1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery <email/rra@debian.org/ </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
44 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
47 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
48 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
51 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
52 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
53 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
56 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
59 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
60 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
61 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
62 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
65 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
66 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
67 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
68 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
69 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
70 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
73 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
74 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
75 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
78 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
79 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
82 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
86 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
89 Released February, 2012.
93 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
94 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
97 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
98 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
99 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
102 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
103 list of architectures must be non-empty.
106 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
107 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
108 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
109 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
110 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
111 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
112 should be stored in a temporary file system.
115 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
116 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
117 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
121 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
122 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
123 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
124 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
125 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
128 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
131 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
132 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
135 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
136 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
137 they have been removed.
140 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
141 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
142 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
144 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
145 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
146 file" specification is included.
149 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
150 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
154 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
155 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
158 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
159 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
163 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
166 Released April, 2011.
170 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
171 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
175 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
176 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
177 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
178 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
181 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
182 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
183 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
187 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
188 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
189 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
190 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
194 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
197 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
198 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
199 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
200 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
204 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
205 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
206 dependencies are now a should not.
209 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
210 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
211 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
212 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
213 actions if their dependencies are not available.
216 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
217 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
220 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
221 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
222 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
223 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
224 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
227 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
228 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
229 POSIX-required interface.
233 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
240 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
241 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
245 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
246 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
247 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
250 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
251 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
252 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
255 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
256 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
257 architecture-independent.
260 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
261 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
262 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
265 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
266 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
267 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
268 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
271 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
274 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
275 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
276 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
279 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
280 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
283 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
284 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
285 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
286 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
287 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
288 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
289 their <file>.la</file> files.
292 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
293 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
294 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
295 thread-safe if the library supports this.
298 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
299 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
300 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
301 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
302 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
305 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
306 logrotate rules is now recommended.
309 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
310 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
312 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
313 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
314 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
315 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
316 for the corresponding manual page.
319 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
320 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
321 executables in those subdirectories.
324 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
325 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
330 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
336 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
337 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
338 Date control field is now precisely specified.
341 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
342 particular field name.
344 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
345 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
346 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
347 documented and recommended.
349 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
350 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
351 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
352 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
353 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
354 for <file>.changes</file> files.
357 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
361 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
364 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
365 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
366 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
367 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
371 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
372 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
373 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
374 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
375 question, but should avoid this if possible.
377 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
378 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
379 files between packages.
382 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
383 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
384 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
387 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
388 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
391 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
392 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
393 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
394 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
397 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
399 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
400 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
401 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
404 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
405 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
406 It should instead be included directly
407 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
408 common-licenses for the time being.
411 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
412 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
413 template instead of a string to allow translation.
416 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
417 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
418 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
419 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
420 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
423 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
424 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
425 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
429 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
436 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
437 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
438 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
441 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
442 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
445 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
446 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
450 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
456 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
457 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
460 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
461 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
462 may be used in different versions of the field.
465 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
466 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
469 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
472 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
473 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
474 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
475 using them should be built with RPATH.
478 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
479 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
480 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
481 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
484 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
485 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
488 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
489 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
490 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
494 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
495 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
496 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
497 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
498 support partial upgrades.
501 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
502 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
506 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
513 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
514 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
515 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
516 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
520 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
521 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
522 back on other methods.
525 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
529 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
530 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
533 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
534 <file>/var/mail</file>.
537 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
541 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
542 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
546 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
553 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
554 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
555 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
558 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
561 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
565 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
566 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
569 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
570 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
573 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
576 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
577 with no preceding whitespace.
580 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
581 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
582 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
583 behavior of the init system in Debian.
586 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
587 start the daemon again if it's already running.
590 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
591 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
592 subdirectories dynamically.
595 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
596 variable arguments and supports assignment.
599 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
600 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
604 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
611 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
612 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
613 system is now defined by priority.
615 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
616 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
618 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
619 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
620 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
621 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
622 unknown flags be ignored.
624 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
625 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
626 processes if the package supports it
628 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
629 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
632 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
633 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
634 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
635 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
636 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
637 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
640 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
642 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
645 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
646 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
647 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
648 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
649 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
650 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
652 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
653 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
654 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
657 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
658 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
661 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
662 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
665 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
666 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
667 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
668 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
669 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
670 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
673 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
674 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
676 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
677 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
680 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
683 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
690 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
691 anything, even the end of a part.
693 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
694 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
697 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
698 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
700 <tag>menu policy</tag>
701 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
702 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
703 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
704 sections would be more appropriate.
706 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
709 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
710 critical, or emergency.
712 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
713 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
714 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
717 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
718 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
719 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
721 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
722 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
725 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
731 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
732 should to a must)</item>
735 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
741 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
744 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
751 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
752 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
753 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
754 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
755 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
756 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
759 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
760 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
761 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
764 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
771 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
772 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
773 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
775 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
776 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
778 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
779 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
780 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
781 etc. may be of interest.
