1 <!doctype debiandoc system
>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages
</title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert
<email/ballombe@debian.org/
</author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin
</author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey
</author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery
</author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava
<email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not
"official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version
3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [
3.4] means section
3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the
"Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version
< 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version
3.9.1.0
44 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass
<tt>--package
</tt>
45 to
<prgn>dpkg-divert
</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
46 must not use
<tt>--local
</tt>.
49 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
50 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
51 architecture-independent.
54 <item><tt>Conflicts
</tt> and
<tt>Breaks
</tt> should only be used when
55 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
56 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
58 <tag>8.6.1,
8.6.2,
8.6.5</tag>
59 <item>Packages should normally not include a
<file>shlibs.local
</file>
60 file since we now have complete
<file>shlibs
</file> coverage.
63 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
64 form
<tt><var>name
</var>-
<var>major-version
</var>.so
</tt>.
67 <item>Libtool
<file>.la
</file> files should not be installed for public
68 libraries. If they're required (for
<tt>libltdl
</tt>, for instance),
69 the
<tt>dependency_libs
</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
70 packages historically including
<file>.la
</file> files must continue to
71 include them (with
<tt>dependency_libs
</tt> emptied) until all libraries
72 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
73 their
<file>.la
</file> files.
76 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with
<tt>-D_REENTRANT
</tt>,
77 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
78 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
79 thread-safe if the library supports this.
82 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
83 of
<file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin
</file> and web servers should serve out
84 executables in those subdirectories.
87 <item>The GPL version
1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
88 referenced from there instead of included in the
<file>copyright
</file>
93 <sect> Version
3.9.0.0
99 <tag>4.4,
5.6.15</tag>
100 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
101 Date control field is now precisely specified.
104 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
105 particular field name.
107 <tag>5.4,
5.5,
5.6.24</tag>
108 <item>Document and recommend the
<tt>Checksums-Sha1
</tt>
109 and
<tt>Checksums-Sha256
</tt> fields in
<file>*.dsc
</file>
110 and
<file>*.changes
</file> files.
112 <tag>5.5,
5.6.16</tag>
113 <item>The
<tt>Format
</tt> field of
<file>.changes
</file> files is now
114 1.8. The
<tt>Format
</tt> field syntax for source
115 package
<file>.dsc
</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
116 is used for a different purpose than the
<tt>Format
</tt> field
117 for
<file>.changes
</file> files.
120 <item>The syntax of the
<tt>Maintainer
</tt> field is now must rather
124 <item>The comma separating entries in
<tt>Uploaders
</tt> is now must
127 <tag>5.6.8,
7.1,
11.1.1</tag>
128 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
129 architectures in
<file>debian/control
</file> and
<file>*.dsc
</file>
130 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
134 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
135 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
136 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
137 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
138 question, but should avoid this if possible.
140 <tag>7.3,
7.6.1</tag>
141 <item><tt>Breaks
</tt> should be used with
<tt>Replaces
</tt> for moving
142 files between packages.
145 <item><tt>Breaks
</tt> should normally be used instead
146 of
<tt>Conflicts
</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
147 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
150 <item>Use
<tt>Conflicts
</tt> with
<tt>Provides
</tt> if only one provider
151 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
154 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
155 in the
<tt>-dev
</tt> package, only be available when the
<tt>-dev
</tt>
156 package is installed. This allows the
<tt>-dev
</tt> package to be split
157 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
160 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to
1000-
59999.
162 <tag>9.3.2,
10.4</tag>
163 <item><file>init.d
</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
164 normal requirement to use
<tt>set -e
</tt> in each shell script.
167 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
168 should be referenced from
<file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD
</file>.
169 It should instead be included directly
170 in
<file>debian/copyright
</file>, although it will still be in
171 common-licenses for the time being.
174 <item>Add
<tt>SETTITLE
</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
175 Like
<tt>TITLE
</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
179 <item><package>perl-base
</package> now
180 provides
<package>perlapi-
<var>abiname
</var></package> instead of a
181 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
182 on
<package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}
</package>, falling back
183 on
<tt>$Config{version}
</tt> if
<tt>$Config{debian_abi}
</tt> is not set.
