<abstract>
This manual describes the policy requirements for the Debian
- GNU/Linux distribution. This includes the structure and
+ distribution. This includes the structure and
contents of the Debian archive and several design issues of
the operating system, as well as technical requirements that
each package must satisfy to be included in the distribution.
<p>
A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as
- <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL</file> in the Debian GNU/Linux
+ <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL</file> in the Debian
distribution or on the World Wide Web at
<url id="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
name="the GNU General Public Licence">. You can also
<heading>Scope</heading>
<p>
This manual describes the policy requirements for the Debian
- GNU/Linux distribution. This includes the structure and
+ distribution. This includes the structure and
contents of the Debian archive and several design issues of the
operating system, as well as technical requirements that
each package must satisfy to be included in the
The actual editing is done by a group of maintainers that have
no editorial powers. These are the current maintainers:
- <enumlist>
- <item>Julian Gilbey</item>
- <item>Branden Robinson</item>
- <item>Josip Rodin</item>
- <item>Manoj Srivastava</item>
- </enumlist>
+ <enumlist>
+ <item>Russ Allbery</item>
+ <item>Bill Allombert</item>
+ <item>Andrew McMillan</item>
+ <item>Manoj Srivastava</item>
+ <item>Colin Watson</item>
+ </enumlist>
</p>
<p>
<item><ref id="fhs"></item>
<item><ref id="virtual_pkg"></item>
<item><ref id="menus"></item>
- <item><ref id="mime"></item>
<item><ref id="perl"></item>
<item><ref id="maintscriptprompt"></item>
<item><ref id="emacs"></item>
<heading>The Debian Archive</heading>
<p>
- The Debian GNU/Linux system is maintained and distributed as a
+ The Debian system is maintained and distributed as a
collection of <em>packages</em>. Since there are so many of
them (currently well over 15000), they are split into
<em>sections</em> and given <em>priorities</em> to simplify
</p>
<p>
- The <em>main</em> archive area forms the <em>Debian GNU/Linux
- distribution</em>.
+ The <em>main</em> archive area forms the <em>Debian distribution</em>.
</p>
<p>
<sect1 id="main">
<heading>The main archive area</heading>
+ <p>
+ The <em>main</em> archive area comprises the Debian
+ distribution. Only the packages in this area are considered
+ part of the distribution. None of the packages in
+ the <em>main</em> archive area require software outside of
+ that area to function. Anyone may use, share, modify and
+ redistribute the packages in this archive area
+ freely<footnote>
+ See <url id="http://www.debian.org/intro/free"
+ name="What Does Free Mean?"> for
+ more about what we mean by free software.
+ </footnote>.
+ </p>
+
<p>
Every package in <em>main</em> must comply with the DFSG
(Debian Free Software Guidelines).
In addition, the packages in <em>main</em>
<list compact="compact">
<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
+ must not require or recommend 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),
</item>
<sect1 id="contrib">
<heading>The contrib archive area</heading>
+ <p>
+ The <em>contrib</em> archive area contains supplemental
+ packages intended to work with the Debian distribution, but
+ which require software outside of the distribution to either
+ build or function.
+ </p>
+
<p>
Every package in <em>contrib</em> must comply with the DFSG.
</p>
</list>
</p>
-
<p>
Examples of packages which would be included in
<em>contrib</em> are:
<sect1 id="non-free">
<heading>The non-free archive area</heading>
+ <p>
+ The <em>non-free</em> archive area contains supplemental
+ packages intended to work with the Debian distribution that do
+ not comply with the DFSG or have other problems that make
+ their distribution problematic. They may not comply with all
+ of the policy requirements in this manual due to restrictions
+ on modifications or other limitations.
+ </p>
+
<p>
Packages must be placed in <em>non-free</em> if they are
not compliant with the DFSG or are encumbered by patents
list of sections. At present, they are:
<em>admin</em>, <em>cli-mono</em>, <em>comm</em>, <em>database</em>,
<em>devel</em>, <em>debug</em>, <em>doc</em>, <em>editors</em>,
- <em>electronics</em>, <em>embedded</em>, <em>fonts</em>,
- <em>games</em>, <em>gnome</em>, <em>graphics</em>, <em>gnu-r</em>,
- <em>gnustep</em>, <em>hamradio</em>, <em>haskell</em>,
- <em>httpd</em>, <em>interpreters</em>, <em>java</em>, <em>kde</em>,
- <em>kernel</em>, <em>libs</em>, <em>libdevel</em>, <em>lisp</em>,
- <em>localization</em>, <em>mail</em>, <em>math</em>, <em>misc</em>,
+ <em>education</em>, <em>electronics</em>, <em>embedded</em>,
+ <em>fonts</em>, <em>games</em>, <em>gnome</em>, <em>graphics</em>,
+ <em>gnu-r</em>, <em>gnustep</em>, <em>hamradio</em>, <em>haskell</em>,
+ <em>httpd</em>, <em>interpreters</em>, <em>introspection</em>,
+ <em>java</em>, <em>kde</em>, <em>kernel</em>, <em>libs</em>,
+ <em>libdevel</em>, <em>lisp</em>, <em>localization</em>,
+ <em>mail</em>, <em>math</em>, <em>metapackages</em>, <em>misc</em>,
<em>net</em>, <em>news</em>, <em>ocaml</em>, <em>oldlibs</em>,
<em>otherosfs</em>, <em>perl</em>, <em>php</em>, <em>python</em>,
<em>ruby</em>, <em>science</em>, <em>shells</em>, <em>sound</em>,
<heading>Binary packages</heading>
<p>
- The Debian GNU/Linux distribution is based on the Debian
+ The Debian distribution is based on the Debian
package management system, called <prgn>dpkg</prgn>. Thus,
all packages in the Debian distribution must be provided
in the <tt>.deb</tt> file format.
</sect>
- <sect>
+ <sect id="maintainer">
<heading>The maintainer of a package</heading>
<p>
- Every package must have a Debian maintainer (the
- maintainer may be one person or a group of people
- reachable from a common email address, such as a mailing
- list). The maintainer is responsible for ensuring that
- the package is placed in the appropriate distributions.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The maintainer must be specified in the
- <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field with their correct name
- and a working email address. If one person maintains
- several packages, they should try to avoid having
- different forms of their name and email address in
+ Every package must have a maintainer, except for orphaned
+ packages as described below. The maintainer may be one person
+ or a group of people reachable from a common email address, such
+ as a mailing list. The maintainer is responsible for
+ maintaining the Debian packaging files, evaluating and
+ responding appropriately to reported bugs, uploading new
+ versions of the package (either directly or through a sponsor),
+ ensuring that the package is placed in the appropriate archive
+ area and included in Debian releases as appropriate for the
+ stability and utility of the package, and requesting removal of
+ the package from the Debian distribution if it is no longer
+ useful or maintainable.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The maintainer must be specified in the <tt>Maintainer</tt>
+ control field with their correct name and a working email
+ address. The email address given in the <tt>Maintainer</tt>
+ control field must accept mail from those role accounts in
+ Debian used to send automated mails regarding the package. This
+ includes non-spam mail from the bug-tracking system, all mail
+ from the Debian archive maintenance software, and other role
+ accounts or automated processes that are commonly agreed on by
+ the project.<footnote>
+ A sample implementation of such a whitelist written for the
+ Mailman mailing list management software is used for mailing
+ lists hosted by alioth.debian.org.
+ </footnote>
+ If one person or team maintains several packages, they should
+ use the same form of their name and email address in
the <tt>Maintainer</tt> fields of those packages.
