10. Upgrading checklist
***********************


10.1. About the checklist
=========================

The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
of old packages. This list is not official or normative. It only
provides an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely
to need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
the Policy Manual itself.

All of the changes from version 3.0.0 onwards indicate which section
of the Policy Manual discusses the issue. The section numbering should
still be accurate for changes back to the 2.5.0 release. Before that
point, the sections listed here probably no longer correspond to
sections in the modern Policy Manual.

Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
Manual for details. Once you've made all necessary changes to match
the current rules, update the value of "Standards-Version" to the
current Policy Manual version.

If an item in the list is followed by the name of a Lintian tag in
square brackets, it indicates that the policy requirement is covered
by that Lintian tag.  The lack of such an annotation does not mean
that no Lintian tag exists to cover the requirement.  Our coverage of
these annotations is quite incomplete, and patches to this checklist
are very welcome.

The sections in this checklist match the values for the "Standards-
Version" control field in omitting the minor patch version, except in
the two anomalous historical cases where normative requirements were
changed in a minor patch release.


10.2. Version 4.7.4
===================

Released March, 2026.

8.4
   "*.so" files in shared library development packages may be linker
   scripts instead of symbolic links.  See the relevant section for
   the constraints on linker scripts required by **ldconfig**.

12.5
   The requirement to explain in the copyright file why the package is
   not part of the Debian distribution also applies to packages in
   *non-free-firmware*.


10.3. Version 4.7.3
===================

Released December, 2025.

5.6.6
   Specifying the "Priority" field in source package control fields is
   no longer recommended unless the priority needs to be changed from
   the default.  If the field is omitted, the default source package
   priority is "optional", and binary packages inherit the priority
   from the source package.

5.6.32 & 5.6.33
   New sections documenting the "Git-Tag-Tagger" and "Git-Tag-Info"
   fields in Debian source control and ".changes" files.


10.4. Version 4.7.2
===================

Released February, 2025.

10.1
   A change made the previous release of Policy is relaxed:

   Packages that already install programs to /usr/games, where another
   package installs a program of the same name with different
   functionality to a different directory on the default PATH, may
   continue to do so.

   Packages must not install any newly conflicting programs to
   /usr/games, and packages already doing so are encouraged to move
   these programs to non-conflicting names.


10.5. Version 4.7.1
===================

Released February, 2025.

10.1
   Two different packages must not install programs with different
   functionality to the same filenames, even names under different
   directories, when the directories are on the default PATH.

10.1
   Packages must not install files to directories like /bin, /lib,
   /lib* and /sbin which are now symbolic links to corresponding
   directories under /usr.  Packages may assume that /bin, /lib and
   /sbin are always symlinks, and that files under /usr/bin, /usr/lib
   and /usr/sbin are accessible via these aliases.

10.9
   Packages should not require the existence of any files under
   /usr/share/locale in order to function in a C or C.UTF-8 locale.

12.1
   Packages (other than manpage readers) must not require the
   existence of any files under /usr/share/man.

12.2
   Packages (other than info readers) must not require the existence
   of any files in /usr/share/info.


10.6. Version 4.7.0
===================

Released April, 2024.

2.2.1
   Document that source packages in the *main* archive area may build
   binary packages in the *contrib* archive area, although this is
   discouraged unless the source package is inconvenient to split.
   This does not relax the requirement that source packages in *main*
   must not have build dependencies outside of *main*.

2.2.2
   The "non-free-firmware" archive area has been added.

3.9
   Maintainer scripts should use native overriding mechanisms instead
   of dpkg-divert, wherever possible.  Maintainer scripts must not
   divert configuration files used by systemd components.

   Maintainer scripts must not use the alternatives system for systemd
   configuration files.

4.8
   Hard links are permitted in source packages.

4.9
   For packages in contrib, and for packages in non-free with
   "Autobuild: yes", required targets in d/rules are no longer
   permitted to attempt network access.  Previously, only packages in
   main had this restriction.

5.6.13
   The "Description" field is not present in ".changes" files if no
   binary packages are being uploaded.

5.6.19
   The "Binary" field is not present in ".changes" files if no binary
   packages are being uploaded.

6.3
   Packages that automatically start or stop system services must
   include "systemd" units unless the service is only intended for use
   on systems running alternative init systems.  Previously, "systemd"
   also supported init scripts, but that support is being removed.


10.7. Version 4.6.2
===================

Released December, 2022.

3.8
   Essential packages are only required to provide their core
   functionality when unconfigured if they had previously been
   configured at least once.

6.5 & 6.6
   The new package version is provided as an additional argument
   following the old package version to several "preinst", "prerm",
   and "postrm" maintainer script actions.

11.8.4
   When computing the priority for alternatives for "/usr/bin/x
   -window-manager", start with a priority of 40, not 20, and don't
   increase the priority based on support for the (obsolete) Debian
   menu system.


10.8. Version 4.6.1
===================

Released May, 2022.

9.1.1
   Restore permission for packages for non-64-bit architectures to
   install files to "/usr/lib64/".

9.7.2 & 9.7.3
   The text of these sections has been updated to reflect the package
   split of bin:mime-support into bin:media-types and bin:mailcap.


10.9. Version 4.6.0
===================

Released August, 2021.

9.1.1
   No package is allowed to install files in "/usr/lib64/".
   Previously, this prohibition only applied to packages for 64-bit
   architectures.

12.1
   Manual pages may be included in dependencies, not only in the
   packages containing the things they document.


10.10. Version 4.5.1
====================

Released November, 2020.

2.3, 4.5 & 12.5
   The copyright information for files in a package must be copied
   verbatim into "/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/copyright" when all of the
   following hold:

   1. the distribution license for those files requires that copyright
      information be included in all copies and/or binary
      distributions;

   2. the files are shipped in the binary package, either in source or
      compiled form; and

   3. the form in which the files are present in the binary package
      does not include a plain text version of their copyright
      notices.

   Note that there is no change to the requirement to copy all
   licensing information into "/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/copyright".

   (Previously, it was always required for all copyright information
   to be copied into "/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/copyright".)

4.17
   Packages must not contain a non-default series file.  That is,
   dpkg's vendor-specific patch series feature must not be used for
   packages in the Debian archive.

   (previously a "should not")


10.11. Version 4.5.0
====================

Released January, 2020.

9.2.1
   When maintainers choose a new hardcoded or dynamically generated
   username for packages to use, they should start this username with
   an underscore.

9.3.1
   Packages that include system services should include "systemd"
   service units to start or stop those services.

   Including an init script is encouraged if there is no systemd unit,
   and optional if there is (previously, it was recommended).

