocated system users and groups.
6360 Packages which need a user or group, but can have
6361 this user or group allocated dynamically and
6362 differently on each system, should use <tt>adduser
6363 --system</tt> to create the group and/or user.
6364 <prgn>adduser</prgn> will check for the existence of
6365 the user or group, and if necessary choose an unused
6366 id based on the ranges specified in
6367 <file>adduser.conf</file>.
6371 <tag>1000-59999:</tag>
6374 Dynamically allocated user accounts. By default
6375 <prgn>adduser</prgn> will choose UIDs and GIDs for
6376 user accounts in this range, though
6377 <file>adduser.conf</file> may be used to modify this
6382 <tag>60000-64999:</tag>
6385 Globally allocated by the Debian project, but only
6386 created on demand. The ids are allocated centrally
6387 and statically, but the actual accounts are only
6388 created on users' systems on demand.
6392 These ids are for packages which are obscure or
6393 which require many statically-allocated ids. These
6394 packages should check for and create the accounts in
6395 <file>/etc/passwd</file> or <file>/etc/group</file> (using
6396 <prgn>adduser</prgn> if it has this facility) if
6397 necessary. Packages which are likely to require
6398 further allocations should have a "hole" left after
6399 them in the allocation, to give them room to
6404 <tag>65000-65533:</tag>
6412 User <tt>nobody</tt>. The corresponding gid refers
6413 to the group <tt>nogroup</tt>.
6420 <tt>(uid_t)(-1) == (gid_t)(-1)</tt> <em>must
6421 not</em> be used, because it is the error return
6430 <sect id="sysvinit">
6431 <heading>System run levels and <file>init.d</file> scripts</heading>
6433 <sect1 id="/etc/init.d">
6434 <heading>Introduction</heading>
6437 The <file>/etc/init.d</file> directory contains the scripts
6438 executed by <prgn>init</prgn> at boot time and when the
6439 init state (or "runlevel") is changed (see <manref
6440 name="init" section="8">).
6444 There are at least two different, yet functionally
6445 equivalent, ways of handling these scripts. For the sake
6446 of simplicity, this document describes only the symbolic
6447 link method. However, it must not be assumed by maintainer
6448 scripts that this method is being used, and any automated
6449 manipulation of the various runlevel behaviors by
6450 maintainer scripts must be performed using
6451 <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> as described below and not by
6452 manually installing or removing symlinks. For information
6453 on the implementation details of the other method,
6454 implemented in the <tt>file-rc</tt> package, please refer
6455 to the documentation of that package.
6459 These scripts are referenced by symbolic links in the
6460 <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> directories. When changing
6461 runlevels, <prgn>init</prgn> looks in the directory
6462 <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> for the scripts it should
6463 execute, where <tt><var>n</var></tt> is the runlevel that
6464 is being changed to, or <tt>S</tt> for the boot-up
6469 The names of the links all have the form
6470 <file>S<var>mm</var><var>script</var></file> or
6471 <file>K<var>mm</var><var>script</var></file> where
6472 <var>mm</var> is a two-digit number and <var>script</var>
6473 is the name of the script (this should be the same as the
6474 name of the actual script in <file>/etc/init.d</file>).
6478 When <prgn>init</prgn> changes runlevel first the targets
6479 of the links whose names start with a <tt>K</tt> are
6480 executed, each with the single argument <tt>stop</tt>,
6481 followed by the scripts prefixed with an <tt>S</tt>, each
6482 with the single argument <tt>start</tt>. (The links are
6483 those in the <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> directory
6484 corresponding to the new runlevel.) The <tt>K</tt> links
6485 are responsible for killing services and the <tt>S</tt>
6486 link for starting services upon entering the runlevel.
6490 For example, if we are changing from runlevel 2 to
6491 runlevel 3, init will first execute all of the <tt>K</tt>
6492 prefixed scripts it finds in <file>/etc/rc3.d</file>, and then
6493 all of the <tt>S</tt> prefixed scripts in that directory.
6494 The links starting with <tt>K</tt> will cause the
6495 referred-to file to be executed with an argument of
6496 <tt>stop</tt>, and the <tt>S</tt> links with an argument
6501 The two-digit number <var>mm</var> is used to determine
6502 the order in which to run the scripts: low-numbered links
6503 have their scripts run first. For example, the
6504 <tt>K20</tt> scripts will be executed before the
6505 <tt>K30</tt> scripts. This is used when a certain service
6506 must be started before another. For example, the name
6507 server <prgn>bind</prgn> might need to be started before
6508 the news server <prgn>inn</prgn> so that <prgn>inn</prgn>
6509 can set up its access lists. In this case, the script
6510 that starts <prgn>bind</prgn> would have a lower number
6511 than the script that starts <prgn>inn</prgn> so that it
6513 <example compact="compact">
6520 The two runlevels 0 (halt) and 6 (reboot) are slightly
6521 different. In these runlevels, the links with an
6522 <tt>S</tt> prefix are still called after those with a
6523 <tt>K</tt> prefix, but they too are called with the single
6524 argument <tt>stop</tt>.
6528 <sect1 id="writing-init">
6529 <heading>Writing the scripts</heading>
6532 Packages that include daemons for system services should
6533 place scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file> to start or stop
6534 services at boot time or during a change of runlevel.
6535 These scripts should be named
6536 <file>/etc/init.d/<var>package</var></file>, and they should
6537 accept one argument, saying what to do:
6540 <tag><tt>start</tt></tag>
6541 <item>start the service,</item>
6543 <tag><tt>stop</tt></tag>
6544 <item>stop the service,</item>
6546 <tag><tt>restart</tt></tag>
6547 <item>stop and restart the service if it's already running,
6548 otherwise start the service</item>
6550 <tag><tt>reload</tt></tag>
6551 <item><p>cause the configuration of the service to be
6552 reloaded without actually stopping and restarting
6555 <tag><tt>force-reload</tt></tag>
6556 <item>cause the configuration to be reloaded if the
6557 service supports this, otherwise restart the
6561 The <tt>start</tt>, <tt>stop</tt>, <tt>restart</tt>, and
6562 <tt>force-reload</tt> options should be supported by all
6563 scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>, the <tt>reload</tt>
6568 The <file>init.d</file> scripts must ensure that they will
6569 behave sensibly (i.e., returning success and not starting
6570 multiple copies of a service) if invoked with <tt>start</tt>
6571 when the service is already running, or with <tt>stop</tt>
6572 when it isn't, and that they don't kill unfortunately-named
6573 user processes. The best way to achieve this is usually to
6574 use <prgn>start-stop-daemon</prgn> with the <tt>--oknodo</tt>
6579 Be careful of using <tt>set -e</tt> in <file>init.d</file>
6580 scripts. Writing correct <file>init.d</file> scripts requires
6581 accepting various error exit statuses when daemons are already
6582 running or already stopped without aborting
6583 the <file>init.d</file> script, and common <file>init.d</file>
6584 function libraries are not safe to call with <tt>set -e</tt>
6586 <tt>/lib/lsb/init-functions</tt>, which assists in writing
6587 LSB-compliant init scripts, may fail if <tt>set -e</tt> is
6588 in effect and echoing status messages to the console fails,
6590 </footnote>. For <tt>init.d</tt> scripts, it's often easier
6591 to not use <tt>set -e</tt> and instead check the result of
6592 each command separately.
6596 If a service reloads its configuration automatically (as
6597 in the case of <prgn>cron</prgn>, for example), the
6598 <tt>reload</tt> option of the <file>init.d</file> script
6599 should behave as if the configuration has been reloaded
6604 The <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts must be treated as
6605 configuration files, either (if they are present in the
6606 package, that is, in the .deb file) by marking them as
6607 <tt>conffile</tt>s, or, (if they do not exist in the .deb)
6608 by managing them correctly in the maintainer scripts (see
6609 <ref id="config-files">). This is important since we want
6610 to give the local system administrator the chance to adapt
6611 the scripts to the local system, e.g., to disable a
6612 service without de-installing the package, or to specify
6613 some special command line options when starting a service,
6614 while making sure their changes aren't lost during the next
6619 These scripts should not fail obscurely when the
6620 configuration files remain but the package has been
6621 removed, as configuration files remain on the system after
6622 the package has been removed. Only when <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
6623 is executed with the <tt>--purge</tt> option will
6624 configuration files be removed. In particular, as the
6625 <file>/etc/init.d/<var>package</var></file> script itself is
6626 usually a <tt>conffile</tt>, it will remain on the system
6627 if the package is removed but not purged. Therefore, you
6628 should include a <tt>test</tt> statement at the top of the
6630 <example compact="compact">
6631 test -f <var>program-executed-later-in-script</var> || exit 0
6636 Often there are some variables in the <file>init.d</file>
6637 scripts whose values control the behavior of the scripts,
6638 and which a system administrator is likely to want to
6639 change. As the scripts themselves are frequently
6640 <tt>conffile</tt>s, modifying them requires that the
6641 administrator merge in their changes each time the package
6642 is upgraded and the <tt>conffile</tt> changes. To ease
6643 the burden on the system administrator, such configurable
6644 values should not be placed directly in the script.
6645 Instead, they should be placed in a file in
6646 <file>/etc/default</file>, which typically will have the same
6647 base name as the <file>init.d</file> script. This extra file
6648 should be sourced by the script when the script runs. It
6649 must contain only variable settings and comments in SUSv3
6650 <prgn>sh</prgn> format. It may either be a
6651 <tt>conffile</tt> or a configuration file maintained by
6652 the package maintainer scripts. See <ref id="config-files">
6657 To ensure that vital configurable values are always
6658 available, the <file>init.d</file> script should set default
6659 values for each of the shell variables it uses, either
6660 before sourcing the <file>/etc/default/</file> file or
6661 afterwards using something like the <tt>:
6662 ${VAR:=default}</tt> syntax. Also, the <file>init.d</file>
6663 script must behave sensibly and not fail if the
6664 <file>/etc/default</file> file is deleted.
6668 <file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted
6669 as temporary filesystems<footnote>
6670 For example, using the <tt>RAMRUN</tt> and <tt>RAMLOCK</tt>
6671 options in <file>/etc/default/rcS</file>.
6672 </footnote>, so the <file>init.d</file> scripts must handle this
6673 correctly. This will typically amount to creating any required
6674 subdirectories dynamically when the <file>init.d</file> script
6675 is run, rather than including them in the package and relying on
6676 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to create them.
6681 <heading>Interfacing with the initscript system</heading>
6684 Maintainers should use the abstraction layer provided by
6685 the <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> and <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn>
6686 programs to deal with initscripts in their packages'
6687 scripts such as <prgn>postinst</prgn>, <prgn>prerm</prgn>
6688 and <prgn>postrm</prgn>.
6692 Directly managing the /etc/rc?.d links and directly
6693 invoking the <file>/etc/init.d/</file> initscripts should
6694 be done only by packages providing the initscript
6695 subsystem (such as <prgn>sysv-rc</prgn> and
6696 <prgn>file-rc</prgn>).
6700 <heading>Managing the links</heading>
6703 The program <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> is provided for
6704 package maintainers to arrange for the proper creation and
6705 removal of <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> symbolic links,
6706 or their functional equivalent if another method is being
6707 used. This may be used by maintainers in their packages'
6708 <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts.
6712 You must not include any <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file>
6713 symbolic links in the actual archive or manually create or
6714 remove the symbolic links in maintainer scripts; you must
6715 use the <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> program instead. (The
6716 former will fail if an alternative method of maintaining
6717 runlevel information is being used.) You must not include
6718 the <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> directories themselves
6719 in the archive either. (Only the <tt>sysvinit</tt>
6724 By default <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> will start services in
6725 each of the multi-user state runlevels (2, 3, 4, and 5)
6726 and stop them in the halt runlevel (0), the single-user
6727 runlevel (1) and the reboot runlevel (6). The system
6728 administrator will have the opportunity to customize
6729 runlevels by simply adding, moving, or removing the
6730 symbolic links in <file>/etc/rc<var>n</var>.d</file> if
6731 symbolic links are being used, or by modifying
6732 <file>/etc/runlevel.conf</file> if the <tt>file-rc</tt> method
6737 To get the default behavior for your package, put in your
6738 <prgn>postinst</prgn> script
6739 <example compact="compact">
6740 update-rc.d <var>package</var> defaults
6742 and in your <prgn>postrm</prgn>
6743 <example compact="compact">
6744 if [ "$1" = purge ]; then
6745 update-rc.d <var>package</var> remove
6747 </example>. Note that if your package changes runlevels
6748 or priority, you may have to remove and recreate the links,
6749 since otherwise the old links may persist. Refer to the
6750 documentation of <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn>.
6754 This will use a default sequence number of 20. If it does
6755 not matter when or in which order the <file>init.d</file>
6756 script is run, use this default. If it does, then you
6757 should talk to the maintainer of the <prgn>sysvinit</prgn>
6758 package or post to <tt>debian-devel</tt>, and they will
6759 help you choose a number.
6763 For more information about using <tt>update-rc.d</tt>,
6764 please consult its man page <manref name="update-rc.d"
6770 <heading>Running initscripts</heading>
6772 The program <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn> is provided to make
6773 it easier for package maintainers to properly invoke an
6774 initscript, obeying runlevel and other locally-defined
6775 constraints that might limit a package's right to start,
6776 stop and otherwise manage services. This program may be
6777 used by maintainers in their packages' scripts.
6781 The package maintainer scripts must use
6782 <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn> to invoke the
6783 <file>/etc/init.d/*</file> initscripts, instead of
6784 calling them directly.
6788 By default, <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn> will pass any
6789 action requests (start, stop, reload, restart...) to the
6790 <file>/etc/init.d</file> script, filtering out requests
6791 to start or restart a service out of its intended
6796 Most packages will simply need to change:
6797 <example compact="compact">/etc/init.d/<package>
6798 <action></example> in their <prgn>postinst</prgn>
6799 and <prgn>prerm</prgn> scripts to:
6800 <example compact="compact">
6801 if which invoke-rc.d >/dev/null 2>&1; then
6802 invoke-rc.d <var>package</var> <action>
6804 /etc/init.d/<var>package</var> <action>
6810 A package should register its initscript services using
6811 <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> before it tries to invoke them
6812 using <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn>. Invocation of
6813 unregistered services may fail.
6817 For more information about using
6818 <prgn>invoke-rc.d</prgn>, please consult its man page
6819 <manref name="invoke-rc.d" section="8">.
6825 <heading>Boot-time initialization</heading>
6828 There used to be another directory, <file>/etc/rc.boot</file>,
6829 which contained scripts which were run once per machine
6830 boot. This has been deprecated in favour of links from
6831 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file> to files in <file>/etc/init.d</file> as
6832 described in <ref id="/etc/init.d">. Packages must not
6833 place files in <file>/etc/rc.boot</file>.
6838 <heading>Example</heading>
6841 An example on which you can base your
6842 <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts is found in
6843 <file>/etc/init.d/skeleton</file>.
6850 <heading>Console messages from <file>init.d</file> scripts</heading>
6853 This section describes the formats to be used for messages
6854 written to standard output by the <file>/etc/init.d</file>
6855 scripts. The intent is to improve the consistency of
6856 Debian's startup and shutdown look and feel. For this
6857 reason, please look very carefully at the details. We want
6858 the messages to have the same format in terms of wording,
6859 spaces, punctuation and case of letters.
6863 Here is a list of overall rules that should be used for
6864 messages generated by <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts.
6870 The message should fit in one line (fewer than 80
6871 characters), start with a capital letter and end with
6872 a period (<tt>.</tt>) and line feed (<tt>"\n"</tt>).
6876 If the script is performing some time consuming task in
6877 the background (not merely starting or stopping a
6878 program, for instance), an ellipsis (three dots:
6879 <tt>...</tt>) should be output to the screen, with no
6880 leading or tailing whitespace or line feeds.
6884 The messages should appear as if the computer is telling
6885 the user what it is doing (politely :-), but should not
6886 mention "it" directly. For example, instead of:
6887 <example compact="compact">
6888 I'm starting network daemons: nfsd mountd.
6890 the message should say
6891 <example compact="compact">
6892 Starting network daemons: nfsd mountd.
6899 <tt>init.d</tt> script should use the following standard
6900 message formats for the situations enumerated below.
6906 <p>When daemons are started</p>
6909 If the script starts one or more daemons, the output
6910 should look like this (a single line, no leading
6912 <example compact="compact">
6913 Starting <var>description</var>: <var>daemon-1</var> ... <var>daemon-n</var>.
6915 The <var>description</var> should describe the
6916 subsystem the daemon or set of daemons are part of,
6917 while <var>daemon-1</var> up to <var>daemon-n</var>
6918 denote each daemon's name (typically the file name of
6923 For example, the output of <file>/etc/init.d/lpd</file>
6925 <example compact="compact">
6926 Starting printer spooler: lpd.
6931 This can be achieved by saying
6932 <example compact="compact">
6933 echo -n "Starting printer spooler: lpd"
6934 start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/lpd
6937 in the script. If there are more than one daemon to
6938 start, the output should look like this:
6939 <example compact="compact">
6940 echo -n "Starting remote file system services:"
6941 echo -n " nfsd"; start-stop-daemon --start --quiet nfsd
6942 echo -n " mountd"; start-stop-daemon --start --quiet mountd
6943 echo -n " ugidd"; start-stop-daemon --start --quiet ugidd
6946 This makes it possible for the user to see what is
6947 happening and when the final daemon has been started.
