From a34ae3cf97b43e0d200ff4e25b10fd6fad9494ad Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bill Allombert <Bill.Allombert@math.u-bordeaux1.fr>
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 16:16:21 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] 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
---
 debian/changelog         | 8 +++++++-
 policy.sgml              | 5 ++++-
 upgrading-checklist.sgml | 3 +++
 3 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index cb9a7c0..93cf4f7 100644
--- 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 947a1e1..4adee0b 100644
--- 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 32293cd..7e490e6 100644
--- 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
-- 
2.39.2