   In the common case that a package includes a single system service,
   the service unit should have the same name as the package plus the
   ".service" extension.  If an init script is included, it should
   have the same name as the systemd unit.

9.3.2
   It is encouraged for init scripts to support the "status" argument
   (previously, it was recommended).

9.3.3
   Use of update-rc.d is required if the package includes an init
   script (previously, Policy said in one place that it was required,
   and in another said that it was recommended).


10.12. Version 4.4.1
====================

Released September, 2019.

5.6.26
   A package control file must not have more than one "Vcs-<type>"
   field.

   If the package is maintained in multiple version control systems,
   the maintainer should specify the one that they would prefer other
   people to use as the basis for proposing changes to the package.

9.10 & 11.5
   doc-base registration is now optional, from being recommended.

9.12
   Document "/run/reboot-required" mechanism.

copyright-format
   State some syntactical restrictions on the "Files:" field.
   Wildcards are required to match the contents of directories, and
   the space character separates patterns and cannot be escaped.


10.13. Version 4.4.0
====================

Released July, 2019.

4.9
   The recommended way to implement the build process of a Debian
   package, in the absence of a good reason to use a different
   approach, is the "dh" tool.  This recommendation includes the
   contents of the "debian/rules" building script.

   Some examples of good reasons to use a different approach are
   given.  The recommendation to use "dh" does not always apply, and
   use of "dh" is not required.

5.6.26
   Permit "-b" in Vcs-Hg as well as Vcs-Git.

7.5
   Document versioned Provides.

virtual
   New "logind" and "default-logind" virtual packages for a package
   providing logind API (via D-Bus and *sd-login(3)*), and for
   Debian's preferred implementation, respectively.


10.14. Version 4.3.0
====================

Released December, 2018.

2.3 & 4.5
   In cases where a package's distribution license explicitly permits
   its copyright information to be excluded from distributions of
   binaries built from the source, a verbatim copy of the package's
   copyright information should normally still be included in the
   copyright file, but it need not be if creating and maintaining a
   copy of that information involves significant time and effort.

4.9
   Required targets must not write outside of the unpacked source
   package tree, except for TMPDIR, /tmp and /var/tmp.

4.17
   Packages should not contain a non-default series file.  That is,
   dpkg's vendor-specific patch series feature should not be used for
   packages in the Debian archive.

10.1
   Binaries should be stripped using "strip --strip-unneeded --remove-
   section=.comment --remove-section=.note" (as dh_strip already
   does).

10.1
   It is no longer suggested nor recommended to use "install -s" to
   strip binaries, because it gets several things wrong.

10.2
   When stripping shared libraries with *strip(1)*, you should
   additionally pass "--remove-section=.comment --remove-
   section=.note" (as dh_strip already does).

virtual
   New "dbus-session-bus" and "default-dbus-session-bus" virtual
   packages for a package providing the D-Bus session bus, and for
   Debian's preferred D-Bus implementation, respectively.


10.15. Version 4.2.1
====================

Released August, 2018.

10.4 & perl
   The requirement that the shebang at the top of Perl command scripts
   be "#!/usr/bin/perl" is relaxed from a 'must' to a 'should'.


10.16. Version 4.2.0
====================

Released August, 2018.

4.9
   The package build should be as verbose as reasonably possible. This
   means that "debian/rules" should pass to the commands it invokes
   options that cause them to produce verbose output.

4.9
   Required targets may attempt network access, via the loopback
   interface, to services on the build host that have been started by
   the build.

4.9.1
   New "terse" tag that can appear in "DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS" to make a
   package build less verbose.

5.2 & 5.4
   The Standards-Version field is now mandatory, not just recommended.

12.7
   Upstream release notes, when available, should be installed as
   "/usr/share/doc/package/NEWS.gz".  Upstream changelogs may be made
   available as "/usr/share/doc/package/changelog.gz".

   This is a relaxation of older Policy which said that the upstream
   changelog should be made accessible at this path.  Now it is up to
   maintainer discretion whether it is useful to install it.

   The practice of installing the upstream release notes as
   "/usr/share/doc/package/changelog.gz" is permitted but deprecated.


10.17. Version 4.1.5
====================

Released July, 2018.

4.9.2
   Document how "debian/rules" and the "Rules-Requires-Root" field
   interact.

5.6.12
   You should not change a package's epoch, even in experimental,
   without getting consensus on debian-devel first.

5.6.12.1
   Epochs should not be used for the purpose of rolling back the
   version of a package.  Use the +really convention.

5.6.31
   Document the "Rules-Requires-Root" field.

9.1.1
   Update Debian's version of the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard from
   2.3 to 3.0, and update the list of exceptions.  Only a tiny
   minority of packages, if any, should be made buggy by this change.

9.3.2 & 10.4
   Update version of POSIX standard for shell scripts from SUSv3 to
   POSIX.1-2017 (also known as SUSv4 in some contexts).


10.18. Version 4.1.4
====================

Released April, 2018.

3.2.2
   The part of the version number after the epoch must not be reused
   for a version of the package with different contents, even after
   the version of the package previously using that part of the
   version number is no longer present in any archive suites.

3.2.2
   For non-native packages, the upstream version must not be reused
   for different upstream source code, so that for each source package
   name and upstream version number there exists exactly one original
   source archive contents.

4.9
   The "get-orig-source" rules target has been removed.  Packages
   should transition to "debian/watch" and use uscan where possible.

9.1.2
   If "/etc/staff-group-for-usr-local" does not exist, "/usr/local"
   and all subdirectories created by packages should have permissions
   0755 and be owned by "root:root".  If the file exists, the old
   permissions of 2775 and ownership of root:staff should remain.


10.19. Version 4.1.3
====================

Released December, 2017.

5.6.26
   URLs given in "VCS-*" headers should use a scheme that provides
   confidentiality ("https", for example) if the VCS repository
   supports it.  "[vcs-field-uses-insecure-uri]"

7.8
   "Built-Using" should be used exactly when there are license or DFSG
   requirements to retain full source code in the archive. Previously,
   the description of the field implied it was needed in other cases
   too.

9.1.1
   "libc" may also install files in "/lib64".

9.3.3.1
   If a package's daemon should not be autostarted unless the local
   administrator has explicitly requested it, the package's "postinst"
   should use the new "defaults-disabled" option of "update-rc.d".

   The old method of including "DISABLED=yes" in the package's
   "/etc/default" file should not be used.

11.4
   Clarify that programs may invoke either "/usr/bin/editor" and
   "/usr/bin/pager" directly, or use "editor" and "pager" and rely on
   PATH.

