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 3.9.3.0
44 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
45 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
46 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
49 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
52 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
53 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
54 they have been removed.
57 <item> Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
58 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
61 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
62 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
66 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
73 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
74 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
78 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
79 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
80 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
81 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
84 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
85 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
86 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
90 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
91 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
92 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
93 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
97 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
100 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
101 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
102 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
103 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
107 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
108 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
109 dependencies are now a should not.
112 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
113 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
114 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
115 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
116 actions if their dependencies are not available.
119 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
120 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
123 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
124 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
125 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
126 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
127 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
130 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
131 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
132 POSIX-required interface.
136 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
143 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
144 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
148 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
149 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
150 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
153 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
154 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
155 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
158 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
159 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
160 architecture-independent.
163 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
164 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
165 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
168 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
169 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
170 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
171 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
174 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
177 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
178 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
179 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
182 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
183 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
186 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
187 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
188 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
189 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
190 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
191 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
192 their <file>.la</file> files.
195 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
196 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
197 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
198 thread-safe if the library supports this.
201 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
202 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
203 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
204 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
205 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
208 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
209 logrotate rules is now recommended.
212 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
213 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
215 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
216 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
217 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
218 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
219 for the corresponding manual page.
222 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
223 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
224 executables in those subdirectories.
227 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
228 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
233 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
239 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
240 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
241 Date control field is now precisely specified.
244 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
245 particular field name.
247 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
248 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
249 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
250 documented and recommended.
252 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
253 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
254 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
255 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
256 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
257 for <file>.changes</file> files.
260 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
264 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
267 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
268 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
269 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
270 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
274 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
275 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
276 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
277 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
278 question, but should avoid this if possible.
280 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
281 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
282 files between packages.
285 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
286 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
287 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
290 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
291 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
294 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
295 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
296 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
297 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
300 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
302 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
303 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
304 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
307 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
308 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
309 It should instead be included directly
310 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
311 common-licenses for the time being.
314 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
315 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
316 template instead of a string to allow translation.
319 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
320 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
321 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
322 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
323 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
326 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
327 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
328 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
332 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
339 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
340 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
341 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
344 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
345 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
348 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
349 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
353 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
359 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
360 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
363 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
364 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
365 may be used in different versions of the field.
368 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
369 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
372 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
375 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
376 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
377 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
378 using them should be built with RPATH.
381 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
382 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
383 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
384 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
387 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
388 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
391 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
392 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
393 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
397 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
398 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
399 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
400 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
401 support partial upgrades.
404 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
405 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
409 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
416 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
417 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
418 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
419 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
423 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
424 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
425 back on other methods.
428 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
432 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
433 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
436 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
437 <file>/var/mail</file>.
440 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
444 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
445 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
449 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
456 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
457 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
458 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
461 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
464 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
468 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
469 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
472 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
473 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
476 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
479 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
480 with no preceding whitespace.
483 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
484 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
485 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
486 behavior of the init system in Debian.
489 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
490 start the daemon again if it's already running.
493 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
494 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
495 subdirectories dynamically.
498 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
499 variable arguments and supports assignment.
502 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
503 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
507 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
514 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
515 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
516 system is now defined by priority.
518 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
519 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
521 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
522 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
523 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
524 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
525 unknown flags be ignored.
527 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
528 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
529 processes if the package supports it
531 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
532 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
535 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
536 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
537 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
538 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
539 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
540 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
543 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
545 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
548 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
549 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
550 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
551 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
552 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
553 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
555 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
556 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
557 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
560 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
561 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
564 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
565 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
568 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
569 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
570 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
571 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
572 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
573 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
576 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
577 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
579 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
580 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
583 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
586 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
593 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
594 anything, even the end of a part.
596 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
597 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
600 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
601 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
603 <tag>menu policy</tag>
604 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
605 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
606 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
607 sections would be more appropriate.
609 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
612 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
613 critical, or emergency.
615 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
616 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
617 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
620 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
621 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
622 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
624 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
625 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
628 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
634 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
635 should to a must)</item>
638 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
644 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
647 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
654 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
655 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
656 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
657 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
658 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
659 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
662 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
663 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
664 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
667 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
674 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
675 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
676 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
678 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
679 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
681 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
682 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
683 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
684 etc. may be of interest.
685 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
686 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
687 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
688 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
689 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
690 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
691 as well, to prepare for future changes.
693 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
694 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
695 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
698 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
699 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
701 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
702 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
703 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
704 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
708 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
715 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
718 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
719 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
720 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
723 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
724 allow packages to share image files with the web server
728 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
735 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
736 user prompts are now deprecated.