</p>
</p>
<p>
- If the maintainer of a package quits from the Debian
- project, "Debian QA Group"
- <email>packages@qa.debian.org</email> takes over the
- maintainer-ship of the package until someone else
- volunteers for that task. These packages are called
- <em>orphaned packages</em>.<footnote>
- The detailed procedure for doing this gracefully can
- be found in the Debian Developer's Reference,
- see <ref id="related">.
+ If the maintainer of the package is a team of people with a
+ shared email address, the <tt>Uploaders</tt> control field must
+ be present and must contain at least one human with their
+ personal email address. See <ref id="f-Uploaders"> for the
+ syntax of that field.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ An orphaned package is one with no current maintainer. Orphaned
+ packages should have their <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field set
+ to <tt>Debian QA Group <packages@qa.debian.org></tt>.
+ These packages are considered maintained by the Debian project
+ as a whole until someone else volunteers to take over
+ maintenance.<footnote>
+ The detailed procedure for gracefully orphaning a package can
+ be found in the Debian Developer's Reference
+ (see <ref id="related">).
</footnote>
</p>
</sect>
</sect>
- <sect>
+ <sect id="dependencies">
<heading>Dependencies</heading>
<p>
</p>
<p>
- Sometimes, a package requires another package to be installed
- <em>and</em> configured before it can be installed. In this
- case, you must specify a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> entry for
- the package.
+ Sometimes, unpacking one package requires that another package
+ be first unpacked <em>and</em> configured. In this case, the
+ depending package must specify this dependency in
+ the <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> control field.
</p>
<p>
<p>
The <tt>base system</tt> is a minimum subset of the Debian
- GNU/Linux system that is installed before everything else
+ system that is installed before everything else
on a new system. Only very few packages are allowed to form
part of the base system, in order to keep the required disk
usage very small.
The maintainer name and email address used in the changelog
should be the details of the person uploading <em>this</em>
version. They are <em>not</em> necessarily those of the
- usual package maintainer. The information here will be
- copied to the <tt>Changed-By</tt> field in the
- <tt>.changes</tt> file (see <ref id="f-Changed-By">),
- and then later used to send an acknowledgement when the
- upload has been installed.
+ usual package maintainer.<footnote>
+ If the developer uploading the package is not one of the usual
+ maintainers of the package (as listed in
+ the <qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref>
+ or <qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref> control
+ fields of the package), the first line of the changelog is
+ conventionally used to explain why a non-maintainer is
+ uploading the package. The Debian Developer's Reference
+ (see <ref id="related">) documents the conventions
+ used.</footnote>
+ The information here will be copied to the <tt>Changed-By</tt>
+ field in the <tt>.changes</tt> file
+ (see <ref id="f-Changed-By">), and then later used to send an
+ acknowledgement when the upload has been installed.
</p>
<p>
identical behavior.
</p>
+ <p>
+ The following targets are required and must be implemented
+ by <file>debian/rules</file>: <tt>clean</tt>, <tt>binary</tt>,
+ <tt>binary-arch</tt>, <tt>binary-indep</tt>, and <tt>build</tt>.
+ These are the targets called by <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>.
+ </p>
+
<p>
Since an interactive <file>debian/rules</file> script makes it
- impossible to auto-compile that package and also makes it
- hard for other people to reproduce the same binary
- package, all <em>required targets</em> must be
- non-interactive. At a minimum, required targets are the
- ones called by <prgn>dpkg-buildpackage</prgn>, namely,
- <em>clean</em>, <em>binary</em>, <em>binary-arch</em>,
- <em>binary-indep</em>, and <em>build</em>. It also follows
- that any target that these targets depend on must also be
+ impossible to auto-compile that package and also makes it hard
+ for other people to reproduce the same binary package, all
+ required targets must be non-interactive. It also follows that
+ any target that these targets depend on must also be
non-interactive.
</p>
<p>
- The targets are as follows (required unless stated otherwise):
+ The targets are as follows:
<taglist>
- <tag><tt>build</tt></tag>
+ <tag><tt>build</tt> (required)</tag>
<item>
<p>
The <tt>build</tt> target should perform all the
</p>
</item>
- <tag><tt>binary</tt>, <tt>binary-arch</tt>,
- <tt>binary-indep</tt>
+ <tag><tt>binary</tt> (required), <tt>binary-arch</tt>
+ (required), <tt>binary-indep</tt> (required)
</tag>
<item>
<p>
</p>
</item>
- <tag><tt>clean</tt></tag>
+ <tag><tt>clean</tt> (required)</tag>
<item>
<p>
This must undo any effects that the <tt>build</tt>
<p>
The architectures we build on and build for are determined
- by <prgn>make</prgn> variables using the utility
- <qref id="pkg-dpkg-architecture"><prgn>dpkg-architecture</prgn></qref>.
- You can determine the
- Debian architecture and the GNU style architecture
- specification string for the build machine (the machine type
- we are building on) as well as for the host machine (the
- machine type we are building for). Here is a list of
- supported <prgn>make</prgn> variables:
+ by <prgn>make</prgn> variables using the
+ utility <qref id="pkg-dpkg-architecture"><prgn>dpkg-architecture</prgn></qref>.
+ You can determine the Debian architecture and the GNU style
+ architecture specification string for the build architecture as
+ well as for the host architecture. The build architecture is
+ the architecture on which <file>debian/rules</file> is run and
+ the package build is performed. The host architecture is the
+ architecture on which the resulting package will be installed
+ and run. These are normally the same, but may be different in
+ the case of cross-compilation (building packages for one
+ architecture on machines of a different architecture).
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Here is a list of supported <prgn>make</prgn> variables:
<list compact="compact">
<item>
<tt>DEB_*_ARCH</tt> (the Debian architecture)
<tt>DEB_*_GNU_TYPE</tt>)
</list>
where <tt>*</tt> is either <tt>BUILD</tt> for specification of
- the build machine or <tt>HOST</tt> for specification of the
- host machine.
+ the build architecture or <tt>HOST</tt> for specification of the
+ host architecture.
</p>
<p>
fields<footnote>
The paragraphs are also sometimes referred to as stanzas.
</footnote>.
- The paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Some control
+ The paragraphs are separated by empty lines. Parsers may accept
+ lines consisting solely of spaces and tabs as paragraph
+ separators, but control files should use empty lines. Some control
files allow only one paragraph; others allow several, in
which case each paragraph usually refers to a different
package. (For example, in source packages, the first
paragraph refers to the source package, and later paragraphs
- refer to binary packages generated from the source.)
+ refer to binary packages generated from the source.) The
+ ordering of the paragraphs in control files is significant.
</p>
<p>
Each paragraph consists of a series of data fields; each
field consists of the field name, followed by a colon and
- then the data/value associated with that field. It ends at
- the end of the (logical) line. Horizontal whitespace
+ then the data/value associated with that field. The field
+ name is composed of printable ASCII characters (i.e.,
+ characters that have values between 33 and 126, inclusive)
+ except colon and must not with a begin with #. The
+ field ends at the end of the line or at the end of the
+ last continuation line (see below). Horizontal whitespace
(spaces and tabs) may occur immediately before or after the
value and is ignored there; it is conventional to put a
single space after the colon. For example, a field might
</p>
<p>
- Many fields' values may span several lines; in this case
- each continuation line must start with a space or a tab.
- Any trailing spaces or tabs at the end of individual
- lines of a field value are ignored.
+ There are three types of fields:
+ <taglist>
+ <tag>simple</tag>
+ <item>
+ The field, including its value, must be a single line. Folding
+ of the field is not permitted. This is the default field type
+ if the definition of the field does not specify a different
+ type.
