1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery <email/rra@debian.org/ </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
44 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
47 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
48 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
51 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
52 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
53 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
56 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
59 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
60 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
61 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
62 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
65 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
66 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
67 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
68 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
69 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
70 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
73 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
74 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
75 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
78 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
82 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
85 Released February, 2012.
89 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
90 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
93 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
94 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
95 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
98 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
99 list of architectures must be non-empty.
102 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
103 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
104 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
105 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
106 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
107 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
108 should be stored in a temporary file system.
111 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
112 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
113 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
117 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
118 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
119 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
120 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
121 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
124 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
127 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
128 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
131 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
132 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
133 they have been removed.
136 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
137 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
138 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
140 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
141 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
142 file" specification is included.
145 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
146 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
150 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
151 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
154 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
155 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
159 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
162 Released April, 2011.
166 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
167 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
171 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
172 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
173 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
174 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
177 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
178 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
179 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
183 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
184 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
185 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
186 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
190 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
193 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
194 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
195 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
196 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
200 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
201 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
202 dependencies are now a should not.
205 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
206 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
207 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
208 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
209 actions if their dependencies are not available.
212 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
213 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
216 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
217 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
218 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
219 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
220 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
223 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
224 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
225 POSIX-required interface.
229 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
236 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
237 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
241 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
242 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
243 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
246 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
247 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
248 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
251 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
252 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
253 architecture-independent.
256 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
257 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
258 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
261 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
262 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
263 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
264 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
267 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
270 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
271 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
272 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
275 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
276 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
279 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
280 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
281 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
282 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
283 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
284 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
285 their <file>.la</file> files.
288 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
289 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
290 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
291 thread-safe if the library supports this.
294 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
295 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
296 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
297 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
298 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
301 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
302 logrotate rules is now recommended.
305 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
306 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
308 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
309 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
310 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
311 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
312 for the corresponding manual page.
315 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
316 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
317 executables in those subdirectories.
320 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
321 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
326 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
332 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
333 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
334 Date control field is now precisely specified.
337 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
338 particular field name.
340 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
341 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
342 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
343 documented and recommended.
345 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
346 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
347 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
348 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
349 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
350 for <file>.changes</file> files.
353 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
357 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
360 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
361 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
362 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
363 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
367 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
368 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
369 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
370 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
371 question, but should avoid this if possible.
373 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
374 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
375 files between packages.
378 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
379 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
380 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
383 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
384 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
387 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
388 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
389 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
390 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
393 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
395 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
396 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
397 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
400 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
401 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
402 It should instead be included directly
403 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
404 common-licenses for the time being.
407 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
408 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
409 template instead of a string to allow translation.
412 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
413 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
414 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
415 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
416 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
419 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
420 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
421 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
425 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
432 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
433 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
434 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
437 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
438 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
441 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
442 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
446 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
452 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
453 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
456 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
457 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
458 may be used in different versions of the field.
461 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
462 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
465 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
468 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
469 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
470 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
471 using them should be built with RPATH.
474 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
475 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
476 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
477 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
480 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
481 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
484 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
485 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
486 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
490 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
491 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
492 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
493 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
494 support partial upgrades.
497 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
498 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
502 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
509 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
510 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
511 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
512 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
516 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
517 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
518 back on other methods.
521 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
525 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
526 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
529 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
530 <file>/var/mail</file>.
533 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
537 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
538 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
542 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
549 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
550 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
551 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
554 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
557 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
561 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
562 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
565 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
566 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
569 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
572 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
573 with no preceding whitespace.
576 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
577 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
578 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
579 behavior of the init system in Debian.
582 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
583 start the daemon again if it's already running.
586 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
587 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
588 subdirectories dynamically.
591 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
592 variable arguments and supports assignment.
595 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
596 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
600 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
607 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
608 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
609 system is now defined by priority.
611 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
612 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
614 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
615 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
616 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
617 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
618 unknown flags be ignored.
620 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
621 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
622 processes if the package supports it
624 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
625 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
628 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
629 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
630 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
631 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
632 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
633 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
636 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
638 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
641 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
642 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
643 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
644 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
645 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
646 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
648 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
649 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
650 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
653 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
654 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
657 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
658 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
661 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
662 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
663 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
664 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
665 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
666 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
669 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
670 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
672 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
673 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
676 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
679 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
686 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
687 anything, even the end of a part.
689 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
690 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
693 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
694 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
696 <tag>menu policy</tag>
697 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
698 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
699 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
700 sections would be more appropriate.
702 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
705 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
706 critical, or emergency.
708 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
709 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
710 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
713 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
714 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
715 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
717 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
718 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
721 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
727 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
728 should to a must)</item>
731 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
737 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
740 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
747 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
748 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
749 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
750 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
751 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
752 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
755 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
756 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
757 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
760 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
767 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
768 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
769 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
771 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
772 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
774 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
775 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
776 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
777 etc. may be of interest.
