1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery <email/rra@debian.org/ </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect id="3.9.4.0"> Version 3.9.4.0
44 <item>New <em>tasks</em> archive section.
47 <item>New section documenting the <tt>Vcs-*</tt> fields, which are
48 already in widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git
49 branch used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.
52 <item>The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.
55 <item>New <tt>Built-Using</tt> field, which must be used to document the
56 source packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
57 at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets license
58 requirements for providing source for all binaries.
61 <item>Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other
62 packages has been largely rewritten to document the <tt>symbols</tt>
63 system and more clearly document handling of shared library ABI
64 changes. <file>symbols</file> files are now recommended
65 over <file>shlibs</file> files in most situations. All maintainers of
66 shared library packages should review the entirety of this section.
69 <item>Packages must not assume the <file>/run</file> directory exists or
70 is usable without a dependency on <tt>initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)</tt>
71 until the stable release of Debian supports <file>/run</file>.
74 <item>All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.
78 <sect id="3.9.3.0"> Version 3.9.3.0
81 Released February, 2012.
85 <item>New archive sections <em>education</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
86 and <em>metapackages</em> added.
89 <item>The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in <file>*.dsc</file> files may
90 now contain the value <tt>any all</tt> for source packages building both
91 architecture-independent and architecture-dependent packages.
94 <item>If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the
95 list of architectures must be non-empty.
98 <item><file>/run</file> is allowed as an exception to the FHS and
99 replaces <file>/var/run</file>. <file>/run/lock</file>
100 replaces <file>/var/lock</file>. The FHS requirements for the older
101 directories apply to these directories as well. Backward compatibility
102 links will be maintained and packages need not switch to
103 referencing <file>/run</file> directly yet. Files in <file>/run</file>
104 should be stored in a temporary file system.
107 <item>New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
108 files in <file>/run</file>, <file>/var/run</file>,
109 or <file>/var/lock</file>. This generalizes information previously only
113 <item>Cron job file names must not contain <tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt> or
114 they will be ignored by cron. They should replace those characters
115 with <tt>_</tt>. If a package provides multiple cron job files in the
116 same directory, they should each start with the package name (possibly
117 modified as above), <tt>-</tt>, and then some suitable suffix.
120 <item>Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.
123 <item>Packages that declare the same <tt>conffile</tt> may see left-over
124 configuration files from each other even if they conflict.
127 <item>The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case
128 of normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete, so
129 they have been removed.
132 <item><file>debian/copyright</file> is no longer required to list the
133 Debian maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although
134 note that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).
136 <tag>copyright-format</tag>
137 <item>Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable <file>debian/copyright</file>
138 file" specification is included.
141 <item>This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
142 contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to the
146 <item>Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
147 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
150 <item><tt>ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt> is renamed to
151 <tt>fonts-japanese-{mincho, gothic}</tt>.
155 <sect id="3.9.2.0"> Version 3.9.2.0
158 Released April, 2011.
162 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
163 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
167 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
168 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
169 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
170 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
173 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
174 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
175 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
179 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
180 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
181 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
182 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
186 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
189 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
190 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
191 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
192 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
196 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
197 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
198 dependencies are now a should not.
201 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
202 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
203 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
204 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
205 actions if their dependencies are not available.
208 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
209 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
212 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
213 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
214 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
215 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
216 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
219 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
220 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
221 POSIX-required interface.
225 <sect id="3.9.1.0"> Version 3.9.1.0
232 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
233 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
237 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
238 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
239 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
242 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
243 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
244 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
247 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
248 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
249 architecture-independent.
252 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
253 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
254 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
257 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
258 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
259 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
260 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
263 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
266 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
267 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
268 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
271 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
272 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
275 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
276 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
277 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
278 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
279 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
280 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
281 their <file>.la</file> files.
284 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
285 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
286 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
287 thread-safe if the library supports this.
290 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
291 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
292 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
293 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
294 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
297 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
298 logrotate rules is now recommended.
301 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
302 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
304 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
305 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
306 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
307 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
308 for the corresponding manual page.
311 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
312 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
313 executables in those subdirectories.
316 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
317 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
322 <sect id="3.9.0.0"> Version 3.9.0.0
328 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
329 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
330 Date control field is now precisely specified.
333 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
334 particular field name.
336 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
337 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
338 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
339 documented and recommended.
341 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
342 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
343 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
344 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
345 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
346 for <file>.changes</file> files.
349 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
353 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
356 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
357 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
358 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
359 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
363 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
364 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
365 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
366 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
367 question, but should avoid this if possible.
369 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
370 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
371 files between packages.
374 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
375 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
376 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
379 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
380 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
383 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
384 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
385 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
386 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
389 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
391 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
392 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
393 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
396 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
397 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
398 It should instead be included directly
399 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
400 common-licenses for the time being.