+ </item>
+ <tag>folded</tag>
+ <item>
+ The value of a folded field is a logical line that may span
+ several lines. The lines after the first are called
+ continuation lines and must start with a space or a tab.
+ Whitespace, including any newlines, is not significant in the
+ field values of folded fields.<footnote>
+ This folding method is similar to RFC 5322, allowing control
+ files that contain only one paragraph and no multiline fields
+ to be read by parsers written for RFC 5322.
+ </footnote>
+ </item>
+ <tag>multiline</tag>
+ <item>
+ The value of a multiline field may comprise multiple continuation
+ lines. The first line of the value, the part on the same line as
+ the field name, often has special significance or may have to be
+ empty. Other lines are added following the same syntax as the
+ continuation lines of the folded fields. Whitespace, including newlines,
+ is significant in the values of multiline fields.
+ </item>
+ </taglist>
</p>
<p>
- In fields where it is specified that lines may not wrap,
- only a single line of data is allowed and whitespace is not
- significant in a field body. Whitespace must not appear
+ Whitespace must not appear
inside names (of packages, architectures, files or anything
else) or version numbers, or between the characters of
multi-character version relationships.
</p>
+ <p>
+ The presence and purpose of a field, and the syntax of its
+ value may differ between types of control files.
+ </p>
+
<p>
Field names are not case-sensitive, but it is usual to
capitalize the field names using mixed case as shown below.
</p>
<p>
- Blank lines, or lines consisting only of spaces and tabs,
- are not allowed within field values or between fields - that
- would mean a new paragraph.
+ Paragraph separators (empty lines) and lines consisting only of
+ spaces and tabs are not allowed within field values or between
+ fields. Empty lines in field values are usually escaped by
+ representing them by a space followed by a dot.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Lines starting with # without any preceding whitespace are comments
+ lines that are only permitted in source package control files
+ (<file>debian/control</file>). These comment lines are ignored, even
+ between two continuation lines. They do not end logical lines.
</p>
<p>
<item><qref id="f-Source"><tt>Source</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
<item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
<item><qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref></item>
+ <item><qref id="f-DM-Upload-Allowed"><tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt></qref></item>
<item><qref id="f-Section"><tt>Section</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
<item><qref id="f-Priority"><tt>Priority</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
<item><qref id="sourcebinarydeps"><tt>Build-Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
<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
- <file>debian/control</file> but not in any other control
+ archive. Some fields are folded in <file>debian/control</file>,
+ but not in any other control
file. These tools are responsible for removing the line
breaks from such fields when using fields from
<file>debian/control</file> to generate other control files.
when they generate output control files.
See <ref id="substvars"> for details.
</p>
-
- <p>
- In addition to the control file syntax described <qref
- id="controlsyntax">above</qref>, this file may also contain
- comment lines starting with <tt>#</tt> without any preceding
- whitespace. All such lines are ignored, even in the middle of
- continuation lines for a multiline field, and do not end a
- multiline field.
- </p>
-
</sect>
<sect id="binarycontrolfiles">
<item><qref id="f-Version"><tt>Version</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
<item><qref id="f-Maintainer"><tt>Maintainer</tt></qref> (mandatory)</item>
<item><qref id="f-Uploaders"><tt>Uploaders</tt></qref></item>
+ <item><qref id="f-DM-Upload-Allowed"><tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt></qref></item>
<item><qref id="f-Homepage"><tt>Homepage</tt></qref></item>
<item><qref id="f-Standards-Version"><tt>Standards-Version</tt></qref> (recommended)</item>
<item><qref id="sourcebinarydeps"><tt>Build-Depends</tt> et al</qref></item>
</p>
<p>
- The source package control file is generated by
+ The Debian source control file is generated by
<prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> when it builds the source
archive, from other files in the source package,
described above. When unpacking, it is checked against
putting the name in round brackets and moving it to the
end, and bringing the email address forward).
</p>
+
+ <p>
+ See <ref id="maintainer"> for additional requirements and
+ information about package maintainers.
+ </p>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="f-Uploaders">
<heading><tt>Uploaders</tt></heading>
<p>
- List of the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of
- the package, if any. If the package has other maintainers
- beside the one named in the
- <qref id="f-Maintainer">Maintainer field</qref>, their names
- and email addresses should be listed here. The format of each
- entry is the same as that of the Maintainer field, and
- multiple entries must be comma separated. This is an optional
- field.
+ List of the names and email addresses of co-maintainers of the
+ package, if any. If the package has other maintainers besides
+ the one named in the <qref id="f-Maintainer">Maintainer
+ field</qref>, their names and email addresses should be listed
+ here. The format of each entry is the same as that of the
+ Maintainer field, and multiple entries must be comma
+ separated.
</p>
<p>
- Any parser that interprets the Uploaders field in
- <file>debian/control</file> must permit it to span multiple
- lines. Line breaks in an Uploaders field that spans multiple
- lines are not significant and the semantics of the field are
- the same as if the line breaks had not been present.
+ This is normally an optional field, but if
+ the <tt>Maintainer</tt> control field names a group of people
+ and a shared email address, the <tt>Uploaders</tt> field must
+ be present and must contain at least one human with their
+ personal email address.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The Uploaders field in <file>debian/control</file> can be folded.
</p>
</sect1>
</p>
<p>
- In the source package control file <file>.dsc</file>, this
- field may contain either the architecture
- wildcard <tt>any</tt> or a list of architectures and
- architecture wildcards separated by spaces. If a list is
- given, it may include (or consist solely of) the special
+ In the Debian source control file <file>.dsc</file>, this
+ field contains a list of architectures and architecture
+ wildcards separated by spaces. When the list contains the
+ architecture wildcard <tt>any</tt>, the only other value
+ allowed in the list is <tt>all</tt>.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The list may include (or consist solely of) the special
value <tt>all</tt>. In other words, in <file>.dsc</file>
files unlike the <file>debian/control</file>, <tt>all</tt> may
occur in combination with specific architectures.
- The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in the source package control
+ The <tt>Architecture</tt> field in the Debian source control
file <file>.dsc</file> is generally constructed from
the <tt>Architecture</tt> fields in
the <file>debian/control</file> in the source package.
</p>
<p>
- Specifying <tt>any</tt> indicates that the source package
+ Specifying only <tt>any</tt> indicates that the source package
isn't dependent on any particular architecture and should
compile fine on any one. The produced binary package(s)
- will either be specific to whatever the current build
- architecture is or will be architecture-independent.
+ will be specific to whatever the current build architecture is.
</p>
<p>
Specifying only <tt>all</tt> indicates that the source package
- will only build architecture-independent packages. If this is
- the case, <tt>all</tt> must be used rather than <tt>any</tt>;
- <tt>any</tt> implies that the source package will build at
- least one architecture-dependent package.
+ will only build architecture-independent packages.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Specifying <tt>any all</tt> indicates that the source package
+ isn't dependent on any particular architecture. The set of
+ produced binary packages will include at least one
+ architecture-dependant package and one architecture-independent
+ package.
</p>
<p>
<p>
This is a boolean field which may occur only in the
control file of a binary package or in a per-package fields
- paragraph of a main source control data file.
+ paragraph of a source package control file.
</p>
<p>
In a source or binary control file, the <tt>Description</tt>
field contains a description of the binary package, consisting
of two parts, the synopsis or the short description, and the
- long description. The field's format is as follows:
+ long description. It is a multiline field with the following
+ format:
</p>
<p>
Those starting with a single space are part of a paragraph.
Successive lines of this form will be word-wrapped when
displayed. The leading space will usually be stripped off.
+ The line must contain at least one non-whitespace character.
