1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
44 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
45 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
49 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
50 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
51 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
54 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
55 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
56 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
59 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
60 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
61 architecture-independent.
64 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
65 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
66 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
69 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
70 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
71 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
72 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
75 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
78 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
79 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
80 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
83 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
84 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
87 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
88 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
89 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
90 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
91 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
92 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
93 their <file>.la</file> files.
96 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
97 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
98 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
99 thread-safe if the library supports this.
102 <item>Recommend <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
105 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
106 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
107 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
108 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
109 for the corresponding manual page.
112 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
113 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
114 executables in those subdirectories.
117 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
118 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
123 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
129 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
130 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
131 Date control field is now precisely specified.
134 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
135 particular field name.
137 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
138 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
139 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
140 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
142 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
143 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
144 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
145 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
146 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
147 for <file>.changes</file> files.
150 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
154 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
157 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
158 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
159 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
160 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
164 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
165 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
166 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
167 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
168 question, but should avoid this if possible.
170 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
171 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
172 files between packages.
175 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
176 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
177 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
180 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
181 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
184 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
185 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
186 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
187 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
190 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
192 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
193 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
194 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
197 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
198 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
199 It should instead be included directly
200 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
201 common-licenses for the time being.
204 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
205 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
209 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
210 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
211 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
212 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
213 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
216 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
217 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
218 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
222 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
229 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
230 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
231 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
234 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
235 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
238 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
239 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
243 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
249 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
250 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
253 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
254 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
255 may be used in different versions of the field.
258 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
259 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
262 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
265 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
266 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
267 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
268 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
271 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
272 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
273 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
276 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
277 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
280 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
281 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
282 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
286 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
287 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
288 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
289 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
290 support partial upgrades.
293 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
294 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
298 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
305 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
306 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
307 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
308 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
312 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
313 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
314 back on other methods.
317 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
321 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
322 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
325 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
326 <file>/var/mail</file>.
329 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
333 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
334 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
338 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
345 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
346 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
347 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
350 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
353 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
357 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
358 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
361 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
362 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
365 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
368 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
369 preceding whitespace.
372 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
373 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
374 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
375 behavior of the init system in Debian.
378 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
379 start the daemon again if it's already running.
382 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
383 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
384 subdirectories dynamically.
387 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
388 variable arguments and supports assignment.
391 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
392 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
396 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
403 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
404 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
405 system is now defined by priority.
407 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
408 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
410 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
411 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
412 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
413 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
414 unknown flags be ignored.
416 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
417 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
418 processes if the package supports it
420 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
421 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
424 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
425 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
426 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
427 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
428 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
429 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
432 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
434 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
437 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
438 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
439 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
440 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
441 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
442 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
444 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
445 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
446 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
449 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
450 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
453 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
454 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
457 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
458 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
459 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
460 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
461 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
462 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
465 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
466 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
468 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
469 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
472 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
475 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
482 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
483 anything, even the end of a part.
485 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
486 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
489 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
490 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
492 <tag>menu policy</tag>
493 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
494 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
495 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
496 sections would be more appropriate.
498 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
501 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
502 critical, or emergency.
504 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
505 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
506 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
509 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
510 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
511 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
513 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
514 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
517 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
523 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
524 should to a must)</item>
527 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
533 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
536 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
543 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
544 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
545 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
546 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
547 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
548 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
551 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
552 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
553 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
556 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
563 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
564 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
565 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
567 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
568 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
570 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
571 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
572 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
573 etc. may be of interest.
574 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
575 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
576 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
577 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
578 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
579 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
580 as well, to prepare for future changes.
582 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
583 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
584 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
587 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
588 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
590 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
591 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
592 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
593 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
597 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
604 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
607 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
608 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
609 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
612 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
613 allow packages to share image files with the web server
617 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
624 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
625 user prompts are now deprecated.
635 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
636 the minor version number:
638 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
639 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
640 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
641 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
642 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
643 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
644 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
645 deb-building tool-chain.
647 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
648 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
649 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
650 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
652 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
653 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
654 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
655 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
656 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
657 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
658 sections about changelog files.
