1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery <email/rra@debian.org/ </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect id="3.9.6.0"> Version 3.9.6.0
44 <item> The FHS is relaxed to allow a subdirectory of <file>/usr/lib</file>
45 to hold a mixture of architecture-independent and architecture-dependent
46 files, though directories entirely composed of architecture-independent files
47 should be located in <file>/usr/share</file>.
50 <item>The FHS requirement for <file>/usr/local/lib64</file> to exist
51 if <file>/lib64</file> or <file>/usr/lib64</file> exists is removed.
54 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch include files,
55 permitting header files to instead be installed to
56 <file>/usr/include/triplet</file>.
59 <item> Binaries must not be statically linked with the GNU C library,
60 see policy for exceptions.
63 <item> Perl package should use the <tt>%Config</tt> hash to locate module
64 paths instead of hardcoding paths in <tt>@INC</tt>.
65 </item> </taglist></p>
66 <sect id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
69 Released October, 2013.
73 <item>Control data fields must not start with the hyphen character
74 (<tt>-</tt>), to avoid potential confusions when parsing clearsigned control
75 data files that were not properly unescaped.
77 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
78 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
79 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
81 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
82 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
83 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
85 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
89 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
90 package control files.
93 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Dgit</tt> field in Debian
97 <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
100 <item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
101 local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
102 tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
103 <em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
106 <item>The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
107 must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when possible.
108 In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.
111 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
112 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
115 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
116 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
117 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
120 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
123 <item><tt>mp3-decoder</tt> and <tt>mp3-encoder</tt> are removed.</item>
126 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
129 Released August, 2012.
133 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
136 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
137 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
140 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
141 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
142 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
145 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
148 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
149 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
150 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
151 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
154 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
155 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
156 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
157 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
158 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
159 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
162 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
163 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
164 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
167 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
168 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
170 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
171 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
174 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
178 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
181 Released February, 2012.
185 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
186 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
189 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
190 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
191 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
194 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
195 list of architectures must be non-empty.
198 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
199 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
200 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
201 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
202 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
203 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
204 should be stored in a temporary file system.
207 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
208 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
209 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
213 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
214 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
215 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
216 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
217 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
220 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
223 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
224 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
227 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
228 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
229 they have been removed.
232 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
233 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
234 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
236 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
237 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
238 file" specification is included.
241 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
242 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
246 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
247 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
250 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
251 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
255 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
258 Released April, 2011.
262 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
263 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
267 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
268 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
269 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
270 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
273 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
274 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
275 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
279 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
280 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
281 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
282 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
286 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
289 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
290 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
291 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
292 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
296 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
297 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
298 dependencies are now a should not.
301 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
302 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
303 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
304 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
305 actions if their dependencies are not available.
308 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
309 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
312 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
313 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
314 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
315 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
316 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
319 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
320 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
321 POSIX-required interface.
325 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
332 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
333 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
337 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
338 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
339 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
342 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
343 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
344 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
347 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
348 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
349 architecture-independent.
352 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
353 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
354 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
357 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
358 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
359 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
360 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
363 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
366 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
367 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
368 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
371 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
372 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
375 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
376 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
377 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
378 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
379 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
380 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
381 their <file>.la</file> files.
384 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
385 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
386 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
387 thread-safe if the library supports this.
390 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
391 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
392 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
393 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
394 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
397 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
398 logrotate rules is now recommended.
401 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
402 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
404 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
405 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
406 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
407 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
408 for the corresponding manual page.
411 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
412 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
413 executables in those subdirectories.
416 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
417 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
422 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
428 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
429 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
430 Date control field is now precisely specified.
433 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
434 particular field name.
436 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
437 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
438 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
439 documented and recommended.
441 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
442 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
443 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
444 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
445 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
446 for <file>.changes</file> files.
449 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
453 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
456 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
457 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
458 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
459 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
463 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
464 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
465 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
466 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
467 question, but should avoid this if possible.
469 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
470 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
471 files between packages.
474 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
475 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
476 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
479 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
480 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
483 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
484 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
485 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
486 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
489 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
491 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
492 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
493 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
496 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
497 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
498 It should instead be included directly
499 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
500 common-licenses for the time being.
503 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
504 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
505 template instead of a string to allow translation.
508 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
509 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
510 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
511 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
512 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
515 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
516 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
517 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
521 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
528 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
529 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
530 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
533 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
534 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
537 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
538 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
542 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
548 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
549 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
552 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
553 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
554 may be used in different versions of the field.
557 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
558 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
561 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
564 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
565 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
566 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
567 using them should be built with RPATH.
570 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
571 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
572 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
573 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
576 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
577 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
580 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
581 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
582 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
586 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
587 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
588 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
589 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
590 support partial upgrades.
593 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
594 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
598 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
605 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
606 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
607 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
608 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
612 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
613 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
614 back on other methods.
617 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
621 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
622 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
625 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
626 <file>/var/mail</file>.
629 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
633 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
634 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
638 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
645 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
646 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
647 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
650 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
653 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
657 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
658 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
661 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
662 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
665 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
668 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
669 with no preceding whitespace.
672 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
673 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
674 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
675 behavior of the init system in Debian.
678 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
679 start the daemon again if it's already running.
682 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
683 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
684 subdirectories dynamically.
687 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
688 variable arguments and supports assignment.
691 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
692 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
696 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
703 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
704 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
705 system is now defined by priority.
707 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
708 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
710 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
711 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
712 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
713 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
714 unknown flags be ignored.
