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="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
44 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
45 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
46 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
49 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
52 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
53 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
54 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
55 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
58 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
62 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
65 Released February, 2012.
69 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
70 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
73 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
74 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
75 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
78 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
79 list of architectures must be non-empty.
82 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
83 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
84 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
85 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
86 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
87 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
88 should be stored in a temporary file system.
91 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
92 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
93 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
97 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
98 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
99 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
100 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
101 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
104 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
107 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
108 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
111 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
112 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
113 they have been removed.
116 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
117 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
118 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
120 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
121 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
122 file" specification is included.
125 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
126 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
130 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
131 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
134 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
135 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
139 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
142 Released April, 2011.
146 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
147 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
151 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
152 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
153 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
154 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
157 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
158 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
159 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
163 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
164 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
165 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
166 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
170 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
173 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
174 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
175 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
176 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
180 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
181 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
182 dependencies are now a should not.
185 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
186 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
187 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
188 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
189 actions if their dependencies are not available.
192 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
193 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
196 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
197 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
198 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
199 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
200 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
203 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
204 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
205 POSIX-required interface.
209 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
216 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
217 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
221 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
222 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
223 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
226 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
227 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
228 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
231 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
232 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
233 architecture-independent.
236 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
237 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
238 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
241 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
242 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
243 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
244 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
247 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
250 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
251 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
252 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
255 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
256 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
259 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
260 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
261 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
262 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
263 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
264 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
265 their <file>.la</file> files.
268 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
269 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
270 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
271 thread-safe if the library supports this.
274 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
275 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
276 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
277 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
278 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
281 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
282 logrotate rules is now recommended.
285 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
286 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
288 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
289 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
290 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
291 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
292 for the corresponding manual page.
295 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
296 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
297 executables in those subdirectories.
300 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
301 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
306 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
312 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
313 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
314 Date control field is now precisely specified.
317 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
318 particular field name.
320 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
321 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
322 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
323 documented and recommended.
325 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
326 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
327 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
328 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
329 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
330 for <file>.changes</file> files.
333 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
337 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
340 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
341 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
342 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
343 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
347 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
348 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
349 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
350 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
351 question, but should avoid this if possible.
353 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
354 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
355 files between packages.
358 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
359 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
360 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
363 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
364 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
367 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
368 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
369 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
370 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
373 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
375 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
376 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
377 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
380 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
381 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
382 It should instead be included directly
383 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
384 common-licenses for the time being.
387 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
388 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
389 template instead of a string to allow translation.
392 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
393 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
394 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
395 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
396 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
399 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
400 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
401 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
405 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
412 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
413 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
414 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
417 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
418 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
421 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
422 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
426 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
432 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
433 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
436 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
437 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
438 may be used in different versions of the field.
441 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
442 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
445 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
448 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
449 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
450 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
451 using them should be built with RPATH.
454 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
455 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
456 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
457 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
460 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
461 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
464 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
465 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
466 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
470 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
471 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
472 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
473 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
474 support partial upgrades.
477 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
478 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
482 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
489 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
490 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
491 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
492 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
496 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
497 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
498 back on other methods.
501 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
505 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
506 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
509 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
510 <file>/var/mail</file>.
513 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
517 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
518 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
522 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
529 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
530 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
531 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
534 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
537 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
541 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
542 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
545 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
546 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
549 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
552 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
553 with no preceding whitespace.
556 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
557 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
558 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
559 behavior of the init system in Debian.
562 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
563 start the daemon again if it's already running.
566 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
567 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
568 subdirectories dynamically.
571 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
572 variable arguments and supports assignment.
575 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
576 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
580 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
587 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
588 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
589 system is now defined by priority.
591 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
592 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
594 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
595 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
596 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
597 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
598 unknown flags be ignored.
600 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
601 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
602 processes if the package supports it
604 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
605 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
608 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
609 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
610 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
611 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
612 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
613 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
616 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
618 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
621 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
622 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
623 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
624 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
625 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
626 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
628 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
629 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
630 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
633 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
634 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
637 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
638 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
641 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
642 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
643 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
644 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
645 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
646 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
649 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
650 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
652 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
653 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
656 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
659 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
666 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
667 anything, even the end of a part.
669 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
670 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
673 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
674 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
676 <tag>menu policy</tag>
677 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
678 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
679 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
680 sections would be more appropriate.
682 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
685 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
686 critical, or emergency.
688 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
689 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
690 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
693 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
694 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
695 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
697 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
698 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
701 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
707 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
708 should to a must)</item>
711 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
717 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
720 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
727 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
728 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
729 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
730 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
731 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
732 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
735 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
736 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
737 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
740 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
747 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
748 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
749 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
751 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
752 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
754 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
755 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
756 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
757 etc. may be of interest.