</item>
<item>
will be allowed to trail off to the right. None, one or two
initial spaces may be deleted, but the number of spaces
deleted from each line will be the same (so that you can have
- indenting work correctly, for example).
+ indenting work correctly, for example). The line must
+ contain at least one non-whitespace character.
</item>
<item>
field contains a summary of the descriptions for the packages
being uploaded. For this case, the first line of the field
value (the part on the same line as <tt>Description:</tt>) is
- always empty. The content of the field is expressed as
- continuation lines, one line per package. Each line is
+ always empty. It is a multiline field, with one
+ line per package. Each line is
indented by one space and contains the name of a binary
package, a space, a hyphen (<tt>-</tt>), a space, and the
short description line from that package.
<heading><tt>Changes</tt></heading>
<p>
- This field contains the human-readable changes data, describing
+ This multiline field contains the human-readable changes data, describing
the differences between the last version and the current one.
</p>
<heading><tt>Binary</tt></heading>
<p>
- This field is a list of binary packages. Its syntax and
+ This folded field is a list of binary packages. Its syntax and
meaning varies depending on the control file in which it
appears.
</p>
packages which a source package can produce, separated by
commas<footnote>
A space after each comma is conventional.
- </footnote>. It may span multiple lines. The source package
+ </footnote>. The source package
does not necessarily produce all of these binary packages for
every architecture. The source control file doesn't contain
details of which architectures are appropriate for which of
<p>
When it appears in a <file>.changes</file> file, it lists the
names of the binary packages being uploaded, separated by
- whitespace (not commas). It may span multiple lines.
+ whitespace (not commas).
</p>
</sect1>
and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt></heading>
<p>
- These fields contain a list of files with a checksum and size
+ These multiline fields contain a list of files with a checksum and size
for each one. Both <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> have the same syntax and differ
only in the checksum algorithm used: SHA-1
must match the list of files in the <tt>Files</tt> field.
</p>
</sect1>
+
+ <sect1 id="f-DM-Upload-Allowed">
+ <heading><tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt></heading>
+
+ <p>
+ The most recent version of a package uploaded to unstable or
+ experimental must include the field <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed:
+ yes</tt> in the source section of its source control file for
+ the Debian archive to accept uploads signed with a key in the
+ Debian Maintainer keyring. See the General
+ Resolution <url id="http://www.debian.org/vote/2007/vote_003"
+ name="Endorse the concept of Debian Maintainers"> for more
+ details.
+ </p>
+ </sect1>
</sect>
<sect>
Additional user-defined fields may be added to the
source package control file. Such fields will be
ignored, and not copied to (for example) binary or
- source package control files or upload control files.
+ Debian source control files or upload control files.
</p>
<p>
field name after the hyphen will be used in the output
file. Where the letter <tt>B</tt> is used the field
will appear in binary package control files, where the
- letter <tt>S</tt> is used in source package control
+ letter <tt>S</tt> is used in Debian source control
files and where <tt>C</tt> is used in upload control
(<tt>.changes</tt>) files.
</p>
<example>
XBS-Comment: I stand between the candle and the star.
</example>
- then the binary and source package control files will contain the
+ then the binary and Debian source control files will contain the
field
<example>
Comment: I stand between the candle and the star.
<p>
Broadly speaking the <prgn>preinst</prgn> is called before
- (a particular version of) a package is installed, and the
+ (a particular version of) a package is unpacked, and the
<prgn>postinst</prgn> afterwards; the <prgn>prerm</prgn>
before (a version of) a package is removed and the
<prgn>postrm</prgn> afterwards.
</heading>
<p>
- <list compact="compact">
- <item>
- <var>new-preinst</var> <tt>install</tt>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>new-preinst</var> <tt>install</tt> <var>old-version</var>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>new-preinst</var> <tt>upgrade</tt> <var>old-version</var>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>old-preinst</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
- <var>new-version</var>
- </item>
- </list>
+ What follows is a summary of all the ways in which maintainer
+ scripts may be called along with what facilities those scripts
+ may rely on being available at that time. Script names preceded
+ by <var>new-</var> are the scripts from the new version of a
+ package being installed, upgraded to, or downgraded to. Script
+ names preceded by <var>old-</var> are the scripts from the old
+ version of a package that is being upgraded from or downgraded
+ from.
+ </p>
<p>
- <list compact="compact">
- <item>
- <var>postinst</var> <tt>configure</tt>
- <var>most-recently-configured-version</var>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>old-postinst</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
- <var>new-version</var>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>conflictor's-postinst</var> <tt>abort-remove</tt>
- <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package</var>
- <var>new-version</var>
- </item>
+ The <prgn>preinst</prgn> script may be called in the following
+ ways:
+ <taglist>
+ <tag><var>new-preinst</var> <tt>install</tt></tag>
+ <tag><var>new-preinst</var> <tt>install</tt>
+ <var>old-version</var></tag>
+ <tag><var>new-preinst</var> <tt>upgrade</tt>
+ <var>old-version</var></tag>
<item>
- <var>postinst</var> <tt>abort-remove</tt>
+ The package will not yet be unpacked, so
+ the <prgn>preinst</prgn> script cannot rely on any files
+ included in its package. Only essential packages and
+ pre-dependencies (<tt>Pre-Depends</tt>) may be assumed to be
+ available. Pre-dependencies will have been configured at
+ least once, but at the time the <prgn>preinst</prgn> is
+ called they may only be in an unpacked or "Half-Configured"
+ state if a previous version of the pre-dependency was
+ completely configured and has not been removed since then.
</item>
+
+ <tag><var>old-preinst</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
+ <var>new-version</var></tag>
<item>
- <var>deconfigured's-postinst</var>
- <tt>abort-deconfigure</tt> <tt>in-favour</tt>
- <var>failed-install-package</var> <var>version</var>
- [<tt>removing</tt> <var>conflicting-package</var>
- <var>version</var>]
+ Called during error handling of an upgrade that failed after
+ unpacking the new package because the <tt>postrm
+ upgrade</tt> action failed. The unpacked files may be
+ partly from the new version or partly missing, so the script
+ cannot rely on files included in the package. Package
+ dependencies may not be available. Pre-dependencies will be
+ at least unpacked following the same rules as above, except
+ they may be only "Half-Installed" if an upgrade of the
+ pre-dependency failed.<footnote>
+ This can happen if the new version of the package no
+ longer pre-depends on a package that had been partially
+ upgraded.
+ </footnote>
</item>
- </list>
+ </taglist>
+ </p>
<p>
- <list compact="compact">
- <item>
- <var>prerm</var> <tt>remove</tt>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>old-prerm</var> <tt>upgrade</tt>
- <var>new-version</var>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>new-prerm</var> <tt>failed-upgrade</tt>
- <var>old-version</var>
- </item>
+ The <prgn>postinst</prgn> script may be called in the following
+ ways:
+ <taglist>
+ <tag><var>postinst</var> <tt>configure</tt>
+ <var>most-recently-configured-version</var></tag>
<item>
- <var>conflictor's-prerm</var> <tt>remove</tt>
- <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package</var>
- <var>new-version</var>
+ The files contained in the package will be unpacked. All
+ package dependencies will at least be unpacked. If there
+ are no circular dependencies involved, all package
+ dependencies will be configured. For behavior in the case
+ of circular dependencies, see the discussion
+ in <ref id="binarydeps">.
