1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
44 <item>Clarify the duties of a maintainer, require that the maintainer
45 address accept mail from Debian role accounts and the BTS, and require
46 at least one human with their personal email address
47 in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email address.
50 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
51 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
54 <item><tt>mailx</tt> added as a virtual package provided by packages
55 that install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
56 POSIX-required interface.
60 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
67 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
68 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
72 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
73 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
74 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
77 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
78 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
79 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
82 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
83 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
84 architecture-independent.
87 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
88 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
89 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
92 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
93 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
94 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
95 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
98 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
101 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
102 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
103 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
106 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
107 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
110 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
111 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
112 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
113 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
114 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
115 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
116 their <file>.la</file> files.
119 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
120 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
121 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
122 thread-safe if the library supports this.
125 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
126 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
127 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
128 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
129 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
132 <item>Recommend <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
136 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
137 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
139 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
140 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
141 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
142 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
143 for the corresponding manual page.
146 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
147 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
148 executables in those subdirectories.
151 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
152 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
157 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
163 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
164 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
165 Date control field is now precisely specified.
168 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
169 particular field name.
171 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
172 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
173 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
174 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
176 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
177 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
178 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
179 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
180 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
181 for <file>.changes</file> files.
184 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
188 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
191 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
192 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
193 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
194 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
198 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
199 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
200 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
201 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
202 question, but should avoid this if possible.
204 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
205 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
206 files between packages.
209 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
210 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
211 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
214 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
215 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
218 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
219 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
220 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
221 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
224 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
226 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
227 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
228 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
231 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
232 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
233 It should instead be included directly
234 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
235 common-licenses for the time being.
238 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
239 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
243 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
244 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
245 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
246 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
247 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
250 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
251 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
252 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
256 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
263 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
264 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
265 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
268 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
269 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
272 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
273 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
277 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
283 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
284 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
287 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
288 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
289 may be used in different versions of the field.
292 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
293 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
296 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
299 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
300 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
301 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
302 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
305 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
306 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
307 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
310 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
311 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
314 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
315 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
316 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
320 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
321 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
322 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
323 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
324 support partial upgrades.
327 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
328 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
332 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
339 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
340 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
341 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
342 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
346 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
347 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
348 back on other methods.
351 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
355 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
356 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
359 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
360 <file>/var/mail</file>.
363 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
367 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
368 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
372 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
379 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
380 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
381 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
384 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
387 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
391 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
392 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
395 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
396 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
399 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
402 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
403 preceding whitespace.
406 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
407 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
408 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
409 behavior of the init system in Debian.
412 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
413 start the daemon again if it's already running.
416 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
417 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
418 subdirectories dynamically.
421 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
422 variable arguments and supports assignment.
425 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
426 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
430 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
437 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
438 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
439 system is now defined by priority.
441 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
442 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
444 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
445 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
446 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
447 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
448 unknown flags be ignored.
450 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
451 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
452 processes if the package supports it
454 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
455 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
458 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
459 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
460 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
461 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
462 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
463 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
466 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
468 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
471 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
472 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
473 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
474 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
475 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
476 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
478 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
479 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
480 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
483 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
484 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
487 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
488 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
491 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
492 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
493 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
494 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
495 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
496 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
499 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
500 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
502 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
503 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
506 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
509 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
516 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
517 anything, even the end of a part.
519 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
520 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
523 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
524 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
526 <tag>menu policy</tag>
527 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
528 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
529 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
530 sections would be more appropriate.
532 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
535 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
536 critical, or emergency.
538 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
539 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
540 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
543 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
544 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
545 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
547 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
548 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
551 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
557 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
558 should to a must)</item>
561 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
567 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
570 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
577 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
578 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
579 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
580 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
581 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
582 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
585 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
586 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
587 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
590 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
597 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
598 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
599 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
601 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
602 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
604 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
605 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
606 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
607 etc. may be of interest.
608 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
609 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
610 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
611 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
612 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
613 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
614 as well, to prepare for future changes.
616 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
617 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
618 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
621 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
622 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
624 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
625 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
626 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
627 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
631 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
638 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
641 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
642 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
643 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
646 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
647 allow packages to share image files with the web server
651 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
658 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
659 user prompts are now deprecated.
669 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
670 the minor version number:
672 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
673 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
674 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
675 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
676 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
677 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
678 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
679 deb-building tool-chain.
