]> git.donarmstrong.com Git - debian/debian-policy.git/blobdiff - perl-policy.sgml
Release policy 3.9.7.0
[debian/debian-policy.git] / perl-policy.sgml
index ef1fbe64c479bb31637e785d27d4ede211345c95..12cd82c136e46c7f88b38727f12e6687edf8c77b 100644 (file)
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-<!doctype debiandoc system>
+<!doctype debiandoc system [
+<!-- include version information so we don't have to hard code it
+     within the document -->
+<!entity % versiondata SYSTEM "version.ent"> %versiondata;
+]>
 
 <debiandoc>
   <book>
        <name>The Debian Policy mailing list</name>
        <email>debian-policy@lists.debian.org</email>
       </author>
-      <version>version 1.20</version>
+      <version>version &version;, &date;</version>
 
       <abstract>
        This document describes the packaging of Perl within the Debian
-       GNU/Linux distribution and the policy requirements for packaged
+       distribution and the policy requirements for packaged
        Perl programs and modules.
       </abstract>
 
@@ -40,7 +44,7 @@
        </p>
        <p>
          A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as
-         <tt>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL</tt> in the Debian GNU/Linux
+         <tt>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL</tt> in the Debian
          distribution or on the World Wide Web at 
          <url id="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
          name="The GNU Public Licence">.
        </p>
        <p>
          The <package>perl-base</package> package must provide
-         <package>perlapi-<var>version</var></package> for all released
-         versions it is compatible with.
+         <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> for all released
+         package versions it is compatible with. The choice of
+         <var>abiname</var> is arbitrary, but if it differs from
+         <tt>$Config{version}</tt><footnote>see the
+         <tt>Config</tt> module</footnote>, it must be specified in
+         <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt>.
        </p>
       </sect>
 
                Modules installed by the local administrator for the
                current version of Perl (see <ref id="site">).
                <example>
-/usr/local/lib/perl/<var>version</var>
-/usr/local/share/perl/<var>version</var>
+$Config{sitearch}  (currently /usr/local/lib/perl/<var>version</var>)
+$Config{sitelib}   (currently /usr/local/share/perl/<var>version</var>)
                </example>
                Where <var>version</var> indicates the current Perl
-               version (<tt>$Config{version}</tt><footnote>see the
-               <tt>Config</tt> module</footnote>).
+               version (<tt>$Config{version}</tt>).
              </p>
+             <p>
+               These locations, particularly <tt>$Config{sitearch}</tt>,
+               may change if the binary interface between the
+               Perl interpreter and compiled modules has to be
+               changed in an incompatible way without a change in
+               <var>version</var>. While this will only be done as a
+               last resort, packages should use <tt>$Config{sitelib}</tt>
+               and <tt>$Config{sitearch}</tt>, not hardcode the current
+               locations.<footnote>Build systems based on
+               <tt>ExtUtils::MakeMaker</tt> and <tt>Module::Build</tt>
+               do this automatically.</footnote>
+             <p>
            </item>
            <tag><var>vendor</var></tag>
            <item>
              <p>
                Packaged modules (see <ref id="module_packages">).
                <example>
-/usr/lib/perl5
-/usr/share/perl5
+$Config{vendorarch} (currently /usr/lib/perl5)
+$Config{vendorlib}  (currently /usr/share/perl5)
                </example>
+               These locations, particularly
+               <tt>$Config{vendorarch}</tt>, may change if
+               necessary<footnote>For example, to include
+               the multiarch triplet</footnote>.  Packages
+               should use <tt>$Config{vendorlib}</tt> and
+               <tt>$Config{vendorarch}</tt>, not hardcode the current
+               locations.<footnote>Build systems based on
+               <tt>ExtUtils::MakeMaker</tt> and <tt>Module::Build</tt>
+               do this automatically.</footnote>
              </p>
            </item>
            <tag><var>core</var></tag>
              <p>
                Modules included in the core Perl distribution.
                <example>
-/usr/lib/perl/<var>version</var>
-/usr/share/perl/<var>version</var>
+$Config{archlib} (currently /usr/lib/perl/<var>shortversion</var>)
+$Config{privlib} (currently /usr/share/perl/<var>shortversion</var>)
                </example>
+               Where <var>shortversion</var> indicates the current Perl major
+               version (for example <tt>5.18</tt>).
+             </p>
+             <p>
+               These locations should be considered internal to the <package>
+               perl</package> source package. If necessary, packages should use
+               <tt>$Config{archlib}</tt> and <tt>$Config{privlib}</tt> instead of
+               hardcoding the current locations.<footnote>Build systems based on
+               <tt>ExtUtils::MakeMaker</tt> and <tt>Module::Build</tt>
+               do this automatically.</footnote>
              </p>
            </item>
            <tag><var>site</var> (old)</tag>
          package.
        </p>
        <p>
-         Manual pages distributed with Perl packages must be installed
-         into the standard directories:
+         Manual pages distributed with packages built from the perl
+         source package must be installed into the standard directories:
          <taglist>
            <tag>Programs</tag>
            <item>
              </p>
            </item>
          </taglist>
+         The extensions used for manual pages distributed with module
+         packages are different.  See <ref id="vendor_dirs">.
        </p>
       </sect>
     </chapt>
@@ -291,10 +331,17 @@ make install
        <heading>Module Package Names</heading>
        <p>
          Perl module packages should be named for the primary module
-         provided.  The naming convention for module <tt>Foo::Bar</tt>
-         is <package>libfoo-bar-perl</package>.  Packages which include
-         multiple modules may additionally include provides for those
-         modules using the same convention.
+         provided.  The naming convention is to lowercase the Perl module
+         name, prepend, <tt>lib</tt>, change all occurrences
+         of <tt>::</tt> to <tt>-</tt>, and append <tt>-perl</tt>.  For
+         example:
+         <example>
+Foo::Bar        libfoo-bar-perl
+Foo::Bar::Baz   libfoo-bar-baz-perl
+Foo::BarBaz     libfoo-barbaz-perl
+         </example>
+         Packages which include multiple modules may additionally include
+         provides for the additional modules using the same convention.
        </p>
       </sect>
 
