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>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
45 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
49 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass
<tt>--package
</tt>
50 to
<prgn>dpkg-divert
</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
51 must not use
<tt>--local
</tt>.
54 <item>Only
<prgn>dpkg-gencontrol
</prgn> supports variable substitution.
55 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges
</prgn> (for
<file>*.changes
</file>)
56 and
<prgn>dpkg-source
</prgn> (for
<file>*.dsc
</file>) do not.
59 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
60 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
61 architecture-independent.
64 <item><tt>Conflicts
</tt> and
<tt>Breaks
</tt> should only be used when
65 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
66 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
69 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
70 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
71 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
72 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
75 <item>Ada Library Information (
<file>*.ali
</file>) files must be
78 <tag>8.6.1,
8.6.2,
8.6.5</tag>
79 <item>Packages should normally not include a
<file>shlibs.local
</file>
80 file since we now have complete
<file>shlibs
</file> coverage.
83 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
84 form
<tt><var>name
</var>-
<var>major-version
</var>.so
</tt>.
87 <item>Libtool
<file>.la
</file> files should not be installed for public
88 libraries. If they're required (for
<tt>libltdl
</tt>, for instance),
89 the
<tt>dependency_libs
</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
90 packages historically including
<file>.la
</file> files must continue to
91 include them (with
<tt>dependency_libs
</tt> emptied) until all libraries
92 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
93 their
<file>.la
</file> files.
96 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with
<tt>-D_REENTRANT
</tt>,
97 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
98 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
99 thread-safe if the library supports this.
101 <tag>11.4,
11.8.3,
11.8.4</tag>
102 <item>Packages providing alternatives for
<prgn>editor
</prgn>,
103 <prgn>pager
</prgn>,
<prgn>x-terminal-emulator
</prgn>, or
104 <prgn>x-window-manager
</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
105 for the corresponding manual page.
108 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
109 of
<file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin
</file> and web servers should serve out
110 executables in those subdirectories.
113 <item>The GPL version
1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
114 referenced from there instead of included in the
<file>copyright
</file>
119 <sect> Version
3.9.0.0
125 <tag>4.4,
5.6.15</tag>
126 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
127 Date control field is now precisely specified.
130 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
131 particular field name.
133 <tag>5.4,
5.5,
5.6.24</tag>
134 <item>Document and recommend the
<tt>Checksums-Sha1
</tt>
135 and
<tt>Checksums-Sha256
</tt> fields in
<file>*.dsc
</file>
136 and
<file>*.changes
</file> files.
138 <tag>5.5,
5.6.16</tag>
139 <item>The
<tt>Format
</tt> field of
<file>.changes
</file> files is now
140 1.8. The
<tt>Format
</tt> field syntax for source
141 package
<file>.dsc
</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
142 is used for a different purpose than the
<tt>Format
</tt> field
143 for
<file>.changes
</file> files.
146 <item>The syntax of the
<tt>Maintainer
</tt> field is now must rather
150 <item>The comma separating entries in
<tt>Uploaders
</tt> is now must
153 <tag>5.6.8,
7.1,
11.1.1</tag>
154 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
155 architectures in
<file>debian/control
</file> and
<file>*.dsc
</file>
156 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
160 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
161 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
162 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
163 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
164 question, but should avoid this if possible.
166 <tag>7.3,
7.6.1</tag>
167 <item><tt>Breaks
</tt> should be used with
<tt>Replaces
</tt> for moving
168 files between packages.
171 <item><tt>Breaks
</tt> should normally be used instead
172 of
<tt>Conflicts
</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
173 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
176 <item>Use
<tt>Conflicts
</tt> with
<tt>Provides
</tt> if only one provider
177 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
180 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
181 in the
<tt>-dev
</tt> package, only be available when the
<tt>-dev
</tt>
182 package is installed. This allows the
<tt>-dev
</tt> package to be split
183 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
186 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to
1000-
59999.
188 <tag>9.3.2,
10.4</tag>
189 <item><file>init.d
</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
190 normal requirement to use
<tt>set -e
</tt> in each shell script.
193 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
194 should be referenced from
<file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD
</file>.
