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>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
45 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
49 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
50 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
51 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
52 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
55 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
58 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
59 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
60 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
61 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
65 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
66 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
67 dependencies are now a should not.
70 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
71 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
72 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
73 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
74 actions if their dependencies are not available.
77 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
78 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
81 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
82 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
83 POSIX-required interface.
86 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
87 <file>/url/lib</file> must use the value returned by
88 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
89 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
90 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
94 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
101 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
102 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
106 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
107 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
108 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
111 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
112 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
113 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
116 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
117 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
118 architecture-independent.
121 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
122 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
123 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
126 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
127 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
128 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
129 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
132 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
135 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
136 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
137 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
140 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
141 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
144 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
145 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
146 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
147 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
148 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
149 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
150 their <file>.la</file> files.
153 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
154 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
155 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
156 thread-safe if the library supports this.
159 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
160 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
161 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
162 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
163 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
166 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
167 logrotate rules is now recommended.
170 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
171 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
173 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
174 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
175 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
176 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
177 for the corresponding manual page.
180 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
181 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
182 executables in those subdirectories.
185 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
186 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
191 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
197 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
198 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
199 Date control field is now precisely specified.
202 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
203 particular field name.
205 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
206 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
207 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
208 documented and recommended.
210 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
211 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
212 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
213 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
214 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
215 for <file>.changes</file> files.
218 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
222 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
225 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
226 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
227 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
228 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
232 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
233 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
234 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
235 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
236 question, but should avoid this if possible.
238 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
239 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
240 files between packages.
243 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
244 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
245 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
248 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
249 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
252 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
253 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
254 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
255 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
258 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
260 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
261 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
262 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
265 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
266 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
267 It should instead be included directly
268 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
269 common-licenses for the time being.
272 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
273 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
274 template instead of a string to allow translation.
277 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
278 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
279 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
280 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
281 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
284 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
285 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
286 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
290 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
297 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
298 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
299 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
302 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
303 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
306 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
307 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
311 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
317 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
318 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
321 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
322 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
323 may be used in different versions of the field.
326 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
327 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
330 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
333 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
334 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
335 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
336 using them should be built with RPATH.
339 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
340 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
341 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
342 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
345 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
346 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
349 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
350 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
351 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
355 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
356 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
357 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
358 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
359 support partial upgrades.
362 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
363 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
367 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
374 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
375 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
376 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
377 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
381 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
382 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
383 back on other methods.
386 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
390 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
391 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
394 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
395 <file>/var/mail</file>.
398 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
402 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
403 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
407 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
414 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
415 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
416 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
419 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
422 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
426 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
427 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
430 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
431 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
434 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
437 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
438 with no preceding whitespace.
441 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
442 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
443 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
444 behavior of the init system in Debian.
447 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
448 start the daemon again if it's already running.
451 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
452 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
453 subdirectories dynamically.
456 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
457 variable arguments and supports assignment.
460 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
461 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
465 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
472 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
473 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
474 system is now defined by priority.
476 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
477 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
479 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
480 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
481 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
482 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
483 unknown flags be ignored.
485 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
486 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
487 processes if the package supports it
489 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
490 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
493 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
494 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
495 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
496 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
497 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
498 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
501 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
503 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
506 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
507 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
508 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
509 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
510 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
511 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
513 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
514 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
515 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
518 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
519 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
522 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
523 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
526 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
527 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
528 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
529 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
530 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
531 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
534 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
535 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
537 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
538 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
541 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
544 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
551 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
552 anything, even the end of a part.
554 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
555 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
558 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
559 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
561 <tag>menu policy</tag>
562 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
563 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
564 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
565 sections would be more appropriate.
567 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
570 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
571 critical, or emergency.
573 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
574 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
575 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
578 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
579 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
580 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
582 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
583 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
586 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
592 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
593 should to a must)</item>
596 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
602 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
605 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
612 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
613 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
614 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
615 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
616 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
617 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
620 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
621 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
622 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
625 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
632 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
633 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
634 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
636 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
637 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
639 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
640 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
641 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
642 etc. may be of interest.
643 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
644 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
645 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
646 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
647 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
648 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
649 as well, to prepare for future changes.
651 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
652 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
653 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
656 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
657 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
659 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
660 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
661 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
662 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
666 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
673 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
676 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
677 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
678 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
681 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
682 allow packages to share image files with the web server
686 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
693 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
694 user prompts are now deprecated.
704 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
705 the minor version number:
707 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
708 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
709 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
710 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
711 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
712 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
713 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
714 deb-building tool-chain.
