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 id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
44 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
45 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
48 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
49 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
50 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
53 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
54 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
55 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
56 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
57 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable prefix.
60 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
63 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
64 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
67 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
68 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
69 they have been removed.
72 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
73 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
74 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
77 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
78 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
81 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
82 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
86 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
93 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
94 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
98 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
99 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
100 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
101 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
104 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
105 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
106 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
110 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
111 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
112 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
113 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
117 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
120 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
121 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
122 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
123 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
127 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
128 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
129 dependencies are now a should not.
132 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
133 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
134 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
135 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
136 actions if their dependencies are not available.
139 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
140 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
143 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
144 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
145 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
146 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
147 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
150 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
151 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
152 POSIX-required interface.
156 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
163 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
164 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
168 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
169 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
170 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
173 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
174 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
175 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
178 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
179 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
180 architecture-independent.
183 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
184 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
185 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
188 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
189 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
190 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
191 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
194 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
197 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
198 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
199 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
202 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
203 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
206 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
207 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
208 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
209 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
210 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
211 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
212 their <file>.la</file> files.
215 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
216 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
217 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
218 thread-safe if the library supports this.
221 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
222 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
223 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
224 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
225 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
228 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
229 logrotate rules is now recommended.
232 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
233 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
235 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
236 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
237 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
238 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
239 for the corresponding manual page.
242 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
243 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
244 executables in those subdirectories.
247 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
248 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
253 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
259 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
260 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
261 Date control field is now precisely specified.
264 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
265 particular field name.
267 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
268 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
269 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
270 documented and recommended.
272 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
273 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
274 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
275 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
276 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
277 for <file>.changes</file> files.
280 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
284 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
287 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
288 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
289 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
290 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
294 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
295 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
296 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
297 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
298 question, but should avoid this if possible.
300 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
301 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
302 files between packages.
305 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
306 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
307 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
310 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
311 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
314 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
315 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
316 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
317 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
320 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
322 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
323 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
324 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
327 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
328 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
329 It should instead be included directly
330 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
331 common-licenses for the time being.
334 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
335 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
336 template instead of a string to allow translation.
339 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
340 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
341 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
342 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
343 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
346 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
347 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
348 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
352 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
359 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
360 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
361 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
364 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
365 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
368 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
369 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
373 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
379 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
380 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
383 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
384 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
385 may be used in different versions of the field.
388 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
389 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
392 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
395 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
396 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
397 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
398 using them should be built with RPATH.
401 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
402 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
403 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
404 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
407 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
408 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
411 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
412 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
413 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
417 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
418 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
419 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
420 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
421 support partial upgrades.
424 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
425 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
429 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
436 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
437 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
438 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
439 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
443 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
444 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
445 back on other methods.
448 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
452 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
453 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
456 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
457 <file>/var/mail</file>.
460 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
464 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
465 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
469 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
476 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
477 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
478 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
481 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
484 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
488 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
489 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
492 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
493 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
496 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
499 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
500 with no preceding whitespace.
503 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
504 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
505 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
506 behavior of the init system in Debian.
509 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
510 start the daemon again if it's already running.
513 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
514 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
515 subdirectories dynamically.
518 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
519 variable arguments and supports assignment.
522 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
523 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
527 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
534 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
535 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
536 system is now defined by priority.
538 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
539 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
541 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
542 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
543 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
544 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
545 unknown flags be ignored.
547 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
548 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
549 processes if the package supports it
551 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
552 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
555 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
556 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
557 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
558 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
559 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
560 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
563 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
565 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
568 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
569 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
570 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
571 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
572 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
573 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
575 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
576 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
577 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
580 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
581 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
584 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
585 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
588 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
589 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
590 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
591 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
592 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
593 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
596 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
597 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
599 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
600 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
603 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
606 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
613 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
614 anything, even the end of a part.
616 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
617 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
620 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
621 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
623 <tag>menu policy</tag>
624 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
625 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
626 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
627 sections would be more appropriate.
629 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
632 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
633 critical, or emergency.
635 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
636 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
637 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
640 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
641 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
642 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
644 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
645 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
648 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
654 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
655 should to a must)</item>
658 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
664 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
667 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
674 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
675 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
676 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
677 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
678 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
679 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
682 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
683 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
684 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
687 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
694 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
695 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
696 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
698 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
699 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
701 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
702 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
703 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
704 etc. may be of interest.
705 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
706 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
707 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
708 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
709 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
710 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
711 as well, to prepare for future changes.
