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 <email/rra@debian.org/ </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 id="3.9.6.0"> Version 3.9.6.0
44 <item> The FHS is relaxed to allow a subdirectory of <file>/usr/lib</file>
45 to hold a mixture of architecture-independent and architecture-dependent
46 files, though directories entirely composed of architecture-independent files
47 should be located in <file>/usr/share</file>.
50 <item>The FHS requirement for <file>/usr/local/lib64</file> to exist
51 if <file>/lib64</file> or <file>/usr/lib64</file> exists is removed.
54 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch include files,
55 permitting header files to instead be installed to
56 <file>/usr/include/triplet</file>.
59 <item> Binaries must not be statically linked with the GNU C library,
60 see policy for exceptions.
63 <item> It is clarified that signature appearing in debian/changelog should be
64 the details of the person who prepared this release of the package.
67 <item><tt>java1-runtime</tt> and <tt>java2-runtime</tt> are removed,
68 <tt>javaN-runtime</tt> and <tt>javaN-runtime-headless</tt> are added
69 for all N between 5 and 9.
72 <item>Added <tt>httpd-wsgi</tt> for WSGI capable HTTP servers.
75 <item> Perl packages should use the <tt>%Config</tt> hash to locate module
76 paths instead of hardcoding paths in <tt>@INC</tt>.
79 <item> Perl binary modules and any modules installed into
80 <tt>$Config{vendorarch}</tt> must depend on the relevant
81 <package>perlapi-*</package> package.
82 </item> </taglist></p>
84 <sect id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
87 Released October, 2013.
91 <item>Control data fields must not start with the hyphen character
92 (<tt>-</tt>), to avoid potential confusions when parsing clearsigned control
93 data files that were not properly unescaped.
95 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
96 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
97 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
99 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
100 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
101 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
103 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
104 source control files.
107 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
108 package control files.
111 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Dgit</tt> field in Debian
112 source control files.
115 <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
118 <item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
119 local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
120 tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
121 <em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
124 <item>The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
125 must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when possible.
126 In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.
129 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
130 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
133 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
134 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
135 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
138 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
141 <item><tt>mp3-decoder</tt> and <tt>mp3-encoder</tt> are removed.</item>
144 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
147 Released August, 2012.
151 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
154 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
155 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
158 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
159 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
160 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
163 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
166 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
167 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
168 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
169 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
172 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
173 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
174 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
175 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
176 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
177 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
180 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
181 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
182 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
185 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
186 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
188 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
189 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
192 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
196 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
199 Released February, 2012.
203 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
204 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
207 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
208 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
209 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
212 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
213 list of architectures must be non-empty.
216 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
217 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
218 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
219 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
220 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
221 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
222 should be stored in a temporary file system.
225 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
226 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
227 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
231 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
232 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
233 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
234 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
235 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
238 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
241 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
242 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
245 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
246 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
247 they have been removed.
250 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
251 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
252 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
254 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
255 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
256 file" specification is included.
259 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
260 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
264 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
265 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
268 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
269 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
273 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
276 Released April, 2011.
280 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
281 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
285 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
286 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
287 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
288 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
291 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
292 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
293 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
297 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
298 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
299 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
300 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
304 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
307 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
308 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
309 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
310 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
314 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
315 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
316 dependencies are now a should not.
319 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
320 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
321 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
322 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
323 actions if their dependencies are not available.
326 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
327 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
330 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
331 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
332 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
333 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
334 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
337 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
338 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
339 POSIX-required interface.
343 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
350 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
351 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
355 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
356 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
357 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
360 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
361 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
362 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
365 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
366 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
367 architecture-independent.
370 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
371 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
372 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
375 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
376 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
377 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
378 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
381 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
384 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
385 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
386 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
389 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
390 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
393 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
394 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
395 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
396 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
397 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
398 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
399 their <file>.la</file> files.
402 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
403 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
404 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
405 thread-safe if the library supports this.
408 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
409 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
410 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
411 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
412 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
415 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
416 logrotate rules is now recommended.
