<sect1>
<heading>Standards conformance</heading>
+ <sect id="standardsversion">
<p>
In the source package's <tt>Standards-Version</tt> control
<p>
Many of the tools in the package management suite manipulate
- data in a common format, known as control files. Binary and
- source packages have control data as do the <tt>.changes</tt>
- files which control the installation of uploaded files, and
- <prgn>dpkg</prgn>'s internal databases are in a similar
+ data represented in a common format, known as <em>control
+ data</em>. The data is often stored in <em>control
+ files</em>. Binary and source packages have control files,
+ and the <tt>.changes</tt> files which control the installation
+ of uploaded files are also in control file format.
+ <prgn>Dpkg</prgn>'s internal databases are in a similar
format.
</p>
<sect><heading>Syntax of control files</heading>
<p>
- A file consists of one or more paragraphs of fields. The
- paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Some control files
- only allow one paragraph; others allow several, in which
- case each paragraph often refers to a different package.
+ A control file consists of one or more paragraphs of fields.
+ The paragraphs are separated by blank 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.)
</p>
<p>
- Each paragraph is a series of fields and values; each field
- consists of a name, followed by a colon and the value. It
- ends at the end of the line. 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.
+ 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 line. 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 be:
+ <example>
+ Package: libc6
+ </example>
+ the field name is <tt>Package</tt> and the field value
+ <tt>libc6</tt>.
</p>
<p>
<p>
Except where otherwise stated only a single line of data is
allowed and whitespace is not significant in a field body.
- Whitespace may never appear inside names (of packages,
- architectures, files or anything else), version numbers or
- in between the characters of multi-character version
+ 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>
would mean a new paragraph.
</p>
- <p>
- It is important to note that there are several fields which
- are optional as far as <prgn>dpkg</prgn> and the related
- tools are concerned, but which must appear in every Debian
- package, or whose omission may cause problems. When writing
- the control files for Debian packages you <em>must</em> read
- the Debian policy manual in conjunction with the details
- below and the list of fields for the particular file.</p>
</sect>
<sect><heading>List of fields</heading>
<p>
This list here is not supposed to be exhaustive. Most fields
- are dealt with elsewhere in this document and in the
- dpkg documentation.
+ are dealt with elsewhere in this document.
</p>
<sect1 id="f-Package"><heading><tt>Package</tt>
</heading>
<p>
They must be at least two characters long and must start
- with an alphanumeric character. The use of lowercase
- package names is strongly recommended unless the package
- you're building (or referring to, in other fields) is
- already using uppercase.</p>
+ with an alphanumeric character and not be all digits. The
+ use of lowercase package names is strongly recommended
+ unless the package you're building (or referring to, in
+ other fields) is already using uppercase.</p>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="f-Version"><heading><tt>Version</tt>
complies. This is updated manually when editing the
source package to conform to newer standards; it can
sometimes be used to tell when a package needs attention.
+ Its format is described above; see
+ <ref id="standardsversion">.
</p>
-
- <p>
- Its format is the same as that of a version number except
- that no epoch or Debian revision is allowed - see <ref
- id="versions">.</p>
</sect1>
In a <tt>.changes</tt> file or parsed changelog output
this contains the (space-separated) name(s) of the
distribution(s) where this version of the package should
- be or was installed. Distribution names follow the rules
- for package names. (See <ref id="f-Package">).
- </p>
-
- <p>
+ be installed. Valid distributions are determined by the
+ archive maintainers.
<footnote>
- Current distribution values are:
+ Current distribution names are:
<taglist>
<tag><em>stable</em></tag>
<item>
<p>
This is the current `released' version of Debian
- GNU/Linux. Once the
- distribution is <em>stable</em> only major bug fixes
- are allowed. When changes are made to this
- distribution, the release number is increased
- (for example: 1.2r1 becomes 1.2r2 then 1.2r3, etc).
+ GNU/Linux. Once the distribution is
+ <em>stable</em> only security fixes and other
+ major bug fixes are allowed. When changes are
+ made to this distribution, the release number is
+ increased (for example: 2.2r1 becomes 2.2r2 then
+ 2.2r3, etc).
</p>
</item>
</p>
</item>
+ <tag><em>testing</em></tag>
+ <item>
+ <p>
+ This distribution value refers to the
+ <em>testing</em> part of the Debian distribution
+ tree. It receives its packages from the
+ unstable distribution after a short time lag to
+ ensure that there are no major issues with the
+ unstable packages. It is less prone to breakage
+ than unstable, but still risky. It is not
+ possible to upload packages directly to
+ <em>testing</em>.
+ </p>
+ </item>
+
<tag><em>frozen</em></tag>
<item>
<p>
- From time to time, the <em>unstable</em>
+ From time to time, the <em>frozen</em>
distribution enters a state of `code-freeze' in
anticipation of release as a <em>stable</em>
version. During this period of testing only
fixes for existing or newly-discovered bugs will
- be allowed.
+ be allowed. The exact details of this stage are
+ determined by the Release Manager.
</p>
</item>
<tag><em>experimental</em></tag>
<item>
<p>
- The packages with this distribution value are deemed
- by their maintainers to be high risk. Oftentimes they
- represent early beta or developmental packages from
- various sources that the maintainers want people to
- try, but are not ready to be a part of the other parts
- of the Debian distribution tree. Download at your own
+ The packages with this distribution value are
+ deemed by their maintainers to be high
+ risk. Oftentimes they represent early beta or
+ developmental packages from various sources that
+ the maintainers want people to try, but are not
+ ready to be a part of the other parts of the
+ Debian distribution tree. Download at your own
risk.
</p>
</item>
</taglist>
- There are several sections in each
- distribution. Currently, these sections are:
-
- <taglist>
- <tag><em>main</em></tag>
- <item>
- <p>
- The packages in this section are those in the
- main Debian distribution. They are all free
- (according to the Debian free software
- guidelines) and meet any other criteria for
- inclusion described in this manual.</p>
- </item>
-
- <tag><em>contrib</em></tag>
- <item>
- <p>
- The packages in this section do not meet the
- criteria for inclusion in the main Debian
- distribution as defined by this manual, but are
- otherwise free, as defined by the Debian free
- software guidelines.</p>
- </item>
-
- <tag><em>non-free</em></tag>
- <item>
- <p>
- Packages in <em>non-free</em> do not meet the
- criteria of free software, as defined by the
- Debian free software guidelines. Again, use your
- best judgment in downloading from this
- Distribution.</p>
- </item>
- </taglist> You should list <em>all</em> distributions that
- the package should be installed into. Except in unusual
- circumstances, installations to <em>stable</em> should also
- go into <em>frozen</em> (if it exists) and
- <em>unstable</em>. Likewise, installations into
- <em>frozen</em> should also go into <em>unstable</em>.
+ You should list <em>all</em> distributions that the
+ package should be installed into.
</footnote>
</p>
</sect1>
projects / debian / debian-policy.git / commitdiff