</item>
+
+ <tag><var>old-postinst</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
+ <var>new-version</var></tag>
+ <tag><var>conflictor's-postinst</var> <tt>abort-remove</tt>
+ <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package</var>
+ <var>new-version</var></tag>
+ <tag><var>postinst</var> <tt>abort-remove</tt></tag>
+ <tag><var>deconfigured's-postinst</var>
+ <tt>abort-deconfigure</tt> <tt>in-favour</tt>
+ <var>failed-install-package</var> <var>version</var>
+ [<tt>removing</tt> <var>conflicting-package</var>
+ <var>version</var>]</tag>
<item>
- <var>deconfigured's-prerm</var> <tt>deconfigure</tt>
- <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package-being-installed</var>
- <var>version</var> [<tt>removing</tt>
- <var>conflicting-package</var>
- <var>version</var>]
+ The files contained in the package will be unpacked. All
+ package dependencies will at least be "Half-Installed" and
+ will have previously been configured and not removed.
+ However, dependencies may not be configured or even fully
+ unpacked in some error situations.<footnote>
+ For example, suppose packages foo and bar are installed
+ with foo depending on bar. If an upgrade of bar were
+ started and then aborted, and then an attempt to remove
+ foo failed because its <prgn>prerm</prgn> script failed,
+ foo's <tt>postinst abort-remove</tt> would be called with
+ bar only "Half-Installed".
+ </footnote>
+ The <prgn>postinst</prgn> should still attempt any actions
+ for which its dependencies are required, since they will
+ normally be available, but consider the correct error
+ handling approach if those actions fail. Aborting
+ the <prgn>postinst</prgn> action if commands or facilities
+ from the package dependencies are not available is often the
+ best approach.
</item>
- </list>
+ </taglist>
+ </p>
<p>
- <list compact="compact">
- <item>
- <var>postrm</var> <tt>remove</tt>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>postrm</var> <tt>purge</tt>
- </item>
- <item>
- <var>old-postrm</var> <tt>upgrade</tt>
- <var>new-version</var>
- </item>
+ The <prgn>prerm</prgn> script may be called in the following
+ ways:
+ <taglist>
+ <tag><var>prerm</var> <tt>remove</tt></tag>
+ <tag><var>old-prerm</var>
+ <tt>upgrade</tt><var>new-version</var></tag>
+ <tag><var>conflictor's-prerm</var> <tt>remove</tt>
+ <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package</var>
+ <var>new-version</var></tag>
+ <tag><var>deconfigured's-prerm</var> <tt>deconfigure</tt>
+ <tt>in-favour</tt> <var>package-being-installed</var>
+ <var>version</var> [<tt>removing</tt>
+ <var>conflicting-package</var> <var>version</var>]</tag>
<item>
- <var>new-postrm</var> <tt>failed-upgrade</tt>
- <var>old-version</var>
+ The package whose <prgn>prerm</prgn> is being called will be
+ at least "Half-Installed". All package dependencies will at
+ least be "Half-Installed" and will have previously been
+ configured and not removed. If there was no error, all
+ dependencies will at least be unpacked, but these actions
+ may be called in various error states where dependencies are
+ only "Half-Installed" due to a partial upgrade.
</item>
+
+ <tag><var>new-prerm</var> <tt>failed-upgrade</tt>
+ <var>old-version</var></tag>
<item>
- <var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-install</tt>
+ Called during error handling when <tt>prerm upgrade</tt>
+ fails. The new package will not yet be unpacked, and all
+ the same constraints as for <tt>preinst upgrade</tt> apply.
</item>
+ </taglist>
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The <prgn>postrm</prgn> script may be called in the following
+ ways:
+ <taglist>
+ <tag><var>postrm</var> <tt>remove</tt></tag>
+ <tag><var>postrm</var> <tt>purge</tt></tag>
+ <tag><var>old-postrm</var> <tt>upgrade</tt>
+ <var>new-version</var></tag>
+ <tag><var>disappearer's-postrm</var> <tt>disappear</tt>
+ <var>overwriter</var> <var>overwriter-version</var></tag>
<item>
- <var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-install</tt>
- <var>old-version</var>
+ The <prgn>postrm</prgn> script is called after the package's
+ files have been removed or replaced. The package
+ whose <prgn>postrm</prgn> is being called may have
+ previously been deconfigured and only be unpacked, at which
+ point subsequent package changes do not consider its
+ dependencies. Therefore, all <prgn>postrm</prgn> actions
+ may only rely on essential packages and must gracefully skip
+ any actions that require the package's dependencies if those
+ dependencies are unavailable.<footnote>
+ This is often done by checking whether the command or
+ facility the <prgn>postrm</prgn> intends to call is
+ available before calling it. For example:
+<example>
+if [ "$1" = purge ] && [ -e /usr/share/debconf/confmodule ]; then
+ . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule
+ db_purge
+fi
+</example>
+ in <prgn>postrm</prgn> purges the <prgn>debconf</prgn>
+ configuration for the package
+ if <package>debconf</package> is installed.
+ </footnote>
</item>
+
+ <tag><var>new-postrm</var> <tt>failed-upgrade</tt>
+ <var>old-version</var></tag>
<item>
- <var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
- <var>old-version</var>
+ Called when the old <tt>postrm upgrade</tt> action fails.
+ The new package will be unpacked, but only essential
+ packages and pre-dependencies can be relied on.
+ Pre-dependencies will either be configured or will be
+ "Unpacked" or "Half-Configured" but previously had been
+ configured and was never removed.
</item>
+
+ <tag><var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-install</tt></tag>
+ <tag><var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-install</tt>
+ <var>old-version</var></tag>
+ <tag><var>new-postrm</var> <tt>abort-upgrade</tt>
+ <var>old-version</var></tag>
<item>
- <var>disappearer's-postrm</var> <tt>disappear</tt>
- <var>overwriter</var>
- <var>overwriter-version</var>
+ Called before unpacking the new package as part of the
+ error handling of <prgn>preinst</prgn> failures. May assume
+ the same state as <prgn>preinst</prgn> can assume.
</item>
- </list>
+ </taglist>
</p>
-
+ </sect>
<sect id="unpackphase">
<heading>Details of unpack phase of installation or upgrade</heading>
behavior which, though deterministic, is hard for the
system administrator to understand. It can easily
lead to "missing" programs if, for example, a package
- is installed which overwrites a file from another
+ is unpacked which overwrites a file from another
package, and is then removed again.<footnote>
Part of the problem is due to what is arguably a
bug in <prgn>dpkg</prgn>.
If there was a conflicting package we go and do the
removal actions (described below), starting with the
removal of the conflicting package's files (any that
- are also in the package being installed have already
+ are also in the package being unpacked have already
been removed from the conflicting package's file list,
and so do not get removed now).
</item>
specification subject to the rules in <ref
id="controlsyntax">, and must appear where it's necessary to
disambiguate; it is not otherwise significant. All of the
- relationship fields may span multiple lines. For
+ relationship fields can only be folded in source package control files. For
consistency and in case of future changes to
<prgn>dpkg</prgn> it is recommended that a single space be
used after a version relationship and before a version
number; it is also conventional to put a single space after
each comma, on either side of each vertical bar, and before
- each open parenthesis. When wrapping a relationship field, it
+ each open parenthesis. When opening a continuation line in a relationship field, it
is conventional to do so after a comma and before the space
following that comma.
</p>
architectures. This is indicated in brackets after each
individual package name and the optional version specification.
The brackets enclose a list of Debian architecture names
+ in the format described in <ref id="arch-spec">,
separated by whitespace. Exclamation marks may be prepended to
each of the names. (It is not permitted for some names to be
prepended with exclamation marks while others aren't.)
<p>
Relationships may also be restricted to a certain set of
- architectures using architecture wildcards. The syntax for
+ architectures using architecture wildcards in the format
+ described in <ref id="arch-wildcard-spec">. The syntax for
declaring such restrictions is the same as declaring
restrictions using a certain set of architectures without
architecture wildcards. For example:
</p>
<p>
- For this reason packages in an installation run are usually
- all unpacked first and all configured later; this gives
- later versions of packages with dependencies on later
- versions of other packages the opportunity to have their
- dependencies satisfied.