782 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
783 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
784 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
785 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
786 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
787 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
788 as well, to prepare for future changes.
790 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
791 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
792 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
795 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
796 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
798 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
799 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
800 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
801 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
805 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
812 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
815 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
816 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
817 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
820 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
821 allow packages to share image files with the web server
825 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
832 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
833 user prompts are now deprecated.
836 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
843 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
844 the minor version number:
846 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
847 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
848 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
849 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
850 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
851 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
852 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
853 deb-building tool-chain.
855 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
856 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
857 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
858 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
860 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
861 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
862 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
863 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
864 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
865 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
866 sections about changelog files.
867 <tag>menu policy</tag>
868 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
871 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
873 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
874 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
876 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
880 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
887 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
888 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
891 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
892 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
895 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
902 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
903 full details of the long description format.
905 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
906 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
907 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
909 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
910 the init script should start the service.
912 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
913 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
914 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
917 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
924 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
925 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
926 documented in the changelog file.
928 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
929 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
931 <tag>menu policy</tag>
932 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
933 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
934 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
936 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
937 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
941 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
948 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
949 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
951 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
954 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
955 special Tasks: field in the control file.
957 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
958 they add themselves as an alternative for
959 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
961 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
962 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
963 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
964 environment variable.
966 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
967 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
968 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
969 review the new rules.
971 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
972 scripts. Long rationale.
976 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
977 rules, please see below
980 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
987 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
990 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
991 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
993 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
994 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
996 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
997 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
998 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
999 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1001 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1002 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1005 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1012 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1013 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1014 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1017 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1018 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1019 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1022 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1023 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1026 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1027 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1030 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1033 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1036 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1040 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1042 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1043 fonts for the X Window System
1046 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1049 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1050 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1053 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1054 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1059 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1060 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1064 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1065 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1066 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1069 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1070 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1071 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1076 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1077 <p> Released Apr 2001
1081 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1082 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1085 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1086 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1087 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1088 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1092 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1094 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1098 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1099 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1100 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1104 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1106 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1110 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1111 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1115 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1117 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1121 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1122 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1126 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1128 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1132 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1133 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1134 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1137 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1138 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1139 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1140 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1143 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1148 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1150 <p> Released Aug 00.
1154 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1155 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1156 and the other without
1160 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1162 <p> Released Aug 00.
1166 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1167 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1168 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1171 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1172 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1173 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1176 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1177 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1180 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1184 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1186 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1188 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1189 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1190 calculation guidelines)
1193 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1195 <item>X application defaults </item>
1199 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1203 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1205 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1206 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1211 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1213 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1217 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1218 etc. Should not affect many packages
1222 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1224 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1228 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1229 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1233 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1235 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1236 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1237 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1240 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1241 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1242 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1243 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1247 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1248 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1249 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1250 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1253 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1254 <file>/var/lib</file>
1256 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1257 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1259 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1262 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1263 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1267 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1268 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1269 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1272 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1277 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1279 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1283 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1284 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1285 files must go in the run-time library package
1289 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1291 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1295 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1296 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1300 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1301 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1304 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1305 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1306 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1307 other major licenses
1310 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1311 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1314 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1317 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1320 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1321 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1322 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1325 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1326 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1327 installed setgid utmp
1331 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1334 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1336 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1340 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1342 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1343 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1344 Section 5 and Section 6.
1346 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1347 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1348 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1349 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1350 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1354 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1355 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1356 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1357 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1359 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1360 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1362 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1363 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1365 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1366 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1368 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1373 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1375 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1377 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1379 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1380 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1381 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1382 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1385 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1386 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1387 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1391 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1393 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1394 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1395 installs shared libraries
1396 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1400 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1402 <p> Released Jan 1998
1405 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1407 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1408 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1410 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1411 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1415 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1416 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1417 file extension as the referenced file
1420 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1421 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1422 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1425 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1427 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1428 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1429 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1433 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1434 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1435 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1438 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1439 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1440 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1441 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1445 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1446 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1450 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1451 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1452 reasonable default configuration
1455 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1456 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1457 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1460 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1462 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1463 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1465 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1466 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1470 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1471 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1476 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1478 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1481 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1482 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1483 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1486 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1487 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1490 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1493 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1495 <p> Released July 1997.
1498 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1501 where <arch> is one of the following:
1502 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1505 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1507 <item>user ID's</item>
1509 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1511 <item>cron jobs</item>
1513 <item>device files</item>
1515 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1517 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1520 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1522 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1525 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1528 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1530 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1532 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1534 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1538 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1540 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1543 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1546 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1548 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1551 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1553 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1554 without consultation </item>
1556 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1559 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1561 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1564 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>