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="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
43 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
44 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
45 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
47 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
48 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
49 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
51 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
55 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
56 package control files.
59 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
63 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
66 Released August, 2012.
70 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
73 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
74 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
77 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
78 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
79 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
82 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
85 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
86 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
87 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
88 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
91 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
92 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
93 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
94 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
95 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
96 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
99 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
100 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
101 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
104 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
105 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
107 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
108 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
111 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
115 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
118 Released February, 2012.
122 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
123 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
126 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
127 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
128 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
131 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
132 list of architectures must be non-empty.
135 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
136 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
137 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
138 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
139 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
140 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
141 should be stored in a temporary file system.
144 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
145 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
146 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
150 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
151 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
152 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
153 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
154 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
157 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
160 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
161 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
164 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
165 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
166 they have been removed.
169 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
170 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
171 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
173 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
174 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
175 file" specification is included.
178 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
179 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
183 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
184 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
187 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
188 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
192 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
195 Released April, 2011.
199 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
200 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
204 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
205 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
206 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
207 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
210 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
211 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
212 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
216 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
217 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
218 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
219 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
223 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
226 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
227 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
228 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
229 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
233 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
234 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
235 dependencies are now a should not.
238 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
239 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
240 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
241 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
242 actions if their dependencies are not available.
245 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
246 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
249 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
250 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
251 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
252 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
253 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
256 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
257 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
258 POSIX-required interface.
262 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
269 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
270 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
274 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
275 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
276 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
279 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
280 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
281 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
284 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
285 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
286 architecture-independent.
289 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
290 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
291 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
294 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
295 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
296 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
297 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
300 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
303 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
304 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
305 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
308 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
309 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
312 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
313 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
314 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
315 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
316 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
317 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
318 their <file>.la</file> files.
321 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
322 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
323 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
324 thread-safe if the library supports this.
327 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
328 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
329 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
330 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
331 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
334 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
335 logrotate rules is now recommended.
338 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
339 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
341 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
342 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
343 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
344 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
345 for the corresponding manual page.
348 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
349 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
350 executables in those subdirectories.
353 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
354 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
359 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
365 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
366 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
367 Date control field is now precisely specified.
370 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
371 particular field name.
373 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
374 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
375 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
376 documented and recommended.
378 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
379 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
380 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
381 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
382 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
383 for <file>.changes</file> files.
386 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
390 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
393 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
394 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
395 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
396 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
400 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
401 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
402 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
403 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
404 question, but should avoid this if possible.
406 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
407 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
408 files between packages.
411 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
412 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
413 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
416 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
417 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
420 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
421 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
422 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
423 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
426 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
428 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
429 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
430 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
433 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
434 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
435 It should instead be included directly
436 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
437 common-licenses for the time being.
440 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
441 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
442 template instead of a string to allow translation.
445 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
446 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
447 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
448 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
449 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
452 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
453 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
454 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
458 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
465 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
466 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
467 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
470 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
471 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
474 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
475 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
479 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
485 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
486 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
489 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
490 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
491 may be used in different versions of the field.
494 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
495 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
498 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
501 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
502 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
503 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
504 using them should be built with RPATH.
507 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
508 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
509 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
510 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
513 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
514 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
517 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
518 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
519 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
523 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
524 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
525 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
526 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
527 support partial upgrades.
530 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
531 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
535 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
542 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
543 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
544 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
545 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
549 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
550 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
551 back on other methods.
554 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
558 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
559 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
562 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
563 <file>/var/mail</file>.
566 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
570 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
571 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
575 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
582 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
583 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
584 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
587 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
590 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
594 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
595 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
598 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
599 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
602 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
605 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
606 with no preceding whitespace.
609 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
610 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
611 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
612 behavior of the init system in Debian.
615 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
616 start the daemon again if it's already running.
619 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
620 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
621 subdirectories dynamically.
624 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
625 variable arguments and supports assignment.
628 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
629 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
633 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
640 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
641 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
642 system is now defined by priority.
644 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
645 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
647 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
648 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
649 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
650 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
651 unknown flags be ignored.
653 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
654 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
655 processes if the package supports it
657 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
658 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
661 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
662 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
663 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
664 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
665 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
666 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
669 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
671 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
674 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
675 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
676 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
677 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
678 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
679 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
681 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
682 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
683 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
686 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
687 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
690 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
691 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
694 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
695 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
696 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
697 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
698 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
699 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
702 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
703 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
705 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
706 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
709 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
712 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
719 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
720 anything, even the end of a part.
722 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
723 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
726 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
727 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
729 <tag>menu policy</tag>
730 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
731 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
732 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
733 sections would be more appropriate.
735 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
738 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
739 critical, or emergency.