419 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
420 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
422 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
423 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
424 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
425 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
426 for the corresponding manual page.
429 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
430 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
431 executables in those subdirectories.
434 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
435 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
440 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
446 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
447 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
448 Date control field is now precisely specified.
451 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
452 particular field name.
454 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
455 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
456 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
457 documented and recommended.
459 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
460 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
461 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
462 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
463 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
464 for <file>.changes</file> files.
467 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
471 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
474 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
475 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
476 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
477 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
481 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
482 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
483 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
484 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
485 question, but should avoid this if possible.
487 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
488 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
489 files between packages.
492 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
493 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
494 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
497 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
498 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
501 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
502 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
503 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
504 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
507 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
509 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
510 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
511 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
514 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
515 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
516 It should instead be included directly
517 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
518 common-licenses for the time being.
521 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
522 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
523 template instead of a string to allow translation.
526 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
527 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
528 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
529 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
530 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
533 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
534 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
535 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
539 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
546 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
547 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
548 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
551 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
552 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
555 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
556 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
560 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
566 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
567 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
570 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
571 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
572 may be used in different versions of the field.
575 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
576 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
579 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
582 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
583 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
584 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
585 using them should be built with RPATH.
588 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
589 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
590 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
591 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
594 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
595 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
598 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
599 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
600 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
604 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
605 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
606 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
607 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
608 support partial upgrades.
611 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
612 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
616 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
623 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
624 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
625 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
626 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
630 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
631 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
632 back on other methods.
635 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
639 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
640 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
643 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
644 <file>/var/mail</file>.
647 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
651 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
652 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
656 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
663 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
664 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
665 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
668 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
671 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
675 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
676 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
679 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
680 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
683 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
686 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
687 with no preceding whitespace.
690 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
691 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
692 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
693 behavior of the init system in Debian.
696 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
697 start the daemon again if it's already running.
700 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
701 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
702 subdirectories dynamically.
705 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
706 variable arguments and supports assignment.
709 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
710 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
714 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
721 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
722 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
723 system is now defined by priority.
725 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
726 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
728 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
729 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
730 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
731 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
732 unknown flags be ignored.
734 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
735 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
736 processes if the package supports it
738 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
739 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
742 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
743 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
744 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
745 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
746 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
747 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
750 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
752 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
755 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
756 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
757 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
758 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
759 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
760 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
762 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
763 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
764 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
767 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
768 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
771 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
772 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
775 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
776 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
777 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
778 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
779 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
780 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
783 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
784 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
786 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
787 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
790 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
793 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
800 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
801 anything, even the end of a part.
803 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
804 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
807 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
808 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
810 <tag>menu policy</tag>
811 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
812 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
813 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
814 sections would be more appropriate.
816 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
819 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
820 critical, or emergency.
822 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
823 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
824 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
827 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
828 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
829 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
831 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
832 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
835 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
841 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
842 should to a must)</item>
845 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
851 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
854 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
861 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
862 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
863 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
864 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
865 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
866 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
869 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
870 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
871 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
874 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
881 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
882 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
883 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
885 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
886 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
888 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
889 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
890 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
891 etc. may be of interest.
892 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
893 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
894 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
895 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
896 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
897 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
898 as well, to prepare for future changes.
900 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
901 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
902 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
905 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
906 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
908 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
909 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
910 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
911 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
915 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
922 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
925 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
926 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
927 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
930 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
931 allow packages to share image files with the web server
935 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
942 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
943 user prompts are now deprecated.
946 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
953 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
954 the minor version number:
956 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
957 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
958 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
959 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
960 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
961 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
962 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
963 deb-building tool-chain.
965 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
966 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
967 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
968 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
970 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
971 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
972 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
973 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
974 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
975 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
976 sections about changelog files.
977 <tag>menu policy</tag>
978 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
981 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
983 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
984 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
986 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
990 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
997 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
998 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
1001 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
1002 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
1005 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
1012 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
1013 full details of the long description format.