186 <item>Packages using
<file>Makefile.PL
</file> should use
187 <tt>DESTDIR
</tt> rather than
<tt>PREFIX
</tt> to install into the package
188 staging area.
<tt>PREFIX
</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
192 <sect> Version
3.8.4.0
199 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
200 Permitting files to instead be installed to
<file>/lib/triplet
</file> and
201 <file>/usr/lib/triplet
</file> directories.
204 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
205 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
208 <item><file>/sys
</file> and
<file>/selinux
</file> directories are explicitly
209 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
213 <sect> Version
3.8.3.0
219 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
220 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
223 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain
<em/all/ in
224 combination with other architectures. Clarify when
<em/all/ and
<em/any/
225 may be used in different versions of the field.
228 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
229 to multiple distributions with one
<file>*.changes
</file> file.
232 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
235 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
236 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify
<file/ld.so.conf/.
237 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
238 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
241 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
242 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
243 into
<file>/usr/include/X11
</file> and
<file>/usr/lib/X11
</file>.
246 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
247 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
250 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
251 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
252 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
256 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
257 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
258 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
259 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
260 support partial upgrades.
263 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
264 Depend and Build-Depend on
<tt>perl
>=
5.6.0-
16</tt> has been removed.
268 <sect> Version
3.8.2.0
275 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
276 <url id=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
277 name=
"this debian-devel-announce message">
278 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
282 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
283 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
284 back on other methods.
287 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
291 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
292 FHS permitting
<file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-
4</file>.
295 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
296 <file>/var/mail
</file>.
299 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
303 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version
1.3 is included in
304 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
308 <sect> Version
3.8.1.0
315 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
316 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
317 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
320 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-
8.
323 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
327 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
328 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
331 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
332 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
335 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-
8.
338 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
339 preceding whitespace.
342 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
343 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by
<prgn>/bin/sh
</prgn> regardless
344 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
345 behavior of the init system in Debian.
348 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
349 start the daemon again if it's already running.
352 <item><file>/var/run
</file> and
<file>/var/lock
</file> may be mounted as
353 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
354 subdirectories dynamically.
357 <item> <file>/bin/sh
</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
358 variable arguments and supports assignment.
361 <item>User mailboxes may be mode
600 and owned by the user rather than
362 mode
660, owned by user, and group mail.
366 <sect> Version
3.8.0.0
373 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
374 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
375 system is now defined by priority.
377 <item>If
<prgn>dpkg-source -x
</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
378 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
380 <tag>4.9.1,
10.1</tag>
381 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
382 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
383 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
384 unknown flags be ignored.
386 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
387 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
388 processes if the package supports it
390 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
391 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
394 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
395 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
396 <file>debian/README.source
</file> file explaining how to generate
397 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
398 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
399 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
402 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
404 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of
0 in
407 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
408 <tag>6.5,
6.6,
7</tag>
409 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
410 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
411 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
412 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
414 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
415 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
416 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
419 <item>Files in
<file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}
</file> must be
420 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
423 <item>Packages providing
<file>/etc/X11/Xresources
</file> files need not
424 conflict with
<tt> xbase (
<< 3.3.2.3a-
2)
</tt>, which is
427 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
428 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-
8. Country names should
429 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
430 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
431 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
432 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
435 <item>The Apache
2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
436 referenced rather than quoted in
<file>debian/copyright
</file>.
438 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
439 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
442 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
445 <sect> Version
3.7.3.0
452 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
453 anything, even the end of a part.
455 <item>Scripts may assume that
<file>/bin/sh
</file> supports local (at a basic
456 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
459 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
460 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
462 <tag>menu policy
</tag>
463 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
464 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
465 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
466 sections would be more appropriate.
468 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
471 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
472 critical, or emergency.
474 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
475 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
476 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
479 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
480 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
481 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
483 <item>GFDL
1.2, GPL
3, and LGPL
3 are now in common-licenses and should
484 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
487 <sect> Version
3.7.2.2
493 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
494 should to a must)
</item>
497 <sect> Version
3.7.2.0
503 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change.
