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="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
40 Released February, 2012.
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>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
54 list of architectures must be non-empty.
57 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
58 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
59 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
60 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
61 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
62 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
63 should be stored in a temporary file system.
66 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
67 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
68 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
72 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
73 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
74 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
75 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
76 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
79 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
82 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
83 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
86 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
87 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
88 they have been removed.
91 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
92 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
93 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
95 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
96 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
97 file" specification is included.
100 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
101 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
105 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
106 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
109 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
110 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
114 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
117 Released April, 2011.
121 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
122 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
126 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
127 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
128 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
129 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
132 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
133 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
134 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
138 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
139 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
140 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
141 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
145 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
148 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
149 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
150 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
151 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
155 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
156 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
157 dependencies are now a should not.
160 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
161 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
162 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
163 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
164 actions if their dependencies are not available.
167 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
168 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
171 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
172 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
173 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
174 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
175 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
178 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
179 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
180 POSIX-required interface.
184 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
191 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
192 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
196 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
197 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
198 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
201 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
202 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
203 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
206 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
207 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
208 architecture-independent.
211 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
212 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
213 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
216 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
217 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
218 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
219 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
222 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
225 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
226 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
227 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
230 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
231 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
234 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
235 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
236 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
237 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
238 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
239 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
240 their <file>.la</file> files.
243 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
244 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
245 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
246 thread-safe if the library supports this.
249 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
250 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
251 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
252 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
253 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
256 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
257 logrotate rules is now recommended.
260 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
261 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
263 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
264 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
265 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
266 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
267 for the corresponding manual page.
270 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
271 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
272 executables in those subdirectories.
275 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
276 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
281 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
287 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
288 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
289 Date control field is now precisely specified.
292 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
293 particular field name.
295 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
296 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
297 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
298 documented and recommended.
300 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
301 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
302 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
303 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
304 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
305 for <file>.changes</file> files.
308 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
312 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
315 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
316 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
317 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
318 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
322 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
323 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
324 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
325 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
326 question, but should avoid this if possible.
328 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
329 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
330 files between packages.
333 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
334 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
335 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
338 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
339 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
342 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
343 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
344 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
345 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
348 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
350 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
351 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
352 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
355 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
356 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
357 It should instead be included directly
358 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
359 common-licenses for the time being.
362 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
363 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
364 template instead of a string to allow translation.
367 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
368 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
369 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
370 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
371 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
374 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
375 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
376 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
380 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
387 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
388 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
389 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
392 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
393 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
396 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
397 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
401 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
407 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
408 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
411 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
412 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
413 may be used in different versions of the field.
416 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
417 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
420 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
423 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
424 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
425 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
426 using them should be built with RPATH.
429 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
430 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
431 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
432 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
435 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
436 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
439 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
440 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
441 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
445 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
446 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
447 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
448 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
449 support partial upgrades.
452 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
453 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
457 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
464 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
465 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
466 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
467 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
471 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
472 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
473 back on other methods.
476 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
480 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
481 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
484 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
485 <file>/var/mail</file>.
488 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
492 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
493 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
497 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
504 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
505 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
506 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
509 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
512 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
516 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
517 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
520 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
521 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
524 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
527 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
528 with no preceding whitespace.
531 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
532 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
533 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
534 behavior of the init system in Debian.
537 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
538 start the daemon again if it's already running.
541 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
542 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
543 subdirectories dynamically.
546 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
547 variable arguments and supports assignment.
550 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
551 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
555 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
562 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
563 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
564 system is now defined by priority.
566 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
567 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
569 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
570 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
571 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
572 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
573 unknown flags be ignored.
575 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
576 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
577 processes if the package supports it
579 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
580 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
583 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
584 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
585 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
586 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
587 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
588 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
591 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
593 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
596 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
597 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
598 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
599 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
600 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
601 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
603 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
604 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
605 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
608 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
609 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
612 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
613 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
616 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
617 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
618 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
619 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
620 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
621 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
624 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
625 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
627 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
628 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
631 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
634 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
641 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
642 anything, even the end of a part.
644 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
645 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
648 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
649 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
651 <tag>menu policy</tag>
652 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
653 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
654 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
655 sections would be more appropriate.
657 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
660 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
661 critical, or emergency.
663 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
664 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
665 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
668 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
669 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
670 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
672 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
673 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
676 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
682 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
683 should to a must)</item>
686 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
692 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
695 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
702 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
703 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
704 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
705 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
706 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
707 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
710 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
711 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
712 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
715 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
722 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
723 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
724 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
726 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
727 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
729 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
730 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
731 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
732 etc. may be of interest.