716 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
717 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
718 processes if the package supports it
720 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
721 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
724 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
725 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
726 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
727 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
728 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
729 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
732 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
734 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
737 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
738 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
739 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
740 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
741 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
742 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
744 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
745 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
746 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
749 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
750 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
753 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
754 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
757 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
758 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
759 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
760 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
761 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
762 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
765 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
766 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
768 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
769 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
772 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
775 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
782 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
783 anything, even the end of a part.
785 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
786 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
789 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
790 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
792 <tag>menu policy</tag>
793 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
794 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
795 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
796 sections would be more appropriate.
798 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
801 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
802 critical, or emergency.
804 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
805 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
806 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
809 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
810 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
811 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
813 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
814 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
817 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
823 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
824 should to a must)</item>
827 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
833 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
836 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
843 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
844 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
845 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
846 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
847 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
848 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
851 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
852 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
853 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
856 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
863 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
864 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
865 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
867 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
868 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
870 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
871 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
872 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
873 etc. may be of interest.
874 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
875 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
876 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
877 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
878 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
879 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
880 as well, to prepare for future changes.
882 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
883 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
884 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
887 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
888 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
890 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
891 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
892 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
893 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
897 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
904 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
907 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
908 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
909 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
912 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
913 allow packages to share image files with the web server
917 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
924 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
925 user prompts are now deprecated.
928 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
935 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
936 the minor version number:
938 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
939 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
940 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
941 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
942 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
943 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
944 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
945 deb-building tool-chain.
947 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
948 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
949 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
950 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
952 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
953 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
954 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
955 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
956 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
957 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
958 sections about changelog files.
959 <tag>menu policy</tag>
960 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
963 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
965 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
966 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
968 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
972 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
979 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
980 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
983 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
984 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
987 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
994 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
995 full details of the long description format.
997 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
998 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
999 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
1001 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
1002 the init script should start the service.
1004 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
1005 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
1006 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
1009 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
1016 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
1017 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
1018 documented in the changelog file.
1020 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
1021 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
1023 <tag>menu policy</tag>
1024 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
1025 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
1026 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
1028 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
1029 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
1033 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
1040 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
1041 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
1043 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
1046 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
1047 special Tasks: field in the control file.
1049 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
1050 they add themselves as an alternative for
1051 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1053 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1054 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1055 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1056 environment variable.
1058 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1059 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1060 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1061 review the new rules.
1063 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1064 scripts. Long rationale.
1068 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1069 rules, please see below
1072 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1079 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1082 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1083 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1085 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1086 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1088 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1089 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1090 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1091 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1093 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1094 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1097 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1104 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1105 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1106 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1109 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1110 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1111 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1114 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1115 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1118 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1119 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1122 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1125 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1128 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1132 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1134 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1135 fonts for the X Window System
1138 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1141 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1142 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1145 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1146 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1151 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1152 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1156 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1157 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1158 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1160 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1161 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1162 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1167 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1168 <p> Released Apr 2001
1172 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1173 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1176 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1177 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1178 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1179 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1183 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1185 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1189 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1190 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1191 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1195 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1197 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1201 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1202 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1206 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1208 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1212 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1213 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1217 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1219 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1223 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1224 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1225 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1228 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1229 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1230 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1231 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1234 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1239 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1241 <p> Released Aug 00.
1245 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1246 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1247 and the other without
1251 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1253 <p> Released Aug 00.
1257 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1258 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1259 package with debugging information optionally.
1262 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1263 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1264 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1267 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1268 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1271 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1275 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1277 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1279 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1280 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1281 calculation guidelines)
1284 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1286 <item>X application defaults </item>
1290 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1294 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1296 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1297 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1302 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1304 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1308 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1309 etc. Should not affect many packages
1313 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1315 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1319 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1320 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1324 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1326 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1327 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1328 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1331 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1332 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1333 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1334 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1338 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1339 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1340 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1341 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1344 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1345 <file>/var/lib</file>
1347 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1348 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1350 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1353 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1354 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1358 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1359 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1360 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1363 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1368 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1370 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1374 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1375 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1376 files must go in the run-time library package
1380 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1382 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1386 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1387 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1391 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1392 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1395 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1396 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1397 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1398 other major licenses
1401 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1402 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1405 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1408 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1411 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1412 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1413 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1416 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1417 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1418 installed setgid utmp
1422 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1425 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1427 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1431 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1433 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1434 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1435 Section 5 and Section 6.
1437 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1438 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1439 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1440 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1441 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1445 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1446 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1447 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1448 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1450 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1451 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1453 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1454 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1456 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1457 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1459 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1464 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1466 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1468 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1470 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1471 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1472 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1473 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1476 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1477 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1478 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1482 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1484 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1485 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1486 installs shared libraries
1487 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1491 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1493 <p> Released Jan 1998
1496 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1498 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1499 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1501 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1502 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1506 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1507 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1508 file extension as the referenced file
1511 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1512 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1513 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1516 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1518 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1519 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1520 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1524 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1525 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1526 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1529 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1530 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1531 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1532 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1536 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1537 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1541 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1542 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1543 reasonable default configuration
1546 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1547 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1548 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1551 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1553 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1554 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1556 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1557 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1561 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1562 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1567 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1569 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1572 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1573 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1574 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1577 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1578 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1581 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1584 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1586 <p> Released July 1997.
1589 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1592 where <arch> is one of the following:
1593 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1596 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1598 <item>user ID's</item>
1600 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1602 <item>cron jobs</item>
1604 <item>device files</item>
1606 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1608 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1611 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1613 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1616 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1619 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1621 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1623 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1625 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1629 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1631 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1634 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1637 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1639 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1642 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1644 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1645 without consultation </item>
1647 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1650 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1652 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1655 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>