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 3.9.3.0
44 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
45 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
46 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
49 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
50 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
51 they have been removed.
55 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
62 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
63 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
67 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
68 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
69 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
70 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
73 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
74 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
75 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
79 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
80 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
81 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
82 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
86 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
89 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
90 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
91 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
92 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
96 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
97 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
98 dependencies are now a should not.
101 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
102 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
103 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
104 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
105 actions if their dependencies are not available.
108 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
109 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
112 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
113 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
114 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
115 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
116 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
119 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
120 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
121 POSIX-required interface.
125 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
132 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
133 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
137 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
138 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
139 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
142 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
143 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
144 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
147 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
148 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
149 architecture-independent.
152 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
153 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
154 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
157 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
158 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
159 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
160 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
163 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
166 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
167 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
168 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
171 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
172 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
175 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
176 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
177 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
178 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
179 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
180 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
181 their <file>.la</file> files.
184 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
185 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
186 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
187 thread-safe if the library supports this.
190 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
191 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
192 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
193 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
194 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
197 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
198 logrotate rules is now recommended.
201 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
202 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
204 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
205 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
206 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
207 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
208 for the corresponding manual page.
211 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
212 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
213 executables in those subdirectories.
216 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
217 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
222 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
228 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
229 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
230 Date control field is now precisely specified.
233 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
234 particular field name.
236 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
237 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
238 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
239 documented and recommended.
241 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
242 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
243 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
244 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
245 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
246 for <file>.changes</file> files.
249 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
253 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
256 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
257 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
258 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
259 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
263 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
264 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
265 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
266 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
267 question, but should avoid this if possible.
269 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
270 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
271 files between packages.
274 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
275 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
276 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
279 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
280 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
283 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
284 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
285 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
286 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
289 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
291 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
292 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
293 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
296 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
297 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
298 It should instead be included directly
299 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
300 common-licenses for the time being.
303 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
304 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
305 template instead of a string to allow translation.
308 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
309 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
310 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
311 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
312 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
315 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
316 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
317 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
321 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
328 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
329 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
330 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
333 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
334 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
337 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
338 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
342 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
348 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
349 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
352 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
353 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
354 may be used in different versions of the field.
357 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
358 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
361 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
364 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
365 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
366 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
367 using them should be built with RPATH.
370 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
371 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
372 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
373 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
376 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
377 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
380 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
381 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
382 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
386 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
387 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
388 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
389 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
390 support partial upgrades.
393 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
394 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
398 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
405 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
406 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
407 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
408 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
412 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
413 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
414 back on other methods.
417 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
421 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
422 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
425 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
426 <file>/var/mail</file>.
429 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
433 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
434 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
438 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
445 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
446 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
447 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
450 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
453 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
457 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
458 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
461 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
462 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
465 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
468 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
469 with no preceding whitespace.
472 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
473 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
474 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
475 behavior of the init system in Debian.
478 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
479 start the daemon again if it's already running.
482 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
483 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
484 subdirectories dynamically.
487 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
488 variable arguments and supports assignment.
491 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
492 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
496 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
503 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
504 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
505 system is now defined by priority.
507 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
508 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
510 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
511 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
512 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
513 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
514 unknown flags be ignored.
516 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
517 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
518 processes if the package supports it
520 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
521 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
524 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
525 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
526 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
527 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
528 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
529 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
532 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
534 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
537 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
538 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
539 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
540 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
541 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
542 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
544 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
545 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
546 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
549 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
550 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
553 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
554 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
557 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
558 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
559 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
560 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
561 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
562 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
565 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
566 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
568 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
569 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
572 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
575 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
582 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
583 anything, even the end of a part.
585 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
586 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
589 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
590 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
592 <tag>menu policy</tag>
593 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
594 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
595 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
596 sections would be more appropriate.
598 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
601 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
602 critical, or emergency.
604 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
605 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
606 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
609 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
610 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
611 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
613 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
614 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
617 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
623 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
624 should to a must)</item>
627 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
633 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
636 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
643 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
644 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
645 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
646 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
647 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
648 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
651 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
652 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
653 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
656 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
663 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
664 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
665 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
667 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
668 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
670 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
671 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
672 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
673 etc. may be of interest.
674 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
675 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
676 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
677 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
678 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
679 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
680 as well, to prepare for future changes.
682 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
683 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
684 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
687 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
688 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
690 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
691 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
692 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
693 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
697 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
704 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
707 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
708 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
709 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
712 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
713 allow packages to share image files with the web server
717 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
724 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
725 user prompts are now deprecated.
