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="3.9.7.0"> Version 3.9.7.0
44 <item> Symbolic links must not traverse above the root directory.
47 <item> 32bit UIDs in the range 65536-4294967293 are reserved for dynamically
48 allocated user accounts.
50 <item> Empty field values in control files are only permitted in the
51 <file>debian/control</file> file of a source package.
52 </item> </taglist></p>
54 <sect id="3.9.6.0"> Version 3.9.6.0
57 Released September, 2014.
61 <item> The FHS is relaxed to allow a subdirectory of <file>/usr/lib</file>
62 to hold a mixture of architecture-independent and architecture-dependent
63 files, though directories entirely composed of architecture-independent files
64 should be located in <file>/usr/share</file>.
67 <item>The FHS requirement for <file>/usr/local/lib64</file> to exist
68 if <file>/lib64</file> or <file>/usr/lib64</file> exists is removed.
71 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch include files,
72 permitting header files to instead be installed to
73 <file>/usr/include/triplet</file>.
76 <item> Binaries must not be statically linked with the GNU C library,
77 see policy for exceptions.
80 <item> It is clarified that signature appearing in debian/changelog should be
81 the details of the person who prepared this release of the package.
84 <item> The default web document root is now <file>/var/www/html</file>
87 <item><tt>java1-runtime</tt> and <tt>java2-runtime</tt> are removed,
88 <tt>javaN-runtime</tt> and <tt>javaN-runtime-headless</tt> are added
89 for all N between 5 and 9.
92 <item>Added <tt>httpd-wsgi</tt> for WSGI capable HTTP servers.
95 <item> Perl packages should use the <tt>%Config</tt> hash to locate module
96 paths instead of hardcoding paths in <tt>@INC</tt>.
99 <item> Perl binary modules and any modules installed into
100 <tt>$Config{vendorarch}</tt> must depend on the relevant
101 <package>perlapi-*</package> package.
102 </item> </taglist></p>
104 <sect id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
107 Released October, 2013.
111 <item>Control data fields must not start with the hyphen character
112 (<tt>-</tt>), to avoid potential confusions when parsing clearsigned control
113 data files that were not properly unescaped.
115 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
116 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
117 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
119 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
120 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
121 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
123 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
124 source control files.
127 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
128 package control files.
131 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Dgit</tt> field in Debian
132 source control files.
135 <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
138 <item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
139 local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
140 tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
141 <em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
144 <item>The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
145 must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when possible.
146 In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.
149 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
150 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
153 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
154 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
155 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
158 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
161 <item><tt>mp3-decoder</tt> and <tt>mp3-encoder</tt> are removed.</item>
164 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
167 Released August, 2012.
171 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
174 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
175 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
178 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
179 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
180 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
183 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
186 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
187 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
188 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
189 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
192 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
193 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
194 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
195 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
196 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
197 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
200 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
201 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
202 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
205 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
206 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
208 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
209 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
212 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
216 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
219 Released February, 2012.
223 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
224 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
227 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
228 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
229 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
232 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
233 list of architectures must be non-empty.
236 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
237 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
238 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
239 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
240 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
241 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
242 should be stored in a temporary file system.
245 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
246 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
247 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
251 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
252 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
253 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
254 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
255 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
258 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
261 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
262 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
265 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
266 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
267 they have been removed.
270 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
271 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
272 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
274 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
275 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
276 file" specification is included.
279 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
280 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
284 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
285 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
288 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
289 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
293 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
296 Released April, 2011.
300 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
301 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
305 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
306 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
307 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
308 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
311 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
312 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
313 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
317 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
318 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
319 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
320 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
324 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
327 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
328 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
329 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
330 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
334 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
335 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
336 dependencies are now a should not.
339 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
340 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
341 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
342 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
343 actions if their dependencies are not available.
346 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
347 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
350 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
351 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
352 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
353 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
354 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
357 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
358 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
359 POSIX-required interface.
363 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
370 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
371 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
375 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
376 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
377 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
380 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
381 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
382 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
385 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
386 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
387 architecture-independent.