@@ -313,7 +360,7 @@ $(MAKE) OPTIMIZE="-O2 -g -Wall"
          </example>
          and this one to install the results into the temporary tree:
          <example>
-$(MAKE) install PREFIX=$(CURDIR)/debian/&lt;tmp&gt;/usr
+$(MAKE) install DESTDIR=$(CURDIR)/debian/&lt;tmp&gt;
          </example><footnote>
            <p>Replace &lt;tmp&gt; with the appropriate directory
            (nominally just tmp)</p>
@@ -341,15 +388,17 @@ $(MAKE) install PREFIX=$(CURDIR)/debian/&lt;tmp&gt;/usr
        </sect1>
 
        <sect1 id="binary_modules">
-         <heading>Binary Modules</heading>
+         <heading>Binary and Other Architecture Dependent Modules</heading>
          <p>
            Binary modules must specify a dependency on either
            <package>perl</package> or <package>perl-base</package> with
            a minimum version of the <package>perl</package> package
-           used to build the module, and must additionally depend on
-           the expansion of
-           <package>perlapi-$Config{version}</package> using
-           the <tt>Config</tt> module.
+           used to build the module. Additionally, all binary modules
+           (regardless of their installation directory) and any other modules
+           installed into <tt>$Config{vendorarch}</tt> must depend on the
+           expansion of <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package> using
+           the <tt>Config</tt> module. If <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt>
+           is empty or not set, <tt>$Config{version}</tt> must be used.
          </p>
        </sect1>
 
@@ -446,6 +495,26 @@ perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ldopts
          package must depend upon it explicitly.
        </p>
       </sect>
+
+      <sect id="perl_upgrades">
+        <heading>Perl Package Upgrades</heading>
+        <p>
+          Starting from <package>perl</package> 5.12.3-2, a dpkg trigger
+          named <var>perl-major-upgrade</var> will be triggered by the
+          postinst of the <package>perl</package> package during major
+          upgrades. Some examples of things which constitute a major upgrade
+          are an upgrade which would change the value of versioned
+          directories in <tt>@INC</tt>, or one which changes <tt>abiname</tt>.
+          Any package may declare an interest in the trigger, especially
+          packages including long-running daemons which would stop working
+          until restart.
+        </p>
+        <p>
+          It is suggested that such packages include an appropriate section
+          in their postinst to handle the trigger by restarting relevant
+          daemons or notifying users of further action.
+        </p>
+      </sect>
     </chapt>
 
     <appendix id="perl6">