195 It should instead be included directly
196 in
<file>debian/copyright
</file>, although it will still be in
197 common-licenses for the time being.
200 <item>Add
<tt>SETTITLE
</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
201 Like
<tt>TITLE
</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
205 <item><package>perl-base
</package> now
206 provides
<package>perlapi-
<var>abiname
</var></package> instead of a
207 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
208 on
<package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}
</package>, falling back
209 on
<tt>$Config{version}
</tt> if
<tt>$Config{debian_abi}
</tt> is not set.
212 <item>Packages using
<file>Makefile.PL
</file> should use
213 <tt>DESTDIR
</tt> rather than
<tt>PREFIX
</tt> to install into the package
214 staging area.
<tt>PREFIX
</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
218 <sect> Version
3.8.4.0
225 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
226 Permitting files to instead be installed to
<file>/lib/triplet
</file> and
227 <file>/usr/lib/triplet
</file> directories.
230 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
231 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
234 <item><file>/sys
</file> and
<file>/selinux
</file> directories are explicitly
235 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
239 <sect> Version
3.8.3.0
245 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
246 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
249 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain
<em/all/ in
250 combination with other architectures. Clarify when
<em/all/ and
<em/any/
251 may be used in different versions of the field.
254 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
255 to multiple distributions with one
<file>*.changes
</file> file.
258 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
261 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
262 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify
<file/ld.so.conf/.
263 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
264 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
267 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
268 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
269 into
<file>/usr/include/X11
</file> and
<file>/usr/lib/X11
</file>.
272 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
273 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
276 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
277 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
278 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
282 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
283 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
284 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
285 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
286 support partial upgrades.
289 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
290 Depend and Build-Depend on
<tt>perl
>=
5.6.0-
16</tt> has been removed.
294 <sect> Version
3.8.2.0
301 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
302 <url id=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
303 name=
"this debian-devel-announce message">
304 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
308 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
309 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
310 back on other methods.
313 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
317 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
318 FHS permitting
<file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-
4</file>.
321 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
322 <file>/var/mail
</file>.
325 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
329 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version
1.3 is included in
330 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
334 <sect> Version
3.8.1.0
341 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
342 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
343 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
346 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-
8.
349 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
353 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
354 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
357 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
358 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
361 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-
8.
364 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
365 preceding whitespace.
368 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
369 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by
<prgn>/bin/sh
</prgn> regardless
370 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
371 behavior of the init system in Debian.
374 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
375 start the daemon again if it's already running.
378 <item><file>/var/run
</file> and
<file>/var/lock
</file> may be mounted as
379 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
380 subdirectories dynamically.
383 <item> <file>/bin/sh
</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
384 variable arguments and supports assignment.
387 <item>User mailboxes may be mode
600 and owned by the user rather than
388 mode
660, owned by user, and group mail.
392 <sect> Version
3.8.0.0
399 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
400 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
401 system is now defined by priority.
403 <item>If
<prgn>dpkg-source -x
</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
404 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
406 <tag>4.9.1,
10.1</tag>
407 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
408 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
409 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
410 unknown flags be ignored.
412 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
413 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
414 processes if the package supports it
416 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
417 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
420 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
421 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
422 <file>debian/README.source
</file> file explaining how to generate
423 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
424 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
425 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
428 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
430 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of
0 in
433 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
434 <tag>6.5,
6.6,
7</tag>
435 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
436 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
437 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
438 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
440 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
441 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
442 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
445 <item>Files in
<file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}
</file> must be
446 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
449 <item>Packages providing
<file>/etc/X11/Xresources
</file> files need not
450 conflict with
<tt> xbase (
<< 3.3.2.3a-
2)
</tt>, which is
453 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
454 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-
8. Country names should
455 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
456 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
457 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
458 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
461 <item>The Apache
2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
462 referenced rather than quoted in
<file>debian/copyright
</file>.
464 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
465 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
468 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
471 <sect> Version
3.7.3.0
478 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
479 anything, even the end of a part.
481 <item>Scripts may assume that
<file>/bin/sh
</file> supports local (at a basic
482 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
485 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
486 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
488 <tag>menu policy
</tag>
489 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
490 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
491 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
492 sections would be more appropriate.