12.5
   The Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license (CC0-1.0) is now
   included in "/usr/share/common-licenses" and does not need to be
   copied verbatim in the package "copyright" file.


10.20. Version 4.1.2
====================

Released November, 2017.

3.1.1
   Binary packages that have potentially offensive content should have
   the suffix "-offensive".  This replaces an older convention to use
   "-off".  As before, whether the contents of a package needs this
   content warning is a matter of maintainer discretion.

10.2
   Private shared object files should be installed in subdirectories
   of "/usr/lib" or "/usr/lib/triplet".  This change permits private
   shared object files to take advantage of multiarch, and also
   removes the implication that it is permissible to install private
   shared object files directly into "/usr/lib/triplet".

10.4
   The shebang at the top of Perl command scripts must be
   "#!/usr/bin/perl".  (Previously, this was a 'should' rather than a
   'must'.)


10.21. Version 4.1.1
====================

Released September, 2017.

4.4
   debian/changelog must exist in source packages.

9.2.3
   The canonical non-existent home directory is "/nonexistent".


10.22. Version 4.1.0
====================

Released August, 2017.

2.2.1
   Non-default alternative dependencies on non-free packages are
   permitted for packages in main.

4.11
   If upstream provides OpenPGP signatures, including the upstream
   signing key as "debian/upstream/signing-key.asc" in the source
   package and using the "pgpsigurlmangle" option in "debian/watch"
   configuration to indicate how to find the upstream signature for
   new releases is recommended.

4.15
   Packages should build reproducibly when certain factors are held
   constant; see 4.15 for the list.

4.15
   Packages are recommended to build reproducibly even when build
   paths and most environment variables are allowed to vary.

9.1.1
   Only the dynamic linker may install files to "/lib64/".

   No package for a 64 bit architecture may install files to
   "/usr/lib64/" or any subdirectory.

11.8.3
   The required behaviour of "x-terminal-emulator -e" has been
   clarified, and updated to replace a false claim about the behaviour
   of "xterm".

   Programs must support "-e command" where "command" may include
   multiple arguments, which must be executed as if the arguments were
   passed to "execvp" directly, bypassing the shell.

   If this execution fails and "-e" has a single argument, "xterm"'s
   fallback behaviour of passing "command" to the shell is permitted
   but not required.


10.23. Version 4.0.1
====================

Released August, 2017.

2.5
   Priorities are now used only for controlling which packages are
   part of a minimal or standard Debian installation and should be
   selected based on functionality provided directly to users (so
   nearly all shared libraries should have a priority of "optional").
   Packages may now depend on packages with a lower priority.

   The "extra" priority has been deprecated and should be treated as
   equivalent to "optional". All "extra" priorities should be changed
   to "optional". Packages with a priority of "optional" may conflict
   with each other (but packages that both have a priority of
   "standard" or higher still may not conflict).

5.6.30
   New section documenting the "Testsuite" field in Debian source
   control files.

8.1.1
   Shared libraries must now invoke "ldconfig" by means of triggers,
   instead of maintscripts.

9.3.3
   Packages are recommended to use debhelper tools instead of invoking
   "update-rc.d" and "invoke-rc.d" directly.

9.3.3
   Policy's description of how the local system administrator may
   modify the runlevels at which a daemon is started and stopped, and
   how init scripts may depend on other init scripts, have been
   removed. These are now handled by LSB headers.

9.4
   Policy's specification of the console messages that should be
   emitted by "init.d" scripts has been removed. This is now defined
   by LSB, for sysvinit, and is not expected to be followed by other
   init systems.

9.6
   Packages installing a Free Desktop entry must not also install a
   Debian menu system entry.

9.9
   The prohibition against depending on environment variables for
   reasonable defaults is only for programs on the system PATH and
   only for custom environment variable settings (not, say, a sane
   PATH).


10.24. Version 4.0.0
====================

Released May, 2017.

4.3
   "config.sub" and "config.guess" should be updated at build time or
   replaced with the versions from autotools-dev.

4.9
   New "TARGET" set of "dpkg-architecture" variables and new
   "DEB_*_ARCH_BITS" and "DEB_*_ARCH_ENDIAN" variables.

4.9.1
   New "DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS" tag, "nodoc", which says to suppress
   documentation generation (but continue to build all binary
   packages, even documentation packages, just let them be mostly
   empty).

5.2
   Automatically-generated debug packages do not need to have a
   corresponding stanza in "debian/control". (This is existing
   practice; this Policy update is just clearer about it.)

5.6.12
   Colons are not permitted in upstream version numbers.

7.7
   New "Build-Depends-Arch" and "Build-Conflicts-Arch" fields are now
   supported.

8.4
   The recommended package name for shared library development files
   is now libraryname-dev or librarynameapiversion-dev, not
   librarynamesoversion-dev.

9.1.1
   The stable release of Debian supports "/run", so packages may now
   assume that it exists and do not need any special dependency on a
   version of initscripts.

9.3.2
   New optional "try-restart" standard init script argument, which (if
   supported) should restart the service if it is already running and
   otherwise just report success.

9.3.2
   Support for the "status" init script argument is recommended.

9.3.3.2
   Packages must not call "/etc/init.d" scripts directly even as a
   fallback, and instead must always use "invoke-rc.d" (which is
   essential and shouldn't require any conditional).

9.11.1
   Instructions for "upstart" integration removed since "upstart" is
   no longer maintained in Debian.

10.1
   Packages may not install files in both "/path" and "/usr/path", and
   must manage any backward-compatibility symlinks so that they don't
   break if "/path" and "/usr/path" are the same directory.

10.6
   Packages should assume device files in "/dev" are dynamically
   managed and don't have to be created by the package. Packages other
   than those whose purpose is to manage "/dev" must not create or
   remove files there when a dynamic management facility is in use.
   Named pipes and device files outside of "/dev" should normally be
   created on demand via init scripts, systemd units, or similar
   mechanisms, but may be created and removed in maintainer scripts if
   they must be created during package installation.

10.9
   Checking with the base-passwd maintainer is no longer required (or
   desirable) when creating a new dynamic user or group in a package.

12.3
   Dependencies on *-doc packages should be at most Recommends
   (Suggests if they only include documentation in supplemental
   formats).

