1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
44 <item>Clarify the duties of a maintainer, require that the maintainer
45 address accept mail from Debian role accounts and the BTS, and require
46 at least one human with their personal email address
47 in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email address.
50 <item>Document the <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field.
53 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
54 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
57 <item><tt>mailx</tt> added as a virtual package provided by packages
58 that install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
59 POSIX-required interface.
63 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
70 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
71 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
75 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
76 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
77 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
80 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
81 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
82 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
85 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
86 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
87 architecture-independent.
90 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
91 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
92 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
95 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
96 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
97 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
98 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
101 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
104 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
105 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
106 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
109 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
110 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
113 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
114 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
115 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
116 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
117 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
118 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
119 their <file>.la</file> files.
122 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
123 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
124 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
125 thread-safe if the library supports this.
128 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
129 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
130 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
131 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
132 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
135 <item>Recommend <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
139 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
140 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
142 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
143 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
144 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
145 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
146 for the corresponding manual page.
149 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
150 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
151 executables in those subdirectories.
154 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
155 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
160 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
166 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
167 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
168 Date control field is now precisely specified.
171 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
172 particular field name.
174 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
175 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
176 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
177 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
179 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
180 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
181 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
182 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
183 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
184 for <file>.changes</file> files.
187 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
191 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
194 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
195 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
196 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
197 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
201 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
202 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
203 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
204 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
205 question, but should avoid this if possible.
207 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
208 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
209 files between packages.
212 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
213 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
214 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
217 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
218 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
221 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
222 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
223 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
224 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
227 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
229 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
230 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
231 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
234 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
235 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
236 It should instead be included directly
237 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
238 common-licenses for the time being.
241 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
242 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
246 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
247 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
248 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
249 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
250 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
253 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
254 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
255 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
259 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
266 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
267 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
268 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
271 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
272 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
275 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
276 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
280 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
286 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
287 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
290 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
291 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
292 may be used in different versions of the field.
295 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
296 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
299 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
302 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
303 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
304 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
305 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
308 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
309 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
310 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
313 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
314 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
317 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
318 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
319 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
323 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
324 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
325 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
326 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
327 support partial upgrades.
330 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
331 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
335 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
342 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
343 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
344 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
345 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
349 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
350 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
351 back on other methods.
354 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
358 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
359 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
362 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
363 <file>/var/mail</file>.
366 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
370 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
371 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
375 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
382 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
383 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
384 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
387 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
390 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
394 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
395 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
398 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
399 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
402 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
405 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
406 preceding whitespace.
409 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
410 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
411 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
412 behavior of the init system in Debian.
415 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
416 start the daemon again if it's already running.
419 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
420 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
421 subdirectories dynamically.
424 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
425 variable arguments and supports assignment.
428 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
429 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
433 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
440 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
441 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
442 system is now defined by priority.
444 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
445 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
447 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
448 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
449 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
450 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
451 unknown flags be ignored.
453 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
454 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
455 processes if the package supports it
457 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
458 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
461 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
462 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
463 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
464 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
465 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
466 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
469 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
471 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
474 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
475 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
476 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
477 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
478 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
479 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
481 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
482 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
483 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
486 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
487 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
490 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
491 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
494 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
495 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
496 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
497 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
498 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
499 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
502 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
503 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
505 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
506 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
509 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
512 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
519 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
520 anything, even the end of a part.
522 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
523 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
526 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
527 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
529 <tag>menu policy</tag>
530 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
531 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
532 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
533 sections would be more appropriate.
535 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
538 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
539 critical, or emergency.
541 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
542 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
543 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
546 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
547 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
548 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
550 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
551 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
554 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
560 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
561 should to a must)</item>
564 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
570 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
573 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
580 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
581 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
582 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
583 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
584 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
585 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
588 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
589 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
590 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
593 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
600 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
601 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
602 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
604 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
605 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
607 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
608 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
609 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
610 etc. may be of interest.
611 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
612 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
613 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
614 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
615 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
616 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
617 as well, to prepare for future changes.
619 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
620 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
621 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
624 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
625 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
627 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
628 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
629 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
630 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
634 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
641 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
644 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
645 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
646 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
649 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
650 allow packages to share image files with the web server
654 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
661 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
662 user prompts are now deprecated.
672 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
673 the minor version number:
675 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
676 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
677 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
678 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
679 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
680 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
681 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
682 deb-building tool-chain.