</item>
506 <sect> Version
3.7.1.0
513 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
514 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
515 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
516 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
517 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
518 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
521 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
522 <file>/usr/include/X11/
</file> and
<file>/usr/lib/X11/
</file>, but if
523 they do so, they must pre-depend on
<tt>x11-common (
>=
1:
7.0.0)
</tt>
526 <sect> Version
3.7.0.0
533 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
534 them in
<file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/
</file> directories. This location change
535 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
537 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
538 cgi-lib to
<file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib
</file>.
540 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
541 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
542 though new top level directories
<file>/media
</file>,
<file>/srv
</file>,
543 etc. may be of interest.
544 <tag>5.1,
5.6.3</tag>
545 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
546 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
547 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
548 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
549 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
550 as well, to prepare for future changes.
552 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
553 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
554 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
557 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
558 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
560 <tag>11.8.5.2,
11.8.7, etc
</tag>
561 <item>We no longer use
<file>/usr/X11R6
</file>, since we have
562 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
563 live in
<file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/
</file> now, and
<file>/usr/X11R6
</file>
567 <sect> Version
3.6.2.0
574 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
577 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
578 <file>/usr/lib/
</file> or
<file>/usr/share
</file>, and preferably the shared
579 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
582 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
583 allow packages to share image files with the web server
587 <sect> Version
3.6.1.0
594 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
595 user prompts are now deprecated.
605 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
606 the minor version number:
608 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
609 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
610 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
611 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
612 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
613 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
614 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
615 deb-building tool-chain.
617 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
618 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
619 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
620 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
622 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
623 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
624 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
625 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
626 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
627 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
628 sections about changelog files.
629 <tag>menu policy
</tag>
630 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
633 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-
8 encoded.
635 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
636 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
638 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
642 <sect> Version
3.5.10
649 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
650 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
653 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
654 Project may add
40 points for ranking in the alternatives
657 <sect> Version
3.5.9.0
664 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
665 full details of the long description format.
667 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
668 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
669 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
671 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
672 the init script should start the service.
674 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
675 example files can be installed into
<file>/usr/share/doc/package
</file>
676 (rather than
<file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples
</file>).
679 <sect> Version
3.5.8.0
686 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
687 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
688 documented in the changelog file.
690 <item><var/Build-Depends/,
<var/Build-Conflicts/,
<var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
691 and
<var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
693 <tag>menu policy
</tag>
694 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
695 <tag>debconf policy
</tag>
696 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
698 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
699 manual pages to undocumented(
7). Missing manual pages for programs
703 <sect> Version
3.5.7.0
710 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
711 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
713 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
716 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
717 special Tasks: field in the control file.
719 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add
20 points when
720 they add themselves as an alternative for
721 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager
</file>
723 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
724 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
725 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
726 environment variable.
728 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
729 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
730 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
731 review the new rules.
733 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
734 scripts. Long rationale.
738 Added the last note in
3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
739 rules, please see below
742 <sect> Version
3.5.6.0
749 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
752 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via
<file>/usr/share/doc
</file>,
753 and not via
<file>/usr/doc/
</file> as was the policy previously
755 <item>Putting documentation in
<file>/usr/doc
</file> versus
756 <file>/usr/share/doc
</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
758 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
759 <file>/usr/share/doc
</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
760 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
761 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
763 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
764 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
767 <sect> Version
3.5.5.0
774 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
775 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
776 symlinks or .so pages to do this
779 <item><em> Clarified note in
3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
780 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
781 by scripts; see section
10.7.3 for the whole story
</em>
784 <item>Included a new section
10.9.1 describing the use of
785 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
788 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
789 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
792 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
795 <tag>X Windows related things:
</tag>
798 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
802 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved
</item>
804 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
805 fonts for the X Window System
808 <item>Packages must not ship
<file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/
</file>
811 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
812 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
815 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
816 OSF/Motif-linked ones
821 <sect> Version
3.5.4.0
822 <p> Released Apr
2001.