403 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
404 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
405 template instead of a string to allow translation.
408 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
409 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
410 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
411 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
412 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
415 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
416 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
417 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
421 <sect id="3.8.4.0"> Version 3.8.4.0
428 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
429 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
430 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
433 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
434 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
437 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
438 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
442 <sect id="3.8.3.0"> Version 3.8.3.0
448 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
449 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
452 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
453 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
454 may be used in different versions of the field.
457 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
458 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
461 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
464 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
465 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
466 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
467 using them should be built with RPATH.
470 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
471 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
472 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
473 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
476 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
477 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
480 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
481 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
482 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
486 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
487 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
488 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
489 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
490 support partial upgrades.
493 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
494 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
498 <sect id="3.8.2.0"> Version 3.8.2.0
505 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
506 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
507 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
508 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
512 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
513 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
514 back on other methods.
517 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
521 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
522 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
525 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
526 <file>/var/mail</file>.
529 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
533 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
534 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
538 <sect id="3.8.1.0"> Version 3.8.1.0
545 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
546 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
547 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
550 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
553 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
557 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
558 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
561 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
562 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
565 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
568 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
569 with no preceding whitespace.
572 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
573 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
574 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
575 behavior of the init system in Debian.
578 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
579 start the daemon again if it's already running.
582 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
583 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
584 subdirectories dynamically.
587 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
588 variable arguments and supports assignment.
591 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
592 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
596 <sect id="3.8.0.0"> Version 3.8.0.0
603 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
604 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
605 system is now defined by priority.
607 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
608 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
610 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
611 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
612 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
613 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
614 unknown flags be ignored.
616 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
617 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
618 processes if the package supports it
620 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
621 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
624 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
625 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
626 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
627 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
628 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
629 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
632 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
634 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
637 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
638 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
639 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
640 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
641 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
642 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
644 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
645 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
646 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
649 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
650 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
653 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
654 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
657 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
658 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
659 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
660 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
661 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
662 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
665 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
666 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
668 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
669 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
672 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
675 <sect id="3.7.3.0"> Version 3.7.3.0
682 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
683 anything, even the end of a part.
685 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
686 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
689 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
690 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
692 <tag>menu policy</tag>
693 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
694 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
695 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
696 sections would be more appropriate.
698 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
701 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
702 critical, or emergency.
704 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
705 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
706 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
709 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
710 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
711 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
713 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
714 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
717 <sect id="3.7.2.2"> Version 3.7.2.2
723 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
724 should to a must)</item>
727 <sect id="3.7.2.0"> Version 3.7.2.0
733 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
736 <sect id="3.7.1.0"> Version 3.7.1.0
743 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
744 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
745 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
746 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
747 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
748 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
751 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
752 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
753 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
756 <sect id="3.7.0.0"> Version 3.7.0.0
763 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
764 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
765 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
767 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
768 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
770 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
771 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
772 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
773 etc. may be of interest.
774 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
775 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
776 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
777 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
778 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
779 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
780 as well, to prepare for future changes.
782 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
783 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
784 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
787 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
788 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
790 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
791 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
792 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
793 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
797 <sect id="3.6.2.0"> Version 3.6.2.0
804 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
807 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
808 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
809 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
812 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
813 allow packages to share image files with the web server
817 <sect id="3.6.1.0"> Version 3.6.1.0
824 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
825 user prompts are now deprecated.
828 <sect id="3.6.0.0"> Version 3.6.0
835 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
836 the minor version number:
838 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
839 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
840 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
841 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
842 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
843 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
844 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
845 deb-building tool-chain.
847 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
848 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
849 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
850 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
852 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
853 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
854 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
855 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
856 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
857 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
858 sections about changelog files.
859 <tag>menu policy</tag>
860 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
863 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
865 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
866 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
868 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
872 <sect id="3.5.10.0"> Version 3.5.10
879 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
880 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
883 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
884 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
887 <sect id="3.5.9.0"> Version 3.5.9.0
894 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
895 full details of the long description format.
897 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
898 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
899 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
901 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
902 the init script should start the service.
904 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
905 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
906 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
909 <sect id="3.5.8.0"> Version 3.5.8.0
916 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
917 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
918 documented in the changelog file.
920 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
921 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
923 <tag>menu policy</tag>
924 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
925 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
926 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
928 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
929 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
933 <sect id="3.5.7.0"> Version 3.5.7.0
940 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
941 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
943 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
946 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
947 special Tasks: field in the control file.
949 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
950 they add themselves as an alternative for
951 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
953 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
954 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
955 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
956 environment variable.
958 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
959 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
960 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
961 review the new rules.
963 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
964 scripts. Long rationale.