494 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
497 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
498 critical, or emergency.
500 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
501 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
502 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
505 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
506 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
507 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
509 <item>GFDL
1.2, GPL
3, and LGPL
3 are now in common-licenses and should
510 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
513 <sect> Version
3.7.2.2
519 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
520 should to a must)
</item>
523 <sect> Version
3.7.2.0
529 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change.
</item>
532 <sect> Version
3.7.1.0
539 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
540 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
541 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
542 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
543 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
544 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
547 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
548 <file>/usr/include/X11/
</file> and
<file>/usr/lib/X11/
</file>, but if
549 they do so, they must pre-depend on
<tt>x11-common (
>=
1:
7.0.0)
</tt>
552 <sect> Version
3.7.0.0
559 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
560 them in
<file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/
</file> directories. This location change
561 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
563 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
564 cgi-lib to
<file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib
</file>.
566 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
567 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
568 though new top level directories
<file>/media
</file>,
<file>/srv
</file>,
569 etc. may be of interest.
570 <tag>5.1,
5.6.3</tag>
571 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
572 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
573 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
574 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
575 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
576 as well, to prepare for future changes.
578 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
579 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
580 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
583 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
584 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
586 <tag>11.8.5.2,
11.8.7, etc
</tag>
587 <item>We no longer use
<file>/usr/X11R6
</file>, since we have
588 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
589 live in
<file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/
</file> now, and
<file>/usr/X11R6
</file>
593 <sect> Version
3.6.2.0
600 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
603 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
604 <file>/usr/lib/
</file> or
<file>/usr/share
</file>, and preferably the shared
605 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
608 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
609 allow packages to share image files with the web server
613 <sect> Version
3.6.1.0
620 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
621 user prompts are now deprecated.
631 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
632 the minor version number:
634 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
635 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
636 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
637 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
638 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
639 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
640 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
641 deb-building tool-chain.
643 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
644 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
645 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
646 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
648 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
649 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
650 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
651 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
652 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
653 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
654 sections about changelog files.
655 <tag>menu policy
</tag>
656 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
659 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-
8 encoded.
661 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
662 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
664 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
668 <sect> Version
3.5.10
675 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
676 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
679 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
680 Project may add
40 points for ranking in the alternatives
683 <sect> Version
3.5.9.0
690 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
691 full details of the long description format.
693 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
694 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
695 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
697 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
698 the init script should start the service.
700 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
701 example files can be installed into
<file>/usr/share/doc/package
</file>
702 (rather than
<file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples
</file>).
705 <sect> Version
3.5.8.0
712 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
713 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
714 documented in the changelog file.
716 <item><var/Build-Depends/,
<var/Build-Conflicts/,
<var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
717 and
<var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
719 <tag>menu policy
</tag>
720 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
721 <tag>debconf policy
</tag>
722 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
724 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
725 manual pages to undocumented(
7). Missing manual pages for programs
729 <sect> Version
3.5.7.0
736 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
737 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
739 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
742 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
743 special Tasks: field in the control file.
745 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add
20 points when
746 they add themselves as an alternative for
747 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager
</file>
749 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
750 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
751 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
752 environment variable.
754 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
755 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
756 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
757 review the new rules.
759 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
760 scripts. Long rationale.
764 Added the last note in
3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
765 rules, please see below
768 <sect> Version
3.5.6.0
775 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
778 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via
<file>/usr/share/doc
</file>,
779 and not via
<file>/usr/doc/
</file> as was the policy previously
781 <item>Putting documentation in
<file>/usr/doc
</file> versus
782 <file>/usr/share/doc
</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
784 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
785 <file>/usr/share/doc
</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
786 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
787 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
789 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
790 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
793 <sect> Version
3.5.5.0
800 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
801 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
802 symlinks or .so pages to do this
805 <item><em> Clarified note in
3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
806 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
807 by scripts; see section
10.7.3 for the whole story
</em>
810 <item>Included a new section
10.9.1 describing the use of
811 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
814 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
815 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
818 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
821 <tag>X Windows related things:
</tag>
824 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
828 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved
</item>
830 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
831 fonts for the X Window System
834 <item>Packages must not ship
<file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/
</file>
837 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
838 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
841 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
842 OSF/Motif-linked ones
847 <sect> Version
3.5.4.0
848 <p> Released Apr
2001.
