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>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
54 list of architectures must be non-empty.
57 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
58 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
59 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
60 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
61 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
62 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
63 should be stored in a temporary file system.
66 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
67 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
68 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
72 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
73 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
74 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
75 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
76 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable prefix.
79 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
82 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
83 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
86 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
87 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
88 they have been removed.
91 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
92 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
93 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
95 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
96 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
97 file" specification is included.
100 <item>Retire this separate document and merge its (short) contents into
101 Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the requirements.
104 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
105 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
108 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
109 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
113 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
116 Released April, 2011.
120 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
121 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
125 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
126 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
127 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
128 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
131 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
132 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
133 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
137 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
138 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
139 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
140 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
144 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
147 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
148 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
149 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
150 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
154 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
155 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
156 dependencies are now a should not.
159 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
160 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
161 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
162 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
163 actions if their dependencies are not available.
166 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
167 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
170 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
171 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
172 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
173 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
174 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
177 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
178 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
179 POSIX-required interface.
183 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
190 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
191 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
195 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
196 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
197 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
200 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
201 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
202 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
205 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
206 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
207 architecture-independent.
210 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
211 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
212 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
215 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
216 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
217 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
218 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
221 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
224 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
225 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
226 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
229 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
230 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
233 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
234 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
235 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
236 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
237 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
238 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
239 their <file>.la</file> files.
242 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
243 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
244 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
245 thread-safe if the library supports this.
248 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
249 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
250 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
251 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
252 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
255 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
256 logrotate rules is now recommended.
259 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
260 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
262 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
263 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
264 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
265 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
266 for the corresponding manual page.
269 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
270 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
271 executables in those subdirectories.
274 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
275 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
280 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
286 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
287 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
288 Date control field is now precisely specified.
291 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
292 particular field name.
294 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
295 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
296 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
297 documented and recommended.
299 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
300 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
301 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
302 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
303 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
304 for <file>.changes</file> files.
307 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
311 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
314 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
315 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
316 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
317 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
321 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
322 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
323 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
324 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
325 question, but should avoid this if possible.
327 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
328 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
329 files between packages.
332 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
333 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
334 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
337 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
338 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
341 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
342 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
343 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
344 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
347 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
349 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
350 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
351 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
354 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
355 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
356 It should instead be included directly
357 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
358 common-licenses for the time being.
361 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
362 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
363 template instead of a string to allow translation.
366 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
367 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
368 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
369 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
370 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
373 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
374 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
375 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
379 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
386 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
387 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
388 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
391 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
392 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
395 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
396 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
400 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
406 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
407 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
410 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
411 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
412 may be used in different versions of the field.
415 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
416 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
419 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
422 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
423 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
424 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
425 using them should be built with RPATH.
428 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
429 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
430 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
431 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
434 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
435 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
438 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
439 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
440 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
444 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
445 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
446 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
447 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
448 support partial upgrades.
451 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
452 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
456 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
463 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
464 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
465 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
466 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
470 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
471 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
472 back on other methods.
475 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
479 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
480 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
483 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
484 <file>/var/mail</file>.
487 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
491 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
492 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
496 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
503 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
504 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
505 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
508 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
511 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
515 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
516 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
519 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
520 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
523 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
526 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
527 with no preceding whitespace.
530 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
531 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
532 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
533 behavior of the init system in Debian.
536 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
537 start the daemon again if it's already running.
540 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
541 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
542 subdirectories dynamically.
545 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
546 variable arguments and supports assignment.
549 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
550 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
554 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
561 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
562 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
563 system is now defined by priority.
565 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
566 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
568 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
569 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
570 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
571 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
572 unknown flags be ignored.
574 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
575 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
576 processes if the package supports it
578 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
579 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
582 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
583 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
584 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
585 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
586 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
587 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
590 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
592 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
595 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
596 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
597 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
598 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
599 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
600 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
602 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
603 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
604 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
607 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
608 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
611 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
612 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
615 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
616 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
617 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
618 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
619 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
620 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
623 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
624 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
626 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
627 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
630 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
633 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
640 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
641 anything, even the end of a part.
643 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
644 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
647 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
648 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
650 <tag>menu policy</tag>
651 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
652 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
653 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
654 sections would be more appropriate.
656 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
659 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
660 critical, or emergency.
662 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
663 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
664 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
667 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
668 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
669 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
671 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
672 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
675 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
681 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
682 should to a must)</item>
685 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
691 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
694 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
701 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
702 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
703 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
704 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
705 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
706 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
709 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
710 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
711 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
714 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
721 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
722 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
723 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
725 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
726 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
728 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
729 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
730 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
731 etc. may be of interest.
