Document that empty field values are only allowed in debian/control.

Policy: [5.1] empty field values in control files are only permitted in
the debian/control file of a source package.
Wording:  Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>
Seconded: Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org>
Seconded: Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org>
Closes: #666726

diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index cb9a7c0c56098eaab2e32e354451fb56f9fe6b04..93cf4f72107ca42cc197892d1229b94dec2adb6b 100644 (file)
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -13,8 +13,14 @@ debian-policy (3.9.7.0) unstable; urgency=low
     Seconded: Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>
     Seconded: Julien Cristau <jcristau@debian.org>
     Closes: #765499
+  * Policy: [5.1] empty field values in control files are only permitted in
+    the debian/control file of a source package.
+    Wording:  Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>
+    Seconded: Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org>
+    Seconded: Andrey Rahmatullin <wrar@debian.org>
+    Closes: #666726
 
- -- Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>  Sat, 31 Jan 2015 21:01:58 +0100
+ -- Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>  Sun, 08 Feb 2015 19:22:01 +0100
 
 debian-policy (3.9.6.1) unstable; urgency=low
 

diff --git a/policy.sgml b/policy.sgml
index 947a1e1561e4d80d3435c00103d8cbee8e05d1b2..4adee0b00da29910a0008d6aa549655e4d3a6383 100644 (file)
--- a/policy.sgml
+++ b/policy.sgml
@@ -2558,7 +2558,9 @@ Package: libc6
          the field name is <tt>Package</tt> and the field value
          <tt>libc6</tt>.
        </p>
-
+        <p> Empty field values are only permitted in source package control files
+         (<file>debian/control</file>). Such fields are ignored.
+        </p>
        <p>
          A paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
          particular field name.
@@ -2701,6 +2703,7 @@ Package: libc6
          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.
+         They are also responsible for discarding empty fields.
        </p>
 
        <p>

diff --git a/upgrading-checklist.sgml b/upgrading-checklist.sgml
index 32293cd679f1fc060df1d602712ade5eca571c06..7e490e643b38d882a88241fb4a469a7beaaa2014 100644 (file)
--- a/upgrading-checklist.sgml
+++ b/upgrading-checklist.sgml
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ Released xxx, 2015.
 <tag>9.2.2</tag>
   <item> 32bit UIDs in the range 65536-4294967293 are reserved for dynamically
   allocated user accounts.
+<tag>5.1</tag>
+  <item> Empty field values in control files are only permitted in the
+  <file>debian/control</file> file of a source package.
   </item> </taglist></p>
 
 <sect id="3.9.6.0"> Version 3.9.6.0