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 </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="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
44 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
45 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
48 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
49 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
50 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
53 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
54 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
55 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
56 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
57 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
58 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
59 should be stored in a temporary file system.
62 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
63 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
64 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
68 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
69 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
70 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
71 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
72 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable prefix.
75 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
78 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
79 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
82 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
83 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
84 they have been removed.
87 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
88 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
89 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
92 <item>Retire this separate document and merge its (short) contents into
93 Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the requirements.
96 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
97 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
100 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
101 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
105 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
108 Released April, 2011.
112 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
113 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
117 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
118 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
119 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
120 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
123 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
124 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
125 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
129 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
130 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
131 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
132 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
136 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
139 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
140 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
141 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
142 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
146 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
147 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
148 dependencies are now a should not.
151 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
152 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
153 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
154 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
155 actions if their dependencies are not available.
158 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
159 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
162 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
163 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
164 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
165 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
166 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
169 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
170 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
171 POSIX-required interface.
175 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
182 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
183 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
187 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
188 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
189 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
192 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
193 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
194 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
197 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
198 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
199 architecture-independent.
202 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
203 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
204 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
207 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
208 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
209 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
210 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
213 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
216 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
217 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
218 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
221 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
222 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
225 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
226 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
227 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
228 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
229 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
230 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
231 their <file>.la</file> files.
234 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
235 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
236 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
237 thread-safe if the library supports this.
240 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
241 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
242 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
243 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
244 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
247 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
248 logrotate rules is now recommended.
251 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
252 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
254 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
255 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
256 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
257 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
258 for the corresponding manual page.
261 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
262 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
263 executables in those subdirectories.
266 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
267 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
272 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
278 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
279 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
280 Date control field is now precisely specified.
283 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
284 particular field name.
286 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
287 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
288 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
289 documented and recommended.
291 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
292 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
293 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
294 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
295 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
296 for <file>.changes</file> files.
299 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
303 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
306 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
307 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
308 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
309 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
313 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
314 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
315 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
316 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
317 question, but should avoid this if possible.
319 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
320 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
321 files between packages.
324 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
325 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
326 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
329 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
330 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
333 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
334 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
335 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
336 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
339 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
341 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
342 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
343 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
346 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
347 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
348 It should instead be included directly
349 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
350 common-licenses for the time being.
353 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
354 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
355 template instead of a string to allow translation.
358 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
359 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
360 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
361 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
362 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
365 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
366 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
367 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
371 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
378 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
379 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
380 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
383 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
384 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
387 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
388 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
392 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
398 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
399 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
402 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
403 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
404 may be used in different versions of the field.
407 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
408 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
411 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
414 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
415 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
416 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
417 using them should be built with RPATH.
420 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
421 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
422 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
423 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
426 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
427 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
430 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
431 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
432 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
436 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
437 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
438 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
439 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
440 support partial upgrades.
443 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
444 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
448 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
455 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
456 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
457 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
458 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
462 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
463 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
464 back on other methods.
467 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
471 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
472 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
475 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
476 <file>/var/mail</file>.
479 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
483 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
484 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
488 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
495 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
496 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
497 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
500 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
503 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
507 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
508 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
511 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
512 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
515 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
518 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
519 with no preceding whitespace.
522 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
523 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
524 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
525 behavior of the init system in Debian.
528 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
529 start the daemon again if it's already running.
532 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
533 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
534 subdirectories dynamically.
537 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
538 variable arguments and supports assignment.
541 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
542 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
546 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
553 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
554 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
555 system is now defined by priority.
557 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
558 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
560 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
561 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
562 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
563 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
564 unknown flags be ignored.
566 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
567 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
568 processes if the package supports it
570 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
571 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
574 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
575 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
576 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
577 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
578 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
579 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
582 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
584 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
587 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
588 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
589 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
590 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
591 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
592 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
594 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
595 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
596 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
599 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
600 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
603 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
604 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
607 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
608 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
609 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
610 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
611 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
612 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
615 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
616 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
618 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
619 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
622 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
625 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
632 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
633 anything, even the end of a part.
635 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
636 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
639 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
640 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
642 <tag>menu policy</tag>
643 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
644 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
645 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
646 sections would be more appropriate.
648 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
651 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
652 critical, or emergency.
654 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
655 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
656 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
659 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
660 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
661 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
663 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
664 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
667 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
673 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
674 should to a must)</item>
677 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
683 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
686 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
693 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
694 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
695 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
696 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
697 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
698 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
701 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
702 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
703 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
706 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
713 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
714 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
715 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
717 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
718 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
720 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
721 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
722 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
723 etc. may be of interest.