12.5
   The Mozilla Public License 1.1 and 2.0 (MPL-1.1 and MPL-2.0) are
   now included in "/usr/share/common-licenses" and do not need to be
   copied verbatim in the package "copyright" file.

copyright-format
   The "https" form of the copyright-format URL is now allowed and
   preferred in the "Format" field.

perl
   The Perl search path now includes multiarch directories. The vendor
   directory for architecture-specific modules is now versioned to
   support multiarch.

virtual
   New "adventure" virtual package for implementations of the classic
   Colossal Cave Adventure game.

virtual
   New "httpd-wsgi3" virtual package for Python 3 WSGI-capable HTTP
   servers. The existing "httpd-wsgi" virtual package is for Python 2
   WSGI-capable HTTP servers.

virtual
   New "virtual-mysql-client", "virtual-mysql-client-core", "virtual-
   mysql-server", "virtual-mysql-server-core", and "virtual-mysql-
   testsuite" virtual packages for MySQL-compatible software.


10.25. Version 3.9.8
====================

Released April, 2016.

9.6
   The menu system is deprecated in favor of the FreeDesktop menu
   standard. New requirements set for FreeDesktop menu entries.

9.7
   New instructions for registering media type handlers with the
   FreeDesktop system, which automatically synchronizes with mailcap
   and therefore replaces mailcap registration for packages using
   desktop entries.


10.26. Version 3.9.7
====================

Released February, 2016.

10.5
   Symbolic links must not traverse above the root directory.

9.2.2
   32bit UIDs in the range 65536-4294967293 are reserved for
   dynamically allocated user accounts.

5.1
   Empty field values in control files are only permitted in the
   "debian/control" file of a source package.

4.9
   "debian/rules": required targets must not attempt network access.

12.3
   recommend to ship additional documentation for package "pkg" in a
   separate package "pkg-doc" and install it into
   "/usr/share/doc/pkg".


10.27. Version 3.9.6
====================

Released September, 2014.

9.1
   The FHS is relaxed to allow a subdirectory of "/usr/lib" to hold a
   mixture of architecture-independent and architecture-dependent
   files, though directories entirely composed of architecture-
   independent files should be located in "/usr/share".

9.1
   The FHS requirement for "/usr/local/lib64" to exist if "/lib64" or
   "/usr/lib64" exists is removed.

9.1
   An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch include files,
   permitting header files to instead be installed to
   "/usr/include/triplet".

10.1
   Binaries must not be statically linked with the GNU C library, see
   policy for exceptions.

4.4
   It is clarified that signature appearing in debian/changelog should
   be the details of the person who prepared this release of the
   package.

11.5
   The default web document root is now "/var/www/html"

virtual
   "java1-runtime" and "java2-runtime" are removed, "javaN-runtime"
   and "javaN-runtime-headless" are added for all N between 5 and 9.

virtual
   Added "httpd-wsgi" for WSGI capable HTTP servers.

perl
   Perl packages should use the "%Config" hash to locate module paths
   instead of hardcoding paths in "@INC".

perl
   Perl binary modules and any modules installed into
   "$Config{vendorarch}" must depend on the relevant perlapi-*
   package.


10.28. Version 3.9.5
====================

Released October, 2013.

5.1
   Control data fields must not start with the hyphen character ("-"),
   to avoid potential confusions when parsing clearsigned control data
   files that were not properly unescaped.

5.4, 5.6.24
   "Checksums-Sha1" and "Checksums-Sha256" are now mandatory in ".dsc"
   files.

5.6.25, 5.8.1
   The "DM-Upload-Allowed" field is obsolete. Permissions are now
   granted via *dak-commands* files.

5.6.27
   New section documenting the "Package-List" field in Debian source
   control files.

5.6.28
   New section documenting the "Package-Type" field in source package
   control files.

5.6.29
   New section documenting the "Dgit" field in Debian source control
   files.

9.1.1.8
   The exception to the FHS for the "/selinux" was removed.

10.7.3
   Packages should remove all obsolete configuration files without
   local changes during upgrades. The "dpkg-maintscript-helper" tool,
   available from the dpkg package since *Wheezy*, can help with this.

10.10
   The name of the files and directories installed by binary packages
   must be encoded in UTF-8 and should be restricted to ASCII when
   possible. In the system PATH, they must be restricted to ASCII.

11.5.2
   Stop recommending to serve HTML documents from
   "/usr/share/doc/package".

12.2
   Packages distributing Info documents should use install-info's
   trigger, and do not need anymore to depend on "dpkg (>= 1.15.4) |
   install-info".

debconf
   The "escape" capability is now documented.

virtual
   "mp3-decoder" and "mp3-encoder" are removed.


10.29. Version 3.9.4
====================

Released August, 2012.

2.4
   New *tasks* archive section.

4.9
   "build-arch" and "build-indep" are now mandatory targets in
   "debian/rules".

5.6.26
   New section documenting the "Vcs-*" fields, which are already in
   widespread use. Note the mechanism for specifying the Git branch
   used for packaging in the Vcs-Git field.

7.1
   The deprecated relations < and > now must not be used.

7.8
   New "Built-Using" field, which must be used to document the source
   packages for any binaries that are incorporated into this package
   at build time. This is used to ensure that the archive meets
   license requirements for providing source for all binaries.

8.6
   Policy for dependencies between shared libraries and other packages
   has been largely rewritten to document the "symbols" system and
   more clearly document handling of shared library ABI changes.
   "symbols" files are now recommended over "shlibs" files in most
   situations. All maintainers of shared library packages should
   review the entirety of this section.

9.1.1
   Packages must not assume the "/run" directory exists or is usable
   without a dependency on "initscripts (>= 2.88dsf-13.3)" until the
   stable release of Debian supports "/run".

9.7
   Packages including MIME configuration can now rely on triggers and
   do not need to call update-mime.

9.11
   New section documenting general requirements for alternate init
   systems and specific requirements for integrating with upstart.

12.5
   All copyright files must be encoded in UTF-8.


10.30. Version 3.9.3
====================

Released February, 2012.

2.4
   New archive sections *education*, *introspection*, and
   *metapackages* added.

5.6.8
   The "Architecture" field in "*.dsc" files may now contain the value
   "any all" for source packages building both architecture-
   independent and architecture-dependent packages.

7.1
   If a dependency is restricted to particular architectures, the list
   of architectures must be non-empty.

9.1.1
   "/run" is allowed as an exception to the FHS and replaces
   "/var/run". "/run/lock" replaces "/var/lock". The FHS requirements
   for the older directories apply to these directories as well.
   Backward compatibility links will be maintained and packages need
   not switch to referencing "/run" directly yet. Files in "/run"
   should be stored in a temporary file system.

9.1.4
   New section spelling out the requirements for packages that use
   files in "/run", "/var/run", or "/var/lock". This generalizes
   information previously only in 9.3.2.