852 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
853 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
854 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
857 <tag>11.9; perl-policy
</tag>
858 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
859 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
864 <sect> Version
3.5.3.0
865 <p> Released Apr
2001
869 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
870 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
873 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
874 in
<file>/usr/share/
<package
></file> or
875 <file>/usr/lib/
<package
></file>, with symbolic links from
876 <file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
>/examples
</file> as needed
880 <sect> Version
3.5.2.0
882 <p> Released Feb
2001.
886 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
887 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults
</file> to
888 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults
</file>
892 <sect> Version
3.5.1.0
894 <p> Released Feb
2001.
898 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
899 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
903 <sect> Version
3.5.0.0
905 <p> Released Jan
2001.
909 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
910 dependency on xutils (
>=
4.0.2)
914 <sect> Version
3.2.1.1
916 <p> Released Jan
2001.
920 <item>Daemon startup scripts in
<file>/etc/init.d/
</file> should not contain
921 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
922 <file>/etc/default/
</file>
925 <item>Files in
<file>/usr/share/doc
</file> must not be referenced by any
926 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
927 <file>/usr/share/
<package
>/
</file>, and symbolic links
928 created as required in
<file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
>/
</file>
931 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
936 <sect> Version
3.2.1.0
942 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
943 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
944 and the other without
948 <sect> Version
3.2.0.0
954 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
955 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
956 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
959 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
960 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
961 should always be generated for the upstream changes
964 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (
3.2)
965 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
968 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
972 <item>X server (virtual package xserver)
</item>
974 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator)
</item>
976 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
977 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager
</file> alternative, with priority
978 calculation guidelines)
981 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch)
</item>
983 <item>X application defaults
</item>
987 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
991 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles
</item>
993 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
994 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
999 <sect> Version
3.1.1.0
1001 <p> Released Nov
1999.
1005 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1006 etc. Should not affect many packages
1010 <sect> Version
3.1.0.0
1012 <p> Released Oct
1999.
1016 <item><file>/usr/doc/
<package
></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1017 <file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1021 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.)
</item>
1023 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot
</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1024 <file>/etc/rcS.d
</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1025 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1028 <item>update-rc.d is now the
<em>only
</em> allowable way of accessing the
1029 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*
</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1030 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1031 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1035 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1036 <file>/usr/lib/
<package
>/examples
</file>
1037 with symlinks from
<file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
>/examples/*
</file>
1038 or from
<file>/usr/share/doc/
<package
>/examples
</file> itself
1041 <item>Updated FHS to a
2.1 draft; this reverts
<file>/var/state
</file> to
1042 <file>/var/lib
</file>
1044 <tag>9.7; mime-policy
</tag>
1045 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document
</item>
1047 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1050 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1051 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1055 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1056 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1057 using
<prgn>lynx -dump -nolist
</prgn>.)
1060 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1065 <sect> Version
3.0.1.0
1067 <p> Released Jul
1999.
1071 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1072 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1073 files must go in the run-time library package
1077 <sect> Version
3.0.0.0
1079 <p> Released Jun
1999.
1083 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1084 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1088 <item>Only
3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1089 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1092 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1093 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses
</file>. This may require changing the
1094 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1095 other major licenses
1098 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1099 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1102 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1105 <item>section
5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1108 <tag>9.6; menu-policy
</tag>
1109 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1110 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1113 <item>Programs which need to modify the files
<file>/var/run/utmp
</file>,
1114 <file>/var/log/wtmp
</file> and
<file>/var/log/lastlog
</file> must be
1115 installed setgid utmp
1119 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1122 <sect> Version
2.5.0.0
1124 <p> Released Oct
1998.
1128 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section
4, Files
1130 <item>Section
3.3 (
"Files") was moved to Section
4. The Sections
1131 that were Section
4 and Section
5 were moved down to become
1132 Section
5 and Section
6.