713 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
714 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
715 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
718 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
719 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
721 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
722 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
723 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
724 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
728 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
735 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
738 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
739 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
740 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
743 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
744 allow packages to share image files with the web server
748 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
755 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
756 user prompts are now deprecated.
759 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
766 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
767 the minor version number:
769 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
770 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
771 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
772 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
773 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
774 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
775 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
776 deb-building tool-chain.
778 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
779 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
780 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
781 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
783 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
784 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
785 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
786 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
787 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
788 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
789 sections about changelog files.
790 <tag>menu policy</tag>
791 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
794 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
796 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
797 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
799 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
803 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
810 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
811 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
814 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
815 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
818 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
825 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
826 full details of the long description format.
828 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
829 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
830 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
832 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
833 the init script should start the service.
835 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
836 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
837 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
840 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
847 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
848 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
849 documented in the changelog file.
851 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
852 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
854 <tag>menu policy</tag>
855 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
856 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
857 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
859 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
860 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
864 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
871 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
872 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
874 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
877 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
878 special Tasks: field in the control file.
880 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
881 they add themselves as an alternative for
882 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
884 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
885 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
886 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
887 environment variable.
889 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
890 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
891 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
892 review the new rules.
894 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
895 scripts. Long rationale.
899 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
900 rules, please see below
903 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
910 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
913 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
914 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
916 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
917 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
919 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
920 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
921 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
922 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
924 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
925 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
928 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
935 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
936 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
937 symlinks or .so pages to do this
940 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
941 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
942 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
945 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
946 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
949 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
950 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
953 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
956 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
959 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
963 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
965 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
966 fonts for the X Window System
969 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
972 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
973 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
976 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
977 OSF/Motif-linked ones
982 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
983 <p> Released Apr 2001.
987 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
988 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
989 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
992 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
993 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
994 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
999 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1000 <p> Released Apr 2001
1004 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1005 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1008 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1009 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1010 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1011 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1015 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1017 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1021 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1022 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1023 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1027 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1029 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1033 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1034 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1038 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1040 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1044 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1045 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1049 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1051 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1055 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1056 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1057 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1060 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1061 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1062 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1063 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1066 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1071 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1073 <p> Released Aug 00.
1077 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1078 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1079 and the other without
1083 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1085 <p> Released Aug 00.
1089 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1090 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1091 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1094 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1095 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1096 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1099 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1100 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1103 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1107 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1109 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1111 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1112 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1113 calculation guidelines)
1116 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1118 <item>X application defaults </item>
1122 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1126 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1128 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1129 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1134 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1136 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1140 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1141 etc. Should not affect many packages
1145 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1147 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1151 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1152 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1156 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1158 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1159 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1160 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1163 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1164 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1165 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1166 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1170 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1171 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1172 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1173 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1176 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1177 <file>/var/lib</file>
1179 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1180 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1182 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1185 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1186 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1190 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1191 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1192 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1195 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1200 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1202 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1206 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1207 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1208 files must go in the run-time library package
1212 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1214 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1218 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1219 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1223 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1224 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1227 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1228 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1229 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1230 other major licenses
1233 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1234 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1237 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1240 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1243 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1244 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1245 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1248 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1249 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1250 installed setgid utmp
1254 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1257 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1259 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1263 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1265 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1266 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1267 Section 5 and Section 6.
1269 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1270 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1271 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1272 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1273 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1277 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1278 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1279 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1280 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1282 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1283 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1285 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1286 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1288 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1289 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1291 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1296 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1298 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1300 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1302 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1303 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1304 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1305 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1308 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1309 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1310 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1314 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1316 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1317 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1318 installs shared libraries
1319 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1323 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1325 <p> Released Jan 1998
1328 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1330 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1331 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1333 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1334 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1338 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1339 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1340 file extension as the referenced file
1343 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1344 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1345 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1348 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1350 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1351 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1352 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1356 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1357 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1358 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1361 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1362 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1363 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1364 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1368 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1369 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1373 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1374 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1375 reasonable default configuration
1378 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1379 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1380 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1383 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1385 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1386 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1388 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1389 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1393 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1394 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1399 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1401 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1404 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1405 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1406 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1409 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1410 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1413 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1416 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1418 <p> Released July 1997.
1421 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1424 where <arch> is one of the following:
1425 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1428 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1430 <item>user ID's</item>
1432 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1434 <item>cron jobs</item>
1436 <item>device files</item>
1438 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1440 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1443 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1445 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1448 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1451 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1453 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1455 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1457 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1461 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1463 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1466 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1469 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1471 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1474 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1476 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1477 without consultation </item>
1479 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1482 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1484 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1487 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>