1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery <email/rra@debian.org/ </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect id="3.9.6.0"> Version 3.9.6.0
44 <item>The requirements for the <em>FreeDesktop menu entries</em> are now
45 documented, in particular regarding the icon size and format, when to display
46 the entry, and where to coordinate the integration of the entries in menus of
47 specific desktop systems. The Debian menu is optionally supported.
50 <item>Packages already shipping <em>FreeDesktop menu entries</em> should use
51 them to associate applications with media types. Only in the absence of
52 desktop entries, a file in <em>mailcap</em> format should be used.
53 Associations between media types and files should be done via upstream
54 databases, nevertheless it is also possible to register these associations
55 directly in Debian if needed.
59 <sect id="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
62 Released October, 2013.
66 <item>Control data fields must not start with the hyphen character
67 (<tt>-</tt>), to avoid potential confusions when parsing clearsigned control
68 data files that were not properly unescaped.
70 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
71 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
72 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
74 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
75 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
76 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
78 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
82 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
83 package control files.
86 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Dgit</tt> field in Debian
90 <item>The exception to the FHS for the <file>/selinux</file> was removed.
93 <item>Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
94 local changes during upgrades. The <prgn>dpkg-maintscript-helper</prgn>
95 tool, available from the <package>dpkg</package> package since
96 <em>Wheezy</em>, can help with this.
99 <item>The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
100 must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when possible.
101 In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.
104 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
105 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
108 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
109 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
110 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
113 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
116 <item><tt>mp3-decoder</tt> and <tt>mp3-encoder</tt> are removed.</item>
118 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
121 Released August, 2012.
125 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
128 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
129 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
132 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
133 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
134 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
137 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
140 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
141 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
142 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
143 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
146 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
147 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
148 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
149 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
150 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
151 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
154 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
155 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
156 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
159 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
160 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
162 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
163 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
166 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
170 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
173 Released February, 2012.
177 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
178 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
181 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
182 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
183 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
186 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
187 list of architectures must be non-empty.
190 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
191 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
192 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
193 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
194 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
195 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
196 should be stored in a temporary file system.
199 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
200 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
201 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
205 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
206 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
207 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
208 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
209 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
212 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
215 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
216 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
219 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
220 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
221 they have been removed.
224 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
225 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
226 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
228 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
229 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
230 file" specification is included.
233 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
234 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
238 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
239 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
242 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
243 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
247 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
250 Released April, 2011.
254 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
255 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
259 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
260 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
261 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
262 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
265 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
266 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
267 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
271 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
272 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
273 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
274 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
278 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
281 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
282 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
283 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
284 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
288 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
289 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
290 dependencies are now a should not.
293 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
294 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
295 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
296 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
297 actions if their dependencies are not available.
300 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
301 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
304 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
305 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
306 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
307 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
308 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
311 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
312 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
313 POSIX-required interface.
317 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
324 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
325 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
329 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
330 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
331 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
334 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
335 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
336 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
339 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
340 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
341 architecture-independent.
344 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
345 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
346 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
349 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
350 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
351 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
352 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
355 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
358 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
359 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
360 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
363 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
364 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
367 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
368 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
369 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
370 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
371 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
372 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
373 their <file>.la</file> files.
376 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
377 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
378 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
379 thread-safe if the library supports this.
382 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
383 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
384 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
385 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
386 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
389 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
390 logrotate rules is now recommended.
393 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
394 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
396 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
397 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
398 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
399 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
400 for the corresponding manual page.
403 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
404 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
405 executables in those subdirectories.
408 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
409 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
414 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
420 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
421 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
422 Date control field is now precisely specified.
425 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
426 particular field name.
428 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
429 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
430 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
431 documented and recommended.
433 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
434 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
435 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
436 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
437 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
438 for <file>.changes</file> files.
441 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
445 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
448 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
449 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
450 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
451 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
455 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
456 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
457 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
458 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
459 question, but should avoid this if possible.
461 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
462 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
463 files between packages.
466 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
467 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
468 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
471 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
472 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
475 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
476 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
477 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
478 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
481 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
483 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
484 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
485 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
488 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
489 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
490 It should instead be included directly
491 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
492 common-licenses for the time being.
495 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
496 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
497 template instead of a string to allow translation.
500 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
501 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
502 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
503 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
504 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
507 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
508 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
509 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
513 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
520 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
521 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
522 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
525 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
526 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
529 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
530 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
534 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
540 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
541 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
544 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
545 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
546 may be used in different versions of the field.
549 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
550 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
553 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
556 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
557 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
558 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
559 using them should be built with RPATH.
562 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
563 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
564 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
565 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
568 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
569 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
572 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
573 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
574 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
578 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
579 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
580 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
581 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
582 support partial upgrades.
585 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
586 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
590 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
597 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
598 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
599 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
600 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
604 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
605 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
606 back on other methods.
609 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
613 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
614 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
617 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
618 <file>/var/mail</file>.
621 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
625 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
626 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
630 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
637 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
638 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
639 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
642 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
645 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
649 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
650 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
653 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
654 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
657 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
660 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
661 with no preceding whitespace.
664 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
665 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
666 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
667 behavior of the init system in Debian.
670 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
671 start the daemon again if it's already running.
674 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
675 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
676 subdirectories dynamically.
679 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
680 variable arguments and supports assignment.
683 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
684 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
688 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
695 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
696 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
697 system is now defined by priority.
699 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
700 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
702 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
703 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
704 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
705 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
706 unknown flags be ignored.