6948 Care should be taken in the placement of white spaces:
6949 in the example above the system administrators can
6950 easily comment out a line if they don't want to start
6951 a specific daemon, while the displayed message still
6957 <p>When a system parameter is being set</p>
6960 If you have to set up different system parameters
6961 during the system boot, you should use this format:
6962 <example compact="compact">
6963 Setting <var>parameter</var> to "<var>value</var>".
6968 You can use a statement such as the following to get
6970 <example compact="compact">
6971 echo "Setting DNS domainname to \"$domainname\"."
6976 Note that the same symbol (<tt>"</tt>) <!-- " --> is used
6977 for the left and right quotation marks. A grave accent
6978 (<tt>`</tt>) is not a quote character; neither is an
6979 apostrophe (<tt>'</tt>).
6984 <p>When a daemon is stopped or restarted</p>
6987 When you stop or restart a daemon, you should issue a
6988 message identical to the startup message, except that
6989 <tt>Starting</tt> is replaced with <tt>Stopping</tt>
6990 or <tt>Restarting</tt> respectively.
6994 For example, stopping the printer daemon will look like
6996 <example compact="compact">
6997 Stopping printer spooler: lpd.
7003 <p>When something is executed</p>
7006 There are several examples where you have to run a
7007 program at system startup or shutdown to perform a
7008 specific task, for example, setting the system's clock
7009 using <prgn>netdate</prgn> or killing all processes
7010 when the system shuts down. Your message should look
7012 <example compact="compact">
7013 Doing something very useful...done.
7015 You should print the <tt>done.</tt> immediately after
7016 the job has been completed, so that the user is
7017 informed why they have to wait. You can get this
7019 <example compact="compact">
7020 echo -n "Doing something very useful..."
7029 <p>When the configuration is reloaded</p>
7032 When a daemon is forced to reload its configuration
7033 files you should use the following format:
7034 <example compact="compact">
7035 Reloading <var>description</var> configuration...done.
7037 where <var>description</var> is the same as in the
7038 daemon starting message.
7046 <heading>Cron jobs</heading>
7049 Packages must not modify the configuration file
7050 <file>/etc/crontab</file>, and they must not modify the files in
7051 <file>/var/spool/cron/crontabs</file>.</p>
7054 If a package wants to install a job that has to be executed
7055 via cron, it should place a file with the name of the
7056 package in one or more of the following directories:
7057 <example compact="compact">
7063 As these directory names imply, the files within them are
7064 executed on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis,
7065 respectively. The exact times are listed in
7066 <file>/etc/crontab</file>.</p>
7069 All files installed in any of these directories must be
7070 scripts (e.g., shell scripts or Perl scripts) so that they
7071 can easily be modified by the local system administrator.
7072 In addition, they must be treated as configuration files.
7076 If a certain job has to be executed at some other frequency or
7077 at a specific time, the package should install a file
7078 <file>/etc/cron.d/<var>package</var></file>. This file uses the
7079 same syntax as <file>/etc/crontab</file> and is processed by
7080 <prgn>cron</prgn> automatically. The file must also be
7081 treated as a configuration file. (Note that entries in the
7082 <file>/etc/cron.d</file> directory are not handled by
7083 <prgn>anacron</prgn>. Thus, you should only use this
7084 directory for jobs which may be skipped if the system is not
7087 Unlike <file>crontab</file> files described in the IEEE Std
7088 1003.1-2008 (POSIX.1) available from
7089 <url id="http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/"
7090 name="The Open Group">, the files in
7091 <file>/etc/cron.d</file> and the file
7092 <file>/etc/crontab</file> have seven fields; namely:
7094 <item>Minute [0,59]</item>
7095 <item>Hour [0,23]</item>
7096 <item>Day of the month [1,31]</item>
7097 <item>Month of the year [1,12]</item>
7098 <item>Day of the week ([0,6] with 0=Sunday)</item>
7099 <item>Username</item>
7100 <item>Command to be run</item>
7102 Ranges of numbers are allowed. Ranges are two numbers
7103 separated with a hyphen. The specified range is inclusive.
7104 Lists are allowed. A list is a set of numbers (or ranges)
7105 separated by commas. Step values can be used in conjunction
7110 The scripts or <tt>crontab</tt> entries in these directories should
7111 check if all necessary programs are installed before they
7112 try to execute them. Otherwise, problems will arise when a
7113 package was removed but not purged since configuration files
7114 are kept on the system in this situation.
7118 Any <tt>cron</tt> daemon must provide
7119 <file>/usr/bin/crontab</file> and support normal
7120 <tt>crontab</tt> entries as specified in POSIX. The daemon
7121 must also support names for days and months, ranges, and
7122 step values. It has to support <file>/etc/crontab</file>,
7123 and correctly execute the scripts in
7124 <file>/etc/cron.d</file>. The daemon must also correctly
7126 <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file>.
7131 <heading>Menus</heading>
7134 The Debian <tt>menu</tt> package provides a standard
7135 interface between packages providing applications and
7136 <em>menu programs</em> (either X window managers or
7137 text-based menu programs such as <prgn>pdmenu</prgn>).
7141 All packages that provide applications that need not be
7142 passed any special command line arguments for normal
7143 operation should register a menu entry for those
7144 applications, so that users of the <tt>menu</tt> package
7145 will automatically get menu entries in their window
7146 managers, as well in shells like <tt>pdmenu</tt>.
7150 Menu entries should follow the current menu policy.
7154 The menu policy can be found in the <tt>menu-policy</tt>
7155 files in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
7156 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
7157 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/menu-policy/"
7158 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/menu-policy/"></tt>.
7162 Please also refer to the <em>Debian Menu System</em>
7163 documentation that comes with the <package>menu</package>
7164 package for information about how to register your
7170 <heading>Multimedia handlers</heading>
7173 MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, RFCs 2045-2049)
7174 is a mechanism for encoding files and data streams and
7175 providing meta-information about them, in particular their
7176 type (e.g. audio or video) and format (e.g. PNG, HTML,
7181 Registration of MIME type handlers allows programs like mail
7182 user agents and web browsers to invoke these handlers to
7183 view, edit or display MIME types they don't support directly.
7187 Packages which provide the ability to view/show/play,
7188 compose, edit or print MIME types should register themselves
7189 as such following the current MIME support policy.
7193 The MIME support policy can be found in the <tt>mime-policy</tt>
7194 files in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
7195 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
7196 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/mime-policy/"
7197 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/mime-policy/"></tt>.
7203 <heading>Keyboard configuration</heading>
7206 To achieve a consistent keyboard configuration so that all
7207 applications interpret a keyboard event the same way, all
7208 programs in the Debian distribution must be configured to
7209 comply with the following guidelines.
7213 The following keys must have the specified interpretations:
7216 <tag><tt><--</tt></tag>
7217 <item>delete the character to the left of the cursor</item>
7219 <tag><tt>Delete</tt></tag>
7220 <item>delete the character to the right of the cursor</item>
7222 <tag><tt>Control+H</tt></tag>
7223 <item>emacs: the help prefix</item>
7226 The interpretation of any keyboard events should be
7227 independent of the terminal that is used, be it a virtual
7228 console, an X terminal emulator, an rlogin/telnet session,
7233 The following list explains how the different programs
7234 should be set up to achieve this:
7240 <tt><--</tt> generates <tt>KB_BackSpace</tt> in X.
7244 <tt>Delete</tt> generates <tt>KB_Delete</tt> in X.
7248 X translations are set up to make
7249 <tt>KB_Backspace</tt> generate ASCII DEL, and to make
7250 <tt>KB_Delete</tt> generate <tt>ESC [ 3 ~</tt> (this
7251 is the vt220 escape code for the "delete character"
7252 key). This must be done by loading the X resources
7253 using <prgn>xrdb</prgn> on all local X displays, not
7254 using the application defaults, so that the
7255 translation resources used correspond to the
7256 <prgn>xmodmap</prgn> settings.
7260 The Linux console is configured to make
7261 <tt><--</tt> generate DEL, and <tt>Delete</tt>
7262 generate <tt>ESC [ 3 ~</tt>.
7266 X applications are configured so that <tt><</tt>
7267 deletes left, and <tt>Delete</tt> deletes right. Motif
7268 applications already work like this.
7272 Terminals should have <tt>stty erase ^?</tt> .
7276 The <tt>xterm</tt> terminfo entry should have <tt>ESC
7277 [ 3 ~</tt> for <tt>kdch1</tt>, just as for
7278 <tt>TERM=linux</tt> and <tt>TERM=vt220</tt>.
7282 Emacs is programmed to map <tt>KB_Backspace</tt> or
7283 the <tt>stty erase</tt> character to
7284 <tt>delete-backward-char</tt>, and <tt>KB_Delete</tt>
7285 or <tt>kdch1</tt> to <tt>delete-forward-char</tt>, and
7286 <tt>^H</tt> to <tt>help</tt> as always.
7290 Other applications use the <tt>stty erase</tt>
7291 character and <tt>kdch1</tt> for the two delete keys,
7292 with ASCII DEL being "delete previous character" and
7293 <tt>kdch1</tt> being "delete character under
7301 This will solve the problem except for the following
7308 Some terminals have a <tt><--</tt> key that cannot
7309 be made to produce anything except <tt>^H</tt>. On
7310 these terminals Emacs help will be unavailable on
7311 <tt>^H</tt> (assuming that the <tt>stty erase</tt>
7312 character takes precedence in Emacs, and has been set
7313 correctly). <tt>M-x help</tt> or <tt>F1</tt> (if
7314 available) can be used instead.
7318 Some operating systems use <tt>^H</tt> for <tt>stty
7319 erase</tt>. However, modern telnet versions and all
7320 rlogin versions propagate <tt>stty</tt> settings, and
7321 almost all UNIX versions honour <tt>stty erase</tt>.
7322 Where the <tt>stty</tt> settings are not propagated
7323 correctly, things can be made to work by using
7324 <tt>stty</tt> manually.
7328 Some systems (including previous Debian versions) use
7329 <prgn>xmodmap</prgn> to arrange for both
7330 <tt><--</tt> and <tt>Delete</tt> to generate
7331 <tt>KB_Delete</tt>. We can change the behavior of
7332 their X clients using the same X resources that we use
7333 to do it for our own clients, or configure our clients
7334 using their resources when things are the other way
7335 around. On displays configured like this
7336 <tt>Delete</tt> will not work, but <tt><--</tt>
7341 Some operating systems have different <tt>kdch1</tt>
7342 settings in their <tt>terminfo</tt> database for
7343 <tt>xterm</tt> and others. On these systems the
7344 <tt>Delete</tt> key will not work correctly when you
7345 log in from a system conforming to our policy, but
7346 <tt><--</tt> will.
7353 <heading>Environment variables</heading>
7356 A program must not depend on environment variables to get
7357 reasonable defaults. (That's because these environment
7358 variables would have to be set in a system-wide
7359 configuration file like <file>/etc/profile</file>, which is not
7360 supported by all shells.)
7364 If a program usually depends on environment variables for its
7365 configuration, the program should be changed to fall back to
7366 a reasonable default configuration if these environment
7367 variables are not present. If this cannot be done easily
7368 (e.g., if the source code of a non-free program is not
7369 available), the program must be replaced by a small
7370 "wrapper" shell script which sets the environment variables
7371 if they are not already defined, and calls the original program.
7375 Here is an example of a wrapper script for this purpose:
7377 <example compact="compact">
7379 BAR=${BAR:-/var/lib/fubar}
7381 exec /usr/lib/foo/foo "$@"
7386 Furthermore, as <file>/etc/profile</file> is a configuration
7387 file of the <prgn>base-files</prgn> package, other packages must
7388 not put any environment variables or other commands into that
7393 <sect id="doc-base">
7394 <heading>Registering Documents using doc-base</heading>
7397 The <package>doc-base</package> package implements a
7398 flexible mechanism for handling and presenting
7399 documentation. The recommended practice is for every Debian
7400 package that provides online documentation (other than just
7401 manual pages) to register these documents with
7402 <package>doc-base</package> by installing a
7403 <package>doc-base</package> control file via the
7404 <prgn/install-docs/ script at installation time and
7405 de-register the manuals again when the package is removed.
7408 Please refer to the documentation that comes with the
7409 <package>doc-base</package> package for information and
7418 <heading>Files</heading>
7420 <sect id="binaries">
7421 <heading>Binaries</heading>
7424 Two different packages must not install programs with
7425 different functionality but with the same filenames. (The
7426 case of two programs having the same functionality but
7427 different implementations is handled via "alternatives" or
7428 the "Conflicts" mechanism. See <ref id="maintscripts"> and
7429 <ref id="conflicts"> respectively.) If this case happens,
7430 one of the programs must be renamed. The maintainers should
7431 report this to the <tt>debian-devel</tt> mailing list and
7432 try to find a consensus about which program will have to be
7433 renamed. If a consensus cannot be reached, <em>both</em>
7434 programs must be renamed.
7438 By default, when a package is being built, any binaries
7439 created should include debugging information, as well as
7440 being compiled with optimization. You should also turn on
7441 as many reasonable compilation warnings as possible; this
7442 makes life easier for porters, who can then look at build
7443 logs for possible problems. For the C programming language,
7444 this means the following compilation parameters should be
7446 <example compact="compact">
7448 CFLAGS = -O2 -g -Wall # sane warning options vary between programs
7450 INSTALL = install -s # (or use strip on the files in debian/tmp)
7455 Note that by default all installed binaries should be stripped,
7456 either by using the <tt>-s</tt> flag to
7457 <prgn>install</prgn>, or by calling <prgn>strip</prgn> on
7458 the binaries after they have been copied into
7459 <file>debian/tmp</file> but before the tree is made into a
7464 Although binaries in the build tree should be compiled with
7465 debugging information by default, it can often be difficult to
7466 debug programs if they are also subjected to compiler
7467 optimization. For this reason, it is recommended to support the
7468 standardized environment variable <tt>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</tt>
7469 (see <ref id="debianrules-options">). This variable can contain
7470 several flags to change how a package is compiled and built.
7474 It is up to the package maintainer to decide what
7475 compilation options are best for the package. Certain
7476 binaries (such as computationally-intensive programs) will
7477 function better with certain flags (<tt>-O3</tt>, for
7478 example); feel free to use them. Please use good judgment
7479 here. Don't use flags for the sake of it; only use them
7480 if there is good reason to do so. Feel free to override
7481 the upstream author's ideas about which compilation
7482 options are best: they are often inappropriate for our
7488 <sect id="libraries">
7489 <heading>Libraries</heading>
7492 If the package is <strong>architecture: any</strong>, then
7493 the shared library compilation and linking flags must have
7494 <tt>-fPIC</tt>, or the package shall not build on some of
7495 the supported architectures<footnote>
7497 If you are using GCC, <tt>-fPIC</tt> produces code with
7498 relocatable position independent code, which is required for
7499 most architectures to create a shared library, with i386 and
7500 perhaps some others where non position independent code is
7501 permitted in a shared library.
7504 Position independent code may have a performance penalty,
7505 especially on <tt>i386</tt>. However, in most cases the
7506 speed penalty must be measured against the memory wasted on
7507 the few architectures where non position independent code is
7510 </footnote>. Any exception to this rule must be discussed on
7511 the mailing list <em>debian-devel@lists.debian.org</em>, and
7512 a rough consensus obtained. The reasons for not compiling
7513 with <tt>-fPIC</tt> flag must be recorded in the file
7514 <tt>README.Debian</tt>, and care must be taken to either
7515 restrict the architecture or arrange for <tt>-fPIC</tt> to
7516 be used on architectures where it is required.<footnote>
7518 Some of the reasons why this might be required is if the
7519 library contains hand crafted assembly code that is not
7520 relocatable, the speed penalty is excessive for compute
7521 intensive libs, and similar reasons.
7526 As to the static libraries, the common case is not to have
7527 relocatable code, since there is no benefit, unless in specific
7528 cases; therefore the static version must not be compiled
7529 with the <tt>-fPIC</tt> flag. Any exception to this rule
7530 should be discussed on the mailing list
7531 <em>debian-devel@lists.debian.org</em>, and the reasons for
7532 compiling with the <tt>-fPIC</tt> flag must be recorded in
7533 the file <tt>README.Debian</tt>. <footnote>
7535 Some of the reasons for linking static libraries with
7536 the <tt>-fPIC</tt> flag are if, for example, one needs a
7537 Perl API for a library that is under rapid development,
7538 and has an unstable API, so shared libraries are
7539 pointless at this phase of the library's development. In
7540 that case, since Perl needs a library with relocatable
7541 code, it may make sense to create a static library with
7542 relocatable code. Another reason cited is if you are
7543 distilling various libraries into a common shared
7544 library, like <tt>mklibs</tt> does in the Debian
7550 In other words, if both a shared and a static library is
7551 being built, each source unit (<tt>*.c</tt>, for example,
7552 for C files) will need to be compiled twice, for the normal
7557 Libraries should be built with threading support and to be
7558 thread-safe if the library supports this.