684 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
685 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
686 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
687 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
689 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
690 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
691 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
692 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
693 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
694 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
695 sections about changelog files.
696 <tag>menu policy</tag>
697 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
700 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
702 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
703 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
705 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
709 <sect> Version 3.5.10
716 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
717 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
720 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
721 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
724 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
731 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
732 full details of the long description format.
734 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
735 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
736 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
738 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
739 the init script should start the service.
741 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
742 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
743 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
746 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
753 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
754 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
755 documented in the changelog file.
757 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
758 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
760 <tag>menu policy</tag>
761 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
762 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
763 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
765 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
766 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
770 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
777 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
778 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
780 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
783 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
784 special Tasks: field in the control file.
786 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
787 they add themselves as an alternative for
788 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
790 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
791 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
792 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
793 environment variable.
795 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
796 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
797 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
798 review the new rules.
800 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
801 scripts. Long rationale.
805 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
806 rules, please see below
809 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
816 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
819 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
820 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
822 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
823 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
825 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
826 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
827 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
828 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
830 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
831 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
834 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
841 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
842 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
843 symlinks or .so pages to do this
846 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
847 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
848 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
851 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
852 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
855 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
856 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
859 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
862 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
865 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
869 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
871 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
872 fonts for the X Window System
875 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
878 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
879 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
882 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
883 OSF/Motif-linked ones
888 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
889 <p> Released Apr 2001.
893 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
894 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
895 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
898 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
899 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
900 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
905 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
906 <p> Released Apr 2001
910 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
911 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
914 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
915 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
916 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
917 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
921 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
923 <p> Released Feb 2001.
927 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
928 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
929 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
933 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
935 <p> Released Feb 2001.
939 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
940 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
944 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
946 <p> Released Jan 2001.
950 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
951 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
955 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
957 <p> Released Jan 2001.
961 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
962 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
963 <file>/etc/default/</file>
966 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
967 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
968 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
969 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
972 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
977 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
983 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
984 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
985 and the other without
989 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
995 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
996 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
997 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1000 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1001 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1002 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1005 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1006 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1009 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1013 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1015 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1017 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1018 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1019 calculation guidelines)
1022 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1024 <item>X application defaults </item>
1028 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1032 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1034 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1035 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1040 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1042 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1046 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1047 etc. Should not affect many packages
1051 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1053 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1057 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1058 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1062 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1064 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1065 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1066 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1069 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1070 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1071 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1072 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1076 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1077 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1078 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1079 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1082 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1083 <file>/var/lib</file>
1085 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1086 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1088 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1091 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1092 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1096 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1097 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1098 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1101 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1106 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1108 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1112 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1113 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1114 files must go in the run-time library package
1118 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1120 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1124 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1125 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1129 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1130 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1133 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1134 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1135 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1136 other major licenses
1139 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1140 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1143 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1146 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1149 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1150 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1151 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1154 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1155 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1156 installed setgid utmp
1160 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1163 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1165 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1169 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1171 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1172 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1173 Section 5 and Section 6.
1175 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1176 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1177 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1178 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1179 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1183 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1184 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1185 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1186 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1188 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1189 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1191 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1192 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1194 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1195 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1197 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1202 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1204 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1206 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1208 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1209 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1210 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1211 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1214 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1215 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1216 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1220 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1222 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1223 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1224 installs shared libraries
1225 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1229 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1231 <p> Released Jan 1998
1234 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1236 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1237 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1239 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1240 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1244 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1245 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1246 file extension as the referenced file
1249 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1250 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1251 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1254 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1256 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1257 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1258 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1262 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1263 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1264 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1267 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1268 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1269 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1270 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1274 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1275 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1279 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1280 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1281 reasonable default configuration
1284 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1285 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1286 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1289 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1291 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1292 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1294 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1295 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1299 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1300 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1305 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1307 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1310 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1311 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1312 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1315 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1316 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1319 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1322 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1324 <p> Released July 1997.
1327 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1330 where <arch> is one of the following:
1331 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1334 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1336 <item>user ID's</item>
1338 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1340 <item>cron jobs</item>
1342 <item>device files</item>
1344 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1346 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1349 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1351 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1354 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1357 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1359 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1361 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1363 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1367 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1369 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1372 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1375 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1377 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1380 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1382 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1383 without consultation </item>
1385 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1388 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1390 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1393 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>