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.
50 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
57 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
58 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
62 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
63 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
64 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
65 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
68 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
69 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
70 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
74 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
75 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
76 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
77 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
81 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
84 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
85 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
86 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
87 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
91 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
92 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
93 dependencies are now a should not.
96 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
97 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
98 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
99 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
100 actions if their dependencies are not available.
103 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
104 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
107 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
108 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
109 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
110 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
111 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
114 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
115 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
116 POSIX-required interface.
120 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
127 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
128 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
132 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
133 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
134 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
137 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
138 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
139 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
142 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
143 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
144 architecture-independent.
147 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
148 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
149 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
152 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
153 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
154 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
155 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
158 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
161 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
162 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
163 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
166 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
167 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
170 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
171 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
172 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
173 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
174 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
175 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
176 their <file>.la</file> files.
179 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
180 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
181 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
182 thread-safe if the library supports this.
185 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
186 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
187 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
188 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
189 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
192 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
193 logrotate rules is now recommended.
196 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
197 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
199 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
200 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
201 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
202 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
203 for the corresponding manual page.
206 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
207 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
208 executables in those subdirectories.
211 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
212 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
217 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
223 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
224 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
225 Date control field is now precisely specified.
228 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
229 particular field name.
231 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
232 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
233 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
234 documented and recommended.
236 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
237 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
238 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
239 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
240 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
241 for <file>.changes</file> files.
244 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
248 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
251 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
252 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
253 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
254 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
258 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
259 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
260 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
261 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
262 question, but should avoid this if possible.
264 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
265 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
266 files between packages.
269 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
270 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
271 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
274 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
275 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
278 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
279 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
280 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
281 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
284 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
286 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
287 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
288 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
291 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
292 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
293 It should instead be included directly
294 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
295 common-licenses for the time being.
298 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
299 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
300 template instead of a string to allow translation.
303 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
304 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
305 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
306 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
307 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
310 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
311 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
312 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
316 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
323 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
324 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
325 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
328 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
329 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
332 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
333 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
337 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
343 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
344 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
347 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
348 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
349 may be used in different versions of the field.
352 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
353 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
356 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
359 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
360 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
361 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
362 using them should be built with RPATH.
365 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
366 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
367 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
368 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
371 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
372 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
375 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
376 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
377 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
381 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
382 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
383 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
384 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
385 support partial upgrades.
388 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
389 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
393 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
400 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
401 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
402 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
403 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
407 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
408 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
409 back on other methods.
412 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
416 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
417 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
420 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
421 <file>/var/mail</file>.
424 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
428 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
429 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
433 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
440 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
441 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
442 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
445 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
448 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
452 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
453 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
456 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
457 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
460 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
463 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
464 with no preceding whitespace.
467 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
468 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
469 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
470 behavior of the init system in Debian.
473 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
474 start the daemon again if it's already running.
477 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
478 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
479 subdirectories dynamically.
482 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
483 variable arguments and supports assignment.
486 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
487 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
491 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
498 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
499 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
500 system is now defined by priority.
502 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
503 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
505 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
506 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
507 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
508 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
509 unknown flags be ignored.
511 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
512 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
513 processes if the package supports it
515 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
516 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
519 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
520 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
521 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
522 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
523 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
524 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
527 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
529 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
532 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
533 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
534 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
535 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
536 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
537 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
539 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
540 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
541 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
544 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
545 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
548 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
549 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
552 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
553 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
554 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
555 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
556 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
557 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
560 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
561 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
563 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
564 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
567 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
570 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
577 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
578 anything, even the end of a part.
580 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
581 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
584 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
585 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
587 <tag>menu policy</tag>
588 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
589 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
590 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
591 sections would be more appropriate.
593 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
596 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
597 critical, or emergency.
599 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
600 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
601 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
604 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
605 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
606 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
608 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
609 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
612 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
618 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
619 should to a must)</item>
622 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
628 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
631 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
638 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
639 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
640 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
641 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
642 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
643 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
646 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
647 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
648 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
651 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
658 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
659 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
660 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
662 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
663 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
665 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
666 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
667 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
668 etc. may be of interest.
669 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
670 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
671 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
672 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
673 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
674 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
675 as well, to prepare for future changes.
677 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
678 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
679 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
682 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
683 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
685 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
686 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
687 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
688 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
692 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
699 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
702 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
703 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
704 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
707 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
708 allow packages to share image files with the web server
712 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
719 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
720 user prompts are now deprecated.