741 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
742 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
743 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
746 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
747 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
748 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
750 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
751 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
754 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
760 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
761 should to a must)</item>
764 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
770 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
773 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
780 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
781 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
782 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
783 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
784 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
785 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
788 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
789 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
790 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
793 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
800 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
801 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
802 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
804 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
805 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
807 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
808 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
809 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
810 etc. may be of interest.
811 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
812 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
813 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
814 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
815 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
816 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
817 as well, to prepare for future changes.
819 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
820 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
821 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
824 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
825 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
827 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
828 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
829 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
830 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
834 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
841 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
844 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
845 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
846 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
849 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
850 allow packages to share image files with the web server
854 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
861 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
862 user prompts are now deprecated.
865 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
872 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
873 the minor version number:
875 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
876 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
877 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
878 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
879 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
880 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
881 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
882 deb-building tool-chain.
884 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
885 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
886 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
887 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
889 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
890 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
891 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
892 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
893 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
894 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
895 sections about changelog files.
896 <tag>menu policy</tag>
897 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
900 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
902 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
903 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
905 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
909 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
916 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
917 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
920 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
921 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
924 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
931 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
932 full details of the long description format.
934 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
935 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
936 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
938 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
939 the init script should start the service.
941 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
942 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
943 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
946 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
953 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
954 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
955 documented in the changelog file.
957 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
958 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
960 <tag>menu policy</tag>
961 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
962 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
963 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
965 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
966 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
970 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
977 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
978 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
980 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
983 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
984 special Tasks: field in the control file.
986 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
987 they add themselves as an alternative for
988 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
990 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
991 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
992 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
993 environment variable.
995 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
996 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
997 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
998 review the new rules.
1000 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1001 scripts. Long rationale.
1005 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1006 rules, please see below
1009 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1016 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1019 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1020 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1022 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1023 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1025 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1026 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1027 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1028 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1030 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1031 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1034 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1041 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1042 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1043 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1046 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1047 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1048 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1051 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1052 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1055 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1056 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1059 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1062 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1065 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1069 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1071 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1072 fonts for the X Window System
1075 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1078 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1079 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1082 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1083 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1088 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1089 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1093 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1094 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1095 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1098 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1099 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1100 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1105 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1106 <p> Released Apr 2001
1110 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1111 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1114 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1115 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1116 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1117 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1121 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1123 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1127 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1128 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1129 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1133 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1135 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1139 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1140 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1144 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1146 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1150 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1151 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1155 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1157 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1161 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1162 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1163 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1166 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1167 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1168 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1169 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1172 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1177 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1179 <p> Released Aug 00.
1183 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1184 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1185 and the other without
1189 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1191 <p> Released Aug 00.
1195 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1196 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1197 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1200 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1201 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1202 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1205 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1206 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1209 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1213 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1215 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1217 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1218 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1219 calculation guidelines)
1222 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1224 <item>X application defaults </item>
1228 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1232 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1234 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1235 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1240 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1242 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1246 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1247 etc. Should not affect many packages
1251 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1253 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1257 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1258 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1262 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1264 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1265 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1266 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1269 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1270 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1271 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1272 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1276 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1277 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1278 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1279 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1282 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1283 <file>/var/lib</file>
1285 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1286 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1288 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1291 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1292 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1296 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1297 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1298 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1301 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1306 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1308 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1312 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1313 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1314 files must go in the run-time library package
1318 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1320 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1324 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1325 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1329 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1330 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1333 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1334 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1335 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1336 other major licenses
1339 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1340 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1343 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1346 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1349 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1350 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1351 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1354 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1355 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1356 installed setgid utmp
1360 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1363 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1365 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1369 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1371 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1372 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1373 Section 5 and Section 6.
1375 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1376 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1377 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1378 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1379 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1383 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1384 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1385 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1386 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1388 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1389 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1391 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1392 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1394 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1395 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1397 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1402 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1404 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1406 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1408 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1409 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1410 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1411 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1414 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1415 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1416 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1420 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1422 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1423 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1424 installs shared libraries
1425 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1429 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1431 <p> Released Jan 1998
1434 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1436 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1437 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1439 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1440 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1444 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1445 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1446 file extension as the referenced file
1449 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1450 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1451 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1454 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1456 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1457 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1458 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1462 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1463 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1464 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1467 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1468 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1469 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1470 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1474 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1475 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1479 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1480 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1481 reasonable default configuration
1484 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1485 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1486 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1489 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1491 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1492 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1494 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1495 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1499 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1500 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1505 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1507 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1510 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1511 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1512 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1515 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1516 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1519 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1522 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1524 <p> Released July 1997.
1527 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1530 where <arch> is one of the following:
1531 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1534 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1536 <item>user ID's</item>
1538 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1540 <item>cron jobs</item>
1542 <item>device files</item>
1544 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1546 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1549 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1551 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1554 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1557 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1559 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1561 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1563 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1567 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1569 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1572 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1575 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1577 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1580 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1582 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1583 without consultation </item>
1585 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1588 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1590 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1593 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>