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 <email/rra@debian.org/ </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="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
44 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
47 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
48 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
49 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
52 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
55 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
56 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
57 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
58 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
61 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
62 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
63 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
66 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
70 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
73 Released February, 2012.
77 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
78 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
81 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
82 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
83 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
86 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
87 list of architectures must be non-empty.
90 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
91 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
92 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
93 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
94 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
95 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
96 should be stored in a temporary file system.
99 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
100 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
101 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
105 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
106 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
107 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
108 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
109 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
112 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
115 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
116 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
119 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
120 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
121 they have been removed.
124 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
125 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
126 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
128 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
129 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
130 file" specification is included.
133 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
134 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
138 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
139 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
142 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
143 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
147 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
150 Released April, 2011.
154 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
155 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
159 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
160 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
161 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
162 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
165 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
166 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
167 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
171 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
172 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
173 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
174 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
178 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
181 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
182 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
183 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
184 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
188 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
189 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
190 dependencies are now a should not.
193 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
194 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
195 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
196 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
197 actions if their dependencies are not available.
200 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
201 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
204 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
205 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
206 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
207 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
208 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
211 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
212 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
213 POSIX-required interface.
217 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
224 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
225 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
229 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
230 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
231 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
234 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
235 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
236 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
239 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
240 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
241 architecture-independent.
244 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
245 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
246 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
249 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
250 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
251 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
252 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
255 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
258 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
259 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
260 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
263 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
264 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
267 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
268 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
269 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
270 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
271 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
272 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
273 their <file>.la</file> files.
276 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
277 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
278 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
279 thread-safe if the library supports this.
282 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
283 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
284 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
285 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
286 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
289 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
290 logrotate rules is now recommended.
293 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
294 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
296 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
297 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
298 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
299 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
300 for the corresponding manual page.
303 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
304 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
305 executables in those subdirectories.
308 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
309 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
314 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
320 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
321 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
322 Date control field is now precisely specified.
325 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
326 particular field name.
328 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
329 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
330 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
331 documented and recommended.
333 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
334 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
335 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
336 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
337 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
338 for <file>.changes</file> files.
341 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
345 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
348 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
349 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
350 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
351 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
355 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
356 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
357 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
358 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
359 question, but should avoid this if possible.
361 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
362 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
363 files between packages.
366 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
367 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
368 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
371 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
372 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
375 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
376 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
377 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
378 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
381 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
383 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
384 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
385 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
388 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
389 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
390 It should instead be included directly
391 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
392 common-licenses for the time being.
395 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
396 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
397 template instead of a string to allow translation.
400 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
401 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
402 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
403 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
404 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
407 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
408 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
409 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
413 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
420 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
421 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
422 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
425 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
426 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
429 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
430 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
434 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
440 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
441 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
444 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
445 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
446 may be used in different versions of the field.
449 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
450 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
453 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
456 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
457 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
458 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
459 using them should be built with RPATH.
462 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
463 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
464 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
465 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
468 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
469 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
472 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
473 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
474 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
478 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
479 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
480 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
481 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
482 support partial upgrades.
485 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
486 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
490 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
497 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
498 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
499 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
500 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
504 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
505 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
506 back on other methods.
509 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
513 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
514 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
517 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
518 <file>/var/mail</file>.
521 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
525 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
526 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
530 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
537 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
538 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
539 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
542 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
545 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
549 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
550 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
553 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
554 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
557 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
560 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
561 with no preceding whitespace.
564 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
565 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
566 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
567 behavior of the init system in Debian.
570 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
571 start the daemon again if it's already running.
574 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
575 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
576 subdirectories dynamically.
579 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
580 variable arguments and supports assignment.
583 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
584 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
588 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
595 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
596 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
597 system is now defined by priority.
599 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
600 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
602 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
603 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
604 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
605 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
606 unknown flags be ignored.
608 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
609 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
610 processes if the package supports it
612 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
613 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
616 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
617 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
618 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
619 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
620 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
621 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
624 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
626 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
629 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
630 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
631 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
632 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
633 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
634 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
636 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
637 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
638 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
641 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
642 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
645 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
646 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
649 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
650 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
651 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
652 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
653 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
654 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
657 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
658 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
660 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
661 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
664 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
667 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
674 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
675 anything, even the end of a part.
677 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
678 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
681 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
682 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
684 <tag>menu policy</tag>
685 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
686 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
687 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
688 sections would be more appropriate.
690 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
693 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
694 critical, or emergency.
696 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
697 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
698 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
701 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
702 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
703 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
705 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
706 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
709 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
715 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
716 should to a must)</item>
719 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
725 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
728 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
735 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
736 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
737 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
738 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
739 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
740 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
743 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
744 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
745 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
748 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
755 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
756 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
757 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
759 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
760 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
762 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
763 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
764 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
765 etc. may be of interest.
