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>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
79 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
81 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
82 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
85 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
89 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
92 Released February, 2012.
96 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
97 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
100 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
101 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
102 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
105 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
106 list of architectures must be non-empty.
109 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
110 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
111 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
112 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
113 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
114 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
115 should be stored in a temporary file system.
118 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
119 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
120 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
124 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
125 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
126 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
127 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
128 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
131 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
134 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
135 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
138 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
139 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
140 they have been removed.
143 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
144 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
145 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
147 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
148 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
149 file" specification is included.
152 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
153 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
157 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
158 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
161 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
162 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
166 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
169 Released April, 2011.
173 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
174 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
178 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
179 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
180 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
181 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
184 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
185 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
186 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
190 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
191 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
192 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
193 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
197 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
200 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
201 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
202 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
203 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
207 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
208 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
209 dependencies are now a should not.
212 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
213 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
214 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
215 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
216 actions if their dependencies are not available.
219 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
220 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
223 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
224 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
225 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
226 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
227 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
230 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
231 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
232 POSIX-required interface.
236 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
243 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
244 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
248 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
249 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
250 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
253 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
254 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
255 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
258 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
259 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
260 architecture-independent.
263 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
264 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
265 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
268 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
269 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
270 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
271 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
274 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
277 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
278 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
279 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
282 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
283 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
286 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
287 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
288 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
289 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
290 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
291 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
292 their <file>.la</file> files.
295 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
296 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
297 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
298 thread-safe if the library supports this.
301 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
302 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
303 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
304 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
305 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
308 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
309 logrotate rules is now recommended.
312 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
313 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
315 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
316 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
317 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
318 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
319 for the corresponding manual page.
322 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
323 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
324 executables in those subdirectories.
327 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
328 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
333 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
339 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
340 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
341 Date control field is now precisely specified.
344 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
345 particular field name.
347 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
348 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
349 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
350 documented and recommended.
352 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
353 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
354 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
355 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
356 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
357 for <file>.changes</file> files.
360 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
364 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
367 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
368 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
369 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
370 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
374 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
375 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
376 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
377 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
378 question, but should avoid this if possible.
380 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
381 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
382 files between packages.
385 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
386 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
387 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
390 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
391 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
394 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
395 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
396 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
397 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
400 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
402 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
403 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
404 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
407 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
408 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
409 It should instead be included directly
410 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
411 common-licenses for the time being.
414 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
415 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
416 template instead of a string to allow translation.
419 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
420 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
421 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
422 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
423 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
426 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
427 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
428 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
432 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
439 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
440 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
441 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
444 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
445 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
448 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
449 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
453 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
459 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
460 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
463 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
464 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
465 may be used in different versions of the field.
468 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
469 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
472 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
475 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
476 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
477 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
478 using them should be built with RPATH.
481 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
482 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
483 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
484 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
487 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
488 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
491 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
492 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
493 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
497 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
498 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
499 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
500 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
501 support partial upgrades.
504 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
505 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
509 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
516 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
517 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
518 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
519 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
523 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
524 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
525 back on other methods.
528 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
532 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
533 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
536 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
537 <file>/var/mail</file>.
540 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
544 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
545 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
549 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
556 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
557 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
558 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
561 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
564 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
568 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
569 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
572 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
573 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
576 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
579 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
580 with no preceding whitespace.
583 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
584 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
585 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
586 behavior of the init system in Debian.
589 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
590 start the daemon again if it's already running.
593 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
594 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
595 subdirectories dynamically.
598 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
599 variable arguments and supports assignment.
602 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
603 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
607 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
614 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
615 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
616 system is now defined by priority.
618 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
619 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
621 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
622 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
623 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
624 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
625 unknown flags be ignored.
627 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
628 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
629 processes if the package supports it
631 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
632 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
635 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
636 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
637 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
638 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
639 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
640 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
643 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
645 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
648 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
649 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
650 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
651 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
652 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
653 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
655 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
656 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
657 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
660 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
661 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
664 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
665 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
668 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
669 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
670 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
671 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
672 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
673 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
676 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
677 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
679 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
680 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
683 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
686 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
693 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
694 anything, even the end of a part.
696 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
697 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
700 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
701 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
703 <tag>menu policy</tag>
704 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
705 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
706 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
707 sections would be more appropriate.
709 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
712 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
713 critical, or emergency.
715 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
716 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
717 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
720 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
721 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
722 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
724 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
725 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
728 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
734 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
735 should to a must)</item>
738 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
744 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
747 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
754 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
755 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
756 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
757 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
758 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
759 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
762 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
763 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
764 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
767 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
774 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
775 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
776 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
778 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
779 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
781 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
782 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
783 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
784 etc. may be of interest.
