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>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
45 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
49 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
50 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
51 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
54 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
55 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
56 architecture-independent.
59 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
60 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
61 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
63 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
64 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
65 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
68 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
69 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
72 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
73 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
74 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
75 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
76 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
77 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
78 their <file>.la</file> files.
81 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
82 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
83 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
84 thread-safe if the library supports this.
86 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
87 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
88 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
89 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
90 for the corresponding manual page.
93 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
94 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
95 executables in those subdirectories.
98 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
99 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
104 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
110 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
111 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
112 Date control field is now precisely specified.
115 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
116 particular field name.
118 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
119 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
120 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
121 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
123 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
124 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
125 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
126 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
127 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
128 for <file>.changes</file> files.
131 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
135 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
138 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
139 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
140 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
141 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
145 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
146 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
147 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
148 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
149 question, but should avoid this if possible.
151 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
152 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
153 files between packages.
156 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
157 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
158 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
161 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
162 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
165 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
166 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
167 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
168 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
171 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
173 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
174 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
175 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
178 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
179 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
180 It should instead be included directly
181 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
182 common-licenses for the time being.
185 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
186 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
190 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
191 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
192 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
193 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
194 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
197 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
198 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
199 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
203 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
210 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
211 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
212 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
215 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
216 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
219 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
220 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
224 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
230 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
231 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
234 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
235 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
236 may be used in different versions of the field.
239 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
240 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
243 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
246 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
247 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
248 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
249 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
252 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
253 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
254 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
257 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
258 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
261 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
262 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
263 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
267 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
268 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
269 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
270 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
271 support partial upgrades.
274 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
275 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
279 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
286 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
287 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
288 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
289 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
293 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
294 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
295 back on other methods.
298 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
302 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
303 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
306 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
307 <file>/var/mail</file>.
310 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
314 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
315 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
319 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
326 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
327 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
328 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
331 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
334 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
338 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
339 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
342 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
343 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
346 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
349 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
350 preceding whitespace.
353 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
354 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
355 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
356 behavior of the init system in Debian.
359 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
360 start the daemon again if it's already running.
363 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
364 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
365 subdirectories dynamically.
368 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
369 variable arguments and supports assignment.
372 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
373 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
377 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
384 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
385 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
386 system is now defined by priority.
388 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
389 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
391 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
392 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
393 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
394 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
395 unknown flags be ignored.
397 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
398 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
399 processes if the package supports it
401 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
402 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
405 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
406 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
407 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
408 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
409 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
410 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
413 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
415 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
418 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
419 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
420 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
421 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
422 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
423 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
425 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
426 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
427 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
430 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
431 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
434 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
435 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
438 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
439 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
440 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
441 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
442 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
443 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
446 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
447 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
449 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
450 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
453 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
456 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
463 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
464 anything, even the end of a part.
466 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
467 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
470 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
471 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
473 <tag>menu policy</tag>
474 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
475 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
476 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
477 sections would be more appropriate.
479 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
482 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
483 critical, or emergency.
485 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
486 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
487 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
490 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
491 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
492 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
494 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
495 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
498 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
504 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
505 should to a must)</item>
508 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
514 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
517 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
524 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
525 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
526 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
527 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
528 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
529 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
532 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
533 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
534 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
537 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
544 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
545 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
546 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
548 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
549 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
551 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
552 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
553 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
554 etc. may be of interest.
555 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
556 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
557 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
558 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
559 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
560 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
561 as well, to prepare for future changes.
563 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
564 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
565 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
568 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
569 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
571 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
572 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
573 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
574 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
578 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
585 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
588 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
589 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
590 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
593 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
594 allow packages to share image files with the web server
598 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
605 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
606 user prompts are now deprecated.
616 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
617 the minor version number:
619 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
620 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
621 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
622 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
623 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
624 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
625 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
626 deb-building tool-chain.
628 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
629 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
630 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
631 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
633 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
634 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
635 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
636 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
637 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
638 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
639 sections about changelog files.
640 <tag>menu policy</tag>
641 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
644 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
646 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
647 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
649 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
653 <sect> Version 3.5.10
660 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
661 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
664 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
665 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
668 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
675 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
676 full details of the long description format.