9.5
   Cron job file names must not contain "." or "+" or they will be
   ignored by cron. They should replace those characters with "_". If
   a package provides multiple cron job files in the same directory,
   they should each start with the package name (possibly modified as
   above), "-", and then some suitable suffix.

9.10
   Packages using doc-base do not need to call install-docs anymore.

10.7.4
   Packages that declare the same "conffile" may see left-over
   configuration files from each other even if they conflict.

11.8
   The Policy rules around Motif libraries were just a special case of
   normal rules for non-free dependencies and were largely obsolete,
   so they have been removed.

12.5
   "debian/copyright" is no longer required to list the Debian
   maintainers involved in the creation of the package (although note
   that the requirement to list copyright information is unchanged).

copyright-format
   Version 1.0 of the "Machine-readable "debian/copyright" file"
   specification is included.

mime
   This separate document has been retired and and its (short)
   contents merged into Policy section 9.7. There are no changes to
   the requirements.

perl
   Packages may declare an interest in the perl-major-upgrade trigger
   to be notified of major upgrades of perl.

virtual
   "ttf-japanese-{mincho, gothic}" is renamed to "fonts-
   japanese-{mincho, gothic}".


10.31. Version 3.9.2
====================

Released April, 2011.

*
   Multiple clarifications throughout Policy where "installed" was
   used and the more precise terms "unpacked" or "configured" were
   intended.

3.3
   The maintainer address must accept mail from Debian role accounts
   and the BTS. At least one human must be listed with their personal
   email address in "Uploaders" if the maintainer is a shared email
   address. The duties of a maintainer are also clearer.

5
   All control fields are now classified as simple, folded, or
   multiline, which governs whether their values must be a single line
   or may be continued across multiple lines and whether line breaks
   are significant.

5.1
   Parsers are allowed to accept stanza separation lines containing
   whitespace, but control files should use completely empty lines.
   Ordering of stanzas is significant. Field names must be composed of
   printable ASCII characters except colon and must not begin with #.

5.6.25
   The "DM-Upload-Allowed" field is now documented.

6.5
   The system state maintainer scripts can rely upon during each
   possible invocation is now documented. In several less-common
   cases, this is stricter than Policy had previously documented.
   Packages with complex maintainer scripts should be reviewed in
   light of this new documentation.

7.2
   The impact on system state when maintainer scripts that are part of
   a circular dependency are run is now documented. Circular
   dependencies are now a should not.

7.2
   The system state when "postinst" and "prerm" scripts are run is now
   documented, and the documentation of the special case of dependency
   state for "postrm" scripts has been improved. "postrm" scripts are
   required to gracefully skip actions if their dependencies are not
   available.

9.1.1
   GNU/Hurd systems are allowed "/hurd" and "/servers" directories in
   the root filesystem.

9.1.1
   Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
   "/usr/lib" must use the value returned by "dpkg-architecture
   -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH", not by "dpkg-architecture
   -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE"; this is a path change on i386 architectures
   and a no-op for other architectures.

virtual
   "mailx" is now a virtual package provided by packages that install
   "/usr/bin/mailx" and implement at least the POSIX-required
   interface.


10.32. Version 3.9.1
====================

Released July, 2010.

3.2.1
   Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
   year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have
   embedded punctuation.

3.9
   Maintainer scripts must pass "--package" to "dpkg-divert" when
   creating or removing diversions and must not use "--local".

4.10
   Only "dpkg-gencontrol" supports variable substitution. "dpkg-
   genchanges" (for "*.changes") and "dpkg-source" (for "*.dsc") do
   not.

7.1
   Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
   package relationships provided that the binary package is not
   architecture-independent.

7.4
   "Conflicts" and "Breaks" should only be used when there are file
   conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just because two
   packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.

8.1
   The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
   library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should
   not change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible.
   Discourage bundling shared libraries together in one package.

8.4
   Ada Library Information ("*.ali") files must be installed read-
   only.

8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5
   Packages should normally not include a "shlibs.local" file since we
   now have complete "shlibs" coverage.

8.6.3
   The SONAME of a library may instead be of the form "name-major-
   version.so".

10.2
   Libtool ".la" files should not be installed for public libraries.
   If they're required (for "libltdl", for instance), the
   "dependency_libs" setting should be emptied. Library packages
   historically including ".la" files must continue to include them
   (with "dependency_libs" emptied) until all libraries that depend on
   that library have removed or emptied their ".la" files.

10.2
   Libraries no longer need to be built with "-D_REENTRANT", which was
   an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly that
   libraries should be built with threading support and to be thread-
   safe if the library supports this.

10.4
   "/bin/sh" scripts may assume that "kill" supports an argument of
   "-signal", that "kill" and "trap" support the numeric signals
   listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be
   trapped with "trap".

10.8
   Use of "/etc/logrotate.d/package" for logrotate rules is now
   recommended.

10.9
   Control information files should be owned by "root:root" and either
   mode 644 or mode 755.

11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4
   Packages providing alternatives for "editor", "pager", "x-terminal-
   emulator", or "x-window-manager" should also provide a slave
   alternative for the corresponding manual page.

11.5
   Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories of
   "/usr/lib/cgi-bin" and web servers should serve out executables in
   those subdirectories.

12.5
   The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
   referenced from there instead of included in the "copyright" file.


10.33. Version 3.9.0
====================

Released June, 2010.

4.4, 5.6.15
   The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
   Date control field is now precisely specified.

5.1
   A control stanza must not contain more than one instance of a
   particular field name.

5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24
   The "Checksums-Sha1" and "Checksums-Sha256" fields in "*.dsc" and
   "*.changes" files are now documented and recommended.

5.5, 5.6.16
   The "Format" field of ".changes" files is now 1.8. The "Format"
   field syntax for source package ".dsc" files allows a subtype in
   parentheses, and it is used for a different purpose than the
   "Format" field for ".changes" files.

5.6.2
   The syntax of the "Maintainer" field is now must rather than
   should.

5.6.3
   The comma separating entries in "Uploaders" is now must rather than
   should.

5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1
   Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
   architectures in "debian/control" and "*.dsc" Architecture fields,
   and in architecture restrictions in build relationships.

6.3
   Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
   controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to
   noninteractive behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts
   may abort if there is no controlling terminal and no reasonable
   default for a high-priority question, but should avoid this if
   possible.

7.3, 7.6.1
   "Breaks" should be used with "Replaces" for moving files between
   packages.

7.4
   "Breaks" should normally be used instead of "Conflicts" for
   transient issues and moving files between packages. New
   documentation of when each should be used.