+ Since <tt>Depends</tt> only places requirements on the order in
+ which packages are configured, packages in an installation run
+ are usually all unpacked first and all configured later.
+ <footnote>
+ This approach makes dependency resolution easier. If two
+ packages A and B are being upgraded, the installed package A
+ depends on exactly the installed package B, and the new
+ package A depends on exactly the new package B (a common
+ situation when upgrading shared libraries and their
+ corresponding development packages), satisfying the
+ dependencies at every stage of the upgrade would be
+ impossible. This relaxed restriction means that both new
+ packages can be unpacked together and then configured in their
+ dependency order.
+ </footnote>
</p>
- <p>
- In case of circular dependencies, since installation or
- removal order honoring the dependency order can't be
- established, dependency loops are broken at some point
- (based on rules below), and some packages may not be able to
- rely on their dependencies being present when being
- installed or removed, depending on which side of the break
- of the circular dependency loop they happen to be on. If one
- of the packages in the loop has no postinst script, then the
- cycle will be broken at that package, so as to ensure that
- all postinst scripts run with the dependencies properly
- configured if this is possible. Otherwise the breaking point
- is arbitrary.
- </p>
-
<p>
- The <tt>Depends</tt> field thus allows package maintainers
- to impose an order in which packages should be configured.
+ If there is a circular dependency among packages being installed
+ or removed, installation or removal order honoring the
+ dependency order is impossible, requiring the dependency loop be
+ broken at some point and the dependency requirements violated
+ for at least one package. Packages involved in circular
+ dependencies may not be able to rely on their dependencies being
+ configured before they themselves are configured, depending on
+ which side of the break of the circular dependency loop they
+ happen to be on. If one of the packages in the loop has
+ no <prgn>postinst</prgn> script, then the cycle will be broken
+ at that package; this ensures that all <prgn>postinst</prgn>
+ scripts are run with their dependencies properly configured if
+ this is possible. Otherwise the breaking point is arbitrary.
+ Packages should therefore avoid circular dependencies where
+ possible, particularly if they have <prgn>postinst</prgn>
+ scripts.
</p>
<p>
This declares an absolute dependency. A package will
not be configured unless all of the packages listed in
its <tt>Depends</tt> field have been correctly
- configured.
+ configured (unless there is a circular dependency as
+ described above).
</p>
<p>
<p>
The <tt>Depends</tt> field should also be used if the
- <prgn>postinst</prgn>, <prgn>prerm</prgn> or
- <prgn>postrm</prgn> scripts require the package to be
- present in order to run. Note, however, that the
- <prgn>postrm</prgn> cannot rely on any non-essential
- packages to be present during the <tt>purge</tt>
- phase.
+ <prgn>postinst</prgn> or <prgn>prerm</prgn> scripts
+ require the depended-on package to be unpacked or
+ configured in order to run. In the case of <tt>postinst
+ configure</tt>, the depended-on packages will be unpacked
+ and configured first. (If both packages are involved in a
+ dependency loop, this might not work as expected; see the
+ explanation a few paragraphs back.) In the case
+ of <prgn>prerm</prgn> or other <prgn>postinst</prgn>
+ actions, the package dependencies will normally be at
+ least unpacked, but they may be only "Half-Installed" if a
+ previous upgrade of the dependency failed.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Finally, the <tt>Depends</tt> field should be used if the
+ depended-on package is needed by the <prgn>postrm</prgn>
+ script to fully clean up after the package removal. There
+ is no guarantee that package dependencies will be
+ available when <prgn>postrm</prgn> is run, but the
+ depended-on package is more likely to be available if the
+ package declares a dependency (particularly in the case
+ of <tt>postrm remove</tt>). The <prgn>postrm</prgn>
+ script must gracefully skip actions that require a
+ dependency if that dependency isn't available.
+ </p>
</item>
<tag><tt>Recommends</tt></tag>
</p>
<p>
- When the package declaring a pre-dependency is about
- to be <em>configured</em>, the pre-dependency will be
- treated as a normal <tt>Depends</tt>, that is, it will
- be considered satisfied only if the depended-on
- package has been correctly configured.
+ When the package declaring a pre-dependency is about to
+ be <em>configured</em>, the pre-dependency will be treated
+ as a normal <tt>Depends</tt>. It will be considered
+ satisfied only if the depended-on package has been
+ correctly configured. However, unlike
+ with <tt>Depends</tt>, <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> does not
+ permit circular dependencies to be broken. If a circular
+ dependency is encountered while attempting to honor
+ <tt>Pre-Depends</tt>, the installation will be aborted.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> are also required if the
+ <prgn>preinst</prgn> script depends on the named package.
+ It is best to avoid this situation if possible.
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
- <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> are also required if the
- <prgn>preinst</prgn> script depends on the named
- package. It is best to avoid this situation if
- possible.
+ You should not specify a <tt>Pre-Depends</tt> entry for a
+ package before this has been discussed on the
+ <tt>debian-devel</tt> mailing list and a consensus about
+ doing that has been reached. See <ref id="dependencies">.
</p>
</item>
</taglist>
<p>
When one binary package declares that it breaks another,
<prgn>dpkg</prgn> will refuse to allow the package which
- declares <tt>Breaks</tt> be installed unless the broken
+ declares <tt>Breaks</tt> to be unpacked unless the broken
package is deconfigured first, and it will refuse to
allow the broken package to be reconfigured.
</p>
<heading>Conflicting binary packages - <tt>Conflicts</tt></heading>
<p>
- When one binary package declares a conflict with another
- using a <tt>Conflicts</tt> field, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will
- refuse to allow them to be installed on the system at the
- same time. This is a stronger restriction than <tt>Breaks</tt>,
- which just prevents both packages from being configured at the
- same time. Conflicting packages cannot be unpacked on the
- system at the same time.
+ When one binary package declares a conflict with another using
+ a <tt>Conflicts</tt> field, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> will refuse to
+ allow them to be unpacked on the system at the same time. This
+ is a stronger restriction than <tt>Breaks</tt>, which prevents
+ the broken package from being configured while the breaking
+ package is in the "Unpacked" state but allows both packages to
+ be unpacked at the same time.
</p>
<p>
- If one package is to be installed, the other must be removed
- first. If the package being installed is marked as replacing
+ If one package is to be unpacked, the other must be removed
+ first. If the package being unpacked is marked as replacing
(see <ref id="replaces">, but note that <tt>Breaks</tt> should
normally be used in this case) the one on the system, or the one
on the system is marked as deselected, or both packages are
<item>when two packages provide the same file and will
continue to do so,</item>
<item>in conjunction with <tt>Provides</tt> when only one
- package providing a given virtual facility may be installed
+ package providing a given virtual facility may be unpacked
at a time (see <ref id="virtual">),</item>
<item>in other cases where one must prevent simultaneous
installation of two packages for reasons that are ongoing
Conflicts: mail-transport-agent
Replaces: mail-transport-agent
</example>
- ensuring that only one MTA can be installed at any one
+ ensuring that only one MTA can be unpacked at any one
time. See <ref id="virtual"> for more information about this
example.
</sect1>
library directories of the dynamic linker (which are currently
<file>/usr/lib</file> and <file>/lib</file>) or a directory that is
listed in <file>/etc/ld.so.conf</file><footnote>
- These are currently
- <list compact="compact">
- <item>/usr/local/lib</item>
- <item>/usr/lib/libc5-compat</item>
- <item>/lib/libc5-compat</item>
- </list>
+ These are currently <file>/usr/local/lib</file> plus
+ directories under <file>/lib</file> and <file>/usr/lib</file>
+ matching the multiarch triplet for the system architecture.