681 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
682 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
683 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
684 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
686 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
687 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
688 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
689 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
690 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
691 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
692 sections about changelog files.
693 <tag>menu policy</tag>
694 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
697 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
699 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
700 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
702 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
706 <sect> Version 3.5.10
713 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
714 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
717 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
718 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
721 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
728 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
729 full details of the long description format.
731 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
732 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
733 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
735 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
736 the init script should start the service.
738 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
739 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
740 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
743 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
750 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
751 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
752 documented in the changelog file.
754 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
755 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
757 <tag>menu policy</tag>
758 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
759 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
760 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
762 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
763 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
767 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
774 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
775 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
777 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
780 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
781 special Tasks: field in the control file.
783 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
784 they add themselves as an alternative for
785 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
787 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
788 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
789 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
790 environment variable.
792 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
793 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
794 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
795 review the new rules.
797 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
798 scripts. Long rationale.
802 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
803 rules, please see below
806 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
813 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
816 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
817 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
819 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
820 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
822 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
823 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
824 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
825 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
827 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
828 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
831 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
838 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
839 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
840 symlinks or .so pages to do this
843 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
844 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
845 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
848 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
849 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
852 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
853 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
856 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
859 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
862 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
866 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
868 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
869 fonts for the X Window System
872 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
875 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
876 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
879 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
880 OSF/Motif-linked ones
885 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
886 <p> Released Apr 2001.
890 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
891 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
892 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
895 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
896 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
897 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
902 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
903 <p> Released Apr 2001
907 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
908 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
911 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
912 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
913 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
914 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
918 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
920 <p> Released Feb 2001.
924 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
925 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
926 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
930 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
932 <p> Released Feb 2001.
936 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
937 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
941 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
943 <p> Released Jan 2001.
947 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
948 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
952 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
954 <p> Released Jan 2001.
958 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
959 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
960 <file>/etc/default/</file>
963 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
964 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
965 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
966 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
969 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
974 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
980 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
981 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
982 and the other without
986 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
992 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
993 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
994 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
997 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
998 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
999 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1002 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1003 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1006 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1010 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1012 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1014 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1015 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1016 calculation guidelines)
1019 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1021 <item>X application defaults </item>
1025 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1029 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1031 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1032 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1037 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1039 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1043 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1044 etc. Should not affect many packages
1048 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1050 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1054 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1055 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1059 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1061 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1062 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1063 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1066 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1067 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1068 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1069 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1073 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1074 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1075 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1076 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1079 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1080 <file>/var/lib</file>
1082 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1083 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1085 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1088 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1089 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1093 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1094 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1095 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1098 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1103 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1105 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1109 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1110 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1111 files must go in the run-time library package
1115 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1117 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1121 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1122 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1126 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1127 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1130 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1131 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1132 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1133 other major licenses
1136 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1137 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1140 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1143 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1146 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1147 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1148 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1151 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1152 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1153 installed setgid utmp
1157 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1160 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1162 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1166 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1168 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1169 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1170 Section 5 and Section 6.
1172 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1173 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1174 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1175 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1176 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1180 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1181 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1182 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1183 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1185 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1186 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1188 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1189 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1191 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1192 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1194 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1199 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1201 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1203 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1205 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1206 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1207 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1208 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1211 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1212 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1213 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1217 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1219 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1220 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1221 installs shared libraries
1222 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1226 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1228 <p> Released Jan 1998
1231 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1233 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1234 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1236 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1237 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1241 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1242 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1243 file extension as the referenced file
1246 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1247 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1248 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1251 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1253 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1254 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1255 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1259 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1260 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1261 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1264 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1265 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1266 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1267 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1271 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1272 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1276 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1277 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1278 reasonable default configuration
1281 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1282 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1283 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1286 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1288 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1289 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1291 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1292 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1296 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1297 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1302 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1304 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1307 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1308 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1309 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1312 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1313 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1316 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1319 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1321 <p> Released July 1997.
1324 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1327 where <arch> is one of the following:
1328 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1331 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1333 <item>user ID's</item>
1335 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1337 <item>cron jobs</item>
1339 <item>device files</item>
1341 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1343 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1346 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1348 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1351 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1354 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1356 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1358 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1360 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1364 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1366 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1369 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1372 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1374 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1377 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1379 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1380 without consultation </item>
1382 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1385 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1387 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1390 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>