724 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
725 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
726 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
727 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
728 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
729 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
730 as well, to prepare for future changes.
732 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
733 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
734 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
737 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
738 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
740 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
741 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
742 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
743 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
747 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
754 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
757 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
758 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
759 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
762 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
763 allow packages to share image files with the web server
767 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
774 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
775 user prompts are now deprecated.
778 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
785 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
786 the minor version number:
788 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
789 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
790 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
791 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
792 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
793 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
794 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
795 deb-building tool-chain.
797 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
798 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
799 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
800 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
802 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
803 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
804 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
805 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
806 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
807 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
808 sections about changelog files.
809 <tag>menu policy</tag>
810 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
813 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
815 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
816 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
818 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
822 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
829 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
830 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
833 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
834 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
837 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
844 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
845 full details of the long description format.
847 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
848 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
849 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
851 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
852 the init script should start the service.
854 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
855 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
856 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
859 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
866 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
867 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
868 documented in the changelog file.
870 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
871 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
873 <tag>menu policy</tag>
874 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
875 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
876 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
878 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
879 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
883 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
890 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
891 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
893 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
896 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
897 special Tasks: field in the control file.
899 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
900 they add themselves as an alternative for
901 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
903 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
904 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
905 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
906 environment variable.
908 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
909 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
910 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
911 review the new rules.
913 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
914 scripts. Long rationale.
918 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
919 rules, please see below
922 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
929 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
932 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
933 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
935 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
936 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
938 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
939 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
940 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
941 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
943 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
944 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
947 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
954 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
955 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
956 symlinks or .so pages to do this
959 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
960 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
961 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
964 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
965 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
968 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
969 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
972 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
975 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
978 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
982 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
984 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
985 fonts for the X Window System
988 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
991 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
992 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
995 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
996 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1001 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1002 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1006 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1007 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1008 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1011 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1012 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1013 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1018 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1019 <p> Released Apr 2001
1023 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1024 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1027 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1028 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1029 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1030 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1034 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1036 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1040 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1041 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1042 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1046 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1048 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1052 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1053 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1057 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1059 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1063 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1064 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1068 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1070 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1074 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1075 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1076 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1079 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1080 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1081 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1082 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1085 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1090 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1092 <p> Released Aug 00.
1096 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1097 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1098 and the other without
1102 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1104 <p> Released Aug 00.
1108 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1109 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1110 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1113 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1114 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1115 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1118 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1119 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1122 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1126 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1128 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1130 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1131 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1132 calculation guidelines)
1135 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1137 <item>X application defaults </item>
1141 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1145 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1147 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1148 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1153 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1155 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1159 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1160 etc. Should not affect many packages
1164 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1166 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1170 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1171 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1175 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1177 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1178 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1179 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1182 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1183 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1184 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1185 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1189 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1190 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1191 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1192 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1195 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1196 <file>/var/lib</file>
1198 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1199 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1201 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1204 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1205 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1209 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1210 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1211 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1214 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1219 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1221 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1225 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1226 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1227 files must go in the run-time library package
1231 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1233 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1237 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1238 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1242 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1243 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1246 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1247 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1248 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1249 other major licenses
1252 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1253 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1256 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1259 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1262 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1263 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1264 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1267 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1268 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1269 installed setgid utmp
1273 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1276 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1278 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1282 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1284 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1285 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1286 Section 5 and Section 6.
1288 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1289 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1290 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1291 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1292 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1296 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1297 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1298 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1299 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1301 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1302 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1304 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1305 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1307 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1308 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1310 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1315 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1317 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1319 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1321 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1322 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1323 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1324 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1327 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1328 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1329 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1333 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1335 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1336 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1337 installs shared libraries
1338 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1342 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1344 <p> Released Jan 1998
1347 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1349 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1350 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1352 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1353 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1357 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1358 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1359 file extension as the referenced file
1362 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1363 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1364 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1367 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1369 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1370 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1371 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1375 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1376 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1377 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1380 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1381 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1382 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1383 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1387 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1388 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1392 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1393 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1394 reasonable default configuration
1397 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1398 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1399 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1402 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1404 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1405 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1407 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1408 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1412 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1413 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1418 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1420 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1423 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1424 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1425 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1428 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1429 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1432 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1435 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1437 <p> Released July 1997.
1440 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1443 where <arch> is one of the following:
1444 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1447 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1449 <item>user ID's</item>
1451 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1453 <item>cron jobs</item>
1455 <item>device files</item>
1457 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1459 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1462 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1464 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1467 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1470 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1472 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1474 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1476 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1480 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1482 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1485 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1488 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1490 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1493 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1495 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1496 without consultation </item>
1498 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1501 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1503 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1506 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>