7562 Although not enforced by the build tools, shared libraries
7563 must be linked against all libraries that they use symbols from
7564 in the same way that binaries are. This ensures the correct
7565 functioning of the <qref id="sharedlibs-shlibdeps">shlibs</qref>
7566 system and guarantees that all libraries can be safely opened
7567 with <tt>dlopen()</tt>. Packagers may wish to use the gcc
7568 option <tt>-Wl,-z,defs</tt> when building a shared library.
7569 Since this option enforces symbol resolution at build time,
7570 a missing library reference will be caught early as a fatal
7575 All installed shared libraries should be stripped with
7576 <example compact="compact">
7577 strip --strip-unneeded <var>your-lib</var>
7579 (The option <tt>--strip-unneeded</tt> makes
7580 <prgn>strip</prgn> remove only the symbols which aren't
7581 needed for relocation processing.) Shared libraries can
7582 function perfectly well when stripped, since the symbols for
7583 dynamic linking are in a separate part of the ELF object
7585 You might also want to use the options
7586 <tt>--remove-section=.comment</tt> and
7587 <tt>--remove-section=.note</tt> on both shared libraries
7588 and executables, and <tt>--strip-debug</tt> on static
7594 Note that under some circumstances it may be useful to
7595 install a shared library unstripped, for example when
7596 building a separate package to support debugging.
7600 Shared object files (often <file>.so</file> files) that are not
7601 public libraries, that is, they are not meant to be linked
7602 to by third party executables (binaries of other packages),
7603 should be installed in subdirectories of the
7604 <file>/usr/lib</file> directory. Such files are exempt from the
7605 rules that govern ordinary shared libraries, except that
7606 they must not be installed executable and should be
7608 A common example are the so-called "plug-ins",
7609 internal shared objects that are dynamically loaded by
7610 programs using <manref name="dlopen" section="3">.
7615 Packages that use <prgn>libtool</prgn> to create and install
7616 their shared libraries install a file containing additional
7617 metadata (ending in <file>.la</file>) alongside the library.
7618 For public libraries intended for use by other packages, these
7619 files normally should not be included in the Debian package,
7620 since the information they include is not necessary to link with
7621 the shared library on Debian and can add unnecessary additional
7622 dependencies to other programs or libraries.<footnote>
7623 These files store, among other things, all libraries on which
7624 that shared library depends. Unfortunately, if
7625 the <file>.la</file> file is present and contains that
7626 dependency information, using <prgn>libtool</prgn> when
7627 linking against that library will cause the resulting program
7628 or library to be linked against those dependencies as well,
7629 even if this is unnecessary. This can create unneeded
7630 dependencies on shared library packages that would otherwise
7631 be hidden behind the library ABI, and can make library
7632 transitions to new SONAMEs unnecessarily complicated and
7633 difficult to manage.
7635 If the <file>.la</file> file is required for that library (if,
7636 for instance, it's loaded via <tt>libltdl</tt> in a way that
7637 requires that meta-information), the <tt>dependency_libs</tt>
7638 setting in the <file>.la</file> file should normally be set to
7639 the empty string. If the shared library development package has
7640 historically included the <file>.la</file>, it must be retained
7641 in the development package (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt>
7642 emptied) until all libraries that depend on it have removed or
7643 emptied <tt>dependency_libs</tt> in their <file>.la</file>
7644 files to prevent linking with those other libraries
7645 using <prgn>libtool</prgn> from failing.
7649 If the <file>.la</file> must be included, it should be included
7650 in the development (<tt>-dev</tt>) package, unless the library
7651 will be loaded by <prgn>libtool</prgn>'s <tt>libltdl</tt>
7652 library. If it is intended for use with <tt>libltdl</tt>,
7653 the <file>.la</file> files must go in the run-time library
7658 These requirements for handling of <file>.la</file> files do not
7659 apply to loadable modules or libraries not installed in
7660 directories searched by default by the dynamic linker. Packages
7661 installing loadable modules will frequently need to install
7662 the <file>.la</file> files alongside the modules so that they
7663 can be loaded by <tt>libltdl</tt>. <tt>dependency_libs</tt>
7664 does not need to be modified for libraries or modules that are
7665 not installed in directories searched by the dynamic linker by
7666 default and not intended for use by other packages.
7670 You must make sure that you use only released versions of
7671 shared libraries to build your packages; otherwise other
7672 users will not be able to run your binaries
7673 properly. Producing source packages that depend on
7674 unreleased compilers is also usually a bad
7681 <heading>Shared libraries</heading>
7683 This section has moved to <ref id="sharedlibs">.
7689 <heading>Scripts</heading>
7692 All command scripts, including the package maintainer
7693 scripts inside the package and used by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>,
7694 should have a <tt>#!</tt> line naming the shell to be used
7699 In the case of Perl scripts this should be
7700 <tt>#!/usr/bin/perl</tt>.
7704 When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
7705 PATH, the script name should not include an extension such
7706 as <tt>.sh</tt> or <tt>.pl</tt> that denotes the scripting
7707 language currently used to implement it.
7710 Shell scripts (<prgn>sh</prgn> and <prgn>bash</prgn>) other than
7711 <file>init.d</file> scripts should almost certainly start
7712 with <tt>set -e</tt> so that errors are detected.
7713 <file>init.d</file> scripts are something of a special case, due
7714 to how frequently they need to call commands that are allowed to
7715 fail, and it may instead be easier to check the exit status of
7716 commands directly. See <ref id="writing-init"> for more
7717 information about writing <file>init.d</file> scripts.
7720 Every script should use <tt>set -e</tt> or check the exit status
7721 of <em>every</em> command.
7724 Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> implements the
7725 SUSv3 Shell Command Language<footnote>
7726 Single UNIX Specification, version 3, which is also IEEE
7727 1003.1-2004 (POSIX), and is available on the World Wide Web
7728 from <url id="http://www.unix.org/version3/online.html"
7729 name="The Open Group"> after free
7730 registration.</footnote>
7731 plus the following additional features not mandated by
7733 These features are in widespread use in the Linux community
7734 and are implemented in all of bash, dash, and ksh, the most
7735 common shells users may wish to use as <file>/bin/sh</file>.
7738 <item><tt>echo -n</tt>, if implemented as a shell built-in,
7739 must not generate a newline.</item>
7740 <item><tt>test</tt>, if implemented as a shell built-in, must
7741 support <tt>-a</tt> and <tt>-o</tt> as binary logical
7743 <item><tt>local</tt> to create a scoped variable must be
7744 supported, including listing multiple variables in a single
7745 local command and assigning a value to a variable at the
7746 same time as localizing it. <tt>local</tt> may or
7747 may not preserve the variable value from an outer scope if
7748 no assignment is present. Uses such as:
7752 # ... use a, b, c, d ...
7755 must be supported and must set the value of <tt>c</tt> to
7758 <item>The XSI extension to <prgn>kill</prgn> allowing <tt>kill
7759 -<var>signal</var></tt>, where <var>signal</var> is either
7760 the name of a signal or one of the numeric signals listed in
7761 the XSI extension (0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 14, and 15), must be
7762 supported if <prgn>kill</prgn> is implemented as a shell
7765 <item>The XSI extension to <prgn>trap</prgn> allowing numeric
7766 signals must be supported. In addition to the signal
7767 numbers listed in the extension, which are the same as for
7768 <prgn>kill</prgn> above, 13 (SIGPIPE) must be allowed.
7771 If a shell script requires non-SUSv3 features from the shell
7772 interpreter other than those listed above, the appropriate shell
7773 must be specified in the first line of the script (e.g.,
7774 <tt>#!/bin/bash</tt>) and the package must depend on the package
7775 providing the shell (unless the shell package is marked
7776 "Essential", as in the case of <prgn>bash</prgn>).
7780 You may wish to restrict your script to SUSv3 features plus the
7781 above set when possible so that it may use <file>/bin/sh</file>
7782 as its interpreter. If your script works with <prgn>dash</prgn>
7783 (originally called <prgn>ash</prgn>), it probably complies with
7784 the above requirements, but if you are in doubt, use
7785 <file>/bin/bash</file>.
7789 Perl scripts should check for errors when making any
7790 system calls, including <tt>open</tt>, <tt>print</tt>,
7791 <tt>close</tt>, <tt>rename</tt> and <tt>system</tt>.
7795 <prgn>csh</prgn> and <prgn>tcsh</prgn> should be avoided as
7796 scripting languages. See <em>Csh Programming Considered
7797 Harmful</em>, one of the <tt>comp.unix.*</tt> FAQs, which
7798 can be found at <url id="http://www.faqs.org/faqs/unix-faq/shell/csh-whynot/">.
7799 If an upstream package comes with <prgn>csh</prgn> scripts
7800 then you must make sure that they start with
7801 <tt>#!/bin/csh</tt> and make your package depend on the
7802 <prgn>c-shell</prgn> virtual package.
7806 Any scripts which create files in world-writeable
7807 directories (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) must use a
7808 mechanism which will fail atomically if a file with the same
7809 name already exists.
7813 The Debian base system provides the <prgn>tempfile</prgn>
7814 and <prgn>mktemp</prgn> utilities for use by scripts for
7821 <heading>Symbolic links</heading>
7824 In general, symbolic links within a top-level directory
7825 should be relative, and symbolic links pointing from one
7826 top-level directory into another should be absolute. (A
7827 top-level directory is a sub-directory of the root
7828 directory <file>/</file>.)
7832 In addition, symbolic links should be specified as short as
7833 possible, i.e., link targets like <file>foo/../bar</file> are
7838 Note that when creating a relative link using
7839 <prgn>ln</prgn> it is not necessary for the target of the
7840 link to exist relative to the working directory you're
7841 running <prgn>ln</prgn> from, nor is it necessary to change
7842 directory to the directory where the link is to be made.
7843 Simply include the string that should appear as the target
7844 of the link (this will be a pathname relative to the
7845 directory in which the link resides) as the first argument
7850 For example, in your <prgn>Makefile</prgn> or
7851 <file>debian/rules</file>, you can do things like:
7852 <example compact="compact">
7853 ln -fs gcc $(prefix)/bin/cc
7854 ln -fs gcc debian/tmp/usr/bin/cc
7855 ln -fs ../sbin/sendmail $(prefix)/bin/runq
7856 ln -fs ../sbin/sendmail debian/tmp/usr/bin/runq
7861 A symbolic link pointing to a compressed file should always
7862 have the same file extension as the referenced file. (For
7863 example, if a file <file>foo.gz</file> is referenced by a
7864 symbolic link, the filename of the link has to end with
7865 "<file>.gz</file>" too, as in <file>bar.gz</file>.)
7870 <heading>Device files</heading>
7873 Packages must not include device files or named pipes in the
7878 If a package needs any special device files that are not
7879 included in the base system, it must call
7880 <prgn>MAKEDEV</prgn> in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script,
7881 after notifying the user<footnote>
7882 This notification could be done via a (low-priority)
7883 debconf message, or an echo (printf) statement.
7888 Packages must not remove any device files in the
7889 <prgn>postrm</prgn> or any other script. This is left to the
7890 system administrator.
7894 Debian uses the serial devices
7895 <file>/dev/ttyS*</file>. Programs using the old
7896 <file>/dev/cu*</file> devices should be changed to use
7897 <file>/dev/ttyS*</file>.
7901 Named pipes needed by the package must be created in
7902 the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script<footnote>
7903 It's better to use <prgn>mkfifo</prgn> rather
7904 than <prgn>mknod</prgn> to create named pipes so that
7905 automated checks for packages incorrectly creating device
7906 files with <prgn>mknod</prgn> won't have false positives.
7907 </footnote> and removed in
7908 the <prgn>prerm</prgn> or <prgn>postrm</prgn> script as
7913 <sect id="config-files">
7914 <heading>Configuration files</heading>
7917 <heading>Definitions</heading>
7921 <tag>configuration file</tag>
7923 A file that affects the operation of a program, or
7924 provides site- or host-specific information, or
7925 otherwise customizes the behavior of a program.
7926 Typically, configuration files are intended to be
7927 modified by the system administrator (if needed or
7928 desired) to conform to local policy or to provide
7929 more useful site-specific behavior.
7932 <tag><tt>conffile</tt></tag>
7934 A file listed in a package's <tt>conffiles</tt>
7935 file, and is treated specially by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
7936 (see <ref id="configdetails">).
7942 The distinction between these two is important; they are
7943 not interchangeable concepts. Almost all
7944 <tt>conffile</tt>s are configuration files, but many
7945 configuration files are not <tt>conffiles</tt>.
7949 As noted elsewhere, <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts,
7950 <file>/etc/default</file> files, scripts installed in
7951 <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file>, and cron
7952 configuration installed in <file>/etc/cron.d</file> must be
7953 treated as configuration files. In general, any script that
7954 embeds configuration information is de-facto a configuration
7955 file and should be treated as such.
7960 <heading>Location</heading>
7963 Any configuration files created or used by your package
7964 must reside in <file>/etc</file>. If there are several,
7965 consider creating a subdirectory of <file>/etc</file>
7966 named after your package.
7970 If your package creates or uses configuration files
7971 outside of <file>/etc</file>, and it is not feasible to modify
7972 the package to use <file>/etc</file> directly, put the files
7973 in <file>/etc</file> and create symbolic links to those files
7974 from the location that the package requires.
7979 <heading>Behavior</heading>
7982 Configuration file handling must conform to the following
7984 <list compact="compact">
7986 local changes must be preserved during a package
7990 configuration files must be preserved when the
7991 package is removed, and only deleted when the
7995 Obsolete configuration files without local changes may be
7996 removed by the package during upgrade.
8000 The easy way to achieve this behavior is to make the
8001 configuration file a <tt>conffile</tt>. This is
8002 appropriate only if it is possible to distribute a default
8003 version that will work for most installations, although
8004 some system administrators may choose to modify it. This
8005 implies that the default version will be part of the
8006 package distribution, and must not be modified by the
8007 maintainer scripts during installation (or at any other
8012 In order to ensure that local changes are preserved
8013 correctly, no package may contain or make hard links to
8014 conffiles.<footnote>
8015 Rationale: There are two problems with hard links.
8016 The first is that some editors break the link while
8017 editing one of the files, so that the two files may
8018 unwittingly become unlinked and different. The second
8019 is that <prgn>dpkg</prgn> might break the hard link
8020 while upgrading <tt>conffile</tt>s.
8025 The other way to do it is via the maintainer scripts. In
8026 this case, the configuration file must not be listed as a
8027 <tt>conffile</tt> and must not be part of the package
8028 distribution. If the existence of a file is required for
8029 the package to be sensibly configured it is the
8030 responsibility of the package maintainer to provide
8031 maintainer scripts which correctly create, update and
8032 maintain the file and remove it on purge. (See <ref
8033 id="maintainerscripts"> for more information.) These
8034 scripts must be idempotent (i.e., must work correctly if
8035 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> needs to re-run them due to errors
8036 during installation or removal), must cope with all the
8037 variety of ways <prgn>dpkg</prgn> can call maintainer
8038 scripts, must not overwrite or otherwise mangle the user's
8039 configuration without asking, must not ask unnecessary
8040 questions (particularly during upgrades), and must
8041 otherwise be good citizens.
8045 The scripts are not required to configure every possible
8046 option for the package, but only those necessary to get
8047 the package running on a given system. Ideally the
8048 sysadmin should not have to do any configuration other
8049 than that done (semi-)automatically by the
8050 <prgn>postinst</prgn> script.
8054 A common practice is to create a script called
8055 <file><var>package</var>-configure</file> and have the
8056 package's <prgn>postinst</prgn> call it if and only if the
8057 configuration file does not already exist. In certain
8058 cases it is useful for there to be an example or template
8059 file which the maintainer scripts use. Such files should
8060 be in <file>/usr/share/<var>package</var></file> or
8061 <file>/usr/lib/<var>package</var></file> (depending on whether
8062 they are architecture-independent or not). There should
8063 be symbolic links to them from
8064 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/examples</file> if
8065 they are examples, and should be perfectly ordinary
8066 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>-handled files (<em>not</em>
8067 configuration files).
8071 These two styles of configuration file handling must
8072 not be mixed, for that way lies madness:
8073 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will ask about overwriting the file
8074 every time the package is upgraded.
8079 <heading>Sharing configuration files</heading>
8082 Packages which specify the same file as a
8083 <tt>conffile</tt> must be tagged as <em>conflicting</em>
8084 with each other. (This is an instance of the general rule
8085 about not sharing files. Note that neither alternatives
8086 nor diversions are likely to be appropriate in this case;
8087 in particular, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> does not handle diverted
8088 <tt>conffile</tt>s well.)
8092 The maintainer scripts must not alter a <tt>conffile</tt>
8093 of <em>any</em> package, including the one the scripts
8098 If two or more packages use the same configuration file
8099 and it is reasonable for both to be installed at the same
8100 time, one of these packages must be defined as
8101 <em>owner</em> of the configuration file, i.e., it will be
8102 the package which handles that file as a configuration
8103 file. Other packages that use the configuration file must
8104 depend on the owning package if they require the
8105 configuration file to operate. If the other package will
8106 use the configuration file if present, but is capable of
8107 operating without it, no dependency need be declared.
8111 If it is desirable for two or more related packages to
8112 share a configuration file <em>and</em> for all of the
8113 related packages to be able to modify that configuration
8114 file, then the following should be done:
8115 <enumlist compact="compact">
8117 One of the related packages (the "owning" package)
8118 will manage the configuration file with maintainer
8119 scripts as described in the previous section.