390 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
391 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
392 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
395 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
396 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
397 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
398 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
401 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
404 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
405 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
406 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
409 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
410 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
413 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
414 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
415 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
416 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
417 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
418 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
419 their <file>.la</file> files.
422 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
423 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
424 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
425 thread-safe if the library supports this.
428 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
429 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
430 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
431 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
432 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
435 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
436 logrotate rules is now recommended.
439 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
440 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
442 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
443 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
444 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
445 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
446 for the corresponding manual page.
449 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
450 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
451 executables in those subdirectories.
454 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
455 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
460 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
466 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
467 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
468 Date control field is now precisely specified.
471 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
472 particular field name.
474 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
475 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
476 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
477 documented and recommended.
479 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
480 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
481 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
482 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
483 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
484 for <file>.changes</file> files.
487 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
491 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
494 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
495 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
496 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
497 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
501 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
502 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
503 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
504 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
505 question, but should avoid this if possible.
507 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
508 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
509 files between packages.
512 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
513 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
514 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
517 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
518 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
521 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
522 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
523 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
524 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
527 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
529 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
530 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
531 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
534 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
535 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
536 It should instead be included directly
537 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
538 common-licenses for the time being.
541 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
542 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
543 template instead of a string to allow translation.
546 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
547 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
548 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
549 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
550 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
553 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
554 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
555 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
559 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
566 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
567 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
568 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
571 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
572 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
575 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
576 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
580 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
586 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
587 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
590 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
591 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
592 may be used in different versions of the field.
595 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
596 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
599 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
602 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
603 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
604 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
605 using them should be built with RPATH.
608 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
609 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
610 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
611 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
614 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
615 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
618 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
619 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
620 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
624 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
625 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
626 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
627 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
628 support partial upgrades.
631 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
632 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
636 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
643 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
644 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
645 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
646 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
650 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
651 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
652 back on other methods.
655 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
659 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
660 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
663 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
664 <file>/var/mail</file>.
667 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
671 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
672 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
676 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
683 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
684 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
685 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
688 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
691 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
695 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
696 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
699 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
700 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
703 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
706 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
707 with no preceding whitespace.
710 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
711 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
712 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
713 behavior of the init system in Debian.
716 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
717 start the daemon again if it's already running.
720 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
721 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
722 subdirectories dynamically.
725 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
726 variable arguments and supports assignment.
729 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
730 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
734 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
741 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
742 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
743 system is now defined by priority.
745 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
746 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
748 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
749 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
750 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
751 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
752 unknown flags be ignored.
754 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
755 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
756 processes if the package supports it
758 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
759 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
762 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
763 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
764 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
765 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
766 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
767 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
770 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
772 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
775 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
776 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
777 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
778 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
779 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
780 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
782 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
783 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
784 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
787 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
788 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
791 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
792 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
795 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
796 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
797 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
798 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
799 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
800 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
803 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
804 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
806 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
807 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
810 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
813 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
820 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
821 anything, even the end of a part.
823 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
824 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
827 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
828 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
830 <tag>menu policy</tag>
831 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
832 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
833 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
834 sections would be more appropriate.
836 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
839 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
840 critical, or emergency.
842 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
843 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
844 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
847 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
848 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
849 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
851 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
852 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
855 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
861 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
862 should to a must)</item>
865 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
871 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
874 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
881 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
882 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
883 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
884 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
885 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
886 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
889 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
890 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
891 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
894 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
901 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
902 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
903 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
905 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
906 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
908 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
909 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
910 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
911 etc. may be of interest.
912 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
913 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
914 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
915 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
916 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
917 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
918 as well, to prepare for future changes.
920 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
921 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
922 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
925 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
926 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
928 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
929 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
930 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
931 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
935 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
942 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
945 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
946 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
947 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
950 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
951 allow packages to share image files with the web server
955 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
962 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
963 user prompts are now deprecated.
966 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
973 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
974 the minor version number:
976 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
977 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
978 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
979 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
980 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
981 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
982 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
983 deb-building tool-chain.
985 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
986 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
987 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
988 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
990 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
991 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
992 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
993 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
994 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
995 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
996 sections about changelog files.