708 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
709 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
710 processes if the package supports it
712 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
713 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
716 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
717 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
718 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
719 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
720 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
721 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
724 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
726 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
729 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
730 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
731 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
732 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
733 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
734 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
736 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
737 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
738 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
741 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
742 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
745 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
746 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
749 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
750 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
751 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
752 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
753 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
754 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
757 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
758 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
760 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
761 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
764 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
767 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
774 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
775 anything, even the end of a part.
777 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
778 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
781 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
782 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
784 <tag>menu policy</tag>
785 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
786 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
787 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
788 sections would be more appropriate.
790 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
793 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
794 critical, or emergency.
796 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
797 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
798 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
801 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
802 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
803 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
805 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
806 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
809 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
815 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
816 should to a must)</item>
819 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
825 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
828 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
835 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
836 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
837 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
838 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
839 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
840 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
843 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
844 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
845 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
848 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
855 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
856 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
857 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
859 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
860 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
862 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
863 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
864 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
865 etc. may be of interest.
866 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
867 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
868 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
869 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
870 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
871 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
872 as well, to prepare for future changes.
874 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
875 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
876 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
879 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
880 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
882 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
883 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
884 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
885 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
889 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
896 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
899 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
900 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
901 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
904 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
905 allow packages to share image files with the web server
909 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
916 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
917 user prompts are now deprecated.
920 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
927 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
928 the minor version number:
930 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
931 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
932 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
933 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
934 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
935 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
936 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
937 deb-building tool-chain.
939 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
940 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
941 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
942 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
944 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
945 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
946 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
947 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
948 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
949 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
950 sections about changelog files.
951 <tag>menu policy</tag>
952 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
955 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
957 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
958 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
960 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
964 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
971 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
972 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
975 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
976 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
979 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
986 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
987 full details of the long description format.
989 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
990 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
991 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
993 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
994 the init script should start the service.
996 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
997 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
998 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
1001 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
1008 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
1009 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
1010 documented in the changelog file.
1012 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
1013 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
1015 <tag>menu policy</tag>
1016 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
1017 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
1018 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
1020 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
1021 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
1025 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
1032 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
1033 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
1035 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
1038 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
1039 special Tasks: field in the control file.
1041 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
1042 they add themselves as an alternative for
1043 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1045 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1046 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1047 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1048 environment variable.
1050 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1051 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1052 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1053 review the new rules.
1055 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1056 scripts. Long rationale.
1060 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1061 rules, please see below
1064 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1071 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1074 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1075 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1077 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1078 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1080 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1081 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1082 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1083 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1085 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1086 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1089 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1096 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1097 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1098 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1101 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1102 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1103 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1106 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1107 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1110 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1111 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1114 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1117 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1120 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1124 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1126 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1127 fonts for the X Window System
1130 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1133 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1134 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1137 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1138 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1143 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1144 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1148 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1149 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1150 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1153 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1154 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1155 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1160 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1161 <p> Released Apr 2001
1165 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1166 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1169 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1170 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1171 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1172 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1176 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1178 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1182 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1183 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1184 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1188 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1190 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1194 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1195 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1199 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1201 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1205 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1206 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1210 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1212 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1216 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1217 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1218 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1221 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1222 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1223 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1224 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1227 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1232 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1234 <p> Released Aug 00.
1238 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1239 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1240 and the other without
1244 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1246 <p> Released Aug 00.
1250 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1251 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1252 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1255 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1256 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1257 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1260 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1261 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1264 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1268 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1270 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1272 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1273 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1274 calculation guidelines)
1277 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1279 <item>X application defaults </item>
1283 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1287 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1289 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1290 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1295 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1297 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1301 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1302 etc. Should not affect many packages
1306 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1308 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1312 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1313 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1317 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1319 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1320 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1321 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1324 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1325 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1326 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1327 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1331 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1332 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1333 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1334 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1337 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1338 <file>/var/lib</file>
1340 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1341 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1343 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1346 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1347 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1351 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1352 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1353 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1356 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1361 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1363 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1367 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1368 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1369 files must go in the run-time library package
1373 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1375 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1379 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1380 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1384 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1385 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1388 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1389 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1390 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1391 other major licenses
1394 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1395 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1398 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1401 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1404 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1405 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1406 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1409 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1410 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1411 installed setgid utmp
1415 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1418 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1420 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1424 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1426 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1427 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1428 Section 5 and Section 6.
1430 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1431 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1432 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1433 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1434 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1438 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1439 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1440 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1441 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1443 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1444 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1446 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1447 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1449 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1450 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1452 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1457 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1459 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1461 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1463 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1464 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1465 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1466 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1469 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1470 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1471 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1475 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1477 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1478 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1479 installs shared libraries
1480 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1484 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1486 <p> Released Jan 1998
1489 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1491 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1492 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1494 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1495 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1499 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1500 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1501 file extension as the referenced file
1504 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1505 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1506 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1509 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1511 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1512 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1513 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1517 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1518 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1519 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1522 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1523 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1524 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1525 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1529 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1530 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1534 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1535 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1536 reasonable default configuration
1539 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1540 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1541 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1544 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1546 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1547 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1549 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1550 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1554 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1555 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1560 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1562 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1565 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1566 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1567 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1570 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1571 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1574 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1577 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1579 <p> Released July 1997.
1582 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1585 where <arch> is one of the following:
1586 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1589 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1591 <item>user ID's</item>
1593 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1595 <item>cron jobs</item>
1597 <item>device files</item>
1599 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1601 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1604 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1606 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1609 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1612 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1614 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1616 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1618 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1622 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1624 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1627 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1630 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1632 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1635 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1637 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1638 without consultation </item>
1640 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1643 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1645 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1648 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>