732 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
733 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
734 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
735 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
736 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
737 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
738 as well, to prepare for future changes.
740 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
741 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
742 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
745 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
746 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
748 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
749 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
750 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
751 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
755 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
762 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
765 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
766 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
767 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
770 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
771 allow packages to share image files with the web server
775 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
782 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
783 user prompts are now deprecated.
786 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
793 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
794 the minor version number:
796 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
797 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
798 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
799 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
800 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
801 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
802 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
803 deb-building tool-chain.
805 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
806 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
807 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
808 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
810 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
811 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
812 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
813 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
814 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
815 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
816 sections about changelog files.
817 <tag>menu policy</tag>
818 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
821 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
823 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
824 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
826 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
830 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
837 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
838 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
841 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
842 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
845 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
852 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
853 full details of the long description format.
855 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
856 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
857 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
859 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
860 the init script should start the service.
862 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
863 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
864 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
867 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
874 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
875 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
876 documented in the changelog file.
878 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
879 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
881 <tag>menu policy</tag>
882 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
883 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
884 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
886 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
887 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
891 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
898 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
899 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
901 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
904 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
905 special Tasks: field in the control file.
907 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
908 they add themselves as an alternative for
909 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
911 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
912 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
913 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
914 environment variable.
916 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
917 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
918 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
919 review the new rules.
921 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
922 scripts. Long rationale.
926 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
927 rules, please see below
930 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
937 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
940 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
941 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
943 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
944 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
946 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
947 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
948 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
949 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
951 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
952 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
955 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
962 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
963 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
964 symlinks or .so pages to do this
967 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
968 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
969 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
972 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
973 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
976 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
977 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
980 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
983 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
986 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
990 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
992 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
993 fonts for the X Window System
996 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
999 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1000 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1003 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1004 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1009 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1010 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1014 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1015 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1016 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1019 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1020 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1021 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1026 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1027 <p> Released Apr 2001
1031 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1032 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1035 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1036 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1037 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1038 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1042 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1044 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1048 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1049 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1050 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1054 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1056 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1060 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1061 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1065 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1067 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1071 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1072 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1076 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1078 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1082 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1083 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1084 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1087 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1088 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1089 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1090 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1093 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1098 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1100 <p> Released Aug 00.
1104 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1105 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1106 and the other without
1110 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1112 <p> Released Aug 00.
1116 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1117 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1118 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1121 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1122 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1123 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1126 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1127 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1130 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1134 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1136 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1138 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1139 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1140 calculation guidelines)
1143 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1145 <item>X application defaults </item>
1149 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1153 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1155 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1156 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1161 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1163 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1167 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1168 etc. Should not affect many packages
1172 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1174 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1178 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1179 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1183 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1185 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1186 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1187 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1190 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1191 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1192 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1193 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1197 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1198 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1199 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1200 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1203 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1204 <file>/var/lib</file>
1206 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1207 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1209 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1212 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1213 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1217 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1218 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1219 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1222 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1227 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1229 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1233 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1234 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1235 files must go in the run-time library package
1239 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1241 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1245 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1246 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1250 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1251 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1254 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1255 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1256 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1257 other major licenses
1260 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1261 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1264 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1267 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1270 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1271 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1272 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1275 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1276 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1277 installed setgid utmp
1281 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1284 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1286 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1290 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1292 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1293 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1294 Section 5 and Section 6.
1296 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1297 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1298 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1299 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1300 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1304 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1305 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1306 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1307 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1309 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1310 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1312 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1313 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1315 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1316 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1318 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1323 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1325 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1327 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1329 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1330 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1331 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1332 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1335 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1336 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1337 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1341 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1343 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1344 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1345 installs shared libraries
1346 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1350 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1352 <p> Released Jan 1998
1355 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1357 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1358 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1360 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1361 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1365 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1366 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1367 file extension as the referenced file
1370 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1371 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1372 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1375 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1377 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1378 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1379 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1383 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1384 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1385 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1388 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1389 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1390 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1391 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1395 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1396 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1400 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1401 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1402 reasonable default configuration
1405 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1406 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1407 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1410 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1412 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1413 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1415 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1416 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1420 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1421 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1426 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1428 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1431 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1432 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1433 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1436 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1437 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1440 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1443 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1445 <p> Released July 1997.
1448 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1451 where <arch> is one of the following:
1452 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1455 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1457 <item>user ID's</item>
1459 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1461 <item>cron jobs</item>
1463 <item>device files</item>
1465 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1467 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1470 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1472 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1475 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1478 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1480 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1482 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1484 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1488 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1490 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1493 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1496 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1498 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1501 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1503 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1504 without consultation </item>
1506 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1509 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1511 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1514 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>