997 <tag>menu policy</tag>
998 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
1001 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
1003 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
1004 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
1006 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
1010 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
1017 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
1018 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
1021 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
1022 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
1025 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
1032 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
1033 full details of the long description format.
1035 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
1036 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
1037 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
1039 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
1040 the init script should start the service.
1042 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
1043 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
1044 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
1047 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
1054 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
1055 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
1056 documented in the changelog file.
1058 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
1059 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
1061 <tag>menu policy</tag>
1062 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
1063 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
1064 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
1066 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
1067 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
1071 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
1078 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
1079 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
1081 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
1084 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
1085 special Tasks: field in the control file.
1087 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
1088 they add themselves as an alternative for
1089 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1091 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1092 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1093 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1094 environment variable.
1096 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1097 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1098 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1099 review the new rules.
1101 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1102 scripts. Long rationale.
1106 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1107 rules, please see below
1110 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1117 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1120 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1121 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1123 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1124 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1126 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1127 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1128 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1129 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1131 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1132 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1135 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1142 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1143 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1144 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1147 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1148 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1149 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1152 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1153 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1156 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1157 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1160 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1163 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1166 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1170 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1172 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1173 fonts for the X Window System
1176 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1179 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1180 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1183 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1184 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1189 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1190 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1194 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1195 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1196 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1198 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1199 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1200 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1205 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1206 <p> Released Apr 2001
1210 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1211 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1214 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1215 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1216 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1217 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1221 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1223 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1227 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1228 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1229 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1233 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1235 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1239 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1240 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1244 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1246 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1250 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1251 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1255 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1257 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1261 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1262 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1263 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1266 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1267 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1268 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1269 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1272 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1277 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1279 <p> Released Aug 00.
1283 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1284 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1285 and the other without
1289 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1291 <p> Released Aug 00.
1295 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1296 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1297 package with debugging information optionally.
1300 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1301 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1302 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1305 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1306 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1309 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1313 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1315 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1317 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1318 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1319 calculation guidelines)
1322 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1324 <item>X application defaults </item>
1328 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1332 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1334 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1335 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1340 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1342 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1346 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1347 etc. Should not affect many packages
1351 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1353 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1357 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1358 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1362 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1364 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1365 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1366 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1369 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1370 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1371 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1372 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1376 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1377 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1378 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1379 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1382 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1383 <file>/var/lib</file>
1385 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1386 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1388 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1391 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1392 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1396 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1397 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1398 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1401 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1406 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1408 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1412 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1413 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1414 files must go in the run-time library package
1418 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1420 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1424 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1425 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1429 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1430 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1433 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1434 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1435 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1436 other major licenses
1439 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1440 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1443 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1446 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1449 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1450 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1451 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1454 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1455 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1456 installed setgid utmp
1460 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1463 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1465 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1469 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1471 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1472 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1473 Section 5 and Section 6.
1475 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1476 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1477 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1478 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1479 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1483 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1484 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1485 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1486 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1488 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1489 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1491 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1492 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1494 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1495 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1497 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1502 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1504 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1506 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1508 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1509 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1510 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1511 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1514 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1515 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1516 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1520 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1522 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1523 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1524 installs shared libraries
1525 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1529 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1531 <p> Released Jan 1998
1534 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1536 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1537 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1539 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1540 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1544 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1545 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1546 file extension as the referenced file
1549 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1550 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1551 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1554 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1556 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1557 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1558 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1562 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1563 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1564 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1567 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1568 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1569 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1570 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1574 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1575 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1579 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1580 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1581 reasonable default configuration
1584 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1585 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1586 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1589 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1591 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1592 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1594 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1595 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1599 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1600 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1605 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1607 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1610 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1611 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1612 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1615 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1616 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1619 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1622 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1624 <p> Released July 1997.
1627 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1630 where <arch> is one of the following:
1631 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1634 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1636 <item>user ID's</item>
1638 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1640 <item>cron jobs</item>
1642 <item>device files</item>
1644 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1646 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1649 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1651 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1654 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1657 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1659 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1661 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1663 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1667 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1669 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1672 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1675 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1677 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1680 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1682 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1683 without consultation </item>
1685 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1688 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1690 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1693 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>