730 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
731 the minor version number:
733 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
734 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
735 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
736 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
737 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
738 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
739 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
740 deb-building tool-chain.
742 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
743 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
744 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
745 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
747 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
748 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
749 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
750 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
751 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
752 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
753 sections about changelog files.
754 <tag>menu policy</tag>
755 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
758 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
760 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
761 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
763 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
767 <sect> Version 3.5.10
774 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
775 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
778 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
779 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
782 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
789 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
790 full details of the long description format.
792 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
793 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
794 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
796 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
797 the init script should start the service.
799 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
800 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
801 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
804 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
811 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
812 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
813 documented in the changelog file.
815 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
816 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
818 <tag>menu policy</tag>
819 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
820 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
821 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
823 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
824 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
828 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
835 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
836 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
838 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
841 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
842 special Tasks: field in the control file.
844 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
845 they add themselves as an alternative for
846 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
848 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
849 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
850 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
851 environment variable.
853 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
854 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
855 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
856 review the new rules.
858 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
859 scripts. Long rationale.
863 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
864 rules, please see below
867 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
874 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
877 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
878 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
880 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
881 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
883 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
884 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
885 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
886 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
888 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
889 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
892 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
899 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
900 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
901 symlinks or .so pages to do this
904 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
905 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
906 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
909 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
910 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
913 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
914 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
917 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
920 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
923 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
927 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
929 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
930 fonts for the X Window System
933 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
936 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
937 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
940 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
941 OSF/Motif-linked ones
946 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
947 <p> Released Apr 2001.
951 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
952 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
953 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
956 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
957 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
958 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
963 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
964 <p> Released Apr 2001
968 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
969 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
972 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
973 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
974 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
975 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
979 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
981 <p> Released Feb 2001.
985 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
986 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
987 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
991 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
993 <p> Released Feb 2001.
997 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
998 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1002 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
1004 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1008 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1009 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1013 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
1015 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1019 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1020 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1021 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1024 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1025 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1026 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1027 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1030 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1035 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
1037 <p> Released Aug 00.
1041 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1042 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1043 and the other without
1047 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
1049 <p> Released Aug 00.
1053 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1054 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1055 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1058 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1059 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1060 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1063 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1064 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1067 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1071 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1073 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1075 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1076 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1077 calculation guidelines)
1080 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1082 <item>X application defaults </item>
1086 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1090 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1092 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1093 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1098 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1100 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1104 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1105 etc. Should not affect many packages
1109 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1111 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1115 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1116 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1120 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1122 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1123 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1124 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1127 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1128 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1129 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1130 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1134 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1135 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1136 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1137 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1140 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1141 <file>/var/lib</file>
1143 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1144 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1146 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1149 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1150 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1154 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1155 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1156 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1159 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1164 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1166 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1170 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1171 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1172 files must go in the run-time library package
1176 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1178 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1182 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1183 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1187 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1188 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1191 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1192 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1193 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1194 other major licenses
1197 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1198 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1201 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1204 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1207 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1208 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1209 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1212 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1213 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1214 installed setgid utmp
1218 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1221 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1223 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1227 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1229 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1230 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1231 Section 5 and Section 6.
1233 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1234 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1235 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1236 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1237 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1241 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1242 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1243 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1244 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1246 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1247 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1249 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1250 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1252 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1253 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1255 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1260 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1262 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1264 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1266 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1267 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1268 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1269 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1272 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1273 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1274 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1278 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1280 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1281 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1282 installs shared libraries
1283 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1287 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1289 <p> Released Jan 1998
1292 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1294 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1295 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1297 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1298 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1302 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1303 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1304 file extension as the referenced file
1307 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1308 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1309 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1312 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1314 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1315 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1316 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1320 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1321 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1322 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1325 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1326 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1327 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1328 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1332 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1333 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1337 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1338 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1339 reasonable default configuration
1342 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1343 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1344 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1347 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1349 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1350 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1352 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1353 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1357 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1358 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1363 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1365 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1368 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1369 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1370 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1373 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1374 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1377 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1380 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1382 <p> Released July 1997.
1385 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1388 where <arch> is one of the following:
1389 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1392 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1394 <item>user ID's</item>
1396 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1398 <item>cron jobs</item>
1400 <item>device files</item>
1402 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1404 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1407 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1409 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1412 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1415 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1417 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1419 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1421 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1425 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1427 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1430 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1433 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1435 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1438 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1440 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1441 without consultation </item>
1443 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1446 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1448 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1451 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>