968 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
969 rules, please see below
972 <sect id="3.5.6.0"> Version 3.5.6.0
979 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
982 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
983 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
985 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
986 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
988 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
989 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
990 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
991 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
993 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
994 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
997 <sect id="3.5.5.0"> Version 3.5.5.0
1004 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
1005 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
1006 symlinks or .so pages to do this
1009 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
1010 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
1011 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
1014 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
1015 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
1018 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
1019 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
1022 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
1025 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
1028 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
1032 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
1034 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
1035 fonts for the X Window System
1038 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
1041 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
1042 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
1045 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
1046 OSF/Motif-linked ones
1051 <sect id="3.5.4.0"> Version 3.5.4.0
1052 <p> Released Apr 2001.
1056 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
1057 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
1058 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
1061 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
1062 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
1063 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
1068 <sect id="3.5.3.0"> Version 3.5.3.0
1069 <p> Released Apr 2001
1073 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
1074 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
1077 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
1078 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
1079 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
1080 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
1084 <sect id="3.5.2.0"> Version 3.5.2.0
1086 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1090 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
1091 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
1092 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1096 <sect id="3.5.1.0"> Version 3.5.1.0
1098 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1102 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1103 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1107 <sect id="3.5.0.0"> Version 3.5.0.0
1109 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1113 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1114 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1118 <sect id="3.2.1.1"> Version 3.2.1.1
1120 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1124 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1125 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1126 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1129 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1130 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1131 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1132 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1135 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1140 <sect id="3.2.1.0"> Version 3.2.1.0
1142 <p> Released Aug 00.
1146 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1147 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1148 and the other without
1152 <sect id="3.2.0.0"> Version 3.2.0.0
1154 <p> Released Aug 00.
1158 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1159 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1160 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1163 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1164 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1165 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1168 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1169 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1172 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1176 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1178 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1180 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1181 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1182 calculation guidelines)
1185 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1187 <item>X application defaults </item>
1191 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1195 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1197 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1198 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1203 <sect id="3.1.1.0"> Version 3.1.1.0
1205 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1209 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1210 etc. Should not affect many packages
1214 <sect id="3.1.0.0"> Version 3.1.0.0
1216 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1220 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1221 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1225 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1227 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1228 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1229 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1232 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1233 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1234 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1235 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1239 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1240 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1241 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1242 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1245 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1246 <file>/var/lib</file>
1248 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1249 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1251 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1254 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1255 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1259 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1260 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1261 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1264 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1269 <sect id="3.0.1.0"> Version 3.0.1.0
1271 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1275 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1276 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1277 files must go in the run-time library package
1281 <sect id="3.0.0.0"> Version 3.0.0.0
1283 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1287 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1288 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1292 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1293 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1296 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1297 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1298 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1299 other major licenses
1302 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1303 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1306 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1309 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1312 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1313 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1314 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1317 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1318 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1319 installed setgid utmp
1323 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1326 <sect id="2.5.0.0"> Version 2.5.0.0
1328 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1332 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1334 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1335 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1336 Section 5 and Section 6.
1338 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1339 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1340 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1341 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1342 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1346 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1347 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1348 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1349 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1351 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1352 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1354 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1355 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1357 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1358 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1360 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1365 <sect id="2.4.1.0"> Version 2.4.1.0
1367 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1369 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1371 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1372 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1373 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1374 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1377 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1378 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1379 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1383 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1385 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1386 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1387 installs shared libraries
1388 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1392 <sect id="2.4.0.0"> Version 2.4.0.0
1394 <p> Released Jan 1998
1397 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1399 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1400 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1402 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1403 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1407 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1408 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1409 file extension as the referenced file
1412 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1413 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1414 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1417 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1419 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1420 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1421 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1425 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1426 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1427 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1430 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1431 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1432 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1433 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1437 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1438 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1442 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1443 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1444 reasonable default configuration
1447 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1448 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1449 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1452 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1454 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1455 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1457 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1458 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1462 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1463 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1468 <sect id="2.3.0.0"> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1470 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1473 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1474 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1475 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1478 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1479 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1482 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1485 <sect id="2.2.0.0"> Version 2.2.0.0
1487 <p> Released July 1997.
1490 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1493 where <arch> is one of the following:
1494 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1497 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1499 <item>user ID's</item>
1501 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1503 <item>cron jobs</item>
1505 <item>device files</item>
1507 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1509 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1512 <sect id="2.1.3.0"> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1514 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1517 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1520 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1522 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1524 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1526 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1530 <sect id="2.1.2.0"> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1532 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1535 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1538 <sect id="2.1.1.0"> Version 2.1.1.0
1540 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1543 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1545 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1546 without consultation </item>
1548 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1551 <sect id="2.1.0.0"> Version 2.1.0.0
1553 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1556 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>