8122 The owning package should also provide a program
8123 that the other packages may use to modify the
8127 The related packages must use the provided program
8128 to make any desired modifications to the
8129 configuration file. They should either depend on
8130 the core package to guarantee that the configuration
8131 modifier program is available or accept gracefully
8132 that they cannot modify the configuration file if it
8133 is not. (This is in addition to the fact that the
8134 configuration file may not even be present in the
8141 Sometimes it's appropriate to create a new package which
8142 provides the basic infrastructure for the other packages
8143 and which manages the shared configuration files. (The
8144 <tt>sgml-base</tt> package is a good example.)
8149 <heading>User configuration files ("dotfiles")</heading>
8152 The files in <file>/etc/skel</file> will automatically be
8153 copied into new user accounts by <prgn>adduser</prgn>.
8154 No other program should reference the files in
8155 <file>/etc/skel</file>.
8159 Therefore, if a program needs a dotfile to exist in
8160 advance in <file>$HOME</file> to work sensibly, that dotfile
8161 should be installed in <file>/etc/skel</file> and treated as a
8166 However, programs that require dotfiles in order to
8167 operate sensibly are a bad thing, unless they do create
8168 the dotfiles themselves automatically.
8172 Furthermore, programs should be configured by the Debian
8173 default installation to behave as closely to the upstream
8174 default behavior as possible.
8178 Therefore, if a program in a Debian package needs to be
8179 configured in some way in order to operate sensibly, that
8180 should be done using a site-wide configuration file placed
8181 in <file>/etc</file>. Only if the program doesn't support a
8182 site-wide default configuration and the package maintainer
8183 doesn't have time to add it may a default per-user file be
8184 placed in <file>/etc/skel</file>.
8188 <file>/etc/skel</file> should be as empty as we can make it.
8189 This is particularly true because there is no easy (or
8190 necessarily desirable) mechanism for ensuring that the
8191 appropriate dotfiles are copied into the accounts of
8192 existing users when a package is installed.
8198 <heading>Log files</heading>
8200 Log files should usually be named
8201 <file>/var/log/<var>package</var>.log</file>. If you have many
8202 log files, or need a separate directory for permission
8203 reasons (<file>/var/log</file> is writable only by
8204 <file>root</file>), you should usually create a directory named
8205 <file>/var/log/<var>package</var></file> and place your log
8210 Log files must be rotated occasionally so that they don't grow
8211 indefinitely. The best way to do this is to install a log
8212 rotation configuration file in the
8213 directory <file>/etc/logrotate.d</file>, normally
8214 named <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file>, and use
8215 the facilities provided by <prgn>logrotate</prgn>.
8218 The traditional approach to log files has been to set up
8219 <em>ad hoc</em> log rotation schemes using simple shell
8220 scripts and cron. While this approach is highly
8221 customizable, it requires quite a lot of sysadmin work.
8222 Even though the original Debian system helped a little
8223 by automatically installing a system which can be used
8224 as a template, this was deemed not enough.
8228 The use of <prgn>logrotate</prgn>, a program developed
8229 by Red Hat, is better, as it centralizes log management.
8230 It has both a configuration file
8231 (<file>/etc/logrotate.conf</file>) and a directory where
8232 packages can drop their individual log rotation
8233 configurations (<file>/etc/logrotate.d</file>).
8236 Here is a good example for a logrotate config
8237 file (for more information see <manref name="logrotate"
8239 <example compact="compact">
8240 /var/log/foo/*.log {
8246 start-stop-daemon -K -p /var/run/foo.pid -s HUP -x /usr/sbin/foo -q
8250 This rotates all files under <file>/var/log/foo</file>, saves 12
8251 compressed generations, and tells the daemon to reopen its log
8252 files after the log rotation. It skips this log rotation
8253 (via <tt>missingok</tt>) if no such log file is present, which
8254 avoids errors if the package is removed but not purged.
8258 Log files should be removed when the package is
8259 purged (but not when it is only removed). This should be
8260 done by the <prgn>postrm</prgn> script when it is called
8261 with the argument <tt>purge</tt> (see <ref
8262 id="removedetails">).
8266 <sect id="permissions-owners">
8267 <heading>Permissions and owners</heading>
8270 The rules in this section are guidelines for general use.
8271 If necessary you may deviate from the details below.
8272 However, if you do so you must make sure that what is done
8273 is secure and you should try to be as consistent as possible
8274 with the rest of the system. You should probably also
8275 discuss it on <prgn>debian-devel</prgn> first.
8279 Files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>, and made
8280 writable only by the owner and universally readable (and
8281 executable, if appropriate), that is mode 644 or 755.
8285 Directories should be mode 755 or (for group-writability)
8286 mode 2775. The ownership of the directory should be
8287 consistent with its mode: if a directory is mode 2775, it
8288 should be owned by the group that needs write access to
8291 When a package is upgraded, and the owner or permissions
8292 of a file included in the package has changed, dpkg
8293 arranges for the ownership and permissions to be
8294 correctly set upon installation. However, this does not
8295 extend to directories; the permissions and ownership of
8296 directories already on the system does not change on
8297 install or upgrade of packages. This makes sense, since
8298 otherwise common directories like <tt>/usr</tt> would
8299 always be in flux. To correctly change permissions of a
8300 directory the package owns, explicit action is required,
8301 usually in the <tt>postinst</tt> script. Care must be
8302 taken to handle downgrades as well, in that case.
8308 Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
8309 and either mode 644 (for most files) or mode 755 (for
8310 executables such as <qref id="maintscripts">maintainer
8315 Setuid and setgid executables should be mode 4755 or 2755
8316 respectively, and owned by the appropriate user or group.
8317 They should not be made unreadable (modes like 4711 or
8318 2711 or even 4111); doing so achieves no extra security,
8319 because anyone can find the binary in the freely available
8320 Debian package; it is merely inconvenient. For the same
8321 reason you should not restrict read or execute permissions
8322 on non-set-id executables.
8326 Some setuid programs need to be restricted to particular
8327 sets of users, using file permissions. In this case they
8328 should be owned by the uid to which they are set-id, and by
8329 the group which should be allowed to execute them. They
8330 should have mode 4754; again there is no point in making
8331 them unreadable to those users who must not be allowed to
8336 It is possible to arrange that the system administrator can
8337 reconfigure the package to correspond to their local
8338 security policy by changing the permissions on a binary:
8339 they can do this by using <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn>, as
8340 described below.<footnote>
8341 Ordinary files installed by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> (as
8342 opposed to <tt>conffile</tt>s and other similar objects)
8343 normally have their permissions reset to the distributed
8344 permissions when the package is reinstalled. However,
8345 the use of <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn> overrides this
8348 Another method you should consider is to create a group for
8349 people allowed to use the program(s) and make any setuid
8350 executables executable only by that group.
8354 If you need to create a new user or group for your package
8355 there are two possibilities. Firstly, you may need to
8356 make some files in the binary package be owned by this
8357 user or group, or you may need to compile the user or
8358 group id (rather than just the name) into the binary
8359 (though this latter should be avoided if possible, as in
8360 this case you need a statically allocated id).</p>
8363 If you need a statically allocated id, you must ask for a
8364 user or group id from the <tt>base-passwd</tt> maintainer,
8365 and must not release the package until you have been
8366 allocated one. Once you have been allocated one you must
8367 either make the package depend on a version of the
8368 <tt>base-passwd</tt> package with the id present in
8369 <file>/etc/passwd</file> or <file>/etc/group</file>, or arrange for
8370 your package to create the user or group itself with the
8371 correct id (using <tt>adduser</tt>) in its
8372 <prgn>preinst</prgn> or <prgn>postinst</prgn>. (Doing it in
8373 the <prgn>postinst</prgn> is to be preferred if it is
8374 possible, otherwise a pre-dependency will be needed on the
8375 <tt>adduser</tt> package.)
8379 On the other hand, the program might be able to determine
8380 the uid or gid from the user or group name at runtime, so
8381 that a dynamically allocated id can be used. In this case
8382 you should choose an appropriate user or group name,
8383 discussing this on <prgn>debian-devel</prgn> and checking
8384 with the <package/base-passwd/ maintainer that it is unique and that
8385 they do not wish you to use a statically allocated id
8386 instead. When this has been checked you must arrange for
8387 your package to create the user or group if necessary using
8388 <prgn>adduser</prgn> in the <prgn>preinst</prgn> or
8389 <prgn>postinst</prgn> script (again, the latter is to be
8390 preferred if it is possible).
8394 Note that changing the numeric value of an id associated
8395 with a name is very difficult, and involves searching the
8396 file system for all appropriate files. You need to think
8397 carefully whether a static or dynamic id is required, since
8398 changing your mind later will cause problems.
8401 <sect1><heading>The use of <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn></heading>
8403 This section is not intended as policy, but as a
8404 description of the use of <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn>.
8408 If a system administrator wishes to have a file (or
8409 directory or other such thing) installed with owner and
8410 permissions different from those in the distributed Debian
8411 package, they can use the <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn>
8412 program to instruct <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to use the different
8413 settings every time the file is installed. Thus the
8414 package maintainer should distribute the files with their
8415 normal permissions, and leave it for the system
8416 administrator to make any desired changes. For example, a
8417 daemon which is normally required to be setuid root, but
8418 in certain situations could be used without being setuid,
8419 should be installed setuid in the <tt>.deb</tt>. Then the
8420 local system administrator can change this if they wish.
8421 If there are two standard ways of doing it, the package
8422 maintainer can use <tt>debconf</tt> to find out the
8423 preference, and call <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn> in the
8424 maintainer script if necessary to accommodate the system
8425 administrator's choice. Care must be taken during
8426 upgrades to not override an existing setting.
8430 Given the above, <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn> is
8431 essentially a tool for system administrators and would not
8432 normally be needed in the maintainer scripts. There is
8433 one type of situation, though, where calls to
8434 <prgn>dpkg-statoverride</prgn> would be needed in the
8435 maintainer scripts, and that involves packages which use
8436 dynamically allocated user or group ids. In such a
8437 situation, something like the following idiom can be very
8438 helpful in the package's <prgn>postinst</prgn>, where
8439 <tt>sysuser</tt> is a dynamically allocated id:
8441 for i in /usr/bin/foo /usr/sbin/bar
8443 # only do something when no setting exists
8444 if ! dpkg-statoverride --list $i >/dev/null 2>&1
8446 #include: debconf processing, question about foo and bar
8447 if [ "$RET" = "true" ] ; then
8448 dpkg-statoverride --update --add sysuser root 4755 $i
8453 The corresponding code to remove the override when the package
8456 for i in /usr/bin/foo /usr/sbin/bar
8458 if dpkg-statoverride --list $i >/dev/null 2>&1
8460 dpkg-statoverride --remove $i
8470 <chapt id="customized-programs">
8471 <heading>Customized programs</heading>
8473 <sect id="arch-spec">
8474 <heading>Architecture specification strings</heading>
8477 If a program needs to specify an <em>architecture specification
8478 string</em> in some place, it should select one of the strings
8479 provided by <tt>dpkg-architecture -L</tt>. The strings are in
8480 the format <tt><var>os</var>-<var>arch</var></tt>, though the OS
8481 part is sometimes elided, as when the OS is Linux.
8485 Note that we don't want to use
8486 <tt><var>arch</var>-debian-linux</tt> to apply to the rule
8487 <tt><var>architecture</var>-<var>vendor</var>-<var>os</var></tt>
8488 since this would make our programs incompatible with other
8489 Linux distributions. We also don't use something like
8490 <tt><var>arch</var>-unknown-linux</tt>, since the
8491 <tt>unknown</tt> does not look very good.
8494 <sect1 id="arch-wildcard-spec">
8495 <heading>Architecture wildcards</heading>
8498 A package may specify an architecture wildcard. Architecture
8499 wildcards are in the format <tt>any</tt> (which matches every
8500 architecture), <tt><var>os</var></tt>-any, or
8501 any-<tt><var>cpu</var></tt>. <footnote>
8502 Internally, the package system normalizes the GNU triplets
8503 and the Debian arches into Debian arch triplets (which are
8504 kind of inverted GNU triplets), with the first component of
8505 the triplet representing the libc and ABI in use, and then
8506 does matching against those triplets. However, such
8507 triplets are an internal implementation detail that should
8508 not be used by packages directly. The libc and ABI portion
8509 is handled internally by the package system based on
8510 the <var>os</var> and <var>cpu</var>.
8517 <heading>Daemons</heading>
8520 The configuration files <file>/etc/services</file>,
8521 <file>/etc/protocols</file>, and <file>/etc/rpc</file> are managed
8522 by the <prgn>netbase</prgn> package and must not be modified
8527 If a package requires a new entry in one of these files, the
8528 maintainer should get in contact with the
8529 <prgn>netbase</prgn> maintainer, who will add the entries
8530 and release a new version of the <prgn>netbase</prgn>
8535 The configuration file <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file> must not be
8536 modified by the package's scripts except via the
8537 <prgn>update-inetd</prgn> script or the
8538 <file>DebianNet.pm</file> Perl module. See their documentation
8539 for details on how to add entries.
8543 If a package wants to install an example entry into
8544 <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>, the entry must be preceded with
8545 exactly one hash character (<tt>#</tt>). Such lines are
8546 treated as "commented out by user" by the
8547 <prgn>update-inetd</prgn> script and are not changed or
8548 activated during package updates.
8553 <heading>Using pseudo-ttys and modifying wtmp, utmp and
8557 Some programs need to create pseudo-ttys. This should be done
8558 using Unix98 ptys if the C library supports it. The resulting
8559 program must not be installed setuid root, unless that
8560 is required for other functionality.
8564 The files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>, <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and
8565 <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be installed writable by
8566 group <tt>utmp</tt>. Programs which need to modify those
8567 files must be installed setgid <tt>utmp</tt>.
8572 <heading>Editors and pagers</heading>
8575 Some programs have the ability to launch an editor or pager
8576 program to edit or display a text document. Since there are
8577 lots of different editors and pagers available in the Debian
8578 distribution, the system administrator and each user should
8579 have the possibility to choose their preferred editor and
8584 In addition, every program should choose a good default
8585 editor/pager if none is selected by the user or system
8590 Thus, every program that launches an editor or pager must
8591 use the EDITOR or PAGER environment variable to determine
8592 the editor or pager the user wishes to use. If these
8593 variables are not set, the programs <file>/usr/bin/editor</file>
8594 and <file>/usr/bin/pager</file> should be used, respectively.
8598 These two files are managed through the <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
8599 "alternatives" mechanism. Every package providing an editor or
8600 pager must call the <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> script to
8601 register as an alternative for <file>/usr/bin/editor</file>
8602 or <file>/usr/bin/pager</file> as appropriate. The alternative
8603 should have a slave alternative
8604 for <file>/usr/share/man/man1/editor.1.gz</file>
8605 or <file>/usr/share/man/man1/pager.1.gz</file> pointing to the
8606 corresponding manual page.
8610 If it is very hard to adapt a program to make use of the
8611 EDITOR or PAGER variables, that program may be configured to
8612 use <file>/usr/bin/sensible-editor</file> and
8613 <file>/usr/bin/sensible-pager</file> as the editor or pager
8614 program respectively. These are two scripts provided in the
8615 <package>sensible-utils</package> package that check the EDITOR
8616 and PAGER variables and launch the appropriate program, and fall
8617 back to <file>/usr/bin/editor</file>
8618 and <file>/usr/bin/pager</file> if the variable is not set.
8622 A program may also use the VISUAL environment variable to
8623 determine the user's choice of editor. If it exists, it
8624 should take precedence over EDITOR. This is in fact what
8625 <file>/usr/bin/sensible-editor</file> does.
8629 It is not required for a package to depend on
8630 <tt>editor</tt> and <tt>pager</tt>, nor is it required for a
8631 package to provide such virtual packages.<footnote>
8632 The Debian base system already provides an editor and a
8638 <sect id="web-appl">
8639 <heading>Web servers and applications</heading>
8642 This section describes the locations and URLs that should
8643 be used by all web servers and web applications in the
8650 Cgi-bin executable files are installed in the
8652 <example compact="compact">
8653 /usr/lib/cgi-bin/<var>cgi-bin-name</var>
8655 or a subdirectory of that directory, and should be
8657 <example compact="compact">
8658 http://localhost/cgi-bin/<var>cgi-bin-name</var>
8660 (possibly with a subdirectory name
8661 before <var>cgi-bin-name</var>).
8665 <p>Access to HTML documents</p>
8668 HTML documents for a package are stored in
8669 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>
8670 and can be referred to as
8671 <example compact="compact">
8672 http://localhost/doc/<var>package</var>/<var>filename</var>
8677 The web server should restrict access to the document
8678 tree so that only clients on the same host can read
8679 the documents. If the web server does not support such
8680 access controls, then it should not provide access at
8681 all, or ask about providing access during installation.
8686 <p>Access to images</p>
8688 It is recommended that images for a package be stored
8689 in <tt>/usr/share/images/<var>package</var></tt> and
8690 may be referred to through an alias <tt>/images/</tt>
8693 http://localhost/images/<package>/<filename>
8700 <p>Web Document Root</p>
8703 Web Applications should try to avoid storing files in
8704 the Web Document Root. Instead they should use the
8705 /usr/share/doc/<var>package</var> directory for
8706 documents and register the Web Application via the
8707 <package>doc-base</package> package. If access to the
8708 web document root is unavoidable then use
8709 <example compact="compact">
8712 as the Document Root. This might be just a symbolic
8713 link to the location where the system administrator
8714 has put the real document root.