</footnote>
must use <prgn>ldconfig</prgn> to update the shared library
system.
<footnote>
<p>
During install or upgrade, the preinst is called before
- the new files are installed, so calling "ldconfig" is
+ the new files are unpacked, so calling "ldconfig" is
pointless. The preinst of an existing package can also be
called if an upgrade fails. However, this happens during
the critical time when a shared libs may exist on-disk
<ref id="conflicts">) to ensure that the user only installs one
development version at a time (as different development versions are
likely to have the same header files in them, which would cause a
- filename clash if both were installed).
+ filename clash if both were unpacked).
</p>
<p>
<file>/lib/<var>triplet</var></file> and
<file>/usr/lib/<var>triplet</var></file>, where
<tt><var>triplet</var></tt> is the value returned by
- <tt>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</tt> for the
+ <tt>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</tt> for the
architecture of the package. Packages may <em>not</em>
install files to any <var>triplet</var> path other
than the one matching the architecture of that package;
for instance, an <tt>Architecture: amd64</tt> package
containing 32-bit x86 libraries may not install these
- libraries to <file>/usr/lib/i486-linux-gnu</file>.
+ libraries to <file>/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu</file>.
<footnote>
This is necessary in order to reserve the directories for
use in cross-installation of library packages from other
to get access to kernel information.</footnote>
</p>
</item>
+ <item>
+ <p>
+ On GNU/Hurd systems, the following additional
+ directories are allowed in the root
+ filesystem: <file>/hurd</file>
+ and <file>/servers</file>.<footnote>
+ These directories are used to store translators and as
+ a set of standard names for mount points,
+ respectively.
+ </footnote>
+ </p>
+ </item>
</enumlist>
-
</p>
+
<p>
The version of this document referred here can be
found in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package or on <url
For example, the <tt>emacsen-common</tt> package could
contain something like
<example compact="compact">
-if [ ! -e /usr/local/share/emacs ]
-then
- if mkdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null
- then
- chown root:staff /usr/local/share/emacs
- chmod 2775 /usr/local/share/emacs
+if [ ! -e /usr/local/share/emacs ]; then
+ if mkdir /usr/local/share/emacs 2>/dev/null; then
+ if chown root:staff /usr/local/share/emacs; then
+ chmod 2775 /usr/local/share/emacs || true
+ fi
fi
fi
</example>
</p>
</sect>
- <sect>
+ <sect id="cron-jobs">
<heading>Cron jobs</heading>
<p>
Packages must not modify the configuration file
<file>/etc/crontab</file>, and they must not modify the files in
- <file>/var/spool/cron/crontabs</file>.</p>
+ <file>/var/spool/cron/crontabs</file>.
+ </p>
<p>
- If a package wants to install a job that has to be executed
- via cron, it should place a file with the name of the
- package in one or more of the following directories:
+ If a package wants to install a job that has to be executed via
+ cron, it should place a file named as specified
+ in <ref id="cron-files"> into one or more of the following
+ directories:
<example compact="compact">
/etc/cron.hourly
/etc/cron.daily
As these directory names imply, the files within them are
executed on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis,
respectively. The exact times are listed in
- <file>/etc/crontab</file>.</p>
+ <file>/etc/crontab</file>.
+ </p>
<p>
All files installed in any of these directories must be
<p>
If a certain job has to be executed at some other frequency or
- at a specific time, the package should install a file
- <file>/etc/cron.d/<var>package</var></file>. This file uses the
- same syntax as <file>/etc/crontab</file> and is processed by
- <prgn>cron</prgn> automatically. The file must also be
+ at a specific time, the package should install a file in
+ <file>/etc/cron.d</file> with a name as specified
+ in <ref id="cron-files">. This file uses the same syntax
+ as <file>/etc/crontab</file> and is processed
+ by <prgn>cron</prgn> automatically. The file must also be
treated as a configuration file. (Note that entries in the
<file>/etc/cron.d</file> directory are not handled by
<prgn>anacron</prgn>. Thus, you should only use this
directory for jobs which may be skipped if the system is not
- running.)</p>
+ running.)
+ </p>
+
<p>
Unlike <file>crontab</file> files described in the IEEE Std
1003.1-2008 (POSIX.1) available from
execute scripts in
<file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file>.
</p>
+
+ <sect1 id="cron-files">
+ <heading>Cron job file names</heading>
+
+ <p>
+ The file name of a cron job file should normally match the
+ name of the package from which it comes.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ If a package supplies multiple cron job files files in the
+ same directory, the file names should all start with the name
+ of the package (possibly modified as described below) followed
+ by a hyphen (<tt>-</tt>) and a suitable suffix.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ A cron job file name must not include any period or plus
+ characters (<tt>.</tt> or <tt>+</tt>) characters as this will
+ cause cron to ignore the file. Underscores (<tt>_</tt>)
+ should be used instead of <tt>.</tt> and <tt>+</tt>
+ characters.
+ </p>
+ </sect1>
</sect>
<sect id="menus">
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, RFCs 2045-2049)
is a mechanism for encoding files and data streams and
providing meta-information about them, in particular their
- type (e.g. audio or video) and format (e.g. PNG, HTML,
+ type (e.g. audio or video) and format (e.g. PNG, HTML,
MP3).
</p>
</p>
<p>
- The MIME support policy can be found in the <tt>mime-policy</tt>
- files in the <tt>debian-policy</tt> package.
- It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at
- <tt><url name="/doc/packaging-manuals/mime-policy/"
- id="http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/mime-policy/"></tt>.
+ The <package>mime-support</package> package provides the
+ <prgn>update-mime</prgn> program which allows packages to
+ register programs that can show, compose, edit or print
+ MIME types.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ Packages containing such programs must register them
+ with <prgn>update-mime</prgn> as documented in <manref
+ name="update-mime" section="8">. They should <em>not</em> depend
+ on, recommend, or suggest <prgn>mime-support</prgn>. Instead,
+ they should just put something like the following in the
+ <tt>postinst</tt> and <tt>postrm</tt> scripts:
+
+ <example>
+ if [ -x /usr/sbin/update-mime ]; then
+ update-mime
+ fi
+ </example>
</p>
</sect>
package that provides online documentation (other than just
manual pages) to register these documents with
<package>doc-base</package> by installing a
- <package>doc-base</package> control file via the
- <prgn/install-docs/ script at installation time and
- de-register the manuals again when the package is removed.
+ <package>doc-base</package> control file in
+ <file>/usr/share/doc-base/</file>.
</p>
<p>
Please refer to the documentation that comes with the
</example>
must be supported and must set the value of <tt>c</tt> to
<tt>delta</tt>.
- </item>
+ </item>
+ <item>The XSI extension to <prgn>kill</prgn> allowing <tt>kill
+ -<var>signal</var></tt>, where <var>signal</var> is either
+ the name of a signal or one of the numeric signals listed in
+ the XSI extension (0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 14, and 15), must be
+ supported if <prgn>kill</prgn> is implemented as a shell
+ built-in.
+ </item>
+ <item>The XSI extension to <prgn>trap</prgn> allowing numeric
+ signals must be supported. In addition to the signal
+ numbers listed in the extension, which are the same as for
+ <prgn>kill</prgn> above, 13 (SIGPIPE) must be allowed.