7.5
   Use "Conflicts" with "Provides" if only one provider of a virtual
   facility can be installed at a time.

8.4
   All shared library development files are no longer required to be
   in the "-dev" package, only be available when the "-dev" package is
   installed. This allows the "-dev" package to be split as long as it
   depends on the additional packages.

9.2.2
   The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.

9.3.2, 10.4
   "init.d" scripts are a possible exception from the normal
   requirement to use "set -e" in each shell script.

12.5
   The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
   should be referenced from "/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD". It
   should instead be included directly in "debian/copyright", although
   it will still be in common-licenses for the time being.

debconf
   "SETTITLE" is now documented (it has been supported for some time).
   "SETTITLE" is like "TITLE" but takes a template instead of a string
   to allow translation.

perl
   perl-base now provides perlapi-abiname instead of a package based
   solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend on
   perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}, falling back on "$Config{version}" if
   "$Config{debian_abi}" is not set.

perl
   Packages using "Makefile.PL" should use "DESTDIR" rather than
   "PREFIX" to install into the package staging area. "PREFIX" only
   worked due to a Debian-local patch.


10.34. Version 3.8.4
====================

Released January, 2010.

9.1.1
   An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
   Permitting files to instead be installed to "/lib/triplet" and
   "/usr/lib/triplet" directories.

10.6
   Packages may not contain named pipes and should instead create them
   in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.

9.1.1
   "/sys" and "/selinux" directories are explicitly allowed as an
   exception to the FHS.


10.35. Version 3.8.3
====================

Released August, 2009.

4.9
   DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables are now documented and
   recommended over GNU-style variables for that information.

5.6.8
   Source package Architecture fields may contain *all* in combination
   with other architectures. Clarify when *all* and *any* may be used
   in different versions of the field.

5.6.14
   The Debian archive software does not support uploading to multiple
   distributions with one "*.changes" file.

5.6.19
   The Binary field may span multiple lines.

10.2
   Shared library packages are no longer allowed to install libraries
   in a non-standard location and modify "ld.so.conf". Packages should
   either be installed in a standard library directory or packages
   using them should be built with RPATH.

11.8.7
   Installation directories for X programs have been clarified.
   Packages are no longer required to pre-depend on x11-common before
   installing into "/usr/include/X11" and "/usr/lib/X11".

12.1
   Manual pages are no longer required to contain only characters
   representable in the legacy encoding for that language.

12.1
   Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with the
   original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either with
   warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
   original language.

12.2
   install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no longer need
   to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents should now have
   directory sections and entries in the document. Packages containing
   info documents should add a dependency to support partial upgrades.

perl
   The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned Depend and
   Build-Depend on "perl >= 5.6.0-16" has been removed.


10.36. Version 3.8.2
====================

Released June, 2009.

2.4
   The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
   this debian-devel-announce message for the list of new sections and
   rules for how to categorize packages.

3.9.1
   All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
   though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall back
   on other methods.

5.6.1
   The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
   spelled out.

9.1
   Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
   FHS permitting "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4".

9.1.3
   Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
   "/var/mail".

11.8.5
   Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
   starting in lenny.

12.5
   The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
   common-licenses and should be referenced from there.


10.37. Version 3.8.1
====================

Released March, 2009.

3.8
   Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
   such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
   in essential forever unless significant work is done.

4.4
   Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.

4.4
   Some format requirements for changelog files are now "must" instead
   of "should."

4.4.1
   Alternative changelog formats have been removed. Debian only
   supports one changelog format for the Debian Archive.

4.9.1
   New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
   test suite provided by the package should not be run.

5.1
   All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.

5.2
   "debian/control" allows comment lines starting with # with no
   preceding whitespace.

9.3
   Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
   sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by "/bin/sh" regardless of
   the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
   behavior of the init system in Debian.

9.3.2
   The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
   start the daemon again if it's already running.

9.3.2
   "/var/run" and "/var/lock" may be mounted as temporary filesystems,
   and init scripts must therefore create any necessary subdirectories
   dynamically.

10.4
   "/bin/sh" scripts may assume that local can take multiple variable
   arguments and supports assignment.

11.6
   User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
   mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.


10.38. Version 3.8.0
====================

Released June, 2008.

2.4, 3.7
   The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
   removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
   system is now defined by priority.

4.9
   If "dpkg-source -x" doesn't provide the source that will be
   compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do
   whatever else is necessary.

4.9.1, 10.1
   Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
   characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
   allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
   unknown flags be ignored.

4.9.1
   Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
   indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
   processes if the package supports it

4.13
   Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from
   other packages unless the included package is explicitly intended
   to be used that way.

4.14
   If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
   building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
   "debian/README.source" file explaining how to generate the patched
   source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
   modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
   new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
   process.

5.6.3
   The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.

5.6.12
   An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
   a version number.

5.6.23
   New Homepage field for upstream web sites.

6.5, 6.6, 7
   The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
   prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
   named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
   used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.

8.1, 8.2
   Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
   separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
   of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
   common in Debian.

9.5
   Files in "/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}" must be
   configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
   directory.

11.8.6
   Packages providing "/etc/X11/Xresources" files need not conflict
   with "xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)", which is long-obsolete.

12.1
   Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
   legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
   not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
   indicating a significant difference in the language. All characters
   in the manual page source should be representable in the legacy
   encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in UTF-8.

12.5
   The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
   referenced rather than quoted in "debian/copyright".

12.5
   Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
   that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
   explain why.

debconf
   Underscore ("_") is allowed in debconf template names.


10.39. Version 3.7.3
====================

Released December, 2007.

5.6.12
   Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
   anything, even the end of a part.

10.4
   Scripts may assume that "/bin/sh" supports local (at a basic level)
   and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
   logical operators.

8.5
   The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
   of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
   library.

menu policy
   Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
   menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
   see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
   sections would be more appropriate.

5.6.1
   The Source field in a ".changes" file may contain a version number
   in parentheses.

5.6.17
   The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
   critical, or emergency.

8.6
   The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
   type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
   supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
   Installer.

3.9.1
   Packages following the Debian Configuration management
   specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
   a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.

12.5
   GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
   be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.


10.40. Version 3.7.2.2
======================

Released October, 2006.

This release broke the normal rule against introducing normative
changes without changing the major patch level.

6.1
   Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a should to
   a must)


10.41. Version 3.7.2
====================

Released April, 2006.

11.5
   Revert the cgi-lib change.


10.42. Version 3.7.1
====================

Released April, 2006.