1015 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
1016 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
1017 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
1019 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
1020 the init script should start the service.
1022 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
1023 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
1024 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
1027 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
1034 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
1035 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
1036 documented in the changelog file.
1038 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
1039 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
1041 <tag>menu policy</tag>
1042 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
1043 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
1044 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
1046 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
1047 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
1051 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
1058 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
1059 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
1061 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
1064 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
1065 special Tasks: field in the control file.
1067 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
1068 they add themselves as an alternative for
1069 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1071 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1072 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1073 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1074 environment variable.
1076 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1077 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1078 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1079 review the new rules.
1081 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1082 scripts. Long rationale.
1086 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1087 rules, please see below
1090 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1097 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1100 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1101 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1103 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1104 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1106 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1107 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1108 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1109 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1111 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1112 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1115 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1122 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1123 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1124 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1127 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1128 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1129 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1132 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1133 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1136 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1137 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1140 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1143 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1146 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1150 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1152 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1153 fonts for the X Window System
1156 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1159 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1160 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1163 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1164 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1169 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1170 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1174 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1175 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1176 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1178 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1179 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1180 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1185 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1186 <p> Released Apr 2001
1190 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1191 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1194 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1195 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1196 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1197 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1201 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1203 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1207 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1208 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1209 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1213 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1215 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1219 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1220 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1224 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1226 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1230 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1231 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1235 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1237 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1241 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1242 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1243 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1246 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1247 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1248 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1249 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1252 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1257 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1259 <p> Released Aug 00.
1263 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1264 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1265 and the other without
1269 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1271 <p> Released Aug 00.
1275 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1276 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1277 package with debugging information optionally.
1280 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1281 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1282 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1285 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1286 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1289 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1293 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1295 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1297 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1298 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1299 calculation guidelines)
1302 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1304 <item>X application defaults </item>
1308 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1312 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1314 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1315 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1320 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1322 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1326 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1327 etc. Should not affect many packages
1331 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1333 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1337 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1338 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1342 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1344 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1345 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1346 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1349 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1350 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1351 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1352 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1356 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1357 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1358 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1359 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1362 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1363 <file>/var/lib</file>
1365 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1366 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1368 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1371 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1372 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1376 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1377 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1378 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1381 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1386 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1388 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1392 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1393 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1394 files must go in the run-time library package
1398 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1400 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1404 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1405 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1409 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1410 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1413 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1414 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1415 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1416 other major licenses
1419 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1420 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1423 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1426 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1429 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1430 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1431 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1434 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1435 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1436 installed setgid utmp
1440 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1443 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1445 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1449 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1451 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1452 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1453 Section 5 and Section 6.
1455 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1456 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1457 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1458 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1459 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1463 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1464 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1465 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1466 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1468 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1469 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1471 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1472 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1474 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1475 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1477 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1482 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1484 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1486 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1488 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1489 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1490 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1491 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1494 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1495 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1496 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1500 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1502 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1503 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1504 installs shared libraries
1505 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1509 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1511 <p> Released Jan 1998
1514 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1516 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1517 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1519 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1520 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1524 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1525 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1526 file extension as the referenced file
1529 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1530 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1531 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1534 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1536 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1537 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1538 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1542 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1543 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1544 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1547 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1548 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1549 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1550 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1554 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1555 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1559 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1560 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1561 reasonable default configuration
1564 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1565 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1566 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1569 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1571 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1572 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1574 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1575 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1579 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1580 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1585 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1587 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1590 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1591 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1592 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1595 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1596 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1599 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1602 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1604 <p> Released July 1997.
1607 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1610 where <arch> is one of the following:
1611 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1614 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1616 <item>user ID's</item>
1618 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1620 <item>cron jobs</item>
1622 <item>device files</item>
1624 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1626 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1629 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1631 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1634 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1637 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1639 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1641 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1643 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1647 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1649 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1652 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1655 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1657 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1660 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1662 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1663 without consultation </item>
1665 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1668 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1670 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1673 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>