1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.8.5.0
44 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
46 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
47 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
48 normal requirement to use <code>set -e</code> in each shell script.
51 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
52 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
53 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
54 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
55 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
59 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
66 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
67 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
68 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
71 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
72 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
75 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
76 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
80 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
86 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
87 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
90 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
91 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
92 may be used in different versions of the field.
95 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
96 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
99 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
102 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
103 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
104 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
105 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
108 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
109 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
110 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
113 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
114 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
117 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
118 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
119 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
123 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
124 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
125 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
126 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
127 support partial upgrades.
130 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
131 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
135 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
142 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
143 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
144 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
145 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
149 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
150 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
151 back on other methods.
154 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
158 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
159 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
162 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
163 <file>/var/mail</file>.
166 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
170 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
171 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
175 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
182 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
183 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
184 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
187 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
190 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
194 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
195 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
198 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
199 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
202 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
205 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
206 preceding whitespace.
209 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
210 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
211 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
212 behavior of the init system in Debian.
215 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
216 start the daemon again if it's already running.
219 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
220 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
221 subdirectories dynamically.
224 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
225 variable arguments and supports assignment.
228 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
229 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
233 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
240 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
241 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
242 system is now defined by priority.
244 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
245 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
247 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
248 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
249 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
250 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
251 unknown flags be ignored.
253 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
254 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
255 processes if the package supports it
257 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
258 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
261 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
262 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
263 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
264 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
265 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
266 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
269 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
271 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
274 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
275 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
276 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
277 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
278 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
279 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
281 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
282 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
283 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
286 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
287 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
290 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
291 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
294 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
295 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
296 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
297 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
298 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
299 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
302 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
303 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
305 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
306 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
309 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
312 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
319 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
320 anything, even the end of a part.
322 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
323 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
326 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
327 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
329 <tag>menu policy</tag>
330 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
331 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
332 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
333 sections would be more appropriate.
335 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
338 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
339 critical, or emergency.
341 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
342 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
343 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
346 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
347 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
348 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
350 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
351 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
354 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
360 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
361 should to a must)</item>
364 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
370 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
373 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
380 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
381 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
382 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
383 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
384 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
385 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
388 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
389 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
390 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
393 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
400 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
401 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
402 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
404 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
405 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
407 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
408 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
409 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
410 etc. may be of interest.
411 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
412 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
413 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
414 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
415 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
416 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
417 as well, to prepare for future changes.
419 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
420 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
421 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
424 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
425 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
427 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
428 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
429 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
430 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
434 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
441 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
444 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
445 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
446 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
449 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
450 allow packages to share image files with the web server
454 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
461 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
462 user prompts are now deprecated.
472 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
473 the minor version number:
475 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
476 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
477 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
478 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
479 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
480 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
481 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
482 deb-building tool-chain.
484 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
485 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
486 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
487 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
489 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
490 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
491 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
492 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
493 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
494 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
495 sections about changelog files.
496 <tag>menu policy</tag>
497 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
500 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
502 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
503 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
505 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
509 <sect> Version 3.5.10
516 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
517 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
520 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
521 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
524 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
531 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
532 full details of the long description format.
534 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
535 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
536 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
538 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
539 the init script should start the service.
541 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
542 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
543 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
546 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
553 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
554 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
555 documented in the changelog file.
557 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
558 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
560 <tag>menu policy</tag>
561 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
562 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
563 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
565 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
566 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
570 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
577 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
578 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
580 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
583 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
584 special Tasks: field in the control file.
586 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
587 they add themselves as an alternative for
588 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
590 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
591 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
592 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
593 environment variable.
595 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
596 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
597 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
598 review the new rules.
600 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
601 scripts. Long rationale.
605 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
606 rules, please see below
609 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
616 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
619 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
620 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
622 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
623 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
625 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
626 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
627 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
628 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
630 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
631 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
634 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
641 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
642 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
643 symlinks or .so pages to do this
646 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
647 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
648 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
651 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
652 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
655 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
656 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
659 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
662 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
665 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
669 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
671 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
672 fonts for the X Window System
675 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
678 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
679 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
682 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
683 OSF/Motif-linked ones
688 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
689 <p> Released Apr 2001.
693 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
694 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
695 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
698 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
699 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
700 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
705 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
706 <p> Released Apr 2001
710 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
711 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
714 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
715 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
716 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
717 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
721 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
723 <p> Released Feb 2001.
727 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
728 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
729 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
733 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
735 <p> Released Feb 2001.
739 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
740 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
744 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
746 <p> Released Jan 2001.
750 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
751 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
755 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
757 <p> Released Jan 2001.
761 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
762 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
763 <file>/etc/default/</file>
766 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
767 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
768 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
769 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
772 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
777 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
783 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
784 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
785 and the other without
789 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
795 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
796 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
797 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
800 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
801 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
802 should always be generated for the upstream changes
805 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
806 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
809 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
813 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
815 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
817 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
818 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
819 calculation guidelines)
822 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
824 <item>X application defaults </item>
828 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
832 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
834 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
835 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
840 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
842 <p> Released Nov 1999.
846 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
847 etc. Should not affect many packages
851 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
853 <p> Released Oct 1999.
857 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
858 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
862 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
864 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
865 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
866 but should use update-rc.d instead)
869 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
870 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
871 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
872 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
876 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
877 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
878 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
879 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
882 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
883 <file>/var/lib</file>
885 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
886 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
888 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
891 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
892 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
896 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
897 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
898 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
901 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
906 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
908 <p> Released Jul 1999.
912 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
913 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
914 files must go in the run-time library package
918 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
920 <p> Released Jun 1999.
924 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
925 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
929 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
930 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
933 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
934 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
935 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
939 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
940 include the .la files in the -dev packages
943 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
946 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
949 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
950 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
951 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
954 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
955 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
956 installed setgid utmp
960 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
963 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
965 <p> Released Oct 1998.
969 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
971 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
972 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
973 Section 5 and Section 6.
975 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
976 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
977 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
978 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
979 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
983 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
984 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
985 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
986 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
988 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
989 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
991 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
992 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
994 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
995 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
997 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1002 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1004 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1006 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1008 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1009 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1010 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1011 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1014 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1015 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1016 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1020 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1022 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1023 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1024 installs shared libraries
1025 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1029 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1031 <p> Released Jan 1998
1034 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1036 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1037 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1039 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1040 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1044 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1045 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1046 file extension as the referenced file
1049 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1050 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1051 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1054 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1056 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1057 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1058 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1062 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1063 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1064 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1067 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1068 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1069 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1070 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1074 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1075 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1079 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1080 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1081 reasonable default configuration
1084 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1085 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1086 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1089 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1091 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1092 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1094 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1095 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1099 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1100 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1105 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1107 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1110 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1111 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1112 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1115 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1116 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1119 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1122 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1124 <p> Released July 1997.
1127 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1130 where <arch> is one of the following:
1131 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1134 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1136 <item>user ID's</item>
1138 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1140 <item>cron jobs</item>
1142 <item>device files</item>
1144 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1146 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1149 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1151 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1154 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1157 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1159 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1161 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1163 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1167 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1169 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1172 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1175 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1177 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1180 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1182 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1183 without consultation </item>
1185 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1188 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1190 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1193 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>