733 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
734 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
735 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
736 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
737 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
738 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
739 as well, to prepare for future changes.
741 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
742 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
743 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
746 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
747 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
749 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
750 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
751 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
752 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
756 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
763 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
766 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
767 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
768 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
771 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
772 allow packages to share image files with the web server
776 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
783 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
784 user prompts are now deprecated.
787 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
794 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
795 the minor version number:
797 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
798 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
799 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
800 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
801 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
802 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
803 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
804 deb-building tool-chain.
806 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
807 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
808 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
809 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
811 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
812 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
813 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
814 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
815 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
816 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
817 sections about changelog files.
818 <tag>menu policy</tag>
819 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
822 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
824 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
825 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
827 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
831 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
838 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
839 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
842 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
843 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
846 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
853 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
854 full details of the long description format.
856 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
857 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
858 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
860 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
861 the init script should start the service.
863 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
864 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
865 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
868 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
875 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
876 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
877 documented in the changelog file.
879 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
880 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
882 <tag>menu policy</tag>
883 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
884 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
885 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
887 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
888 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
892 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
899 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
900 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
902 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
905 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
906 special Tasks: field in the control file.
908 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
909 they add themselves as an alternative for
910 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
912 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
913 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
914 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
915 environment variable.
917 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
918 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
919 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
920 review the new rules.
922 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
923 scripts. Long rationale.
927 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
928 rules, please see below
931 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
938 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
941 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
942 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
944 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
945 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
947 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
948 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
949 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
950 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
952 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
953 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
956 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
963 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
964 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
965 symlinks or .so pages to do this
968 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
969 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
970 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
973 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
974 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
977 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
978 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
981 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
984 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
987 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
991 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
993 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
994 fonts for the X Window System
997 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1000 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1001 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1004 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1005 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1010 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1011 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1015 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1016 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1017 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1020 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1021 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1022 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1027 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1028 <p> Released Apr 2001
1032 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1033 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1036 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1037 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1038 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1039 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1043 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1045 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1049 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1050 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1051 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1055 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1057 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1061 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1062 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1066 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1068 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1072 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1073 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1077 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1079 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1083 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1084 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1085 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1088 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1089 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1090 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1091 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1094 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1099 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1101 <p> Released Aug 00.
1105 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1106 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1107 and the other without
1111 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1113 <p> Released Aug 00.
1117 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1118 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1119 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1122 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1123 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1124 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1127 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1128 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1131 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1135 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1137 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1139 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1140 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1141 calculation guidelines)
1144 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1146 <item>X application defaults </item>
1150 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1154 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1156 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1157 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1162 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1164 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1168 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1169 etc. Should not affect many packages
1173 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1175 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1179 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1180 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1184 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1186 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1187 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1188 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1191 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1192 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1193 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1194 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1198 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1199 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1200 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1201 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1204 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1205 <file>/var/lib</file>
1207 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1208 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1210 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1213 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1214 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1218 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1219 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1220 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1223 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1228 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1230 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1234 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1235 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1236 files must go in the run-time library package
1240 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1242 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1246 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1247 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1251 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1252 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1255 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1256 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1257 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1258 other major licenses
1261 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1262 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1265 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1268 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1271 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1272 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1273 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1276 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1277 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1278 installed setgid utmp
1282 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1285 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1287 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1291 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1293 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1294 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1295 Section 5 and Section 6.
1297 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1298 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1299 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1300 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1301 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1305 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1306 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1307 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1308 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1310 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1311 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1313 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1314 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1316 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1317 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1319 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1324 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1326 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1328 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1330 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1331 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1332 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1333 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1336 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1337 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1338 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1342 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1344 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1345 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1346 installs shared libraries
1347 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1351 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1353 <p> Released Jan 1998
1356 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1358 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1359 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1361 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1362 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1366 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1367 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1368 file extension as the referenced file
1371 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1372 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1373 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1376 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1378 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1379 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1380 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1384 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1385 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1386 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1389 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1390 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1391 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1392 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1396 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1397 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1401 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1402 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1403 reasonable default configuration
1406 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1407 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1408 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1411 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1413 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1414 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1416 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1417 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1421 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1422 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1427 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1429 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1432 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1433 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1434 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1437 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1438 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1441 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1444 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1446 <p> Released July 1997.
1449 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1452 where <arch> is one of the following:
1453 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1456 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1458 <item>user ID's</item>
1460 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1462 <item>cron jobs</item>
1464 <item>device files</item>
1466 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1468 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1471 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1473 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1476 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1479 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1481 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1483 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1485 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1489 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1491 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1494 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1497 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1499 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1502 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1504 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1505 without consultation </item>
1507 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1510 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1512 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1515 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>