1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
44 <item>Clarify the duties of a maintainer, require that the maintainer
45 address accept mail from Debian role accounts and the BTS, and require
46 at least one human with their personal email address
47 in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email address.
51 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
58 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
59 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
63 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
64 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
65 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
68 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
69 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
70 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
73 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
74 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
75 architecture-independent.
78 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
79 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
80 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
83 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
84 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
85 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
86 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
89 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
92 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
93 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
94 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
97 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
98 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
101 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
102 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
103 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
104 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
105 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
106 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
107 their <file>.la</file> files.
110 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
111 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
112 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
113 thread-safe if the library supports this.
116 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
117 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
118 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
119 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
120 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
123 <item>Recommend <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
127 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
128 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
130 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
131 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
132 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
133 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
134 for the corresponding manual page.
137 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
138 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
139 executables in those subdirectories.
142 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
143 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
148 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
154 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
155 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
156 Date control field is now precisely specified.
159 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
160 particular field name.
162 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
163 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
164 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
165 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
167 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
168 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
169 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
170 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
171 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
172 for <file>.changes</file> files.
175 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
179 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
182 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
183 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
184 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
185 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
189 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
190 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
191 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
192 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
193 question, but should avoid this if possible.
195 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
196 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
197 files between packages.
200 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
201 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
202 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
205 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
206 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
209 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
210 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
211 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
212 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
215 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
217 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
218 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
219 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
222 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
223 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
224 It should instead be included directly
225 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
226 common-licenses for the time being.
229 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
230 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
234 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
235 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
236 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
237 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
238 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
241 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
242 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
243 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
247 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
254 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
255 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
256 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
259 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
260 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
263 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
264 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
268 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
274 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
275 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
278 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
279 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
280 may be used in different versions of the field.
283 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
284 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
287 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
290 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
291 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
292 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
293 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
296 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
297 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
298 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
301 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
302 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
305 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
306 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
307 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
311 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
312 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
313 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
314 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
315 support partial upgrades.
318 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
319 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
323 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
330 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
331 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
332 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
333 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
337 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
338 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
339 back on other methods.
342 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
346 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
347 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
350 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
351 <file>/var/mail</file>.
354 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
358 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
359 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
363 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
370 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
371 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
372 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
375 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
378 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
382 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
383 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
386 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
387 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
390 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
393 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
394 preceding whitespace.
397 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
398 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
399 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
400 behavior of the init system in Debian.
403 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
404 start the daemon again if it's already running.
407 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
408 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
409 subdirectories dynamically.
412 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
413 variable arguments and supports assignment.
416 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
417 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
421 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
428 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
429 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
430 system is now defined by priority.
432 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
433 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
435 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
436 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
437 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
438 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
439 unknown flags be ignored.
441 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
442 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
443 processes if the package supports it
445 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
446 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
449 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
450 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
451 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
452 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
453 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
454 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
457 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
459 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
462 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
463 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
464 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
465 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
466 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
467 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
469 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
470 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
471 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
474 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
475 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
478 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
479 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
482 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
483 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
484 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
485 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
486 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
487 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
490 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
491 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
493 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
494 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
497 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
500 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
507 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
508 anything, even the end of a part.
510 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
511 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
514 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
515 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
517 <tag>menu policy</tag>
518 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
519 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
520 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
521 sections would be more appropriate.
523 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
526 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
527 critical, or emergency.
529 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
530 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
531 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
534 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
535 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
536 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
538 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
539 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
542 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
548 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
549 should to a must)</item>
552 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
558 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
561 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
568 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
569 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
570 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
571 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
572 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
573 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
576 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
577 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
578 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
581 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
588 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
589 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
590 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
592 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
593 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
595 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
596 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
597 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
598 etc. may be of interest.
599 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
600 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
601 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
602 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
603 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
604 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
605 as well, to prepare for future changes.
607 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
608 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
609 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
612 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
613 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
615 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
616 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
617 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
618 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
622 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
629 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
632 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
633 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
634 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
637 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
638 allow packages to share image files with the web server
642 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
649 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
650 user prompts are now deprecated.
660 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
661 the minor version number:
663 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
664 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
665 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
666 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
667 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
668 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
669 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
670 deb-building tool-chain.
672 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
673 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
674 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
675 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
677 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
678 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
679 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
680 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
681 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
682 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
683 sections about changelog files.