8717 <item><p>Providing httpd and/or httpd-cgi</p>
8719 All web servers should provide the virtual package
8720 <tt>httpd</tt>. If a web server has CGI support it should
8721 provide <tt>httpd-cgi</tt> additionally.
8724 All web applications which do not contain CGI scripts should
8725 depend on <tt>httpd</tt>, all those web applications which
8726 <tt>do</tt> contain CGI scripts, should depend on
8734 <sect id="mail-transport-agents">
8735 <heading>Mail transport, delivery and user agents</heading>
8738 Debian packages which process electronic mail, whether mail
8739 user agents (MUAs) or mail transport agents (MTAs), must
8740 ensure that they are compatible with the configuration
8741 decisions below. Failure to do this may result in lost
8742 mail, broken <tt>From:</tt> lines, and other serious brain
8747 The mail spool is <file>/var/mail</file> and the interface to
8748 send a mail message is <file>/usr/sbin/sendmail</file> (as per
8749 the FHS). On older systems, the mail spool may be
8750 physically located in <file>/var/spool/mail</file>, but all
8751 access to the mail spool should be via the
8752 <file>/var/mail</file> symlink. The mail spool is part of the
8753 base system and not part of the MTA package.
8757 All Debian MUAs, MTAs, MDAs and other mailbox accessing
8758 programs (such as IMAP daemons) must lock the mailbox in an
8759 NFS-safe way. This means that <tt>fcntl()</tt> locking must
8760 be combined with dot locking. To avoid deadlocks, a program
8761 should use <tt>fcntl()</tt> first and dot locking after
8762 this, or alternatively implement the two locking methods in
8763 a non blocking way<footnote>
8764 If it is not possible to establish both locks, the
8765 system shouldn't wait for the second lock to be
8766 established, but remove the first lock, wait a (random)
8767 time, and start over locking again.
8768 </footnote>. Using the functions <tt>maillock</tt> and
8769 <tt>mailunlock</tt> provided by the
8770 <tt>liblockfile*</tt><footnote>
8771 You will need to depend on <tt>liblockfile1 (>>1.01)</tt>
8772 to use these functions.
8773 </footnote> packages is the recommended way to realize this.
8777 Mailboxes are generally either mode 600 and owned by
8778 <var>user</var> or mode 660 and owned by
8779 <tt><var>user</var>:mail</tt><footnote>
8780 There are two traditional permission schemes for mail spools:
8781 mode 600 with all mail delivery done by processes running as
8782 the destination user, or mode 660 and owned by group mail with
8783 mail delivery done by a process running as a system user in
8784 group mail. Historically, Debian required mode 660 mail
8785 spools to enable the latter model, but that model has become
8786 increasingly uncommon and the principle of least privilege
8787 indicates that mail systems that use the first model should
8788 use permissions of 600. If delivery to programs is permitted,
8789 it's easier to keep the mail system secure if the delivery
8790 agent runs as the destination user. Debian Policy therefore
8791 permits either scheme.
8792 </footnote>. The local system administrator may choose a
8793 different permission scheme; packages should not make
8794 assumptions about the permission and ownership of mailboxes
8795 unless required (such as when creating a new mailbox). A MUA
8796 may remove a mailbox (unless it has nonstandard permissions) in
8797 which case the MTA or another MUA must recreate it if needed.
8801 The mail spool is 2775 <tt>root:mail</tt>, and MUAs should
8802 be setgid mail to do the locking mentioned above (and
8803 must obviously avoid accessing other users' mailboxes
8804 using this privilege).</p>
8807 <file>/etc/aliases</file> is the source file for the system mail
8808 aliases (e.g., postmaster, usenet, etc.), it is the one
8809 which the sysadmin and <prgn>postinst</prgn> scripts may
8810 edit. After <file>/etc/aliases</file> is edited the program or
8811 human editing it must call <prgn>newaliases</prgn>. All MTA
8812 packages must come with a <prgn>newaliases</prgn> program,
8813 even if it does nothing, but older MTA packages did not do
8814 this so programs should not fail if <prgn>newaliases</prgn>
8815 cannot be found. Note that because of this, all MTA
8816 packages must have <tt>Provides</tt>, <tt>Conflicts</tt> and
8817 <tt>Replaces: mail-transport-agent</tt> control fields.
8821 The convention of writing <tt>forward to
8822 <var>address</var></tt> in the mailbox itself is not
8823 supported. Use a <tt>.forward</tt> file instead.</p>
8826 The <prgn>rmail</prgn> program used by UUCP
8827 for incoming mail should be <file>/usr/sbin/rmail</file>.
8828 Likewise, <prgn>rsmtp</prgn>, for receiving
8829 batch-SMTP-over-UUCP, should be <file>/usr/sbin/rsmtp</file> if it
8833 If your package needs to know what hostname to use on (for
8834 example) outgoing news and mail messages which are generated
8835 locally, you should use the file <file>/etc/mailname</file>. It
8836 will contain the portion after the username and <tt>@</tt>
8837 (at) sign for email addresses of users on the machine
8838 (followed by a newline).
8842 Such a package should check for the existence of this file
8843 when it is being configured. If it exists, it should be
8844 used without comment, although an MTA's configuration script
8845 may wish to prompt the user even if it finds that this file
8846 exists. If the file does not exist, the package should
8847 prompt the user for the value (preferably using
8848 <prgn>debconf</prgn>) and store it in <file>/etc/mailname</file>
8849 as well as using it in the package's configuration. The
8850 prompt should make it clear that the name will not just be
8851 used by that package. For example, in this situation the
8852 <tt>inn</tt> package could say something like:
8853 <example compact="compact">
8854 Please enter the "mail name" of your system. This is the
8855 hostname portion of the address to be shown on outgoing
8856 news and mail messages. The default is
8857 <var>syshostname</var>, your system's host name. Mail
8858 name ["<var>syshostname</var>"]:
8860 where <var>syshostname</var> is the output of <tt>hostname
8866 <heading>News system configuration</heading>
8869 All the configuration files related to the NNTP (news)
8870 servers and clients should be located under
8871 <file>/etc/news</file>.</p>
8874 There are some configuration issues that apply to a number
8875 of news clients and server packages on the machine. These
8879 <tag><file>/etc/news/organization</file></tag>
8881 A string which should appear as the
8882 organization header for all messages posted
8883 by NNTP clients on the machine
8886 <tag><file>/etc/news/server</file></tag>
8888 Contains the FQDN of the upstream NNTP
8889 server, or localhost if the local machine is
8894 Other global files may be added as required for cross-package news
8901 <heading>Programs for the X Window System</heading>
8904 <heading>Providing X support and package priorities</heading>
8907 Programs that can be configured with support for the X
8908 Window System must be configured to do so and must declare
8909 any package dependencies necessary to satisfy their
8910 runtime requirements when using the X Window System. If
8911 such a package is of higher priority than the X packages
8912 on which it depends, it is required that either the
8913 X-specific components be split into a separate package, or
8914 that an alternative version of the package, which includes
8915 X support, be provided, or that the package's priority be
8921 <heading>Packages providing an X server</heading>
8924 Packages that provide an X server that, directly or
8925 indirectly, communicates with real input and display
8926 hardware should declare in their <tt>Provides</tt> control
8927 field that they provide the virtual
8928 package <tt>xserver</tt>.<footnote>
8929 This implements current practice, and provides an
8930 actual policy for usage of the <tt>xserver</tt>
8931 virtual package which appears in the virtual packages
8932 list. In a nutshell, X servers that interface
8933 directly with the display and input hardware or via
8934 another subsystem (e.g., GGI) should provide
8935 <tt>xserver</tt>. Things like <tt>Xvfb</tt>,
8936 <tt>Xnest</tt>, and <tt>Xprt</tt> should not.
8942 <heading>Packages providing a terminal emulator</heading>
8945 Packages that provide a terminal emulator for the X Window
8946 System which meet the criteria listed below should declare in
8947 their <tt>Provides</tt> control field that they provide the
8948 virtual package <tt>x-terminal-emulator</tt>. They should
8949 also register themselves as an alternative for
8950 <file>/usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator</file>, with a priority of
8951 20. That alternative should have a slave alternative
8952 for <file>/usr/share/man/man1/x-terminal-emulator.1.gz</file>
8953 pointing to the corresponding manual page.
8957 To be an <tt>x-terminal-emulator</tt>, a program must:
8958 <list compact="compact">
8960 Be able to emulate a DEC VT100 terminal, or a
8961 compatible terminal.
8965 Support the command-line option <tt>-e
8966 <var>command</var></tt>, which creates a new
8967 terminal window<footnote>
8968 "New terminal window" does not necessarily mean
8969 a new top-level X window directly parented by
8970 the window manager; it could, if the terminal
8971 emulator application were so coded, be a new
8972 "view" in a multiple-document interface (MDI).
8974 and runs the specified <var>command</var>,
8975 interpreting the entirety of the rest of the command
8976 line as a command to pass straight to exec, in the
8977 manner that <tt>xterm</tt> does.
8981 Support the command-line option <tt>-T
8982 <var>title</var></tt>, which creates a new terminal
8983 window with the window title <var>title</var>.
8990 <heading>Packages providing a window manager</heading>
8993 Packages that provide a window manager should declare in
8994 their <tt>Provides</tt> control field that they provide the
8995 virtual package <tt>x-window-manager</tt>. They should also
8996 register themselves as an alternative for
8997 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>, with a priority
8998 calculated as follows:
8999 <list compact="compact">
9001 Start with a priority of 20.
9005 If the window manager supports the Debian menu
9006 system, add 20 points if this support is available
9007 in the package's default configuration (i.e., no
9008 configuration files belonging to the system or user
9009 have to be edited to activate the feature); if
9010 configuration files must be modified, add only 10
9016 If the window manager complies with <url
9017 id="http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/wm-spec"
9018 name="The Window Manager Specification Project">,
9019 written by the <url id="http://www.freedesktop.org/"
9020 name="Free Desktop Group">, add 40 points.
9024 If the window manager permits the X session to be
9025 restarted using a <em>different</em> window manager
9026 (without killing the X server) in its default
9027 configuration, add 10 points; otherwise add none.
9030 That alternative should have a slave alternative
9031 for <file>/usr/share/man/man1/x-window-manager.1.gz</file>
9032 pointing to the corresponding manual page.
9037 <heading>Packages providing fonts</heading>
9040 Packages that provide fonts for the X Window
9042 For the purposes of Debian Policy, a "font for the X
9043 Window System" is one which is accessed via X protocol
9044 requests. Fonts for the Linux console, for PostScript
9045 renderer, or any other purpose, do not fit this
9046 definition. Any tool which makes such fonts available
9047 to the X Window System, however, must abide by this
9050 must do a number of things to ensure that they are both
9051 available without modification of the X or font server
9052 configuration, and that they do not corrupt files used by
9053 other font packages to register information about
9057 Fonts of any type supported by the X Window System
9058 must be in a separate binary package from any
9059 executables, libraries, or documentation (except
9060 that specific to the fonts shipped, such as their
9061 license information). If one or more of the fonts
9062 so packaged are necessary for proper operation of
9063 the package with which they are associated the font
9064 package may be Recommended; if the fonts merely
9065 provide an enhancement, a Suggests relationship may
9066 be used. Packages must not Depend on font
9068 This is because the X server may retrieve fonts
9069 from the local file system or over the network
9070 from an X font server; the Debian package system
9071 is empowered to deal only with the local
9077 BDF fonts must be converted to PCF fonts with the
9078 <prgn>bdftopcf</prgn> utility (available in the
9079 <tt>xfonts-utils</tt> package, <prgn>gzip</prgn>ped, and
9080 placed in a directory that corresponds to their
9082 <list compact="compact">
9084 100 dpi fonts must be placed in
9085 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/</file>.
9089 75 dpi fonts must be placed in
9090 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/</file>.
9094 Character-cell fonts, cursor fonts, and other
9095 low-resolution fonts must be placed in
9096 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/</file>.
9102 Type 1 fonts must be placed in
9103 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/</file>. If font
9104 metric files are available, they must be placed here
9109 Subdirectories of <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file>
9110 other than those listed above must be neither
9111 created nor used. (The <file>PEX</file>, <file>CID</file>,
9112 <file>Speedo</file>, and <file>cyrillic</file> directories
9113 are excepted for historical reasons, but installation of
9114 files into these directories remains discouraged.)
9118 Font packages may, instead of placing files directly
9119 in the X font directories listed above, provide
9120 symbolic links in that font directory pointing to
9121 the files' actual location in the filesystem. Such
9122 a location must comply with the FHS.
9126 Font packages should not contain both 75dpi and
9127 100dpi versions of a font. If both are available,
9128 they should be provided in separate binary packages
9129 with <tt>-75dpi</tt> or <tt>-100dpi</tt> appended to
9130 the names of the packages containing the
9131 corresponding fonts.
9135 Fonts destined for the <file>misc</file> subdirectory
9136 should not be included in the same package as 75dpi
9137 or 100dpi fonts; instead, they should be provided in
9138 a separate package with <tt>-misc</tt> appended to
9143 Font packages must not provide the files
9144 <file>fonts.dir</file>, <file>fonts.alias</file>, or
9145 <file>fonts.scale</file> in a font directory:
9148 <file>fonts.dir</file> files must not be provided at all.
9152 <file>fonts.alias</file> and <file>fonts.scale</file>
9153 files, if needed, should be provided in the
9155 <file>/etc/X11/fonts/<var>fontdir</var>/<var>package</var>.<var>extension</var></file>,
9156 where <var>fontdir</var> is the name of the
9158 <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> where the
9159 package's corresponding fonts are stored
9160 (e.g., <tt>75dpi</tt> or <tt>misc</tt>),
9161 <var>package</var> is the name of the package
9162 that provides these fonts, and
9163 <var>extension</var> is either <tt>scale</tt>
9164 or <tt>alias</tt>, whichever corresponds to
9171 Font packages must declare a dependency on
9172 <tt>xfonts-utils</tt> in their <tt>Depends</tt>
9173 or <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> control field.
9177 Font packages that provide one or more
9178 <file>fonts.scale</file> files as described above must
9179 invoke <prgn>update-fonts-scale</prgn> on each
9180 directory into which they installed fonts
9181 <em>before</em> invoking
9182 <prgn>update-fonts-dir</prgn> on that directory.
9183 This invocation must occur in both the
9184 <prgn>postinst</prgn> (for all arguments) and
9185 <prgn>postrm</prgn> (for all arguments except
9186 <tt>upgrade</tt>) scripts.
9190 Font packages that provide one or more
9191 <file>fonts.alias</file> files as described above must
9192 invoke <prgn>update-fonts-alias</prgn> on each
9193 directory into which they installed fonts. This
9194 invocation must occur in both the
9195 <prgn>postinst</prgn> (for all arguments) and
9196 <prgn>postrm</prgn> (for all arguments except
9197 <tt>upgrade</tt>) scripts.
9201 Font packages must invoke
9202 <prgn>update-fonts-dir</prgn> on each directory into
9203 which they installed fonts. This invocation must
9204 occur in both the <prgn>postinst</prgn> (for all
9205 arguments) and <prgn>postrm</prgn> (for all
9206 arguments except <tt>upgrade</tt>) scripts.
9210 Font packages must not provide alias names for the
9211 fonts they include which collide with alias names
9212 already in use by fonts already packaged.
9216 Font packages must not provide fonts with the same
9217 XLFD registry name as another font already packaged.
9223 <sect1 id="appdefaults">
9224 <heading>Application defaults files</heading>
9227 Application defaults files must be installed in the
9228 directory <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults/</file> (use of a
9229 localized subdirectory of <file>/etc/X11/</file> as described
9230 in the <em>X Toolkit Intrinsics - C Language
9231 Interface</em> manual is also permitted). They must be
9232 registered as <tt>conffile</tt>s or handled as
9233 configuration files.
9237 Customization of programs' X resources may also be
9238 supported with the provision of a file with the same name
9239 as that of the package placed in
9240 the <file>/etc/X11/Xresources/</file> directory, which
9241 must be registered as a <tt>conffile</tt> or handled as a
9242 configuration file.<footnote>
9243 Note that this mechanism is not the same as using
9244 app-defaults; app-defaults are tied to the client
9245 binary on the local file system, whereas X resources
9246 are stored in the X server and affect all connecting
9253 <heading>Installation directory issues</heading>
9256 Historically, packages using the X Window System used a
9257 separate set of installation directories from other packages.
9258 This practice has been discontinued and packages using the X
9259 Window System should now generally be installed in the same
9260 directories as any other package. Specifically, packages must
9261 not install files under the <file>/usr/X11R6/</file> directory
9262 and the <file>/usr/X11R6/</file> directory hierarchy should be
9263 regarded as obsolete.
9267 Include files previously installed under
9268 <file>/usr/X11R6/include/X11/</file> should be installed into
9269 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file>. For files previously
9270 installed into subdirectories of
9271 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/</file>, package maintainers should
9272 determine if subdirectories of <file>/usr/lib/</file> and
9273 <file>/usr/share/</file> can be used. If not, a subdirectory
9274 of <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file> should be used.