659 <tag>menu policy</tag>
660 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
663 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
665 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
666 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
668 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
672 <sect> Version 3.5.10
679 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
680 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
683 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
684 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
687 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
694 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
695 full details of the long description format.
697 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
698 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
699 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
701 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
702 the init script should start the service.
704 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
705 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
706 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
709 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
716 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
717 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
718 documented in the changelog file.
720 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
721 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
723 <tag>menu policy</tag>
724 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
725 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
726 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
728 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
729 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
733 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
740 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
741 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
743 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
746 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
747 special Tasks: field in the control file.
749 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
750 they add themselves as an alternative for
751 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
753 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
754 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
755 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
756 environment variable.
758 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
759 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
760 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
761 review the new rules.
763 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
764 scripts. Long rationale.
768 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
769 rules, please see below
772 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
779 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
782 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
783 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
785 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
786 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
788 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
789 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
790 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
791 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
793 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
794 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
797 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
804 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
805 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
806 symlinks or .so pages to do this
809 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
810 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
811 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
814 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
815 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
818 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
819 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
822 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
825 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
828 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
832 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
834 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
835 fonts for the X Window System
838 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
841 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
842 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
845 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
846 OSF/Motif-linked ones
851 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
852 <p> Released Apr 2001.
856 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
857 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
858 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
861 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
862 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
863 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
868 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
869 <p> Released Apr 2001
873 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
874 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
877 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
878 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
879 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
880 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
884 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
886 <p> Released Feb 2001.
890 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
891 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
892 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
896 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
898 <p> Released Feb 2001.
902 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
903 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
907 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
909 <p> Released Jan 2001.
913 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
914 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
918 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
920 <p> Released Jan 2001.
924 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
925 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
926 <file>/etc/default/</file>
929 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
930 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
931 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
932 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
935 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
940 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
946 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
947 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
948 and the other without
952 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
958 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
959 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
960 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
963 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
964 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
965 should always be generated for the upstream changes
968 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
969 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
972 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
976 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
978 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
980 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
981 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
982 calculation guidelines)
985 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
987 <item>X application defaults </item>
991 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
995 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
997 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
998 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1003 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1005 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1009 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1010 etc. Should not affect many packages
1014 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1016 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1020 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1021 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1025 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1027 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1028 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1029 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1032 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1033 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1034 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1035 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1039 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1040 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1041 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1042 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1045 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1046 <file>/var/lib</file>
1048 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1049 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1051 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1054 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1055 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1059 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1060 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1061 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1064 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1069 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1071 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1075 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1076 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1077 files must go in the run-time library package
1081 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1083 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1087 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1088 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1092 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1093 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1096 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1097 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1098 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1099 other major licenses
1102 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1103 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1106 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1109 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1112 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1113 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1114 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1117 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1118 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1119 installed setgid utmp
1123 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1126 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1128 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1132 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1134 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1135 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1136 Section 5 and Section 6.
1138 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1139 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1140 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1141 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1142 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1146 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1147 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1148 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1149 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1151 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1152 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1154 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1155 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1157 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1158 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1160 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1165 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1167 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1169 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1171 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1172 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1173 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1174 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1177 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1178 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1179 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1183 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1185 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1186 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1187 installs shared libraries
1188 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1192 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1194 <p> Released Jan 1998
1197 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1199 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1200 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1202 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1203 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1207 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1208 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1209 file extension as the referenced file
1212 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1213 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1214 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1217 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1219 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1220 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1221 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1225 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1226 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1227 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1230 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1231 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1232 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1233 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1237 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1238 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1242 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1243 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1244 reasonable default configuration
1247 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1248 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1249 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1252 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1254 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1255 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1257 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1258 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1262 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1263 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1268 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1270 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1273 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1274 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1275 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1278 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1279 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1282 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1285 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1287 <p> Released July 1997.
1290 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1293 where <arch> is one of the following:
1294 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1297 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1299 <item>user ID's</item>
1301 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1303 <item>cron jobs</item>
1305 <item>device files</item>
1307 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1309 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1312 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1314 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1317 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1320 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1322 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1324 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1326 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1330 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1332 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1335 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1338 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1340 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1343 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1345 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1346 without consultation </item>
1348 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1351 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1353 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1356 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>