746 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
747 the minor version number:
749 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
750 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
751 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
752 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
753 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
754 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
755 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
756 deb-building tool-chain.
758 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
759 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
760 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
761 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
763 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
764 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
765 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
766 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
767 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
768 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
769 sections about changelog files.
770 <tag>menu policy</tag>
771 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
774 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
776 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
777 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
779 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
783 <sect> Version 3.5.10
790 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
791 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
794 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
795 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
798 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
805 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
806 full details of the long description format.
808 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
809 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
810 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
812 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
813 the init script should start the service.
815 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
816 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
817 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
820 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
827 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
828 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
829 documented in the changelog file.
831 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
832 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
834 <tag>menu policy</tag>
835 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
836 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
837 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
839 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
840 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
844 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
851 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
852 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
854 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
857 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
858 special Tasks: field in the control file.
860 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
861 they add themselves as an alternative for
862 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
864 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
865 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
866 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
867 environment variable.
869 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
870 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
871 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
872 review the new rules.
874 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
875 scripts. Long rationale.
879 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
880 rules, please see below
883 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
890 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
893 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
894 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
896 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
897 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
899 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
900 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
901 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
902 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
904 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
905 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
908 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
915 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
916 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
917 symlinks or .so pages to do this
920 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
921 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
922 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
925 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
926 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
929 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
930 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
933 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
936 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
939 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
943 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
945 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
946 fonts for the X Window System
949 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
952 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
953 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
956 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
957 OSF/Motif-linked ones
962 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
963 <p> Released Apr 2001.
967 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
968 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
969 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
972 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
973 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
974 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
979 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
980 <p> Released Apr 2001
984 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
985 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
988 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
989 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
990 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
991 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
995 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
997 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1001 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1002 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1003 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1007 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
1009 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1013 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1014 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1018 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
1020 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1024 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1025 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1029 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
1031 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1035 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1036 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1037 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1040 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1041 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1042 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1043 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1046 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1051 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
1053 <p> Released Aug 00.
1057 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1058 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1059 and the other without
1063 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
1065 <p> Released Aug 00.
1069 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1070 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1071 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1074 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1075 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1076 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1079 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1080 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1083 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1087 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1089 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1091 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1092 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1093 calculation guidelines)
1096 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1098 <item>X application defaults </item>
1102 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1106 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1108 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1109 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1114 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1116 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1120 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1121 etc. Should not affect many packages
1125 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1127 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1131 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1132 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1136 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1138 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1139 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1140 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1143 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1144 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1145 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1146 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1150 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1151 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1152 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1153 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1156 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1157 <file>/var/lib</file>
1159 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1160 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1162 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1165 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1166 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1170 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1171 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1172 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1175 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1180 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1182 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1186 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1187 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1188 files must go in the run-time library package
1192 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1194 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1198 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1199 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1203 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1204 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1207 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1208 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1209 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1210 other major licenses
1213 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1214 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1217 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1220 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1223 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1224 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1225 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1228 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1229 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1230 installed setgid utmp
1234 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1237 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1239 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1243 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1245 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1246 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1247 Section 5 and Section 6.
1249 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1250 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1251 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1252 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1253 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1257 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1258 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1259 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1260 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1262 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1263 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1265 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1266 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1268 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1269 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1271 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1276 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1278 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1280 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1282 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1283 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1284 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1285 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1288 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1289 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1290 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1294 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1296 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1297 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1298 installs shared libraries
1299 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1303 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1305 <p> Released Jan 1998
1308 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1310 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1311 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1313 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1314 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1318 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1319 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1320 file extension as the referenced file
1323 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1324 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1325 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1328 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1330 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1331 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1332 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1336 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1337 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1338 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1341 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1342 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1343 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1344 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1348 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1349 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1353 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1354 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1355 reasonable default configuration
1358 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1359 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1360 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1363 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1365 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1366 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1368 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1369 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1373 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1374 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1379 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1381 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1384 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1385 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1386 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1389 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1390 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1393 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1396 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1398 <p> Released July 1997.
1401 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1404 where <arch> is one of the following:
1405 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1408 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1410 <item>user ID's</item>
1412 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1414 <item>cron jobs</item>
1416 <item>device files</item>
1418 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1420 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1423 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1425 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1428 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1431 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1433 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1435 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1437 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1441 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1443 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1446 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1449 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1451 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1454 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1456 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1457 without consultation </item>
1459 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1462 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1464 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1467 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>