1134 <item>What was Section
5.5 (
"Log files") is now a subsection of the
1135 new Section
4 (
"Files"), becoming section
4.8, placed after
1136 "Configuration files", moving the Section
4.8 (
"Permissions
1137 and owners") to Section
4.9. All subsections of the old
1138 Section
5 after
5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1142 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1143 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1144 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1145 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz
</file>
1147 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1148 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1150 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1151 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1153 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1154 files. The correct location is
<file>/usr/doc/package/copyright
</file>
1156 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1161 <sect> Version
2.4.1.0
1163 <p> Released Apr
1998.
1165 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1167 <tag>Updated section
3.3.5 Symbolic links:
</tag>
1168 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1169 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1170 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#
6, topic
2)
1173 <tag>Updated section
4.9 Games:
</tag>
1174 <item>manpages for games should be installed in
<file>/usr/man/man6
</file>
1175 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#
6, topic
3)
1179 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1181 <item>Updated prefix of chapter
12, Shared Libraries:
1182 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1183 installs shared libraries
1184 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #
6, fixes:bug#
20515)
1188 <sect> Version
2.4.0.0
1190 <p> Released Jan
1998
1193 <tag>Updated section
3.3.4 Scripts:
</tag>
1195 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1196 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify
<file>/bin/bash
</file>
1198 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1199 (e.g., in
<file>/tmp
</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1203 <tag>Updated section
3.3.5 Symbolic Links:
</tag>
1204 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1205 file extension as the referenced file
1208 <tag>Updated section
3.3.6 Device files:
</tag>
1209 <item><file>/dev/tty*
</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1210 <file>/dev/cu*
</file>
1213 <tag>Updated section
3.4.2 Writing the scripts in
<file>/etc/init.d
</file>:
1215 <item>all
<file>/etc/init.d
</file> scripts have to provide the following
1216 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1217 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1221 <tag>Updated section
3.5 Cron jobs:
1222 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1223 be installed into
<file>/etc/cron.d
</file>
1226 <tag>Updated section
3.7 Menus:
1227 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1228 (the corresponding section in
4.4, Web servers and applications,
1229 has been removed in policy
2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1233 <tag>New section
3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1234 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1238 <tag>New section
3.9 Environment variables:
1239 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1240 reasonable default configuration
1243 <tag>New section
4.6 News system configuration:
1244 <item><file>/etc/news/organization
</file> and
<file>/etc/news/server
</file>
1245 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1248 <tag>Updated section
4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1250 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1251 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1253 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1254 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1258 <tag>Updated section
4.9 Games:
1259 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in
<file>/usr/games
</file>,
1264 <sect> Version
2.3.0.1,
2.3.0.0
1266 <p> Released Sep
1997.
1269 <item>new section `
4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1270 <file>/etc/services
</file>,
<file>/etc/protocols
</file>,
1271 <file>/etc/rpc
</file>, and
<file>/etc/inetd.conf
</file>
1274 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1275 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1278 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile
</item>
1281 <sect> Version
2.2.0.0
1283 <p> Released July
1997.
1286 <item>added section
4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1289 where
<arch
> is one of the following:
1290 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1293 <item>detailed rules for
<file>/usr/local
</file></item>
1295 <item>user ID's
</item>
1297 <item>editor/pager policy
</item>
1299 <item>cron jobs
</item>
1301 <item>device files
</item>
1303 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable
</item>
1305 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles
</item>
1308 <sect> Version
2.1.3.2,
2.1.3.1,
2.1.3.0
1310 <p> Released Mar
1997.
1313 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1316 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1318 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1320 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'
</item>
1322 <item>Libraries should be stripped with
<prgn>strip --strip-unneeded
</prgn>
1326 <sect> Version
2.1.2.2,
2.1.2.1,
2.1.2.0
1328 <p> Released Nov
1996.
1331 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1334 <sect> Version
2.1.1.0
1336 <p> Released Sep
1996.
1339 <item>No hard links in source packages
</item>
1341 <item>Do not use
<prgn>dpkg-divert
</prgn> or
<prgn>update-alternatives
</prgn>
1342 without consultation
</item>
1344 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped
</item>
1347 <sect> Version
2.1.0.0
1349 <p> Released Aug
1996.
1352 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too
</item>