684 <tag>menu policy</tag>
685 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
688 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
690 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
691 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
693 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
697 <sect> Version 3.5.10
704 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
705 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
708 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
709 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
712 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
719 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
720 full details of the long description format.
722 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
723 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
724 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
726 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
727 the init script should start the service.
729 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
730 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
731 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
734 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
741 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
742 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
743 documented in the changelog file.
745 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
746 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
748 <tag>menu policy</tag>
749 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
750 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
751 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
753 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
754 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
758 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
765 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
766 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
768 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
771 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
772 special Tasks: field in the control file.
774 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
775 they add themselves as an alternative for
776 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
778 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
779 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
780 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
781 environment variable.
783 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
784 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
785 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
786 review the new rules.
788 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
789 scripts. Long rationale.
793 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
794 rules, please see below
797 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
804 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
807 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
808 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
810 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
811 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
813 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
814 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
815 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
816 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
818 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
819 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
822 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
829 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
830 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
831 symlinks or .so pages to do this
834 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
835 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
836 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
839 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
840 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
843 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
844 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
847 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
850 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
853 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
857 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
859 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
860 fonts for the X Window System
863 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
866 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
867 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
870 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
871 OSF/Motif-linked ones
876 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
877 <p> Released Apr 2001.
881 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
882 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
883 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
886 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
887 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
888 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
893 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
894 <p> Released Apr 2001
898 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
899 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
902 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
903 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
904 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
905 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
909 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
911 <p> Released Feb 2001.
915 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
916 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
917 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
921 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
923 <p> Released Feb 2001.
927 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
928 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
932 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
934 <p> Released Jan 2001.
938 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
939 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
943 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
945 <p> Released Jan 2001.
949 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
950 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
951 <file>/etc/default/</file>
954 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
955 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
956 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
957 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
960 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
965 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
971 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
972 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
973 and the other without
977 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
983 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
984 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
985 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
988 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
989 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
990 should always be generated for the upstream changes
993 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
994 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
997 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1001 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1003 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1005 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1006 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1007 calculation guidelines)
1010 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1012 <item>X application defaults </item>
1016 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1020 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1022 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1023 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1028 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1030 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1034 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1035 etc. Should not affect many packages
1039 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1041 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1045 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1046 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1050 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1052 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1053 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1054 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1057 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1058 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1059 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1060 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1064 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1065 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1066 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1067 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1070 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1071 <file>/var/lib</file>
1073 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1074 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1076 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1079 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1080 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1084 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1085 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1086 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1089 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1094 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1096 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1100 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1101 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1102 files must go in the run-time library package
1106 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1108 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1112 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1113 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1117 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1118 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1121 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1122 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1123 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1124 other major licenses
1127 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1128 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1131 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1134 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1137 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1138 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1139 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1142 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1143 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1144 installed setgid utmp
1148 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1151 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1153 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1157 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1159 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1160 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1161 Section 5 and Section 6.
1163 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1164 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1165 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1166 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1167 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1171 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1172 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1173 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1174 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1176 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1177 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1179 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1180 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1182 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1183 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1185 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1190 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1192 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1194 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1196 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1197 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1198 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1199 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1202 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1203 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1204 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1208 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1210 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1211 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1212 installs shared libraries
1213 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1217 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1219 <p> Released Jan 1998
1222 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1224 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1225 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1227 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1228 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1232 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1233 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1234 file extension as the referenced file
1237 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1238 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1239 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1242 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1244 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1245 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1246 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1250 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1251 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1252 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1255 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1256 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1257 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1258 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1262 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1263 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1267 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1268 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1269 reasonable default configuration
1272 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1273 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1274 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1277 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1279 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1280 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1282 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1283 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1287 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1288 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1293 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1295 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1298 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1299 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1300 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1303 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1304 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1307 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1310 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1312 <p> Released July 1997.
1315 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1318 where <arch> is one of the following:
1319 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1322 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1324 <item>user ID's</item>
1326 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1328 <item>cron jobs</item>
1330 <item>device files</item>
1332 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1334 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1337 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1339 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1342 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1345 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1347 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1349 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1351 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1355 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1357 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1360 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1363 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1365 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1368 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1370 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1371 without consultation </item>
1373 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1376 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1378 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1381 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>