735 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
736 the minor version number:
738 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
739 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
740 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
741 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
742 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
743 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
744 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
745 deb-building tool-chain.
747 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
748 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
749 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
750 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
752 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
753 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
754 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
755 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
756 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
757 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
758 sections about changelog files.
759 <tag>menu policy</tag>
760 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
763 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
765 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
766 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
768 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
772 <sect> Version 3.5.10
779 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
780 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
783 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
784 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
787 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
794 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
795 full details of the long description format.
797 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
798 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
799 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
801 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
802 the init script should start the service.
804 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
805 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
806 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
809 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
816 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
817 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
818 documented in the changelog file.
820 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
821 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
823 <tag>menu policy</tag>
824 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
825 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
826 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
828 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
829 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
833 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
840 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
841 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
843 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
846 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
847 special Tasks: field in the control file.
849 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
850 they add themselves as an alternative for
851 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
853 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
854 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
855 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
856 environment variable.
858 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
859 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
860 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
861 review the new rules.
863 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
864 scripts. Long rationale.
868 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
869 rules, please see below
872 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
879 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
882 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
883 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
885 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
886 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
888 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
889 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
890 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
891 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
893 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
894 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
897 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
904 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
905 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
906 symlinks or .so pages to do this
909 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
910 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
911 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
914 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
915 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
918 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
919 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
922 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
925 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
928 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
932 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
934 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
935 fonts for the X Window System
938 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
941 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
942 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
945 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
946 OSF/Motif-linked ones
951 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
952 <p> Released Apr 2001.
956 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
957 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
958 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
961 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
962 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
963 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
968 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
969 <p> Released Apr 2001
973 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
974 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
977 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
978 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
979 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
980 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
984 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
986 <p> Released Feb 2001.
990 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
991 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
992 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
996 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
998 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1002 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1003 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1007 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
1009 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1013 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1014 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1018 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
1020 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1024 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1025 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1026 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1029 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1030 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1031 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1032 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1035 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1040 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
1042 <p> Released Aug 00.
1046 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1047 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1048 and the other without
1052 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
1054 <p> Released Aug 00.
1058 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1059 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1060 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1063 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1064 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1065 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1068 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1069 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1072 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1076 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1078 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1080 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1081 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1082 calculation guidelines)
1085 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1087 <item>X application defaults </item>
1091 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1095 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1097 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1098 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1103 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1105 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1109 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1110 etc. Should not affect many packages
1114 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1116 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1120 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1121 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1125 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1127 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1128 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1129 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1132 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1133 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1134 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1135 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1139 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1140 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1141 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1142 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1145 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1146 <file>/var/lib</file>
1148 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1149 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1151 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1154 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1155 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1159 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1160 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1161 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1164 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1169 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1171 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1175 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1176 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1177 files must go in the run-time library package
1181 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1183 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1187 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1188 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1192 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1193 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1196 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1197 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1198 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1199 other major licenses
1202 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1203 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1206 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1209 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1212 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1213 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1214 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1217 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1218 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1219 installed setgid utmp
1223 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1226 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1228 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1232 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1234 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1235 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1236 Section 5 and Section 6.
1238 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1239 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1240 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1241 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1242 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1246 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1247 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1248 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1249 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1251 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1252 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1254 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1255 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1257 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1258 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1260 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1265 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1267 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1269 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1271 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1272 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1273 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1274 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1277 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1278 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1279 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1283 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1285 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1286 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1287 installs shared libraries
1288 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1292 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1294 <p> Released Jan 1998
1297 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1299 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1300 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1302 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1303 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1307 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1308 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1309 file extension as the referenced file
1312 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1313 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1314 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1317 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1319 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1320 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1321 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1325 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1326 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1327 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1330 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1331 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1332 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1333 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1337 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1338 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1342 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1343 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1344 reasonable default configuration
1347 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1348 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1349 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1352 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1354 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1355 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1357 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1358 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1362 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1363 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1368 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1370 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1373 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1374 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1375 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1378 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1379 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1382 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1385 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1387 <p> Released July 1997.
1390 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1393 where <arch> is one of the following:
1394 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1397 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1399 <item>user ID's</item>
1401 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1403 <item>cron jobs</item>
1405 <item>device files</item>
1407 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1409 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1412 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1414 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1417 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1420 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1422 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1424 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1426 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1430 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1432 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1435 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1438 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1440 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1443 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1445 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1446 without consultation </item>
1448 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1451 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1453 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1456 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>