+ </item>
</list>
If a shell script requires non-SUSv3 features from the shell
interpreter other than those listed above, the appropriate shell
<heading>Symbolic links</heading>
<p>
- In general, symbolic links within a top-level directory
- should be relative, and symbolic links pointing from one
- top-level directory into another should be absolute. (A
- top-level directory is a sub-directory of the root
- directory <file>/</file>.)
+ In general, symbolic links within a top-level directory should
+ be relative, and symbolic links pointing from one top-level
+ directory to or into another should be absolute. (A top-level
+ directory is a sub-directory of the root
+ directory <file>/</file>.) For example, a symbolic link
+ from <file>/usr/lib/foo</file> to <file>/usr/share/bar</file>
+ should be relative (<file>../share/bar</file>), but a symbolic
+ link from <file>/var/run</file> to <file>/run</file> should be
+ absolute.<footnote>
+ This is necessary to allow top-level directories to be
+ symlinks. If linking <file>/var/run</file>
+ to <file>/run</file> were done with the relative symbolic
+ link <file>../run</file>, but <file>/var</file> were a
+ symbolic link to <file>/srv/disk1</file>, the symbolic link
+ would point to <file>/srv/run</file> rather than the intended
+ target.
+ </footnote>
</p>
<p>
<sect1>
<heading>Sharing configuration files</heading>
- <p>
- Packages which specify the same file as a
- <tt>conffile</tt> must be tagged as <em>conflicting</em>
- with each other. (This is an instance of the general rule
- about not sharing files. Note that neither alternatives
- nor diversions are likely to be appropriate in this case;
- in particular, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> does not handle diverted
- <tt>conffile</tt>s well.)
- </p>
-
- <p>
- The maintainer scripts must not alter a <tt>conffile</tt>
- of <em>any</em> package, including the one the scripts
- belong to.
- </p>
-
<p>
If two or more packages use the same configuration file
and it is reasonable for both to be installed at the same
and which manages the shared configuration files. (The
<tt>sgml-base</tt> package is a good example.)
</p>
+
+ <p>
+ If the configuration file cannot be shared as described above,
+ the packages must be marked as conflicting with each other.
+ Two packages that specify the same file as
+ a <tt>conffile</tt> must conflict. This is an instance of the
+ general rule about not sharing files. Neither alternatives
+ nor diversions are likely to be appropriate in this case; in
+ particular, <prgn>dpkg</prgn> does not handle diverted
+ <tt>conffile</tt>s well.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ When two packages both declare the same <tt>conffile</tt>, they
+ may see left-over configuration files from each other even
+ though they conflict with each other. If a user removes
+ (without purging) one of the packages and installs the other,
+ the new package will take over the <tt>conffile</tt> from the
+ old package. If the file was modified by the user, it will be
+ treated the same as any other locally
+ modified <tt>conffile</tt> during an upgrade.
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ The maintainer scripts must not alter a <tt>conffile</tt>
+ of <em>any</em> package, including the one the scripts
+ belong to.
+ </p>
</sect1>
<sect1>
</footnote>
</p>
+ <p>
+ Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
+ and either mode 644 (for most files) or mode 755 (for
+ executables such as <qref id="maintscripts">maintainer
+ scripts</qref>).
+ </p>
<p>
Setuid and setgid executables should be mode 4755 or 2755
<item>
If the window manager complies with <url
- id="http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/wm-spec"
+ id="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/wm-spec"
name="The Window Manager Specification Project">,
- written by the <url id="http://www.freedesktop.org/"
+ written by the <url id="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/"
name="Free Desktop Group">, add 40 points.
</item>
policy (such as for <ref id="appdefaults">).
</p>
</sect1>
-
- <sect1>
- <heading>The OSF/Motif and OpenMotif libraries</heading>
-
- <p>
- <em>Programs that require the non-DFSG-compliant OSF/Motif or
- OpenMotif libraries</em><footnote>
- OSF/Motif and OpenMotif are collectively referred to as
- "Motif" in this policy document.
- </footnote>
- should be compiled against and tested with LessTif (a free
- re-implementation of Motif) instead. If the maintainer
- judges that the program or programs do not work
- sufficiently well with LessTif to be distributed and
- supported, but do so when compiled against Motif, then two
- versions of the package should be created; one linked
- statically against Motif and with <tt>-smotif</tt>
- appended to the package name, and one linked dynamically
- against Motif and with <tt>-dmotif</tt> appended to the
- package name.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- Both Motif-linked versions are dependent
- upon non-DFSG-compliant software and thus cannot be
- uploaded to the <em>main</em> distribution; if the
- software is itself DFSG-compliant it may be uploaded to
- the <em>contrib</em> distribution. While known existing
- versions of Motif permit unlimited redistribution of
- binaries linked against the library (whether statically or
- dynamically), it is the package maintainer's
- responsibility to determine whether this is permitted by
- the license of the copy of Motif in their possession.
- </p>
- </sect1>
</sect>
<sect id="perl">
maintainer of the package is allowed to write this bug report
themselves, if they so desire). Do not close the bug report
until a proper man page is available.<footnote>
- It is not very hard to write a man page. See the
+ It is not very hard to write a man page. See the
<url id="http://www.schweikhardt.net/man_page_howto.html"
name="Man-Page-HOWTO">,
- <manref name="man" section="7">, the examples
- created by <prgn>debmake</prgn> or <prgn>dh_make</prgn>,
-
the helper program <prgn>help2man</prgn>, or the
- directory <file>/usr/share/doc/man-db/examples</file>.
+ <manref name="man" section="7">, the examples created
+ by <prgn>dh_make</prgn>, the helper
+ program <prgn>help2man</prgn>, or the
+ directory <file>/usr/share/doc/man-db/examples</file>.
</footnote>
</p>
<p>
In addition, the copyright file must say where the upstream
- sources (if any) were obtained. It should name the original
- authors of the package and the Debian maintainer(s) who were
- involved with its creation.
+ sources (if any) were obtained, and should name the original
+ authors.
</p>
<p>
Packages in the <em>contrib</em> or <em>non-free</em> archive
areas should state in the copyright file that the package is not
- part of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and briefly explain
- why.
+ part of the Debian distribution and briefly explain why.
</p>
<p>
<file>/usr/share/doc/<var>package</var></file> may be a symbolic
link to another directory in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> only if
the two packages both come from the same source and the
- first package Depends on the second. These rules are
- important because copyrights must be extractable by
+ first package Depends on the second. These rules are important
+ because <file>copyright</file> files must be extractable by
mechanical means.
</p>
<prgn>dpkg</prgn> is a suite of programs for creating binary
package files and installing and removing them on Unix
systems.<footnote>
- <prgn>dpkg</prgn> is targeted primarily at Debian
- GNU/Linux, but may work on or be ported to other
- systems.
+ <prgn>dpkg</prgn> is targeted primarily at Debian, but may
+ work on or be ported to other systems.
</footnote>
</p>
</p>
<p>
- The Debian version of the FSF's GNU hello program is provided
- as an example for people wishing to create Debian
- packages. The Debian <prgn>debmake</prgn> package is
- recommended as a very helpful tool in creating and maintaining
- Debian packages. However, while the tools and examples are
- helpful, they do not replace the need to read and follow the
- Policy and Programmer's Manual.</p>
+ The Debian version of the FSF's GNU hello program is provided as
+ an example for people wishing to create Debian packages. However,
+ while the examples are helpful, they do not replace the need to
+ read and follow the Policy and Programmer's Manual.</p>
</appendix>
<appendix id="pkg-binarypkg">
<p>
The <prgn>DEBIAN</prgn> directory will not appear in the
file system archive of the package, and so won't be installed
- by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when the package is installed.
+ by <prgn>dpkg</prgn> when the package is unpacked.
</p>
<p>
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