826 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
827 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
828 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
831 <tag>11.9; perl-policy
</tag>
832 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
833 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
838 <sect> Version
3.5.3.0
839 <p> Released Apr
2001
843 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
844 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
847 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
848 in
<file>/usr/share/
<package
></file> or
849 <file>/usr/lib/
<package
></file>, with symbolic links from
850 <file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
>/examples
</file> as needed
854 <sect> Version
3.5.2.0
856 <p> Released Feb
2001.
860 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
861 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults
</file> to
862 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults
</file>
866 <sect> Version
3.5.1.0
868 <p> Released Feb
2001.
872 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
873 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
877 <sect> Version
3.5.0.0
879 <p> Released Jan
2001.
883 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
884 dependency on xutils (
>=
4.0.2)
888 <sect> Version
3.2.1.1
890 <p> Released Jan
2001.
894 <item>Daemon startup scripts in
<file>/etc/init.d/
</file> should not contain
895 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
896 <file>/etc/default/
</file>
899 <item>Files in
<file>/usr/share/doc
</file> must not be referenced by any
900 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
901 <file>/usr/share/
<package
>/
</file>, and symbolic links
902 created as required in
<file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
>/
</file>
905 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
910 <sect> Version
3.2.1.0
916 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
917 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
918 and the other without
922 <sect> Version
3.2.0.0
928 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
929 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
930 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
933 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
934 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
935 should always be generated for the upstream changes
938 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (
3.2)
939 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
942 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
946 <item>X server (virtual package xserver)
</item>
948 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator)
</item>
950 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
951 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager
</file> alternative, with priority
952 calculation guidelines)
955 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch)
</item>
957 <item>X application defaults
</item>
961 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
965 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles
</item>
967 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
968 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
973 <sect> Version
3.1.1.0
975 <p> Released Nov
1999.
979 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
980 etc. Should not affect many packages
984 <sect> Version
3.1.0.0
986 <p> Released Oct
1999.
990 <item><file>/usr/doc/
<package
></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
991 <file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
></file>, to be maintained by postinst
995 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.)
</item>
997 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot
</file> has been deprecated in favour of
998 <file>/etc/rcS.d
</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
999 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1002 <item>update-rc.d is now the
<em>only
</em> allowable way of accessing the
1003 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*
</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1004 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1005 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1009 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1010 <file>/usr/lib/
<package
>/examples
</file>
1011 with symlinks from
<file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
>/examples/*
</file>
1012 or from
<file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
>/examples
</file> itself
1015 <item>Updated FHS to a
2.1 draft; this reverts
<file>/var/state
</file> to
1016 <file>/var/lib
</file>
1018 <tag>9.7; mime-policy
</tag>
1019 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document
</item>
1021 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1024 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1025 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1029 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1030 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1031 using
<prgn>lynx -dump -nolist
</prgn>.)
1034 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1039 <sect> Version
3.0.1.0
1041 <p> Released Jul
1999.
1045 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1046 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1047 files must go in the run-time library package
1051 <sect> Version
3.0.0.0
1053 <p> Released Jun
1999.
1057 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1058 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1062 <item>Only
3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1063 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1066 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1067 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses
</file>. This may require changing the
1068 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1069 other major licenses
1072 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1073 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1076 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1079 <item>section
5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1082 <tag>9.6; menu-policy
</tag>
1083 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1084 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1087 <item>Programs which need to modify the files
<file>/var/run/utmp
</file>,
1088 <file>/var/log/wtmp
</file> and
<file>/var/log/lastlog
</file> must be
1089 installed setgid utmp
1093 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1096 <sect> Version
2.5.0.0
1098 <p> Released Oct
1998.
1102 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section
4, Files
1104 <item>Section
3.3 (
"Files") was moved to Section
4. The Sections
1105 that were Section
4 and Section
5 were moved down to become
1106 Section
5 and Section
6.