678 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
679 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
680 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
682 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
683 the init script should start the service.
685 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
686 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
687 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
690 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
697 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
698 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
699 documented in the changelog file.
701 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
702 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
704 <tag>menu policy</tag>
705 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
706 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
707 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
709 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
710 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
714 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
721 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
722 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
724 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
727 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
728 special Tasks: field in the control file.
730 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
731 they add themselves as an alternative for
732 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
734 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
735 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
736 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
737 environment variable.
739 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
740 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
741 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
742 review the new rules.
744 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
745 scripts. Long rationale.
749 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
750 rules, please see below
753 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
760 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
763 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
764 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
766 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
767 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
769 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
770 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
771 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
772 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
774 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
775 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
778 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
785 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
786 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
787 symlinks or .so pages to do this
790 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
791 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
792 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
795 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
796 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
799 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
800 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
803 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
806 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
809 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
813 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
815 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
816 fonts for the X Window System
819 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
822 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
823 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
826 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
827 OSF/Motif-linked ones
832 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
833 <p> Released Apr 2001.
837 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
838 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
839 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
842 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
843 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
844 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
849 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
850 <p> Released Apr 2001
854 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
855 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
858 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
859 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
860 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
861 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
865 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
867 <p> Released Feb 2001.
871 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
872 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
873 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
877 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
879 <p> Released Feb 2001.
883 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
884 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
888 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
890 <p> Released Jan 2001.
894 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
895 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
899 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
901 <p> Released Jan 2001.
905 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
906 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
907 <file>/etc/default/</file>
910 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
911 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
912 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
913 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
916 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
921 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
927 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
928 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
929 and the other without
933 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
939 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
940 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
941 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
944 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
945 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
946 should always be generated for the upstream changes
949 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
950 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
953 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
957 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
959 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
961 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
962 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
963 calculation guidelines)
966 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
968 <item>X application defaults </item>
972 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
976 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
978 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
979 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
984 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
986 <p> Released Nov 1999.
990 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
991 etc. Should not affect many packages
995 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
997 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1001 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1002 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1006 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1008 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1009 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1010 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1013 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1014 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1015 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1016 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1020 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1021 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1022 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1023 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1026 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1027 <file>/var/lib</file>
1029 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1030 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1032 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1035 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1036 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1040 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1041 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1042 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1045 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1050 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1052 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1056 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1057 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1058 files must go in the run-time library package
1062 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1064 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1068 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1069 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1073 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1074 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1077 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1078 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1079 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1080 other major licenses
1083 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1084 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1087 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1090 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1093 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1094 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1095 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1098 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1099 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1100 installed setgid utmp
1104 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1107 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1109 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1113 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1115 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1116 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1117 Section 5 and Section 6.
1119 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1120 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1121 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1122 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1123 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1127 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1128 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1129 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1130 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1132 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1133 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1135 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1136 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1138 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1139 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1141 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1146 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1148 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1150 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1152 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1153 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1154 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1155 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1158 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1159 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1160 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1164 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1166 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1167 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1168 installs shared libraries
1169 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1173 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1175 <p> Released Jan 1998
1178 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1180 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1181 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1183 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1184 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1188 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1189 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1190 file extension as the referenced file
1193 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1194 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1195 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1198 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1200 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1201 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1202 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1206 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1207 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1208 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1211 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1212 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1213 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1214 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1218 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1219 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1223 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1224 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1225 reasonable default configuration
1228 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1229 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1230 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1233 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1235 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1236 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1238 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1239 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1243 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1244 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1249 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1251 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1254 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1255 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1256 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1259 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1260 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1263 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1266 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1268 <p> Released July 1997.
1271 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1274 where <arch> is one of the following:
1275 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1278 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1280 <item>user ID's</item>
1282 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1284 <item>cron jobs</item>
1286 <item>device files</item>
1288 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1290 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1293 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1295 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1298 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1301 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1303 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1305 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1307 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1311 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1313 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1316 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1319 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1321 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1324 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1326 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1327 without consultation </item>
1329 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1332 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1334 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1337 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>