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="3.9.5.0"> Version 3.9.5.0
43 <tag>5.4, 5.6.24</tag>
44 <item><tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> are now
45 mandatory in <file>.dsc</file> files.
47 <tag>5.6.25, 5.8.1</tag>
48 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is obsolete. Permissions
49 are now granted via <em>dak-commands</em> files.
51 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-List</tt> field in Debian
55 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Package-Type</tt> field in source
56 package control files.
59 <item>Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
60 <file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file>.
63 <item>Packages distributing Info documents should use
64 <package>install-info</package>'s trigger, and do not need anymore
65 to depend on <tt>dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info</tt>.
68 <item>The <tt>escape</tt> capability is now documented.
71 <item><tt>mp3-encoder</tt> is removed.</item>
74 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
77 Released August, 2012.
81 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
84 <item><tt>build-arch</tt> and <tt>build-indep</tt> are now mandatory
85 targets in <file>debian/rules</file>.
88 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
89 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
90 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
93 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
96 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
97 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
98 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
99 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
102 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
103 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
104 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
105 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
106 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
107 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
110 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
111 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
112 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
115 <item>Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
116 do not need to call update-mime.</item>
118 <item>New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
119 systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.
122 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
126 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
129 Released February, 2012.
133 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
134 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
137 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
138 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
139 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
142 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
143 list of architectures must be non-empty.
146 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
147 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
148 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
149 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
150 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
151 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
152 should be stored in a temporary file system.
155 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
156 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
157 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
161 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
162 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
163 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
164 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
165 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
168 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
171 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
172 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
175 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
176 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
177 they have been removed.
180 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
181 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
182 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
184 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
185 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
186 file" specification is included.
189 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
190 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
194 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
195 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
198 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
199 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
203 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
206 Released April, 2011.
210 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
211 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
215 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
216 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
217 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
218 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
221 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
222 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
223 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
227 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
228 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
229 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
230 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
234 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
237 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
238 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
239 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
240 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
244 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
245 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
246 dependencies are now a should not.
249 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
250 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
251 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
252 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
253 actions if their dependencies are not available.
256 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
257 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
260 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
261 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
262 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
263 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
264 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
267 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
268 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
269 POSIX-required interface.
273 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
280 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
281 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
285 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
286 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
287 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
290 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
291 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
292 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
295 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
296 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
297 architecture-independent.
300 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
301 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
302 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
305 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
306 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
307 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
308 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
311 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
314 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
315 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
316 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
319 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
320 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
323 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
324 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
325 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
326 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
327 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
328 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
329 their <file>.la</file> files.
332 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
333 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
334 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
335 thread-safe if the library supports this.
338 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
339 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
340 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
341 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
342 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
345 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
346 logrotate rules is now recommended.
349 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
350 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
352 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
353 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
354 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
355 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
356 for the corresponding manual page.
359 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
360 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
361 executables in those subdirectories.
364 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
365 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
370 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
376 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
377 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
378 Date control field is now precisely specified.
381 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
382 particular field name.
384 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
385 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
386 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
387 documented and recommended.
389 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
390 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
391 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
392 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
393 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
394 for <file>.changes</file> files.
397 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
401 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
404 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
405 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
406 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
407 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
411 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
412 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
413 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
414 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
415 question, but should avoid this if possible.
417 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
418 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
419 files between packages.
422 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
423 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
424 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
427 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
428 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
431 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
432 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
433 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
434 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
437 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
439 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
440 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
441 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
444 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
445 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
446 It should instead be included directly
447 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
448 common-licenses for the time being.
451 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
452 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
453 template instead of a string to allow translation.
456 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
457 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
458 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
459 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
460 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
463 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
464 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
465 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
469 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
476 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
477 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
478 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
481 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
482 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
485 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
486 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
490 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
496 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
497 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
500 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
501 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
502 may be used in different versions of the field.
505 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
506 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
509 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
512 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
513 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
514 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
515 using them should be built with RPATH.
518 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
519 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
520 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
521 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
524 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
525 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
528 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
529 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
530 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
534 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
535 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
536 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
537 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
538 support partial upgrades.
541 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
542 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
546 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
553 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
554 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
555 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
556 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
560 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
561 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
562 back on other methods.
565 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
569 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
570 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
573 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
574 <file>/var/mail</file>.
577 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
581 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
582 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
586 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
593 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
594 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
595 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
598 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
601 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
605 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
606 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
609 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
610 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
613 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
616 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
617 with no preceding whitespace.
620 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
621 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
622 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
623 behavior of the init system in Debian.
626 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
627 start the daemon again if it's already running.
630 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
631 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
632 subdirectories dynamically.
635 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
636 variable arguments and supports assignment.
639 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
640 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
644 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
651 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
652 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
653 system is now defined by priority.
655 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
656 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
658 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
659 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
660 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
661 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
662 unknown flags be ignored.
664 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
665 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
666 processes if the package supports it
668 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
669 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
672 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
673 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
674 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
675 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
676 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
677 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
680 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
682 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
685 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
686 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
687 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
688 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
689 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
690 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
692 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
693 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
694 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
697 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
698 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
701 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
702 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
705 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
706 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
707 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
708 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
709 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
710 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
713 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
714 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
716 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
717 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
720 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
723 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
730 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
731 anything, even the end of a part.