9278 Configuration files for window, display, or session managers
9279 or other applications that are tightly integrated with the X
9280 Window System may be placed in a subdirectory
9281 of <file>/etc/X11/</file> corresponding to the package name.
9282 Other X Window System applications should use
9283 the <file>/etc/</file> directory unless otherwise mandated by
9284 policy (such as for <ref id="appdefaults">).
9289 <heading>The OSF/Motif and OpenMotif libraries</heading>
9292 <em>Programs that require the non-DFSG-compliant OSF/Motif or
9293 OpenMotif libraries</em><footnote>
9294 OSF/Motif and OpenMotif are collectively referred to as
9295 "Motif" in this policy document.
9297 should be compiled against and tested with LessTif (a free
9298 re-implementation of Motif) instead. If the maintainer
9299 judges that the program or programs do not work
9300 sufficiently well with LessTif to be distributed and
9301 supported, but do so when compiled against Motif, then two
9302 versions of the package should be created; one linked
9303 statically against Motif and with <tt>-smotif</tt>
9304 appended to the package name, and one linked dynamically
9305 against Motif and with <tt>-dmotif</tt> appended to the
9310 Both Motif-linked versions are dependent
9311 upon non-DFSG-compliant software and thus cannot be
9312 uploaded to the <em>main</em> distribution; if the
9313 software is itself DFSG-compliant it may be uploaded to
9314 the <em>contrib</em> distribution. While known existing
9315 versions of Motif permit unlimited redistribution of
9316 binaries linked against the library (whether statically or
9317 dynamically), it is the package maintainer's
9318 responsibility to determine whether this is permitted by
9319 the license of the copy of Motif in their possession.
9325 <heading>Perl programs and modules</heading>
9328 Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl policy.
9332 The Perl policy can be found in the <tt>perl-policy</tt>
9333 files in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
9334 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
9335 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/perl-policy/"
9336 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/perl-policy/"></tt>.
9341 <heading>Emacs lisp programs</heading>
9344 Please refer to the "Debian Emacs Policy" for details of how to
9345 package emacs lisp programs.
9349 The Emacs policy is available in
9350 <file>debian-emacs-policy.gz</file> of the
9351 <package>emacsen-common</package> package.
9352 It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
9353 <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/debian-emacs-policy"
9354 id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/debian-emacs-policy"></tt>.
9359 <heading>Games</heading>
9362 The permissions on <file>/var/games</file> are mode 755, owner
9363 <tt>root</tt> and group <tt>root</tt>.
9367 Each game decides on its own security policy.</p>
9370 Games which require protected, privileged access to
9371 high-score files, saved games, etc., may be made
9372 set-<em>group</em>-id (mode 2755) and owned by
9373 <tt>root:games</tt>, and use files and directories with
9374 appropriate permissions (770 <tt>root:games</tt>, for
9375 example). They must not be made
9376 set-<em>user</em>-id, as this causes security problems. (If
9377 an attacker can subvert any set-user-id game they can
9378 overwrite the executable of any other, causing other players
9379 of these games to run a Trojan horse program. With a
9380 set-group-id game the attacker only gets access to less
9381 important game data, and if they can get at the other
9382 players' accounts at all it will take considerably more
9386 Some packages, for example some fortune cookie programs, are
9387 configured by the upstream authors to install with their
9388 data files or other static information made unreadable so
9389 that they can only be accessed through set-id programs
9390 provided. You should not do this in a Debian package: anyone can
9391 download the <file>.deb</file> file and read the data from it,
9392 so there is no point making the files unreadable. Not
9393 making the files unreadable also means that you don't have
9394 to make so many programs set-id, which reduces the risk of a
9398 As described in the FHS, binaries of games should be
9399 installed in the directory <file>/usr/games</file>. This also
9400 applies to games that use the X Window System. Manual pages
9401 for games (X and non-X games) should be installed in
9402 <file>/usr/share/man/man6</file>.</p>
9408 <heading>Documentation</heading>
9411 <heading>Manual pages</heading>
9414 You should install manual pages in <prgn>nroff</prgn> source
9415 form, in appropriate places under <file>/usr/share/man</file>.
9416 You should only use sections 1 to 9 (see the FHS for more
9417 details). You must not install a pre-formatted "cat page".
9421 Each program, utility, and function should have an
9422 associated manual page included in the same package. It is
9423 suggested that all configuration files also have a manual
9424 page included as well. Manual pages for protocols and other
9425 auxiliary things are optional.
9429 If no manual page is available, this is considered as a bug
9430 and should be reported to the Debian Bug Tracking System (the
9431 maintainer of the package is allowed to write this bug report
9432 themselves, if they so desire). Do not close the bug report
9433 until a proper man page is available.<footnote>
9434 It is not very hard to write a man page. See the
9435 <url id="http://www.schweikhardt.net/man_page_howto.html"
9436 name="Man-Page-HOWTO">,
9437 <manref name="man" section="7">, the examples
9438 created by <prgn>debmake</prgn> or <prgn>dh_make</prgn>,
9439 the helper program <prgn>help2man</prgn>, or the
9440 directory <file>/usr/share/doc/man-db/examples</file>.
9445 You may forward a complaint about a missing man page to the
9446 upstream authors, and mark the bug as forwarded in the
9447 Debian bug tracking system. Even though the GNU Project do
9448 not in general consider the lack of a man page to be a bug,
9449 we do; if they tell you that they don't consider it a bug
9450 you should leave the bug in our bug tracking system open
9455 Manual pages should be installed compressed using <tt>gzip -9</tt>.
9459 If one man page needs to be accessible via several names it
9460 is better to use a symbolic link than the <file>.so</file>
9461 feature, but there is no need to fiddle with the relevant
9462 parts of the upstream source to change from <file>.so</file> to
9463 symlinks: don't do it unless it's easy. You should not
9464 create hard links in the manual page directories, nor put
9465 absolute filenames in <file>.so</file> directives. The filename
9466 in a <file>.so</file> in a man page should be relative to the
9467 base of the man page tree (usually
9468 <file>/usr/share/man</file>). If you do not create any links
9469 (whether symlinks, hard links, or <tt>.so</tt> directives)
9470 in the file system to the alternate names of the man page,
9471 then you should not rely on <prgn>man</prgn> finding your
9472 man page under those names based solely on the information in
9473 the man page's header.<footnote>
9474 Supporting this in <prgn>man</prgn> often requires
9475 unreasonable processing time to find a manual page or to
9476 report that none exists, and moves knowledge into man's
9477 database that would be better left in the file system.
9478 This support is therefore deprecated and will cease to
9479 be present in the future.
9484 Manual pages in locale-specific subdirectories of
9485 <file>/usr/share/man</file> should use either UTF-8 or the usual
9486 legacy encoding for that language (normally the one corresponding
9487 to the shortest relevant locale name in
9488 <file>/usr/share/i18n/SUPPORTED</file>). For example, pages under
9489 <file>/usr/share/man/fr</file> should use either UTF-8 or
9490 ISO-8859-1.<footnote>
9491 <prgn>man</prgn> will automatically detect whether UTF-8 is in
9492 use. In future, all manual pages will be required to use
9498 A country name (the <tt>DE</tt> in <tt>de_DE</tt>) should not be
9499 included in the subdirectory name unless it indicates a
9500 significant difference in the language, as this excludes
9501 speakers of the language in other countries.<footnote>
9502 At the time of writing, Chinese and Portuguese are the main
9503 languages with such differences, so <file>pt_BR</file>,
9504 <file>zh_CN</file>, and <file>zh_TW</file> are all allowed.
9509 If a localized version of a manual page is provided, it should
9510 either be up-to-date or it should be obvious to the reader that
9511 it is outdated and the original manual page should be used
9512 instead. This can be done either by a note at the beginning of
9513 the manual page or by showing the missing or changed portions in
9514 the original language instead of the target language.
9519 <heading>Info documents</heading>
9522 Info documents should be installed in <file>/usr/share/info</file>.
9523 They should be compressed with <tt>gzip -9</tt>.
9527 The <prgn>install-info</prgn> program maintains a directory of
9528 installed info documents in <file>/usr/share/info/dir</file> for
9529 the use of info readers.<footnote>
9530 It was previously necessary for packages installing info
9531 documents to run <prgn>install-info</prgn> from maintainer
9532 scripts. This is no longer necessary. The installation
9533 system now uses dpkg triggers.
9535 This file must not be included in packages. Packages containing
9536 info documents should depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) |
9537 install-info</tt> to ensure that the directory file is properly
9538 rebuilt during partial upgrades from Debian 5.0 (lenny) and
9543 Info documents should contain section and directory entry
9544 information in the document for the use
9545 of <prgn>install-info</prgn>. The section should be specified
9546 via a line starting with <tt>INFO-DIR-SECTION</tt> followed by a
9547 space and the section of this info page. The directory entry or
9548 entries should be included between
9549 a <tt>START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY</tt> line and
9550 an <tt>END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY</tt> line. For example:
9552 INFO-DIR-SECTION Individual utilities
9553 START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
9554 * example: (example). An example info directory entry.
9557 To determine which section to use, you should look
9558 at <file>/usr/share/info/dir</file> on your system and choose
9559 the most relevant (or create a new section if none of the
9560 current sections are relevant).<footnote>
9561 Normally, info documents are generated from Texinfo source.
9562 To include this information in the generated info document, if
9563 it is absent, add commands like:
9565 @dircategory Individual utilities
9567 * example: (example). An example info directory entry.
9570 to the Texinfo source of the document and ensure that the info
9571 documents are rebuilt from source during the package build.
9577 <heading>Additional documentation</heading>
9580 Any additional documentation that comes with the package may
9581 be installed at the discretion of the package maintainer.
9582 Plain text documentation should be installed in the directory
9583 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>, where
9584 <var>package</var> is the name of the package, and
9585 compressed with <tt>gzip -9</tt> unless it is small.
9589 If a package comes with large amounts of documentation which
9590 many users of the package will not require you should create
9591 a separate binary package to contain it, so that it does not
9592 take up disk space on the machines of users who do not need
9593 or want it installed.</p>
9596 It is often a good idea to put text information files
9597 (<file>README</file>s, changelogs, and so forth) that come with
9598 the source package in <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>
9599 in the binary package. However, you don't need to install
9600 the instructions for building and installing the package, of
9604 Packages must not require the existence of any files in
9605 <file>/usr/share/doc/</file> in order to function
9607 The system administrator should be able to
9608 delete files in <file>/usr/share/doc/</file> without causing
9609 any programs to break.
9611 Any files that are referenced by programs but are also
9612 useful as stand alone documentation should be installed under
9613 <file>/usr/share/<var>package</var>/</file> with symbolic links from
9614 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
9618 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file> may be a symbolic
9619 link to another directory in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> only if
9620 the two packages both come from the same source and the
9621 first package Depends on the second.<footnote>
9623 Please note that this does not override the section on
9624 changelog files below, so the file
9625 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/changelog.Debian.gz</file>
9626 must refer to the changelog for the current version of
9627 <var>package</var> in question. In practice, this means
9628 that the sources of the target and the destination of the
9629 symlink must be the same (same source package and
9636 Former Debian releases placed all additional documentation
9637 in <file>/usr/doc/<var>package</var></file>. This has been
9638 changed to <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>,
9639 and packages must not put documentation in the directory
9640 <file>/usr/doc/<var>package</var></file>. <footnote>
9641 At this phase of the transition, we no longer require a
9642 symbolic link in <file>/usr/doc/</file>. At a later point,
9643 policy shall change to make the symbolic links a bug.
9649 <heading>Preferred documentation formats</heading>
9652 The unification of Debian documentation is being carried out
9656 If your package comes with extensive documentation in a
9657 markup format that can be converted to various other formats
9658 you should if possible ship HTML versions in a binary
9659 package, in the directory
9660 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>appropriate-package</var></file> or
9661 its subdirectories.<footnote>
9662 The rationale: The important thing here is that HTML
9663 docs should be available in <em>some</em> package, not
9664 necessarily in the main binary package.
9669 Other formats such as PostScript may be provided at the
9670 package maintainer's discretion.
9674 <sect id="copyrightfile">
9675 <heading>Copyright information</heading>
9678 Every package must be accompanied by a verbatim copy of its
9679 copyright information and distribution license in the file
9680 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file>. This
9681 file must neither be compressed nor be a symbolic link.
9685 In addition, the copyright file must say where the upstream
9686 sources (if any) were obtained. It should name the original
9687 authors of the package and the Debian maintainer(s) who were
9688 involved with its creation.
9692 Packages in the <em>contrib</em> or <em>non-free</em> archive
9693 areas should state in the copyright file that the package is not
9694 part of the Debian distribution and briefly explain why.
9698 A copy of the file which will be installed in
9699 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/copyright</file> should
9700 be in <file>debian/copyright</file> in the source package.
9704 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file> may be a symbolic
9705 link to another directory in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> only if
9706 the two packages both come from the same source and the
9707 first package Depends on the second. These rules are
9708 important because copyrights must be extractable by
9713 Packages distributed under the Apache license (version 2.0), the
9714 Artistic license, the GNU GPL (versions 1, 2, or 3), the GNU
9715 LGPL (versions 2, 2.1, or 3), and the GNU FDL (versions 1.2 or
9716 1.3) should refer to the corresponding files
9717 under <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>,<footnote>
9720 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/Apache-2.0</file>,
9721 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/Artistic</file>,
9722 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-1</file>,
9723 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2</file>,
9724 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3</file>,
9725 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-2</file>,
9726 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-2.1</file>,
9727 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-3</file>,
9728 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.2</file>, and
9729 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GFDL-1.3</file>
9730 respectively. The University of California BSD license is
9731 also included in <package>base-files</package> as
9732 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>, but given the
9733 brevity of this license, its specificity to code whose
9734 copyright is held by the Regents of the University of
9735 California, and the frequency of minor wording changes, its
9736 text should be included in the copyright file rather than
9737 referencing this file.
9739 </footnote> rather than quoting them in the copyright
9744 You should not use the copyright file as a general <file>README</file>
9745 file. If your package has such a file it should be
9746 installed in <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/README</file> or
9747 <file>README.Debian</file> or some other appropriate place.</p>
9751 <heading>Examples</heading>
9754 Any examples (configurations, source files, whatever),
9755 should be installed in a directory
9756 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/examples</file>. These
9757 files should not be referenced by any program: they're there
9758 for the benefit of the system administrator and users as
9759 documentation only. Architecture-specific example files
9760 should be installed in a directory
9761 <file>/usr/lib/<var>package</var>/examples</file> with symbolic
9763 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/examples</file>, or the
9764 latter directory itself may be a symbolic link to the
9769 If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
9770 example files may be installed into
9771 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
9775 <sect id="changelogs">
9776 <heading>Changelog files</heading>
9779 Packages that are not Debian-native must contain a
9780 compressed copy of the <file>debian/changelog</file> file from
9781 the Debian source tree in
9782 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file> with the name
9783 <file>changelog.Debian.gz</file>.
9787 If an upstream changelog is available, it should be accessible as
9788 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/changelog.gz</file> in
9789 plain text. If the upstream changelog is distributed in
9790 HTML, it should be made available in that form as
9791 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/changelog.html.gz</file>
9792 and a plain text <file>changelog.gz</file> should be generated
9793 from it using, for example, <tt>lynx -dump -nolist</tt>. If
9794 the upstream changelog files do not already conform to this
9795 naming convention, then this may be achieved either by
9796 renaming the files, or by adding a symbolic link, at the
9797 maintainer's discretion.<footnote>
9798 Rationale: People should not have to look in places for
9799 upstream changelogs merely because they are given
9800 different names or are distributed in HTML format.
9805 All of these files should be installed compressed using
9806 <tt>gzip -9</tt>, as they will become large with time even
9807 if they start out small.
9811 If the package has only one changelog which is used both as
9812 the Debian changelog and the upstream one because there is
9813 no separate upstream maintainer then that changelog should
9814 usually be installed as
9815 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var>/changelog.gz</file>; if
9816 there is a separate upstream maintainer, but no upstream
9817 changelog, then the Debian changelog should still be called
9818 <file>changelog.Debian.gz</file>.
9822 For details about the format and contents of the Debian
9823 changelog file, please see <ref id="dpkgchangelog">.
9828 <appendix id="pkg-scope">
9829 <heading>Introduction and scope of these appendices</heading>
9832 These appendices are taken essentially verbatim from the
9833 now-deprecated Packaging Manual, version 3.2.1.0. They are
9834 the chapters which are likely to be of use to package
9835 maintainers and which have not already been included in the
9836 policy document itself. Most of these sections are very likely
9837 not relevant to policy; they should be treated as
9838 documentation for the packaging system. Please note that these
9839 appendices are included for convenience, and for historical
9840 reasons: they used to be part of policy package, and they have
9841 not yet been incorporated into dpkg documentation. However,
9842 they still have value, and hence they are presented here.
9846 They have not yet been checked to ensure that they are
9847 compatible with the contents of policy, and if there are any
9848 contradictions, the version in the main policy document takes
9849 precedence. The remaining chapters of the old Packaging
9850 Manual have also not been read in detail to ensure that there
9851 are not parts which have been left out. Both of these will be
9856 Certain parts of the Packaging manual were integrated into the
9857 Policy Manual proper, and removed from the appendices. Links
9858 have been placed from the old locations to the new ones.