778 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
779 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
780 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
781 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
782 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
783 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
784 as well, to prepare for future changes.
786 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
787 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
788 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
791 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
792 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
794 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
795 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
796 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
797 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
801 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
808 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
811 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
812 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
813 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
816 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
817 allow packages to share image files with the web server
821 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
828 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
829 user prompts are now deprecated.
832 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
839 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
840 the minor version number:
842 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
843 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
844 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
845 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
846 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
847 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
848 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
849 deb-building tool-chain.
851 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
852 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
853 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
854 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
856 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
857 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
858 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
859 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
860 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
861 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
862 sections about changelog files.
863 <tag>menu policy</tag>
864 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
867 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
869 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
870 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
872 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
876 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
883 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
884 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
887 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
888 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
891 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
898 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
899 full details of the long description format.
901 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
902 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
903 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
905 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
906 the init script should start the service.
908 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
909 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
910 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
913 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
920 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
921 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
922 documented in the changelog file.
924 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
925 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
927 <tag>menu policy</tag>
928 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
929 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
930 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
932 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
933 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
937 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
944 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
945 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
947 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
950 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
951 special Tasks: field in the control file.
953 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
954 they add themselves as an alternative for
955 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
957 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
958 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
959 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
960 environment variable.
962 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
963 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
964 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
965 review the new rules.
967 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
968 scripts. Long rationale.
972 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
973 rules, please see below
976 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
983 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
986 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
987 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
989 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
990 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
992 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
993 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
994 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
995 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
997 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
998 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1001 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1008 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1009 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1010 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1013 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1014 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1015 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1018 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1019 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1022 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1023 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1026 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1029 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1032 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1036 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1038 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1039 fonts for the X Window System
1042 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1045 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1046 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1049 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1050 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1055 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1056 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1060 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1061 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1062 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1065 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1066 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1067 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1072 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1073 <p> Released Apr 2001
1077 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1078 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1081 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1082 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1083 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1084 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1088 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1090 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1094 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1095 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1096 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1100 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1102 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1106 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1107 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1111 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1113 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1117 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1118 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1122 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1124 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1128 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1129 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1130 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1133 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1134 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1135 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1136 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1139 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1144 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1146 <p> Released Aug 00.
1150 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1151 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1152 and the other without
1156 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1158 <p> Released Aug 00.
1162 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1163 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1164 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1167 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1168 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1169 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1172 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1173 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1176 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1180 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1182 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1184 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1185 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1186 calculation guidelines)
1189 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1191 <item>X application defaults </item>
1195 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1199 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1201 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1202 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1207 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1209 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1213 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1214 etc. Should not affect many packages
1218 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1220 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1224 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1225 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1229 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1231 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1232 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1233 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1236 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1237 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1238 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1239 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1243 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1244 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1245 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1246 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1249 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1250 <file>/var/lib</file>
1252 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1253 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1255 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1258 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1259 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1263 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1264 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1265 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1268 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1273 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1275 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1279 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1280 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1281 files must go in the run-time library package
1285 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1287 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1291 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1292 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1296 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1297 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1300 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1301 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1302 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1303 other major licenses
1306 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1307 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1310 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1313 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1316 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1317 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1318 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1321 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1322 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1323 installed setgid utmp
1327 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1330 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1332 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1336 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1338 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1339 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1340 Section 5 and Section 6.
1342 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1343 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1344 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1345 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1346 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1350 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1351 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1352 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1353 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1355 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1356 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1358 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1359 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1361 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1362 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1364 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1369 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1371 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1373 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1375 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1376 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1377 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1378 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1381 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1382 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1383 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1387 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1389 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1390 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1391 installs shared libraries
1392 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1396 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1398 <p> Released Jan 1998
1401 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1403 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1404 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1406 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1407 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1411 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1412 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1413 file extension as the referenced file
1416 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1417 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1418 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1421 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1423 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1424 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1425 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1429 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1430 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1431 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1434 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1435 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1436 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1437 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1441 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1442 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1446 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1447 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1448 reasonable default configuration
1451 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1452 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1453 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1456 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1458 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1459 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1461 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1462 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1466 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1467 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1472 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1474 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1477 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1478 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1479 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1482 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1483 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1486 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1489 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1491 <p> Released July 1997.
1494 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1497 where <arch> is one of the following:
1498 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1501 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1503 <item>user ID's</item>
1505 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1507 <item>cron jobs</item>
1509 <item>device files</item>
1511 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1513 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1516 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1518 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1521 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1524 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1526 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1528 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1530 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1534 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1536 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1539 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1542 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1544 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1547 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1549 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1550 without consultation </item>
1552 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1555 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1557 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1560 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>