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.
54 <item> Packages may declare an interest in the <var>perl-major-upgrade</var>
55 trigger to be notified of major upgrades of perl.
59 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
66 <item>Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
67 used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
71 <item>The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
72 and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
73 email address in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email
74 address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.
77 <item>All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
78 multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line or
79 may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks are
83 <item>Parsers are allowed to accept paragraph separation lines
84 containing whitespace, but control files should use completely empty
85 lines. Ordering of paragraphs is significant. Field names must be
86 composed of printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin
90 <item>The <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field is now documented.
93 <item>The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
94 possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common cases,
95 this is stricter than Policy had previously documented. Packages with
96 complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in light of this new
100 <item>The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part
101 of a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
102 dependencies are now a should not.
105 <item>The system state when <prgn>postinst</prgn> and <prgn>prerm</prgn>
106 scripts are run is now documented, and the documentation of the special
107 case of dependency state for <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts has been
108 improved. <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts are required to gracefully skip
109 actions if their dependencies are not available.
112 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
113 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
116 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
117 <file>/usr/lib</file> must use the value returned by
118 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
119 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
120 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
123 <item><tt>mailx</tt> is now a virtual package provided by packages that
124 install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
125 POSIX-required interface.
129 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
136 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
137 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
141 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
142 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
143 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
146 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
147 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
148 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
151 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
152 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
153 architecture-independent.
156 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
157 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
158 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
161 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
162 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
163 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
164 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
167 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
170 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
171 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
172 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
175 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
176 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
179 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
180 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
181 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
182 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
183 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
184 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
185 their <file>.la</file> files.
188 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
189 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
190 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
191 thread-safe if the library supports this.
194 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
195 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
196 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
197 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
198 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
201 <item>Use of <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
202 logrotate rules is now recommended.
205 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
206 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
208 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
209 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
210 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
211 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
212 for the corresponding manual page.
215 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
216 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
217 executables in those subdirectories.
220 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
221 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
226 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
232 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
233 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
234 Date control field is now precisely specified.
237 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
238 particular field name.
240 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
241 <item>The <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt> and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields
242 in <file>*.dsc</file> and <file>*.changes</file> files are now
243 documented and recommended.
245 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
246 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
247 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
248 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
249 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
250 for <file>.changes</file> files.
253 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
257 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
260 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
261 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
262 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
263 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
267 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
268 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
269 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
270 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
271 question, but should avoid this if possible.
273 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
274 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
275 files between packages.
278 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
279 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
280 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
283 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
284 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
287 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
288 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
289 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
290 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
293 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
295 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
296 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
297 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
300 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
301 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
302 It should instead be included directly
303 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
304 common-licenses for the time being.
307 <item><tt>SETTITLE</tt> is now documented (it has been supported for
308 some time). <tt>SETTITLE</tt> is like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a
309 template instead of a string to allow translation.
312 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
313 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
314 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
315 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
316 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
319 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
320 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
321 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
325 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
332 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
333 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
334 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
337 <item>Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create
338 them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
341 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
342 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
346 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
352 <item>DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
353 recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.
356 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
357 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
358 may be used in different versions of the field.
361 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
362 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
365 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
368 <item>Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
369 in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/. Packages
370 should either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
371 using them should be built with RPATH.
374 <item>Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
375 Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
376 installing into <file>/usr/include/X11</file>
377 and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
380 <item>Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
381 representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
384 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
385 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
386 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
390 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
391 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
392 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
393 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
394 support partial upgrades.
397 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
398 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
402 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
409 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
410 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
411 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
412 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
416 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
417 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
418 back on other methods.
421 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
425 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
426 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
429 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
430 <file>/var/mail</file>.
433 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
437 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
438 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
442 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
449 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
450 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
451 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
454 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
457 <item>Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must"
461 <item>Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
462 supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.
465 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
466 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
469 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
472 <item><file>debian/control</file> allows comment lines starting with #
473 with no preceding whitespace.
476 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
477 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
478 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
479 behavior of the init system in Debian.
482 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
483 start the daemon again if it's already running.
486 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
487 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
488 subdirectories dynamically.
491 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
492 variable arguments and supports assignment.
495 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
496 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
500 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
507 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
508 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
509 system is now defined by priority.
511 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
512 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
514 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
515 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
516 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
517 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
518 unknown flags be ignored.
520 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
521 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
522 processes if the package supports it
524 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
525 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
528 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
529 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
530 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
531 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
532 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
533 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
536 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
538 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
541 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
542 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
543 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
544 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
545 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
546 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
548 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
549 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
550 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
553 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
554 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
557 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
558 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
561 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
562 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
563 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
564 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
565 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
566 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
569 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
570 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
572 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
573 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
576 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
579 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
586 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
587 anything, even the end of a part.
589 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
590 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
593 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
594 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
596 <tag>menu policy</tag>
597 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
598 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
599 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
600 sections would be more appropriate.
602 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
605 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
606 critical, or emergency.