9862 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> is a suite of programs for creating binary
9863 package files and installing and removing them on Unix
9865 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> is targeted primarily at Debian, but may
9866 work on or be ported to other systems.
9871 The binary packages are designed for the management of
9872 installed executable programs (usually compiled binaries) and
9873 their associated data, though source code examples and
9874 documentation are provided as part of some packages.</p>
9877 This manual describes the technical aspects of creating Debian
9878 binary packages (<file>.deb</file> files). It documents the
9879 behavior of the package management programs
9880 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>, <prgn>dselect</prgn> et al. and the way
9881 they interact with packages.</p>
9884 It also documents the interaction between
9885 <prgn>dselect</prgn>'s core and the access method scripts it
9886 uses to actually install the selected packages, and describes
9887 how to create a new access method.</p>
9890 This manual does not go into detail about the options and
9891 usage of the package building and installation tools. It
9892 should therefore be read in conjunction with those programs'
9897 The utility programs which are provided with <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
9898 for managing various system configuration and similar issues,
9899 such as <prgn>update-rc.d</prgn> and
9900 <prgn>install-info</prgn>, are not described in detail here -
9901 please see their man pages.
9905 It is assumed that the reader is reasonably familiar with the
9906 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> System Administrators' manual.
9907 Unfortunately this manual does not yet exist.
9911 The Debian version of the FSF's GNU hello program is provided
9912 as an example for people wishing to create Debian
9913 packages. The Debian <prgn>debmake</prgn> package is
9914 recommended as a very helpful tool in creating and maintaining
9915 Debian packages. However, while the tools and examples are
9916 helpful, they do not replace the need to read and follow the
9917 Policy and Programmer's Manual.</p>
9920 <appendix id="pkg-binarypkg">
9921 <heading>Binary packages (from old Packaging Manual)</heading>
9924 The binary package has two main sections. The first part
9925 consists of various control information files and scripts used
9926 by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when installing and removing. See <ref
9927 id="pkg-controlarea">.
9931 The second part is an archive containing the files and
9932 directories to be installed.
9936 In the future binary packages may also contain other
9937 components, such as checksums and digital signatures. The
9938 format for the archive is described in full in the
9939 <file>deb(5)</file> man page.
9943 <sect id="pkg-bincreating"><heading>Creating package files -
9944 <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn>
9948 All manipulation of binary package files is done by
9949 <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn>; it's the only program that has
9950 knowledge of the format. (<prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> may be
9951 invoked by calling <prgn>dpkg</prgn>, as <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
9952 will spot that the options requested are appropriate to
9953 <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> and invoke that instead with the same
9958 In order to create a binary package you must make a
9959 directory tree which contains all the files and directories
9960 you want to have in the file system data part of the package.
9961 In Debian-format source packages this directory is usually
9962 <file>debian/tmp</file>, relative to the top of the package's
9967 They should have the locations (relative to the root of the
9968 directory tree you're constructing) ownerships and
9969 permissions which you want them to have on the system when
9974 With current versions of <prgn>dpkg</prgn> the uid/username
9975 and gid/groupname mappings for the users and groups being
9976 used should be the same on the system where the package is
9977 built and the one where it is installed.
9981 You need to add one special directory to the root of the
9982 miniature file system tree you're creating:
9983 <prgn>DEBIAN</prgn>. It should contain the control
9984 information files, notably the binary package control file
9985 (see <ref id="pkg-controlfile">).
9989 The <prgn>DEBIAN</prgn> directory will not appear in the
9990 file system archive of the package, and so won't be installed
9991 by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when the package is unpacked.
9995 When you've prepared the package, you should invoke:
9997 dpkg --build <var>directory</var>
10002 This will build the package in
10003 <file><var>directory</var>.deb</file>. (<prgn>dpkg</prgn> knows
10004 that <tt>--build</tt> is a <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> option, so
10005 it invokes <prgn>dpkg-deb</prgn> with the same arguments to
10006 build the package.)
10010 See the man page <manref name="dpkg-deb" section="8"> for details of how
10011 to examine the contents of this newly-created file. You may find the
10012 output of following commands enlightening:
10014 dpkg-deb --info <var>filename</var>.deb
10015 dpkg-deb --contents <var>filename</var>.deb
10016 dpkg --contents <var>filename</var>.deb
10018 To view the copyright file for a package you could use this command:
10020 dpkg --fsys-tarfile <var>filename</var>.deb | tar xOf - --wildcards \*/copyright | pager
10025 <sect id="pkg-controlarea">
10026 <heading>Package control information files</heading>
10029 The control information portion of a binary package is a
10030 collection of files with names known to <prgn>dpkg</prgn>.
10031 It will treat the contents of these files specially - some
10032 of them contain information used by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when
10033 installing or removing the package; others are scripts which
10034 the package maintainer wants <prgn>dpkg</prgn> to run.
10038 It is possible to put other files in the package control
10039 information file area, but this is not generally a good idea
10040 (though they will largely be ignored).
10044 Here is a brief list of the control information files supported
10045 by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> and a summary of what they're used for.
10050 <tag><tt>control</tt>
10053 This is the key description file used by
10054 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>. It specifies the package's name
10055 and version, gives its description for the user,
10056 states its relationships with other packages, and so
10057 forth. See <ref id="sourcecontrolfiles"> and
10058 <ref id="binarycontrolfiles">.
10062 It is usually generated automatically from information
10063 in the source package by the
10064 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> program, and with
10065 assistance from <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>.
10066 See <ref id="pkg-sourcetools">.
10070 <tag><tt>postinst</tt>, <tt>preinst</tt>, <tt>postrm</tt>,
10075 These are executable files (usually scripts) which
10076 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> runs during installation, upgrade
10077 and removal of packages. They allow the package to
10078 deal with matters which are particular to that package
10079 or require more complicated processing than that
10080 provided by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>. Details of when and
10081 how they are called are in <ref id="maintainerscripts">.
10085 It is very important to make these scripts idempotent.
10086 See <ref id="idempotency">.
10090 The maintainer scripts are not guaranteed to run with a
10091 controlling terminal and may not be able to interact with
10092 the user. See <ref id="controllingterminal">.
10096 <tag><tt>conffiles</tt>
10099 This file contains a list of configuration files which
10100 are to be handled automatically by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>
10101 (see <ref id="pkg-conffiles">). Note that not necessarily
10102 every configuration file should be listed here.
10105 <tag><tt>shlibs</tt>
10108 This file contains a list of the shared libraries
10109 supplied by the package, with dependency details for
10110 each. This is used by <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn>
10111 when it determines what dependencies are required in a
10112 package control file. The <tt>shlibs</tt> file format
10113 is described on <ref id="shlibs">.
10118 <sect id="pkg-controlfile">
10119 <heading>The main control information file: <tt>control</tt></heading>
10122 The most important control information file used by
10123 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when it installs a package is
10124 <tt>control</tt>. It contains all the package's "vital
10129 The binary package control files of packages built from
10130 Debian sources are made by a special tool,
10131 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>, which reads
10132 <file>debian/control</file> and <file>debian/changelog</file> to
10133 find the information it needs. See <ref id="pkg-sourcepkg"> for
10138 The fields in binary package control files are listed in
10139 <ref id="binarycontrolfiles">.
10143 A description of the syntax of control files and the purpose
10144 of the fields is available in <ref id="controlfields">.
10149 <heading>Time Stamps</heading>
10152 See <ref id="timestamps">.
10157 <appendix id="pkg-sourcepkg">
10158 <heading>Source packages (from old Packaging Manual) </heading>
10161 The Debian binary packages in the distribution are generated
10162 from Debian sources, which are in a special format to assist
10163 the easy and automatic building of binaries.
10166 <sect id="pkg-sourcetools">
10167 <heading>Tools for processing source packages</heading>
10170 Various tools are provided for manipulating source packages;
10171 they pack and unpack sources and help build of binary
10172 packages and help manage the distribution of new versions.
10176 They are introduced and typical uses described here; see
10177 <manref name="dpkg-source" section="1"> for full
10178 documentation about their arguments and operation.
10182 For examples of how to construct a Debian source package,
10183 and how to use those utilities that are used by Debian
10184 source packages, please see the <prgn>hello</prgn> example
10188 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-source">
10190 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> - packs and unpacks Debian source
10195 This program is frequently used by hand, and is also
10196 called from package-independent automated building scripts
10197 such as <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>.
10201 To unpack a package it is typically invoked with
10203 dpkg-source -x <var>.../path/to/filename</var>.dsc
10208 with the <file><var>filename</var>.tar.gz</file> and
10209 <file><var>filename</var>.diff.gz</file> (if applicable) in
10210 the same directory. It unpacks into
10211 <file><var>package</var>-<var>version</var></file>, and if
10213 <file><var>package</var>-<var>version</var>.orig</file>, in
10214 the current directory.
10218 To create a packed source archive it is typically invoked:
10220 dpkg-source -b <var>package</var>-<var>version</var>
10225 This will create the <file>.dsc</file>, <file>.tar.gz</file> and
10226 <file>.diff.gz</file> (if appropriate) in the current
10227 directory. <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> does not clean the
10228 source tree first - this must be done separately if it is
10233 See also <ref id="pkg-sourcearchives">.</p>
10237 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-buildpackage">
10239 <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn> - overall package-building
10244 <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn> is a script which invokes
10245 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>, the <file>debian/rules</file>
10246 targets <tt>clean</tt>, <tt>build</tt> and
10247 <tt>binary</tt>, <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> and
10248 <prgn>gpg</prgn> (or <prgn>pgp</prgn>) to build a signed
10249 source and binary package upload.
10253 It is usually invoked by hand from the top level of the
10254 built or unbuilt source directory. It may be invoked with
10255 no arguments; useful arguments include:
10256 <taglist compact="compact">
10257 <tag><tt>-uc</tt>, <tt>-us</tt></tag>
10260 Do not sign the <tt>.changes</tt> file or the
10261 source package <tt>.dsc</tt> file, respectively.</p>
10263 <tag><tt>-p<var>sign-command</var></tt></tag>
10266 Invoke <var>sign-command</var> instead of finding
10267 <tt>gpg</tt> or <tt>pgp</tt> on the <prgn>PATH</prgn>.
10268 <var>sign-command</var> must behave just like
10269 <prgn>gpg</prgn> or <tt>pgp</tt>.</p>
10271 <tag><tt>-r<var>root-command</var></tt></tag>
10274 When root privilege is required, invoke the command
10275 <var>root-command</var>. <var>root-command</var>
10276 should invoke its first argument as a command, from
10277 the <prgn>PATH</prgn> if necessary, and pass its
10278 second and subsequent arguments to the command it
10279 calls. If no <var>root-command</var> is supplied
10280 then <var>dpkg-buildpackage</var> will take no
10281 special action to gain root privilege, so that for
10282 most packages it will have to be invoked as root to
10285 <tag><tt>-b</tt>, <tt>-B</tt></tag>
10288 Two types of binary-only build and upload - see
10289 <manref name="dpkg-source" section="1">.
10296 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-gencontrol">
10298 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> - generates binary package
10303 This program is usually called from <file>debian/rules</file>
10304 (see <ref id="pkg-sourcetree">) in the top level of the source
10309 This is usually done just before the files and directories in the
10310 temporary directory tree where the package is being built have their
10311 permissions and ownerships set and the package is constructed using
10312 <prgn>dpkg-deb/</prgn>
10314 This is so that the control file which is produced has
10315 the right permissions
10320 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> must be called after all the
10321 files which are to go into the package have been placed in
10322 the temporary build directory, so that its calculation of
10323 the installed size of a package is correct.
10327 It is also necessary for <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> to
10328 be run after <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> so that the
10329 variable substitutions created by
10330 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> in <file>debian/substvars</file>
10335 For a package which generates only one binary package, and
10336 which builds it in <file>debian/tmp</file> relative to the top
10337 of the source package, it is usually sufficient to call
10338 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn>.
10342 Sources which build several binaries will typically need
10345 dpkg-gencontrol -Pdebian/tmp-<var>pkg</var> -p<var>package</var>
10346 </example> The <tt>-P</tt> tells
10347 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> that the package is being
10348 built in a non-default directory, and the <tt>-p</tt>
10349 tells it which package's control file should be generated.
10353 <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> also adds information to the
10354 list of files in <file>debian/files</file>, for the benefit of
10355 (for example) a future invocation of
10356 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn>.</p>
10359 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-shlibdeps">
10361 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> - calculates shared library
10366 This program is usually called from <file>debian/rules</file>
10367 just before <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> (see <ref
10368 id="pkg-sourcetree">), in the top level of the source tree.
10372 Its arguments are executables and shared libraries
10375 They may be specified either in the locations in the
10376 source tree where they are created or in the locations
10377 in the temporary build tree where they are installed
10378 prior to binary package creation.
10380 </footnote> for which shared library dependencies should
10381 be included in the binary package's control file.
10385 If some of the found shared libraries should only
10386 warrant a <tt>Recommends</tt> or <tt>Suggests</tt>, or if
10387 some warrant a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, this can be achieved
10388 by using the <tt>-d<var>dependency-field</var></tt> option
10389 before those executable(s). (Each <tt>-d</tt> option
10390 takes effect until the next <tt>-d</tt>.)
10394 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> does not directly cause the
10395 output control file to be modified. Instead by default it
10396 adds to the <file>debian/substvars</file> file variable
10397 settings like <tt>shlibs:Depends</tt>. These variable
10398 settings must be referenced in dependency fields in the
10399 appropriate per-binary-package sections of the source
10404 For example, a package that generates an essential part
10405 which requires dependencies, and optional parts that
10406 which only require a recommendation, would separate those
10407 two sets of dependencies into two different fields.<footnote>
10408 At the time of writing, an example for this was the
10409 <package/xmms/ package, with Depends used for the xmms
10410 executable, Recommends for the plug-ins and Suggests for
10411 even more optional features provided by unzip.
10413 It can say in its <file>debian/rules</file>:
10415 dpkg-shlibdeps -dDepends <var>program anotherprogram ...</var> \
10416 -dRecommends <var>optionalpart anotheroptionalpart</var>
10418 and then in its main control file <file>debian/control</file>:
10421 Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}
10422 Recommends: ${shlibs:Recommends}
10428 Sources which produce several binary packages with
10429 different shared library dependency requirements can use
10430 the <tt>-p<var>varnameprefix</var></tt> option to override
10431 the default <tt>shlibs:</tt> prefix (one invocation of
10432 <prgn>dpkg-shlibdeps</prgn> per setting of this option).
10433 They can thus produce several sets of dependency
10434 variables, each of the form
10435 <tt><var>varnameprefix</var>:<var>dependencyfield</var></tt>,
10436 which can be referred to in the appropriate parts of the
10437 binary package control files.
10442 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-distaddfile">
10444 <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn> - adds a file to
10445 <file>debian/files</file>
10449 Some packages' uploads need to include files other than
10450 the source and binary package files.
10454 <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn> adds a file to the
10455 <file>debian/files</file> file so that it will be included in
10456 the <file>.changes</file> file when
10457 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> is run.
10461 It is usually invoked from the <tt>binary</tt> target of
10462 <file>debian/rules</file>:
10464 dpkg-distaddfile <var>filename</var> <var>section</var> <var>priority</var>
10466 The <var>filename</var> is relative to the directory where
10467 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> will expect to find it - this
10468 is usually the directory above the top level of the source
10469 tree. The <file>debian/rules</file> target should put the
10470 file there just before or just after calling
10471 <prgn>dpkg-distaddfile</prgn>.
10475 The <var>section</var> and <var>priority</var> are passed
10476 unchanged into the resulting <file>.changes</file> file.
10481 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-genchanges">
10483 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> - generates a <file>.changes</file>
10484 upload control file
10488 This program is usually called by package-independent
10489 automatic building scripts such as
10490 <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>, but it may also be called
10495 It is usually called in the top level of a built source
10496 tree, and when invoked with no arguments will print out a
10497 straightforward <file>.changes</file> file based on the
10498 information in the source package's changelog and control
10499 file and the binary and source packages which should have
10505 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-parsechangelog">
10507 <prgn>dpkg-parsechangelog</prgn> - produces parsed
10508 representation of a changelog
10512 This program is used internally by
10513 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> et al. It may also occasionally
10514 be useful in <file>debian/rules</file> and elsewhere. It
10515 parses a changelog, <file>debian/changelog</file> by default,
10516 and prints a control-file format representation of the
10517 information in it to standard output.
10521 <sect1 id="pkg-dpkg-architecture">
10523 <prgn>dpkg-architecture</prgn> - information about the build and
10528 This program can be used manually, but is also invoked by
10529 <tt>dpkg-buildpackage</tt> or <file>debian/rules</file> to set
10530 environment or make variables which specify the build and host
10531 architecture for the package building process.
10536 <sect id="pkg-sourcetree">
10537 <heading>The Debian package source tree</heading>
10540 The source archive scheme described later is intended to
10541 allow a Debian package source tree with some associated
10542 control information to be reproduced and transported easily.
10543 The Debian package source tree is a version of the original
10544 program with certain files added for the benefit of the
10545 packaging process, and with any other changes required
10546 made to the rest of the source code and installation
10551 The extra files created for Debian are in the subdirectory
10552 <file>debian</file> of the top level of the Debian package
10553 source tree. They are described below.