716 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
717 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
718 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
719 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
721 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
722 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
723 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
724 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
725 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
726 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
727 sections about changelog files.
728 <tag>menu policy</tag>
729 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
732 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
734 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
735 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
737 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
741 <sect> Version 3.5.10
748 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
749 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
752 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
753 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
756 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
763 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
764 full details of the long description format.
766 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
767 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
768 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
770 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
771 the init script should start the service.
773 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
774 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
775 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
778 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
785 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
786 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
787 documented in the changelog file.
789 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
790 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
792 <tag>menu policy</tag>
793 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
794 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
795 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
797 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
798 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
802 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
809 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
810 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
812 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
815 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
816 special Tasks: field in the control file.
818 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
819 they add themselves as an alternative for
820 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
822 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
823 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
824 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
825 environment variable.
827 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
828 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
829 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
830 review the new rules.
832 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
833 scripts. Long rationale.
837 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
838 rules, please see below
841 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
848 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
851 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
852 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
854 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
855 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
857 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
858 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
859 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
860 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
862 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
863 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
866 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
873 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
874 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
875 symlinks or .so pages to do this
878 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
879 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
880 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
883 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
884 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
887 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
888 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
891 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
894 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
897 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
901 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
903 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
904 fonts for the X Window System
907 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
910 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
911 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
914 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
915 OSF/Motif-linked ones
920 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
921 <p> Released Apr 2001.
925 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
926 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
927 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
930 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
931 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
932 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
937 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
938 <p> Released Apr 2001
942 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
943 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
946 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
947 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
948 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
949 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
953 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
955 <p> Released Feb 2001.
959 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
960 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
961 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
965 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
967 <p> Released Feb 2001.
971 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
972 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
976 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
978 <p> Released Jan 2001.
982 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
983 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
987 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
989 <p> Released Jan 2001.
993 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
994 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
995 <file>/etc/default/</file>
998 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
999 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1000 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1001 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1004 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1009 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
1011 <p> Released Aug 00.
1015 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1016 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1017 and the other without
1021 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
1023 <p> Released Aug 00.
1027 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1028 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1029 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1032 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1033 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1034 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1037 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1038 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1041 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1045 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1047 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1049 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1050 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1051 calculation guidelines)
1054 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1056 <item>X application defaults </item>
1060 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1064 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1066 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1067 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1072 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1074 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1078 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1079 etc. Should not affect many packages
1083 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1085 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1089 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1090 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1094 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1096 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1097 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1098 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1101 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1102 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1103 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1104 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1108 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1109 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1110 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1111 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1114 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1115 <file>/var/lib</file>
1117 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1118 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1120 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1123 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1124 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1128 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1129 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1130 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1133 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1138 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1140 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1144 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1145 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1146 files must go in the run-time library package
1150 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1152 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1156 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1157 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1161 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1162 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1165 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1166 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1167 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1168 other major licenses
1171 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1172 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1175 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1178 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1181 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1182 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1183 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1186 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1187 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1188 installed setgid utmp
1192 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1195 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1197 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1201 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1203 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1204 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1205 Section 5 and Section 6.
1207 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1208 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1209 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1210 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1211 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1215 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1216 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1217 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1218 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1220 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1221 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1223 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1224 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1226 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1227 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1229 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1234 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1236 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1238 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1240 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1241 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1242 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1243 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1246 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1247 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1248 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1252 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1254 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1255 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1256 installs shared libraries
1257 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1261 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1263 <p> Released Jan 1998
1266 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1268 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1269 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1271 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1272 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1276 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1277 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1278 file extension as the referenced file
1281 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1282 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1283 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1286 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1288 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1289 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1290 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1294 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1295 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1296 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1299 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1300 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1301 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1302 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1306 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1307 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1311 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1312 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1313 reasonable default configuration
1316 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1317 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1318 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1321 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1323 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1324 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1326 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1327 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1331 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1332 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1337 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1339 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1342 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1343 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1344 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1347 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1348 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1351 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1354 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1356 <p> Released July 1997.
1359 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1362 where <arch> is one of the following:
1363 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1366 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1368 <item>user ID's</item>
1370 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1372 <item>cron jobs</item>
1374 <item>device files</item>
1376 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1378 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1381 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1383 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1386 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1389 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1391 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1393 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1395 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1399 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1401 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1404 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1407 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1409 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1412 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1414 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1415 without consultation </item>
1417 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1420 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1422 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1425 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>