<!-- include version information so we don't have to hard code it
within the document -->
<!entity % versiondata SYSTEM "version.ent"> %versiondata;
+<!-- current Debian changes file format -->
+<!entity changesversion "1.8">
]>
<debiandoc>
<item>
must not require a package outside of <em>main</em>
for compilation or execution (thus, the package must
- not declare a "Depends", "Recommends", or
- "Build-Depends" relationship on a non-<em>main</em>
- package),
+ not declare a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, <tt>Depends</tt>,
+ <tt>Recommends</tt>, <tt>Build-Depends</tt>,
+ or <tt>Build-Depends-Indep</tt> relationship on a
+ non-<em>main</em> package unless a package
+ in <em>main</em> is listed as an alternative),
</item>
<item>
must not be so buggy that we refuse to support them,
These fields are used by <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> to
generate control files for binary packages (see below), by
<prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> to generate the
- <tt>.changes</tt> file to accompany the upload, and by
+ <file>.changes</file> file to accompany the upload, and by
<prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> when it creates the
<file>.dsc</file> source control file as part of a source
archive. Many fields are permitted to span multiple lines in
<p>
The <file>DEBIAN/control</file> file contains the most vital
- (and version-dependent) information about a binary package.
+ (and version-dependent) information about a binary package. It
+ consists of a single paragraph.
</p>
<p>
<heading>Debian source control files -- <tt>.dsc</tt></heading>
<p>
- This file contains a series of fields, identified and
- separated just like the fields in the control file of
- a binary package. The fields are listed below; their
- syntax is described above, in <ref id="pkg-controlfields">.
+ This file consists of a single paragraph, possibly surrounded by
+ a PGP signature. The fields of that paragraph are listed below.
+ Their syntax is described above, in <ref id="pkg-controlfields">.
<list compact="compact">
<item><qref id="f-Format"><tt>Format</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
<heading>Debian changes files -- <file>.changes</file></heading>
<p>
- The .changes files are used by the Debian archive maintenance
- software to process updates to packages. They contain one
- paragraph which contains information from the
- <tt>debian/control</tt> file and other data about the
- source package gathered via <tt>debian/changelog</tt>
- and <tt>debian/rules</tt>.
+ The <file>.changes</file> files are used by the Debian archive
+ maintenance software to process updates to packages. They
+ consist of a single paragraph, possibly surrounded by a PGP
+ signature. That paragraph contains information from the
+ <file>debian/control</file> file and other data about the
+ source package gathered via <file>debian/changelog</file>
+ and <file>debian/rules</file>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ <file>.changes</file> files have a format version that is
+ incremented whenever the documented fields or their meaning
+ change. This document describes format &changesversion;.
</p>
<p>
<heading><tt>Format</tt></heading>
<p>
- This field specifies a format revision for the file.
- The most current format described in the Policy Manual
- is version <strong>1.5</strong>. The syntax of the
- format value is the same as that of a package version
- number except that no epoch or Debian revision is allowed
- - see <ref id="f-Version">.
+ In <qref id="debianchangesfiles"><file>.changes</file></qref>
+ files, this field declares the format version of that file.
+ The syntax of the field value is the same as that of
+ a <qref id="f-Version">package version number</qref> except
+ that no epoch or Debian revision is allowed. The format
+ described in this document is <tt>&changesversion;</tt>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ In <qref id="debiansourcecontrolfiles"><file>.dsc</file>
+ Debian source control</qref> files, this field declares the
+ format of the source package. The field value is used by
+ programs acting on a source package to interpret the list of
+ files in the source package and determine how to unpack it.
+ The syntax of the field value is a numeric major revision, a
+ period, a numeric minor revision, and then an optional subtype
+ after whitespace, which if specified is an alphanumeric word
+ in parentheses. The subtype is optional in the syntax but may
+ be mandatory for particular source format revisions.
+ <footnote>
+ The source formats currently supported by the Debian archive
+ software are <tt>1.0</tt>, <tt>3.0 (native)</tt>,
+ and <tt>3.0 (quilt)</tt>.
+ </footnote>
</p>
</sect1>
must match the list of files in the <tt>Files</tt> field.
</p>
</sect1>
-
</sect>
<sect>
<p>
Packages distributed under the Apache license (version 2.0), the
- Artistic license, the GNU GPL (version 2 or 3), the GNU LGPL
- (versions 2, 2.1, or 3), and the GNU FDL (versions 1.2 or 1.3)
- should refer to the corresponding files
+ Artistic license, the GNU GPL (versions 1, 2, or 3), the GNU
+ LGPL (versions 2, 2.1, or 3), and the GNU FDL (versions 1.2 or
+ 1.3) should refer to the corresponding files
under <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>,<footnote>
<p>
In particular,
<file>/usr/share/common-licenses/Apache-2.0</file>,
<file>/usr/share/common-licenses/Artistic</file>,
+ <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-1</file>,
<file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2</file>,
<file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3</file>,
<file>/usr/share/common-licenses/LGPL-2</file>,
projects / debian / debian-policy.git / blobdiff