1108 <item>What was Section
5.5 (
"Log files") is now a subsection of the
1109 new Section
4 (
"Files"), becoming section
4.8, placed after
1110 "Configuration files", moving the Section
4.8 (
"Permissions
1111 and owners") to Section
4.9. All subsections of the old
1112 Section
5 after
5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1116 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1117 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1118 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1119 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz
</file>
1121 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1122 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1124 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1125 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1127 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1128 files. The correct location is
<file>/usr/doc/package/copyright
</file>
1130 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1135 <sect> Version
2.4.1.0
1137 <p> Released Apr
1998.
1139 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1141 <tag>Updated section
3.3.5 Symbolic links:
</tag>
1142 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1143 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1144 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#
6, topic
2)
1147 <tag>Updated section
4.9 Games:
</tag>
1148 <item>manpages for games should be installed in
<file>/usr/man/man6
</file>
1149 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#
6, topic
3)
1153 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1155 <item>Updated prefix of chapter
12, Shared Libraries:
1156 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1157 installs shared libraries
1158 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #
6, fixes:bug#
20515)
1162 <sect> Version
2.4.0.0
1164 <p> Released Jan
1998
1167 <tag>Updated section
3.3.4 Scripts:
</tag>
1169 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1170 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify
<file>/bin/bash
</file>
1172 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1173 (e.g., in
<file>/tmp
</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1177 <tag>Updated section
3.3.5 Symbolic Links:
</tag>
1178 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1179 file extension as the referenced file
1182 <tag>Updated section
3.3.6 Device files:
</tag>
1183 <item><file>/dev/tty*
</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1184 <file>/dev/cu*
</file>
1187 <tag>Updated section
3.4.2 Writing the scripts in
<file>/etc/init.d
</file>:
1189 <item>all
<file>/etc/init.d
</file> scripts have to provide the following
1190 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1191 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1195 <tag>Updated section
3.5 Cron jobs:
1196 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1197 be installed into
<file>/etc/cron.d
</file>
1200 <tag>Updated section
3.7 Menus:
1201 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1202 (the corresponding section in
4.4, Web servers and applications,
1203 has been removed in policy
2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1207 <tag>New section
3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1208 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1212 <tag>New section
3.9 Environment variables:
1213 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1214 reasonable default configuration
1217 <tag>New section
4.6 News system configuration:
1218 <item><file>/etc/news/organization
</file> and
<file>/etc/news/server
</file>
1219 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1222 <tag>Updated section
4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1224 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1225 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1227 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1228 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1232 <tag>Updated section
4.9 Games:
1233 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in
<file>/usr/games
</file>,
1238 <sect> Version
2.3.0.1,
2.3.0.0
1240 <p> Released Sep
1997.
1243 <item>new section `
4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1244 <file>/etc/services
</file>,
<file>/etc/protocols
</file>,
1245 <file>/etc/rpc
</file>, and
<file>/etc/inetd.conf
</file>
1248 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1249 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1252 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile
</item>
1255 <sect> Version
2.2.0.0
1257 <p> Released July
1997.
1260 <item>added section
4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1263 where
<arch
> is one of the following:
1264 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1267 <item>detailed rules for
<file>/usr/local
</file></item>
1269 <item>user ID's
</item>
1271 <item>editor/pager policy
</item>
1273 <item>cron jobs
</item>
1275 <item>device files
</item>
1277 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable
</item>
1279 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles
</item>
1282 <sect> Version
2.1.3.2,
2.1.3.1,
2.1.3.0
1284 <p> Released Mar
1997.
1287 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1290 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1292 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1294 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'
</item>
1296 <item>Libraries should be stripped with
<prgn>strip --strip-unneeded
</prgn>
1300 <sect> Version
2.1.2.2,
2.1.2.1,
2.1.2.0
1302 <p> Released Nov
1996.
1305 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1308 <sect> Version
2.1.1.0
1310 <p> Released Sep
1996.
1313 <item>No hard links in source packages
</item>
1315 <item>Do not use
<prgn>dpkg-divert
</prgn> or
<prgn>update-alternatives
</prgn>
1316 without consultation
</item>
1318 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped
</item>
1321 <sect> Version
2.1.0.0
1323 <p> Released Aug
1996.
1326 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too
</item>