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 3.9.1.0
44 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
45 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
46 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
49 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
50 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
51 architecture-independent.
54 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
55 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
56 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
58 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
59 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
60 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
63 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
64 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
67 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
68 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
69 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
70 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
71 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
72 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
73 their <file>.la</file> files.
76 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
77 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
82 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
88 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
89 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
90 Date control field is now precisely specified.
93 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
94 particular field name.
96 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
97 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
98 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
99 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
101 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
102 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
103 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
104 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
105 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
106 for <file>.changes</file> files.
109 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
113 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
116 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
117 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
118 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
119 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
123 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
124 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
125 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
126 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
127 question, but should avoid this if possible.
129 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
130 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
131 files between packages.
134 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
135 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
136 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
139 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
140 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
143 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
144 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
145 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
146 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
149 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
151 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
152 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
153 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
156 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
157 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
158 It should instead be included directly
159 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
160 common-licenses for the time being.
163 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
164 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
168 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
169 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
170 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
171 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
172 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
175 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
176 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
177 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
181 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
188 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
189 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
190 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
193 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
194 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
197 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
198 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
202 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
208 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
209 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
212 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
213 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
214 may be used in different versions of the field.
217 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
218 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
221 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
224 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
225 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
226 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
227 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
230 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
231 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
232 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
235 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
236 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
239 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
240 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
241 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
245 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
246 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
247 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
248 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
249 support partial upgrades.
252 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
253 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
257 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
264 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
265 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
266 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
267 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
271 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
272 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
273 back on other methods.
276 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
280 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
281 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
284 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
285 <file>/var/mail</file>.
288 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
292 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
293 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
297 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
304 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
305 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
306 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
309 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
312 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
316 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
317 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
320 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
321 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
324 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
327 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
328 preceding whitespace.
331 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
332 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
333 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
334 behavior of the init system in Debian.
337 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
338 start the daemon again if it's already running.
341 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
342 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
343 subdirectories dynamically.
346 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
347 variable arguments and supports assignment.
350 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
351 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
355 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
362 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
363 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
364 system is now defined by priority.
366 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
367 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
369 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
370 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
371 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
372 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
373 unknown flags be ignored.
375 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
376 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
377 processes if the package supports it
379 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
380 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
383 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
384 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
385 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
386 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
387 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
388 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
391 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
393 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
396 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
397 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
398 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
399 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
400 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
401 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
403 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
404 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
405 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
408 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
409 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
412 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
413 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
416 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
417 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
418 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
419 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
420 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
421 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
424 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
425 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
427 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
428 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
431 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
434 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
441 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
442 anything, even the end of a part.
444 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
445 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
448 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
449 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
451 <tag>menu policy</tag>
452 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
453 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
454 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
455 sections would be more appropriate.
457 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
460 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
461 critical, or emergency.
463 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
464 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
465 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
468 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
469 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
470 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
472 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
473 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
476 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
482 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
483 should to a must)</item>
486 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
492 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
495 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
502 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
503 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
504 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
505 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
506 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
507 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
510 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
511 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
512 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
515 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
522 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
523 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
524 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
526 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
527 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
529 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
530 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
531 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
532 etc. may be of interest.
533 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
534 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
535 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
536 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
537 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
538 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
539 as well, to prepare for future changes.
541 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
542 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
543 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
546 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
547 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
549 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
550 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
551 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
552 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
556 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
563 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
566 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
567 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
568 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
571 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
572 allow packages to share image files with the web server
576 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
583 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
584 user prompts are now deprecated.
594 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
595 the minor version number:
597 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
598 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
599 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
600 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
601 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
602 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
603 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
604 deb-building tool-chain.
606 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
607 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
608 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
609 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
611 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
612 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
613 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
614 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
615 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
616 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
617 sections about changelog files.
618 <tag>menu policy</tag>
619 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
622 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
624 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
625 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
627 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
631 <sect> Version 3.5.10
638 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
639 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
642 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
643 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
646 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
653 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
654 full details of the long description format.
656 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
657 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
658 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
660 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
661 the init script should start the service.