785 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
786 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
787 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
788 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
789 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
790 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
791 as well, to prepare for future changes.
793 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
794 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
795 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
798 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
799 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
801 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
802 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
803 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
804 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
808 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
815 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
818 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
819 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
820 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
823 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
824 allow packages to share image files with the web server
828 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
835 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
836 user prompts are now deprecated.
839 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
846 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
847 the minor version number:
849 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
850 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
851 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
852 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
853 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
854 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
855 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
856 deb-building tool-chain.
858 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
859 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
860 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
861 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
863 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
864 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
865 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
866 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
867 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
868 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
869 sections about changelog files.
870 <tag>menu policy</tag>
871 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
874 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
876 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
877 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
879 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
883 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
890 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
891 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
894 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
895 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
898 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
905 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
906 full details of the long description format.
908 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
909 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
910 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
912 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
913 the init script should start the service.
915 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
916 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
917 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
920 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
927 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
928 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
929 documented in the changelog file.
931 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
932 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
934 <tag>menu policy</tag>
935 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
936 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
937 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
939 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
940 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
944 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
951 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
952 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
954 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
957 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
958 special Tasks: field in the control file.
960 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
961 they add themselves as an alternative for
962 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
964 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
965 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
966 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
967 environment variable.
969 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
970 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
971 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
972 review the new rules.
974 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
975 scripts. Long rationale.
979 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
980 rules, please see below
983 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
990 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
993 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
994 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
996 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
997 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
999 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1000 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1001 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1002 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1004 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1005 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1008 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1015 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1016 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1017 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1020 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1021 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1022 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1025 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1026 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1029 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1030 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1033 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1036 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1039 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1043 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1045 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1046 fonts for the X Window System
1049 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1052 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1053 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1056 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1057 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1062 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1063 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1067 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1068 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1069 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1072 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1073 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1074 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1079 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1080 <p> Released Apr 2001
1084 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1085 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1088 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1089 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1090 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1091 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1095 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1097 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1101 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1102 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1103 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1107 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1109 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1113 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1114 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1118 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1120 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1124 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1125 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1129 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1131 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1135 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1136 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1137 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1140 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1141 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1142 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1143 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1146 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1151 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1153 <p> Released Aug 00.
1157 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1158 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1159 and the other without
1163 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1165 <p> Released Aug 00.
1169 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1170 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1171 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1174 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1175 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1176 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1179 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1180 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1183 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1187 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1189 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1191 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1192 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1193 calculation guidelines)
1196 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1198 <item>X application defaults </item>
1202 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1206 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1208 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1209 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1214 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1216 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1220 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1221 etc. Should not affect many packages
1225 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1227 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1231 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1232 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1236 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1238 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1239 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1240 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1243 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1244 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1245 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1246 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1250 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1251 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1252 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1253 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1256 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1257 <file>/var/lib</file>
1259 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1260 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1262 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1265 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1266 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1270 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1271 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1272 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1275 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1280 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1282 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1286 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1287 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1288 files must go in the run-time library package
1292 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1294 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1298 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1299 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1303 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1304 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1307 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1308 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1309 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1310 other major licenses
1313 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1314 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1317 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1320 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1323 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1324 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1325 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1328 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1329 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1330 installed setgid utmp
1334 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1337 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1339 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1343 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1345 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1346 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1347 Section 5 and Section 6.
1349 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1350 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1351 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1352 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1353 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1357 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1358 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1359 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1360 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1362 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1363 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1365 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1366 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1368 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1369 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1371 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1376 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1378 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1380 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1382 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1383 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1384 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1385 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1388 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1389 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1390 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1394 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1396 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1397 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1398 installs shared libraries
1399 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1403 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1405 <p> Released Jan 1998
1408 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1410 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1411 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1413 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1414 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1418 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1419 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1420 file extension as the referenced file
1423 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1424 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1425 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1428 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1430 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1431 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1432 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1436 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1437 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1438 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1441 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1442 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1443 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1444 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1448 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1449 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1453 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1454 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1455 reasonable default configuration
1458 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1459 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1460 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1463 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1465 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1466 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1468 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1469 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1473 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1474 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1479 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1481 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1484 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1485 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1486 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1489 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1490 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1493 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1496 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1498 <p> Released July 1997.
1501 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1504 where <arch> is one of the following:
1505 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1508 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1510 <item>user ID's</item>
1512 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1514 <item>cron jobs</item>
1516 <item>device files</item>
1518 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1520 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1523 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1525 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1528 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1531 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1533 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1535 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1537 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1541 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1543 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1546 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1549 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1551 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1554 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1556 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1557 without consultation </item>
1559 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1562 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1564 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1567 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>