10556 <sect1 id="pkg-debianrules">
10557 <heading><file>debian/rules</file> - the main building script</heading>
10560 See <ref id="debianrules">.
10564 <sect1 id="pkg-srcsubstvars">
10565 <heading><file>debian/substvars</file> and variable substitutions</heading>
10568 See <ref id="substvars">.
10574 <heading><file>debian/files</file></heading>
10577 See <ref id="debianfiles">.
10581 <sect1><heading><file>debian/tmp</file>
10585 This is the canonical temporary location for the
10586 construction of binary packages by the <tt>binary</tt>
10587 target. The directory <file>tmp</file> serves as the root of
10588 the file system tree as it is being constructed (for
10589 example, by using the package's upstream makefiles install
10590 targets and redirecting the output there), and it also
10591 contains the <tt>DEBIAN</tt> subdirectory. See <ref
10592 id="pkg-bincreating">.
10596 If several binary packages are generated from the same
10597 source tree it is usual to use several
10598 <file>debian/tmp<var>something</var></file> directories, for
10599 example <file>tmp-a</file> or <file>tmp-doc</file>.
10603 Whatever <file>tmp</file> directories are created and used by
10604 <tt>binary</tt> must of course be removed by the
10605 <tt>clean</tt> target.</p></sect1>
10609 <sect id="pkg-sourcearchives"><heading>Source packages as archives
10613 As it exists on the FTP site, a Debian source package
10614 consists of three related files. You must have the right
10615 versions of all three to be able to use them.
10620 <tag>Debian source control file - <tt>.dsc</tt></tag>
10622 This file is a control file used by <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>
10623 to extract a source package.
10624 See <ref id="debiansourcecontrolfiles">.
10628 Original source archive -
10630 <var>package</var>_<var>upstream-version</var>.orig.tar.gz
10636 This is a compressed (with <tt>gzip -9</tt>)
10637 <prgn>tar</prgn> file containing the source code from
10638 the upstream authors of the program.
10643 Debian package diff -
10645 <var>package</var>_<var>upstream_version-revision</var>.diff.gz
10651 This is a unified context diff (<tt>diff -u</tt>)
10652 giving the changes which are required to turn the
10653 original source into the Debian source. These changes
10654 may only include editing and creating plain files.
10655 The permissions of files, the targets of symbolic
10656 links and the characteristics of special files or
10657 pipes may not be changed and no files may be removed
10662 All the directories in the diff must exist, except the
10663 <file>debian</file> subdirectory of the top of the source
10664 tree, which will be created by
10665 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> if necessary when unpacking.
10669 The <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> program will
10670 automatically make the <file>debian/rules</file> file
10671 executable (see below).</p></item>
10676 If there is no original source code - for example, if the
10677 package is specially prepared for Debian or the Debian
10678 maintainer is the same as the upstream maintainer - the
10679 format is slightly different: then there is no diff, and the
10681 <file><var>package</var>_<var>version</var>.tar.gz</file>,
10682 and preferably contains a directory named
10683 <file><var>package</var>-<var>version</var></file>.
10688 <heading>Unpacking a Debian source package without <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn></heading>
10691 <tt>dpkg-source -x</tt> is the recommended way to unpack a
10692 Debian source package. However, if it is not available it
10693 is possible to unpack a Debian source archive as follows:
10694 <enumlist compact="compact">
10697 Untar the tarfile, which will create a <file>.orig</file>
10701 <p>Rename the <file>.orig</file> directory to
10702 <file><var>package</var>-<var>version</var></file>.</p>
10706 Create the subdirectory <file>debian</file> at the top of
10707 the source tree.</p>
10709 <item><p>Apply the diff using <tt>patch -p0</tt>.</p>
10711 <item><p>Untar the tarfile again if you want a copy of the original
10712 source code alongside the Debian version.</p>
10717 It is not possible to generate a valid Debian source archive
10718 without using <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>. In particular,
10719 attempting to use <prgn>diff</prgn> directly to generate the
10720 <file>.diff.gz</file> file will not work.
10724 <heading>Restrictions on objects in source packages</heading>
10727 The source package may not contain any hard links
10729 This is not currently detected when building source
10730 packages, but only when extracting
10734 Hard links may be permitted at some point in the
10735 future, but would require a fair amount of
10737 </footnote>, device special files, sockets or setuid or
10740 Setgid directories are allowed.
10745 The source packaging tools manage the changes between the
10746 original and Debian source using <prgn>diff</prgn> and
10747 <prgn>patch</prgn>. Turning the original source tree as
10748 included in the <file>.orig.tar.gz</file> into the Debian
10749 package source must not involve any changes which cannot be
10750 handled by these tools. Problematic changes which cause
10751 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> to halt with an error when
10752 building the source package are:
10753 <list compact="compact">
10754 <item><p>Adding or removing symbolic links, sockets or pipes.</p>
10756 <item><p>Changing the targets of symbolic links.</p>
10758 <item><p>Creating directories, other than <file>debian</file>.</p>
10760 <item><p>Changes to the contents of binary files.</p></item>
10761 </list> Changes which cause <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> to
10762 print a warning but continue anyway are:
10763 <list compact="compact">
10766 Removing files, directories or symlinks.
10768 Renaming a file is not treated specially - it is
10769 seen as the removal of the old file (which
10770 generates a warning, but is otherwise ignored),
10771 and the creation of the new one.
10777 Changed text files which are missing the usual final
10778 newline (either in the original or the modified
10783 Changes which are not represented, but which are not detected by
10784 <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn>, are:
10785 <list compact="compact">
10786 <item><p>Changing the permissions of files (other than
10787 <file>debian/rules</file>) and directories.</p></item>
10792 The <file>debian</file> directory and <file>debian/rules</file>
10793 are handled specially by <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> - before
10794 applying the changes it will create the <file>debian</file>
10795 directory, and afterwards it will make
10796 <file>debian/rules</file> world-executable.
10802 <appendix id="pkg-controlfields">
10803 <heading>Control files and their fields (from old Packaging Manual)</heading>
10806 Many of the tools in the <prgn>dpkg</prgn> suite manipulate
10807 data in a common format, known as control files. Binary and
10808 source packages have control data as do the <file>.changes</file>
10809 files which control the installation of uploaded files, and
10810 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s internal databases are in a similar
10815 <heading>Syntax of control files</heading>
10818 See <ref id="controlsyntax">.
10822 It is important to note that there are several fields which
10823 are optional as far as <prgn>dpkg</prgn> and the related
10824 tools are concerned, but which must appear in every Debian
10825 package, or whose omission may cause problems.
10830 <heading>List of fields</heading>
10833 See <ref id="controlfieldslist">.
10837 This section now contains only the fields that didn't belong
10838 to the Policy manual.
10841 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Filename">
10842 <heading><tt>Filename</tt> and <tt>MSDOS-Filename</tt></heading>
10845 These fields in <tt>Packages</tt> files give the
10846 filename(s) of (the parts of) a package in the
10847 distribution directories, relative to the root of the
10848 Debian hierarchy. If the package has been split into
10849 several parts the parts are all listed in order, separated
10854 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Size">
10855 <heading><tt>Size</tt> and <tt>MD5sum</tt></heading>
10858 These fields in <file>Packages</file> files give the size (in
10859 bytes, expressed in decimal) and MD5 checksum of the
10860 file(s) which make(s) up a binary package in the
10861 distribution. If the package is split into several parts
10862 the values for the parts are listed in order, separated by
10867 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Status">
10868 <heading><tt>Status</tt></heading>
10871 This field in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s status file records
10872 whether the user wants a package installed, removed or
10873 left alone, whether it is broken (requiring
10874 re-installation) or not and what its current state on the
10875 system is. Each of these pieces of information is a
10880 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Config-Version">
10881 <heading><tt>Config-Version</tt></heading>
10884 If a package is not installed or not configured, this
10885 field in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s status file records the last
10886 version of the package which was successfully
10891 <sect1 id="pkg-f-Conffiles">
10892 <heading><tt>Conffiles</tt></heading>
10895 This field in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s status file contains
10896 information about the automatically-managed configuration
10897 files held by a package. This field should <em>not</em>
10898 appear anywhere in a package!
10903 <heading>Obsolete fields</heading>
10906 These are still recognized by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> but should
10907 not appear anywhere any more.
10909 <taglist compact="compact">
10911 <tag><tt>Revision</tt></tag>
10912 <tag><tt>Package-Revision</tt></tag>
10913 <tag><tt>Package_Revision</tt></tag>
10915 The Debian revision part of the package version was
10916 at one point in a separate control field. This
10917 field went through several names.
10920 <tag><tt>Recommended</tt></tag>
10921 <item>Old name for <tt>Recommends</tt>.</item>
10923 <tag><tt>Optional</tt></tag>
10924 <item>Old name for <tt>Suggests</tt>.</item>
10926 <tag><tt>Class</tt></tag>
10927 <item>Old name for <tt>Priority</tt>.</item>
10936 <appendix id="pkg-conffiles">
10937 <heading>Configuration file handling (from old Packaging Manual)</heading>
10940 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> can do a certain amount of automatic
10941 handling of package configuration files.
10945 Whether this mechanism is appropriate depends on a number of
10946 factors, but basically there are two approaches to any
10947 particular configuration file.
10951 The easy method is to ship a best-effort configuration in the
10952 package, and use <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s conffile mechanism to
10953 handle updates. If the user is unlikely to want to edit the
10954 file, but you need them to be able to without losing their
10955 changes, and a new package with a changed version of the file
10956 is only released infrequently, this is a good approach.
10960 The hard method is to build the configuration file from
10961 scratch in the <prgn>postinst</prgn> script, and to take the
10962 responsibility for fixing any mistakes made in earlier
10963 versions of the package automatically. This will be
10964 appropriate if the file is likely to need to be different on
10968 <sect><heading>Automatic handling of configuration files by
10973 A package may contain a control information file called
10974 <tt>conffiles</tt>. This file should be a list of filenames
10975 of configuration files needing automatic handling, separated
10976 by newlines. The filenames should be absolute pathnames,
10977 and the files referred to should actually exist in the
10982 When a package is upgraded <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will process
10983 the configuration files during the configuration stage,
10984 shortly before it runs the package's <prgn>postinst</prgn>
10989 For each file it checks to see whether the version of the
10990 file included in the package is the same as the one that was
10991 included in the last version of the package (the one that is
10992 being upgraded from); it also compares the version currently
10993 installed on the system with the one shipped with the last
10998 If neither the user nor the package maintainer has changed
10999 the file, it is left alone. If one or the other has changed
11000 their version, then the changed version is preferred - i.e.,
11001 if the user edits their file, but the package maintainer
11002 doesn't ship a different version, the user's changes will
11003 stay, silently, but if the maintainer ships a new version
11004 and the user hasn't edited it the new version will be
11005 installed (with an informative message). If both have
11006 changed their version the user is prompted about the problem
11007 and must resolve the differences themselves.
11011 The comparisons are done by calculating the MD5 message
11012 digests of the files, and storing the MD5 of the file as it
11013 was included in the most recent version of the package.
11017 When a package is installed for the first time
11018 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will install the file that comes with it,
11019 unless that would mean overwriting a file already on the
11024 However, note that <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will <em>not</em>
11025 replace a conffile that was removed by the user (or by a
11026 script). This is necessary because with some programs a
11027 missing file produces an effect hard or impossible to
11028 achieve in another way, so that a missing file needs to be
11029 kept that way if the user did it.
11033 Note that a package should <em>not</em> modify a
11034 <prgn>dpkg</prgn>-handled conffile in its maintainer
11035 scripts. Doing this will lead to <prgn>dpkg</prgn> giving
11036 the user confusing and possibly dangerous options for
11037 conffile update when the package is upgraded.</p>
11040 <sect><heading>Fully-featured maintainer script configuration
11045 For files which contain site-specific information such as
11046 the hostname and networking details and so forth, it is
11047 better to create the file in the package's
11048 <prgn>postinst</prgn> script.
11052 This will typically involve examining the state of the rest
11053 of the system to determine values and other information, and
11054 may involve prompting the user for some information which
11055 can't be obtained some other way.
11059 When using this method there are a couple of important
11060 issues which should be considered:
11064 If you discover a bug in the program which generates the
11065 configuration file, or if the format of the file changes
11066 from one version to the next, you will have to arrange for
11067 the postinst script to do something sensible - usually this
11068 will mean editing the installed configuration file to remove
11069 the problem or change the syntax. You will have to do this
11070 very carefully, since the user may have changed the file,
11071 perhaps to fix the very problem that your script is trying
11072 to deal with - you will have to detect these situations and
11073 deal with them correctly.
11077 If you do go down this route it's probably a good idea to
11078 make the program that generates the configuration file(s) a
11079 separate program in <file>/usr/sbin</file>, by convention called
11080 <file><var>package</var>config</file> and then run that if
11081 appropriate from the post-installation script. The
11082 <tt><var>package</var>config</tt> program should not
11083 unquestioningly overwrite an existing configuration - if its
11084 mode of operation is geared towards setting up a package for
11085 the first time (rather than any arbitrary reconfiguration
11086 later) you should have it check whether the configuration
11087 already exists, and require a <tt>--force</tt> flag to
11088 overwrite it.</p></sect>
11091 <appendix id="pkg-alternatives"><heading>Alternative versions of
11092 an interface - <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> (from old
11097 When several packages all provide different versions of the
11098 same program or file it is useful to have the system select a
11099 default, but to allow the system administrator to change it
11100 and have their decisions respected.
11104 For example, there are several versions of the <prgn>vi</prgn>
11105 editor, and there is no reason to prevent all of them from
11106 being installed at once, each under their own name
11107 (<prgn>nvi</prgn>, <prgn>vim</prgn> or whatever).
11108 Nevertheless it is desirable to have the name <tt>vi</tt>
11109 refer to something, at least by default.
11113 If all the packages involved cooperate, this can be done with
11114 <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>.
11118 Each package provides its own version under its own name, and
11119 calls <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> in its postinst to
11120 register its version (and again in its prerm to deregister
11125 See the man page <manref name="update-alternatives"
11126 section="8"> for details.
11130 If <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn> does not seem appropriate
11131 you may wish to consider using diversions instead.</p>
11134 <appendix id="pkg-diversions"><heading>Diversions - overriding a
11135 package's version of a file (from old Packaging Manual)
11139 It is possible to have <prgn>dpkg</prgn> not overwrite a file
11140 when it reinstalls the package it belongs to, and to have it
11141 put the file from the package somewhere else instead.
11145 This can be used locally to override a package's version of a
11146 file, or by one package to override another's version (or
11147 provide a wrapper for it).
11151 Before deciding to use a diversion, read <ref
11152 id="pkg-alternatives"> to see if you really want a diversion
11153 rather than several alternative versions of a program.
11157 There is a diversion list, which is read by <prgn>dpkg</prgn>,
11158 and updated by a special program <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn>.
11159 Please see <manref name="dpkg-divert" section="8"> for full
11160 details of its operation.
11164 When a package wishes to divert a file from another, it should
11165 call <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> in its preinst to add the
11166 diversion and rename the existing file. For example,
11167 supposing that a <prgn>smailwrapper</prgn> package wishes to
11168 install a wrapper around <file>/usr/sbin/smail</file>:
11170 dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --add --rename \
11171 --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail
11172 </example> The <tt>--package smailwrapper</tt> ensures that
11173 <prgn>smailwrapper</prgn>'s copy of <file>/usr/sbin/smail</file>
11174 can bypass the diversion and get installed as the true version.
11175 It's safe to add the diversion unconditionally on upgrades since
11176 it will be left unchanged if it already exists, but
11177 <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> will display a message. To suppress that
11178 message, make the command conditional on the version from which
11179 the package is being upgraded:
11181 if [ upgrade != "$1" ] || dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt 1.0-2; then
11182 dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --add --rename \
11183 --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail
11185 </example> where <tt>1.0-2</tt> is the version at which the
11186 diversion was first added to the package. Running the command
11187 during abort-upgrade is pointless but harmless.
11191 The postrm has to do the reverse:
11193 if [ remove = "$1" -o abort-install = "$1" -o disappear = "$1" ]; then
11194 dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --remove --rename \
11195 --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail
11197 </example> If the diversion was added at a particular version, the
11198 postrm should also handle the failure case of upgrading from an
11199 older version (unless the older version is so old that direct
11200 upgrades are no longer supported):
11202 if [ abort-upgrade = "$1" ] && dpkg --compare-versions "$2" lt 1.0-2; then
11203 dpkg-divert --package smailwrapper --remove --rename \
11204 --divert /usr/sbin/smail.real /usr/sbin/smail
11206 </example> where <tt>1.02-2</tt> is the version at which the
11207 diversion was first added to the package. The postrm should not
11208 remove the diversion on upgrades both because there's no reason to
11209 remove the diversion only to immediately re-add it and since the
11210 postrm of the old package is run after unpacking so the removal of
11211 the diversion will fail.
11215 Do not attempt to divert a file which is vitally important for
11216 the system's operation - when using <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn>
11217 there is a time, after it has been diverted but before
11218 <prgn>dpkg</prgn> has installed the new version, when the file
11219 does not exist.</p>
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