663 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
664 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
665 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
668 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
675 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
676 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
677 documented in the changelog file.
679 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
680 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
682 <tag>menu policy</tag>
683 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
684 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
685 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
687 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
688 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
692 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
699 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
700 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
702 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
705 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
706 special Tasks: field in the control file.
708 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
709 they add themselves as an alternative for
710 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
712 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
713 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
714 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
715 environment variable.
717 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
718 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
719 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
720 review the new rules.
722 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
723 scripts. Long rationale.
727 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
728 rules, please see below
731 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
738 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
741 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
742 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
744 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
745 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
747 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
748 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
749 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
750 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
752 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
753 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
756 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
763 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
764 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
765 symlinks or .so pages to do this
768 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
769 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
770 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
773 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
774 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
777 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
778 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
781 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
784 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
787 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
791 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
793 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
794 fonts for the X Window System
797 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
800 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
801 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
804 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
805 OSF/Motif-linked ones
810 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
811 <p> Released Apr 2001.
815 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
816 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
817 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
820 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
821 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
822 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
827 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
828 <p> Released Apr 2001
832 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
833 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
836 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
837 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
838 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
839 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
843 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
845 <p> Released Feb 2001.
849 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
850 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
851 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
855 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
857 <p> Released Feb 2001.
861 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
862 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
866 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
868 <p> Released Jan 2001.
872 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
873 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
877 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
879 <p> Released Jan 2001.
883 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
884 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
885 <file>/etc/default/</file>
888 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
889 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
890 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
891 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
894 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
899 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
905 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
906 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
907 and the other without
911 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
917 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
918 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
919 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
922 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
923 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
924 should always be generated for the upstream changes
927 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
928 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
931 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
935 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
937 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
939 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
940 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
941 calculation guidelines)
944 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
946 <item>X application defaults </item>
950 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
954 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
956 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
957 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
962 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
964 <p> Released Nov 1999.
968 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
969 etc. Should not affect many packages
973 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
975 <p> Released Oct 1999.
979 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
980 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
984 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
986 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
987 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
988 but should use update-rc.d instead)
991 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
992 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
993 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
994 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
998 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
999 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1000 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1001 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1004 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1005 <file>/var/lib</file>
1007 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1008 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1010 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1013 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1014 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1018 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1019 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1020 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1023 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1028 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1030 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1034 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1035 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1036 files must go in the run-time library package
1040 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1042 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1046 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1047 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1051 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1052 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1055 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1056 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1057 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1058 other major licenses
1061 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1062 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1065 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1068 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1071 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1072 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1073 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1076 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1077 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1078 installed setgid utmp
1082 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1085 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1087 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1091 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1093 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1094 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1095 Section 5 and Section 6.
1097 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1098 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1099 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1100 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1101 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1105 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1106 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1107 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1108 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1110 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1111 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1113 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1114 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1116 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1117 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1119 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1124 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1126 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1128 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1130 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1131 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1132 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1133 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1136 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1137 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1138 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1142 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1144 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1145 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1146 installs shared libraries
1147 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1151 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1153 <p> Released Jan 1998
1156 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1158 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1159 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1161 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1162 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1166 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1167 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1168 file extension as the referenced file
1171 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1172 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1173 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1176 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1178 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1179 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1180 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1184 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1185 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1186 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1189 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1190 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1191 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1192 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1196 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1197 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1201 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1202 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1203 reasonable default configuration
1206 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1207 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1208 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1211 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1213 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1214 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1216 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1217 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1221 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1222 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1227 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1229 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1232 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1233 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1234 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1237 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1238 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1241 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1244 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1246 <p> Released July 1997.
1249 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1252 where <arch> is one of the following:
1253 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1256 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1258 <item>user ID's</item>
1260 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1262 <item>cron jobs</item>
1264 <item>device files</item>
1266 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1268 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1271 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1273 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1276 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1279 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1281 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1283 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1285 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1289 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1291 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1294 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1297 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1299 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1302 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1304 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1305 without consultation </item>
1307 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1310 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1312 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1315 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>