10.2
   It is now possible to create shared libraries without relocatable
   code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases, provided some
   procedures are followed, and for creating static libraries with
   relocatable code (again, using -fPIC). Discussion on debian-
   devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough consensus, and documenting
   it in README.Debian constitute most of the process.

11.8.7
   Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
   "/usr/include/X11/" and "/usr/lib/X11/", but if they do so, they
   must pre-depend on "x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)"


10.43. Version 3.7.0
====================

Released April, 2006.

11.5
   Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install them
   in "/usr/lib/cgi-lib/" directories. This location change perhaps
   should be documented in NEWS

11.5
   Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of cgi-
   lib to "/usr/lib/cgi-lib".

9.1.1
   The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to 2.3. There
   should be no changes required for most packages, though new top
   level directories "/media", "/srv", etc. may be of interest.

5.1, 5.6.3
   All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file are
   supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread over
   multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is elided).
   However, any parser for the control file must allow the Uploaders
   field to be spread over multiple physical lines as well, to prepare
   for future changes.

10.4
   When scripts are installed into a directory in the system PATH, the
   script name should not include an extension that denotes the
   scripting language currently used to implement it.

9.3.3.2
   packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do so
   since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
   constraints.

11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc
   We no longer use "/usr/X11R6", since we have migrated away to using
   Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts live in
   "/usr/share/fonts/X11/" now, and "/usr/X11R6" is gone.


10.44. Version 3.6.2
====================

Released June, 2005.

   Recommend doc-base, and not menu, for registering package
   documentation.

8.1
   Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
   "/usr/lib/" or "/usr/share", and preferably the shared lib is named
   the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).

11.5
   It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
   allow packages to share image files with the web server


10.45. Version 3.6.1
====================

Released August, 2003.

3.10.1
   Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf user
   prompts are now deprecated.


10.46. Version 3.6.0
====================

Released July, 2003.

Restructuring caused shifts in section numbers and bumping of the
minor version number.

Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy. In
particular, the appendices that included the list of control fields
were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added) and the
list of fields for each of control, ".changes" and ".dsc" files is now
in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or optional based
on the current practice and the behavior of the deb-building tool-
chain.

Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.

Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
sections about changelog files.

menu policy
   Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu sub-policy

C.2.2
   Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.

10.2
   shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they use
   symbols from in the same way that binaries are.

7.6
   build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean target.


10.47. Version 3.5.10
=====================

Released May, 2003.

11.8.3
   packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package ought to
   ensure that they interpret the command line exactly like xterm
   does.

11.8.4
   Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
   Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives


10.48. Version 3.5.9
====================

Released March, 2003.

3.4.2
   The section describing the Description: package field once again
   has full details of the long description format.

4.2
   Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential build-
   dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends and
   related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).

9.3.2
   When asked to restart a service that isn't already running, the
   init script should start the service.

12.6
   If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
   example files can be installed into "/usr/share/doc/package"
   (rather than "/usr/share/doc/package/examples").


10.49. Version 3.5.8
====================

Released November, 2002.

12.7
   It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
   sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
   documented in the changelog file.

7.6
   Build-Depends, Build-Conflicts, Build-Depends-Indep, and Build-
   Conflicts-Indep must also be satisfied when the clean target is
   called.

menu policy
   A new Apps/Science menu section is available

debconf policy
   debconf specification cleared up, various changes.

12.1
   It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
   manual pages to *undocumented(7)*. Missing manual pages for
   programs are still a bug.


10.50. Version 3.5.7
====================

Released August, 2002.

   Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
   postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.

2.2.4
   cryptographic software may now be included in the main archive.

3.9
   task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
   special Tasks: field in the control file.

11.8.4
   window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when they
   add themselves as an alternative for "/usr/bin/x-window-manager"

10.1
   The default compilation options have now changed, one should
   provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step back
   optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS environment
   variable.

7.6, 4.8
   Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing the
   relationships with Build-Depends, Build-Conflicts, Build-Depends-
   Indep, and Build-Conflicts-Indep. May need to review the new rules.

8
   Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
   scripts. Long rationale.

*Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
rules, please see below*


10.51. Version 3.5.6
====================

Released July, 2001.

2.5
   Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
   standard packages

11.5
   Programs that access docs need to do so via "/usr/share/doc", and
   not via "/usr/doc/" as was the policy previously

12.3
   Putting documentation in "/usr/doc" versus "/usr/share/doc" is now
   a "serious" policy violation.

11.5
   For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
   "/usr/share/doc" hierarchy. If one can't provide access controls
   for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred that
   one ask permission to expose that information during the install.

7
   There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and there is
   a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.


10.52. Version 3.5.5
====================

Released May, 2001.

12.1
   Manpages should not rely on header information to have alternative
   manpage names available; it should only use symlinks or .so pages
   to do this

   *Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding examples
   and templates: this refers only to those examples used by scripts;
   see section 10.7.3 for the whole story*

   Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of dpkg-
   statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy

   Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your packages
   just to change the Standards-Version!

10.2
   Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared libraries

X Windows related things:
   11.8.1
      Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
      packages

   11.8.3
      Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved

   11.8.5
      X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide fonts
      for the X Window System

   11.8.6
      Packages must not ship "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/"

   11.8.7
      X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS locations;
      imake-using packages are exempted from this

   11.8.8
      OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as OSF/Motif-
      linked ones


10.53. Version 3.5.4
====================

Released April, 2001.

11.6
   The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
   /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
   access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;

11.9; perl-policy
   The perl policy is now part of Debian policy proper. Perl programs
   and modules should follow the current Perl policy


10.54. Version 3.5.3
====================

Released April, 2001.

7.1
   Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less ambiguous.
   This should not affect any current packages

10.7.3
   Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live in
   "/usr/share/<package>" or "/usr/lib/<package>", with symbolic links
   from "/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples" as needed


10.55. Version 3.5.2
====================

Released February, 2001.

11.8.6
   X app-defaults directory has moved from "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-
   defaults" to "/etc/X11/app-defaults"


10.56. Version 3.5.1
====================

Released February, 2001.

8.1
   dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be run
   through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables


10.57. Version 3.5.0
====================

Released January, 2001.

11.8.5
   Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a dependency
   on "xutils (>= 4.0.2)"


10.58. Version 3.2.1.1
======================

Released January, 2001.

This release broke the normal rule against introducing normative
changes without changing the major patch level.

9.3.2
   Daemon startup scripts in "/etc/init.d/" should not contain
   modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
   "/etc/default/"

12.3
   Files in "/usr/share/doc" must not be referenced by any program. If
   such files are needed, they must be placed in
   "/usr/share/<package>/", and symbolic links created as required in
   "/usr/share/doc/<package>/"

   Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the policy
   document


10.59. Version 3.2.1
====================

Released August, 2000.