733 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
734 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
737 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
738 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
740 <tag>menu policy</tag>
741 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
742 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
743 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
744 sections would be more appropriate.
746 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
749 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
750 critical, or emergency.
752 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
753 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
754 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
757 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
758 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
759 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
761 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
762 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
765 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
771 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
772 should to a must)</item>
775 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
781 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
784 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
791 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
792 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
793 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
794 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
795 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
796 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
799 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
800 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
801 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
804 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
811 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
812 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
813 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
815 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
816 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
818 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
819 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
820 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
821 etc. may be of interest.
822 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
823 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
824 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
825 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
826 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
827 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
828 as well, to prepare for future changes.
830 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
831 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
832 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
835 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
836 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
838 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
839 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
840 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
841 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
845 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
852 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
855 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
856 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
857 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
860 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
861 allow packages to share image files with the web server
865 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
872 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
873 user prompts are now deprecated.
876 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
883 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
884 the minor version number:
886 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
887 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
888 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
889 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
890 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
891 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
892 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
893 deb-building tool-chain.
895 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
896 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
897 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
898 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
900 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
901 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
902 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
903 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
904 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
905 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
906 sections about changelog files.
907 <tag>menu policy</tag>
908 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
911 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
913 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
914 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
916 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
920 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
927 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
928 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
931 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
932 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
935 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
942 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
943 full details of the long description format.
945 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
946 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
947 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
949 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
950 the init script should start the service.
952 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
953 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
954 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
957 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
964 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
965 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
966 documented in the changelog file.
968 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
969 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
971 <tag>menu policy</tag>
972 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
973 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
974 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
976 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
977 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
981 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
988 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
989 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
991 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
994 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
995 special Tasks: field in the control file.
997 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
998 they add themselves as an alternative for
999 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
1001 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
1002 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
1003 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
1004 environment variable.
1006 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
1007 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
1008 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
1009 review the new rules.
1011 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
1012 scripts. Long rationale.
1016 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
1017 rules, please see below
1020 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
1027 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
1030 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
1031 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
1033 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
1034 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
1036 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
1037 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
1038 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
1039 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
1041 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
1042 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
1045 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1052 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1053 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1054 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1057 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1058 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1059 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1062 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1063 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1066 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1067 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1070 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1073 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1076 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1080 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1082 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1083 fonts for the X Window System
1086 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1089 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1090 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1093 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1094 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1099 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1100 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1104 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1105 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1106 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1109 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1110 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1111 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1116 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1117 <p> Released Apr 2001
1121 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1122 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1125 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1126 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1127 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1128 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1132 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1134 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1138 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1139 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1140 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1144 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1146 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1150 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1151 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1155 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1157 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1161 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1162 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1166 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1168 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1172 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1173 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1174 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1177 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1178 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1179 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1180 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1183 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1188 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1190 <p> Released Aug 00.
1194 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1195 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1196 and the other without
1200 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1202 <p> Released Aug 00.
1206 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1207 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1208 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1211 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1212 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1213 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1216 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1217 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1220 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1224 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1226 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1228 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1229 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1230 calculation guidelines)
1233 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1235 <item>X application defaults </item>
1239 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1243 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1245 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1246 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1251 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1253 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1257 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1258 etc. Should not affect many packages
1262 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1264 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1268 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1269 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1273 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1275 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1276 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1277 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1280 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1281 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1282 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1283 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1287 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1288 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1289 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1290 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1293 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1294 <file>/var/lib</file>
1296 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1297 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1299 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1302 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1303 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1307 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1308 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1309 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1312 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1317 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1319 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1323 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1324 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1325 files must go in the run-time library package
1329 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1331 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1335 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1336 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1340 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1341 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1344 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1345 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1346 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1347 other major licenses
1350 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1351 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1354 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1357 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1360 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1361 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1362 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1365 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1366 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1367 installed setgid utmp
1371 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1374 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1376 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1380 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1382 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1383 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1384 Section 5 and Section 6.
1386 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1387 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1388 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1389 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1390 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1394 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1395 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1396 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1397 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1399 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1400 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1402 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1403 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1405 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1406 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1408 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1413 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1415 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1417 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1419 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1420 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1421 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1422 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1425 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1426 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1427 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1431 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1433 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1434 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1435 installs shared libraries
1436 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1440 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1442 <p> Released Jan 1998
1445 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1447 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1448 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1450 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1451 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1455 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1456 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1457 file extension as the referenced file
1460 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1461 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1462 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1465 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1467 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1468 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1469 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1473 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1474 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1475 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1478 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1479 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1480 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1481 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1485 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1486 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1490 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1491 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1492 reasonable default configuration
1495 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1496 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1497 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1500 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1502 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1503 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1505 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1506 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1510 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1511 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1516 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1518 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1521 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1522 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1523 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1526 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1527 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1530 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1533 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1535 <p> Released July 1997.
1538 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1541 where <arch> is one of the following:
1542 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1545 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1547 <item>user ID's</item>
1549 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1551 <item>cron jobs</item>
1553 <item>device files</item>
1555 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1557 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1560 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1562 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1565 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1568 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1570 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1572 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1574 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1578 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1580 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1583 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1586 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1588 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1591 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1593 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1594 without consultation </item>
1596 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1599 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1601 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1604 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>