608 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
609 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
610 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
613 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
614 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
615 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
617 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
618 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
621 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
627 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
628 should to a must)</item>
631 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
637 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
640 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
647 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
648 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
649 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
650 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
651 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
652 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
655 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
656 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
657 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
660 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
667 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
668 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
669 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
671 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
672 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
674 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
675 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
676 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
677 etc. may be of interest.
678 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
679 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
680 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
681 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
682 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
683 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
684 as well, to prepare for future changes.
686 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
687 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
688 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
691 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
692 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
694 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
695 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
696 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
697 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
701 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
708 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
711 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
712 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
713 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
716 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
717 allow packages to share image files with the web server
721 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
728 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
729 user prompts are now deprecated.
739 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
740 the minor version number:
742 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
743 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
744 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
745 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
746 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
747 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
748 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
749 deb-building tool-chain.
751 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
752 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
753 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
754 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
756 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
757 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
758 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
759 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
760 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
761 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
762 sections about changelog files.
763 <tag>menu policy</tag>
764 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
767 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
769 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
770 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
772 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
776 <sect> Version 3.5.10
783 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
784 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
787 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
788 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
791 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
798 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
799 full details of the long description format.
801 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
802 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
803 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
805 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
806 the init script should start the service.
808 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
809 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
810 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
813 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
820 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
821 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
822 documented in the changelog file.
824 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
825 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
827 <tag>menu policy</tag>
828 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
829 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
830 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
832 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
833 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
837 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
844 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
845 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
847 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
850 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
851 special Tasks: field in the control file.
853 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
854 they add themselves as an alternative for
855 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
857 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
858 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
859 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
860 environment variable.
862 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
863 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
864 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
865 review the new rules.
867 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
868 scripts. Long rationale.
872 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
873 rules, please see below
876 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
883 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
886 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
887 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
889 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
890 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
892 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
893 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
894 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
895 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
897 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
898 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
901 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
908 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
909 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
910 symlinks or .so pages to do this
913 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
914 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
915 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
918 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
919 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
922 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
923 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
926 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
929 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
932 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
936 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
938 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
939 fonts for the X Window System
942 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
945 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
946 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
949 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
950 OSF/Motif-linked ones
955 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
956 <p> Released Apr 2001.
960 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
961 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
962 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
965 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
966 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
967 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
972 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
973 <p> Released Apr 2001
977 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
978 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
981 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
982 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
983 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
984 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
988 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
990 <p> Released Feb 2001.
994 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
995 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
996 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
1000 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
1002 <p> Released Feb 2001.
1006 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
1007 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
1011 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
1013 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1017 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
1018 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
1022 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
1024 <p> Released Jan 2001.
1028 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
1029 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
1030 <file>/etc/default/</file>
1033 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
1034 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
1035 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
1036 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
1039 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
1044 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
1046 <p> Released Aug 00.
1050 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
1051 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
1052 and the other without
1056 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
1058 <p> Released Aug 00.
1062 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1063 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1064 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1067 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1068 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1069 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1072 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1073 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1076 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1080 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1082 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1084 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1085 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1086 calculation guidelines)
1089 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1091 <item>X application defaults </item>
1095 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1099 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1101 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1102 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1107 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1109 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1113 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1114 etc. Should not affect many packages
1118 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1120 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1124 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1125 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1129 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1131 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1132 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1133 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1136 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1137 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1138 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1139 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1143 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1144 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1145 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1146 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1149 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1150 <file>/var/lib</file>
1152 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1153 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1155 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1158 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1159 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1163 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1164 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1165 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1168 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1173 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1175 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1179 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1180 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1181 files must go in the run-time library package
1185 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1187 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1191 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1192 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1196 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1197 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1200 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1201 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1202 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1203 other major licenses
1206 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1207 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1210 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1213 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1216 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1217 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1218 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1221 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1222 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1223 installed setgid utmp
1227 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1230 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1232 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1236 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1238 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1239 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1240 Section 5 and Section 6.
1242 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1243 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1244 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1245 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1246 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1250 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1251 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1252 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1253 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1255 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1256 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1258 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1259 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1261 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1262 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1264 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1269 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1271 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1273 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1275 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1276 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1277 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1278 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1281 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1282 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1283 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1287 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1289 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1290 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1291 installs shared libraries
1292 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1296 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1298 <p> Released Jan 1998
1301 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1303 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1304 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1306 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1307 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1311 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1312 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1313 file extension as the referenced file
1316 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1317 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1318 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1321 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1323 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1324 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1325 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1329 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1330 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1331 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1334 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1335 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1336 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1337 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1341 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1342 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1346 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1347 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1348 reasonable default configuration
1351 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1352 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1353 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1356 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1358 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1359 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1361 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1362 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1366 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1367 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1372 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1374 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1377 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1378 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1379 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1382 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1383 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1386 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1389 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1391 <p> Released July 1997.
1394 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1397 where <arch> is one of the following:
1398 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1401 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1403 <item>user ID's</item>
1405 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1407 <item>cron jobs</item>
1409 <item>device files</item>
1411 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1413 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1416 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1418 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1421 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1424 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1426 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1428 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1430 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1434 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1436 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1439 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1442 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1444 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1447 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1449 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1450 without consultation </item>
1452 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1455 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1457 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1460 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>