758 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
759 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
760 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
761 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
762 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
763 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
764 as well, to prepare for future changes.
766 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
767 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
768 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
771 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
772 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
774 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
775 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
776 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
777 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
781 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
788 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
791 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
792 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
793 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
796 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
797 allow packages to share image files with the web server
801 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
808 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
809 user prompts are now deprecated.
812 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
819 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
820 the minor version number:
822 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
823 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
824 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
825 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
826 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
827 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
828 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
829 deb-building tool-chain.
831 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
832 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
833 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
834 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
836 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
837 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
838 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
839 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
840 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
841 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
842 sections about changelog files.
843 <tag>menu policy</tag>
844 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
847 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
849 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
850 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
852 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
856 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
863 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
864 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
867 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
868 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
871 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
878 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
879 full details of the long description format.
881 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
882 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
883 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
885 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
886 the init script should start the service.
888 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
889 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
890 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
893 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
900 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
901 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
902 documented in the changelog file.
904 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
905 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
907 <tag>menu policy</tag>
908 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
909 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
910 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
912 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
913 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
917 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
924 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
925 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
927 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
930 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
931 special Tasks: field in the control file.
933 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
934 they add themselves as an alternative for
935 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
937 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
938 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
939 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
940 environment variable.
942 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
943 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
944 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
945 review the new rules.
947 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
948 scripts. Long rationale.
952 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
953 rules, please see below
956 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
963 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
966 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
967 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
969 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
970 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
972 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
973 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
974 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
975 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
977 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
978 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
981 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
988 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
989 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
990 symlinks or .so pages to do this
993 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
994 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
995 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
998 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
999 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1002 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1003 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1006 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1009 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1012 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1016 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1018 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1019 fonts for the X Window System
1022 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1025 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1026 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1029 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1030 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1035 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1036 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1040 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1041 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1042 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1045 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1046 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1047 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1052 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1053 <p> Released Apr 2001
1057 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1058 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1061 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1062 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1063 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1064 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1068 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1070 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1074 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1075 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1076 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1080 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1082 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1086 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1087 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1091 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1093 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1097 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1098 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1102 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1104 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1108 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1109 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1110 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1113 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1114 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1115 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1116 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1119 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1124 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1126 <p> Released Aug 00.
1130 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1131 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1132 and the other without
1136 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1138 <p> Released Aug 00.
1142 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1143 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1144 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1147 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1148 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1149 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1152 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1153 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1156 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1160 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1162 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1164 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1165 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1166 calculation guidelines)
1169 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1171 <item>X application defaults </item>
1175 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1179 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1181 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1182 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1187 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1189 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1193 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1194 etc. Should not affect many packages
1198 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1200 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1204 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1205 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1209 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1211 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1212 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1213 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1216 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1217 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1218 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1219 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1223 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1224 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1225 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1226 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1229 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1230 <file>/var/lib</file>
1232 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1233 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1235 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1238 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1239 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1243 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1244 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1245 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1248 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1253 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1255 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1259 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1260 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1261 files must go in the run-time library package
1265 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1267 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1271 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1272 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1276 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1277 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1280 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1281 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1282 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1283 other major licenses
1286 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1287 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1290 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1293 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1296 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1297 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1298 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1301 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1302 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1303 installed setgid utmp
1307 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1310 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1312 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1316 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1318 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1319 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1320 Section 5 and Section 6.
1322 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1323 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1324 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1325 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1326 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1330 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1331 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1332 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1333 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1335 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1336 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1338 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1339 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1341 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1342 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1344 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1349 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1351 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1353 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1355 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1356 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1357 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1358 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1361 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1362 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1363 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1367 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1369 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1370 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1371 installs shared libraries
1372 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1376 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1378 <p> Released Jan 1998
1381 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1383 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1384 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1386 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1387 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1391 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1392 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1393 file extension as the referenced file
1396 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1397 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1398 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1401 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1403 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1404 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1405 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1409 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1410 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1411 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1414 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1415 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1416 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1417 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1421 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1422 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1426 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1427 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1428 reasonable default configuration
1431 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1432 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1433 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1436 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1438 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1439 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1441 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1442 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1446 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1447 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1452 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1454 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1457 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1458 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1459 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1462 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1463 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1466 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1469 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1471 <p> Released July 1997.
1474 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1477 where <arch> is one of the following:
1478 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1481 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1483 <item>user ID's</item>
1485 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1487 <item>cron jobs</item>
1489 <item>device files</item>
1491 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1493 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1496 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1498 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1501 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1504 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1506 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1508 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1510 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1514 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1516 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1519 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1522 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1524 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1527 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1529 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1530 without consultation </item>
1532 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1535 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1537 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1540 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>