766 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
767 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
768 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
769 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
770 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
771 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
772 as well, to prepare for future changes.
774 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
775 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
776 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
779 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
780 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
782 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
783 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
784 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
785 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
789 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
796 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
799 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
800 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
801 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
804 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
805 allow packages to share image files with the web server
809 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
816 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
817 user prompts are now deprecated.
820 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
827 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
828 the minor version number:
830 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
831 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
832 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
833 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
834 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
835 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
836 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
837 deb-building tool-chain.
839 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
840 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
841 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
842 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
844 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
845 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
846 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
847 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
848 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
849 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
850 sections about changelog files.
851 <tag>menu policy</tag>
852 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
855 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
857 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
858 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
860 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
864 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
871 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
872 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
875 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
876 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
879 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
886 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
887 full details of the long description format.
889 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
890 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
891 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
893 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
894 the init script should start the service.
896 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
897 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
898 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
901 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
908 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
909 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
910 documented in the changelog file.
912 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
913 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
915 <tag>menu policy</tag>
916 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
917 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
918 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
920 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
921 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
925 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
932 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
933 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
935 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
938 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
939 special Tasks: field in the control file.
941 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
942 they add themselves as an alternative for
943 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
945 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
946 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
947 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
948 environment variable.
950 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
951 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
952 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
953 review the new rules.
955 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
956 scripts. Long rationale.
960 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
961 rules, please see below
964 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
971 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
974 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
975 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
977 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
978 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
980 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
981 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
982 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
983 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
985 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
986 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
989 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
996 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
997 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
998 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1001 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1002 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1003 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1006 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1007 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1010 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1011 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1014 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1017 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1020 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1024 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1026 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1027 fonts for the X Window System
1030 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1033 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1034 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1037 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1038 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1043 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1044 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1048 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1049 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1050 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1053 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1054 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1055 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1060 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1061 <p> Released Apr 2001
1065 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1066 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1069 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1070 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1071 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1072 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1076 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1078 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1082 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1083 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1084 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1088 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1090 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1094 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1095 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1099 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1101 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1105 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1106 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1110 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1112 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1116 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1117 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1118 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1121 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1122 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1123 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1124 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1127 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1132 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1134 <p> Released Aug 00.
1138 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1139 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1140 and the other without
1144 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1146 <p> Released Aug 00.
1150 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1151 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1152 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1155 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1156 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1157 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1160 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1161 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1164 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1168 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1170 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1172 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1173 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1174 calculation guidelines)
1177 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1179 <item>X application defaults </item>
1183 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1187 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1189 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1190 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1195 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1197 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1201 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1202 etc. Should not affect many packages
1206 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1208 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1212 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1213 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1217 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1219 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1220 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1221 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1224 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1225 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1226 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1227 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1231 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1232 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1233 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1234 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1237 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1238 <file>/var/lib</file>
1240 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1241 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1243 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1246 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1247 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1251 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1252 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1253 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1256 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1261 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1263 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1267 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1268 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1269 files must go in the run-time library package
1273 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1275 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1279 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1280 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1284 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1285 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1288 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1289 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1290 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1291 other major licenses
1294 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1295 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1298 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1301 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1304 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1305 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1306 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1309 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1310 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1311 installed setgid utmp
1315 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1318 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1320 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1324 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1326 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1327 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1328 Section 5 and Section 6.
1330 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1331 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1332 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1333 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1334 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1338 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1339 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1340 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1341 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1343 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1344 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1346 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1347 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1349 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1350 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1352 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1357 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1359 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1361 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1363 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1364 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1365 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1366 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1369 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1370 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1371 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1375 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1377 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1378 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1379 installs shared libraries
1380 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1384 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1386 <p> Released Jan 1998
1389 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1391 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1392 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1394 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1395 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1399 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1400 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1401 file extension as the referenced file
1404 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1405 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1406 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1409 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1411 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1412 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1413 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1417 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1418 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1419 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1422 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1423 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1424 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1425 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1429 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1430 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1434 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1435 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1436 reasonable default configuration
1439 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1440 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1441 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1444 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1446 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1447 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1449 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1450 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1454 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1455 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1460 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1462 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1465 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1466 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1467 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1470 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1471 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1474 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1477 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1479 <p> Released July 1997.
1482 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1485 where <arch> is one of the following:
1486 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1489 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1491 <item>user ID's</item>
1493 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1495 <item>cron jobs</item>
1497 <item>device files</item>
1499 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1501 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1504 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1506 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1509 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1512 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1514 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1516 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1518 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1522 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1524 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1527 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1530 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1532 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1535 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1537 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1538 without consultation </item>
1540 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1543 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1545 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1548 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>