11.8.1
   A package of priority standard or higher may provide two binaries,
   one compiled with support for the X Window System, and the other
   without


10.60. Version 3.2.0
====================

Released August, 2000.

10.1
   By default executables should not be built with the debugging
   option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
   package with debugging information optionally.

12.8
   Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog files
   has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file should
   always be generated for the upstream changes

   Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2) shall
   probably need sweeping changes in policy

   Policy for packages providing the following X-based features has
   been codified:

   11.8.2
      X server (virtual package xserver)

   11.8.3
      X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator)

   11.8.4
      X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
      "/usr/bin/x-window-manager" alternative, with priority
      calculation guidelines)

   12.8.5
      X fonts (this section has been written from scratch)

   11.8.6
      X application defaults

11.8.7
   Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues has
   been clarified;

11.7.3
   No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles

8
   Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
   always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
   order be correct


10.61. Version 3.1.1
====================

Released November, 1999.

7.1
   Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends etc.
   Should not affect many packages


10.62. Version 3.1.0
====================

Released October, 1999.

defunct
   "/usr/doc/<package>" has to be a symlink pointing to
   "/usr/share/doc/<package>", to be maintained by postinst and prerm
   scripts.

7.1, 7.6
   Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.)

9.3.4
   "/etc/rc.boot" has been deprecated in favour of "/etc/rcS.d".
   (Packages should not be touching this directory, but should use
   update-rc.d instead)

9.3.3
   update-rc.d is now the *only* allowable way of accessing the
   "/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*" links. Any scripts which manipulate them
   directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
   because the file-rc package handles this information in an
   incompatible way.)

12.7
   Architecture-specific examples go in "/usr/lib/<package>/examples"
   with symlinks from "/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*" or from
   "/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples" itself

9.1.1
   Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts "/var/state" to "/var/lib"

9.7; mime-policy
   Added MIME sub-policy document

12.4
   VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR

11.6
   Modified liblockfile description, which affects mailbox-accessing
   programs. Please see the policy document for details

12.7
   If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
   version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
   using "lynx -dump -nolist".)

3.2.1
   Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates added


10.63. Version 3.0.1
====================

Released July, 1999.

10.2
   Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for the
   packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
   files must go in the run-time library package


10.64. Version 3.0.0
====================

Released June, 1999.

9.1
   Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a major
   change, and the implications of this move are probably not all
   known.

4.1
   Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in control
   files, though all four digits are still permitted.

12.6
   The location of the GPL has changed to "/usr/share/common-
   licenses". This may require changing the copyright files to point
   to the correct location of the GPL and other major licenses

10.2
   Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must include
   the .la files in the -dev packages

10.8
   Use logrotate to rotate log files

now 11.8
   section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window System)

9.6; menu-policy
   There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
   that carries the full weight of Debian policy

11.3
   Programs which need to modify the files "/var/run/utmp",
   "/var/log/wtmp" and "/var/log/lastlog" must be installed setgid
   utmp


10.65. Version 2.5.0
====================

Released October, 1998.

*Please note that section numbers below this point may not match the
current Policy Manual.*

* Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files

  * Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections that
    were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become Section 5
    and Section 6.

  * What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the new
    Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
    "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions and
    owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old Section 5
    after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number gap.

* Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate upstream
  changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These upstream changelog
  files should now be accessible as
  "/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz"

* Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream, changelog
  name to the Debian mandated name.

* Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some package,
  though not necessarily the main binary package.

* Corrected all references to the location of the copyright files. The
  correct location is "/usr/doc/package/copyright"

* Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
  HURD.


10.66. Version 2.4.1
====================

Released April, 1998.

Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links
   symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
   symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
   (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)

Updated section 4.9 Games
   manpages for games should be installed in "/usr/man/man6" (cf.,
   Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)

Updated Chapter 12 Shared Libraries
   ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
   installs shared libraries (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6,
   fixes:bug#20515)


10.67. Version 2.4.0
====================

Released January, 1998

Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts
   * /bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell

   * scripts including bashisms have to specify "/bin/bash" as
     interpreter

   * scripts which create files in world-writable directories (e.g.,
     in "/tmp") should use tempfile or mktemp for creating the
     directory

Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links
   symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same file
   extension as the referenced file

Updated section 3.3.6 Device files
   "/dev/tty*" serial devices should be used instead of "/dev/cu*"

Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in "/etc/init.d"
   * all "/etc/init.d" scripts have to provide the following options:
     start, stop, restart, force-reload

   * the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart the
     service

Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs
   cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should be
   installed into "/etc/cron.d"

Updated section 3.7 Menus
   removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu' (the
   corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications, has
   been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was obsolete)

New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration
   details about how the backspace and delete keys should be handled

New section 3.9 Environment variables
   no program must depend on environment variables to get a reasonable
   default configuration

New section 4.6 News system configuration
   "/etc/news/organization" and "/etc/news/server" should be supported
   by all news servers and clients

Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System
   * programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided as
     foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package

   * if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
     against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library

Updated section 4.9 Games
   games for X Windows have to be installed in "/usr/games", just as
   non-X games


10.68. Version 2.3.0
====================

Released September, 1997.

* new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for "/etc/services",
  "/etc/protocols", "/etc/rpc", and "/etc/inetd.conf"

* updated section about `Configuration files': packages may not touch
  other packages' configuration files

* MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile


10.69. Version 2.2.0
====================

Released July, 1997.

* added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings': use
  <arch>-linux where <arch> is one of the following: i386, alpha, arm,
  m68k, powerpc, sparc.

* detailed rules for "/usr/local"

* user ID's

* editor/pager policy

* cron jobs

* device files

* don't install shared libraries as executable

* app-defaults files may not be conffiles


10.70. Version 2.1.3
====================

Released March, 1997.

* two programs with different functionality must not have the same
  name

* "Webstandard 3.0"

* "Standard for Console Messages"

* Libraries should be compiled with "-D_REENTRANT"

* Libraries should be stripped with "strip --strip-unneeded"


10.71. Version 2.1.2
====================

Released November, 1996.

* Some changes WRT shared libraries


10.72. Version 2.1.1
====================

Released September, 1996.

* No hard links in source packages

* Do not use "dpkg-divert" or "update-alternatives" without
  consultation

* Shared libraries must be installed stripped


10.73. Version 2.1.0
====================

Released August, 1996.

* Upstream changelog must be installed too
