# The Debian Menu sub-policy

### Chris Waters

### Joey Hess

### Joost Witteveen

### The Debian Policy Mailing List

`<debian-policy@lists.debian.org>`

version 4.7.4.1

Copyright © 1999 Chris Waters, Joey Hess, Joost Witteveen

These are the copyright dates of the original Debian Menu sub-policy. Since then, this document has been updated by many others. No comprehensive collection of copyright notices for subsequent work exists.

This manual is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL` in the Debian distribution or on the World Wide Web at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

2026-03-31

Abstract

This manual describes the policy requirements for the Menu system used in the Debian distribution. This document is part of the policy package for Debian.

# Chapter 1. About this document

This document is distributed as the `menu-policy` files in the Debian package `debian-policy`. It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/menu-policy/.

This document has been extracted and separated from the Menu package to:

1. Increase the visibility of the Menu sub policy

2. Reduce the coupling between policy and implementation. If this separation is not made, every time we want to change menu policy, we have to arrange to get the maintainer to release a new version of the package, even if the package has not otherwise changed. It also involves yet another layer, making the policy changes that much harder to implement.

The debian-policy mailing list has taken responsibility for the contents of this document, with the Menu package maintainer's responsible for packaging administrivia only.

# Chapter 2. Menu Structure

If you have a package which doesn't fit within the existing menu hierarchy, please bring it up on the debian-devel mailing list. If you have other proposals for changing the menu hierarchy, or making other changes to menu policy, please bring it up on debian-policy.

## 2.1. Preferred menu structure

Here is the authoritative list of Debian's menu structure. Packages must be placed in leaf sections.

Applications

  Normal applications

  Applications/Accessibility

    Tools to aid people with disabilities or for machines lacking usual input devices.

    Examples: gok, yasr, dasher.

  Applications/Amateur Radio

    Anything relating to HAM radio.

    Examples: baken, hamsoft, twlog

  Applications/Data Management

    Interactive database programs, collection managers, address books, bibliography tools, etc.

    gaby, alexandria, mdbtools

  Applications/Editors

    Editors, other than office word processors, for text-based information.

    Examples: ksubtile, nano, hexedit

  Applications/Education

    Educational and training softwares.

    Examples: gtypist, gcompris, quiz

  Applications/Emulators

    Software that allows you to run non-native software or more than one OS at a time.

    Examples: wine, dosemu, qemu

  Applications/File Management

    Tools for file management, archiving, searching, CD/DVD burning, backup, etc.

    Examples: file-roller, mc, baobab

  Applications/Graphics

    2D and 3D graphics manipulation software.

    Examples: gimp, inkscape, imagemagick

  Applications/Mobile Devices

    Software that allows you to interface with mobile devices (phones, PDAs, etc.).

    Examples: kandy, gnokii, gnome-pilot

  Applications/Network

    Network related software. This is a three-level section, do not put entries directly here.

    Applications/Network/Communication

      Mail, USENET news, chat, instant messaging, IP telephony, video conferencing software, etc.

      Examples: xchat, gaim, mutt

    Applications/Network/File Transfer

      File transfer software such as download managers, FTP clients, P2P clients, etc.

      Examples: amule, gftp, d4x

    Applications/Network/Monitoring

      Network monitoring software

      Examples: gip, ettercap, iptstate

    Applications/Network/Web Browsing

      Web browsers, tools for offline browsing, etc.

      Examples: elinks, epiphany-browser, webhttrack

    Applications/Network/Web News

      Web feed (RSS, Atom, etc.) and podcast aggregators.

      Examples: akregator, kitty, liferea

  Applications/Office

    Office suites, word processors, spreadsheets, CRM, ERP, financial software, etc.

    Examples: openoffice.org, tinyerp-client, gnucash

  Applications/Programming

    IDEs, debuggers, etc.

    Examples: anjuta, gdb, eclipse

  Applications/Project Management

    Timetable managers, group task trackers, bug tracking software, etc.

    Examples: planner, bugzilla, gnotime

  Applications/Science

    Scientific and engineering-related software.

    Applications/Science/Astronomy

      Astronomy-related software.

      Examples: celestia, spacechart, stellarium

    Applications/Science/Biology

      Biology-related software.

      Examples: arb, ncbi-tools-x11, seaview

    Applications/Science/Chemistry

      Chemistry-related software.

      Examples: chemtool, kalzium, xdrawchem

    Applications/Science/Data Analysis

      Software designed for processing, extracting, and presenting generic scientific data.

      Examples: fityk, ygraph, mn-fit

    Applications/Science/Electronics

      Circuit design tools, simulators and assemblers for microprocessors, etc

      Examples: geda, gnucap, tkgate

    Applications/Science/Engineering

      CAD, UML tools, diagram-drawing and other engineering-related software.

      Examples: tcm, dia, qcad

    Applications/Science/Geoscience

      Geoscience-related software.

      Examples: earth3d, qgis, therion

    Applications/Science/Mathematics

      Mathematics-related software.

      Examples: gcalctool, snappea, xeukleides

    Applications/Science/Medicine

      Medicine-related software.

      Examples: mssstest, gnumed-client, xmedcon

    Applications/Science/Physics

      Physics-related software.

      Examples: kxterm, ifrit, paw

    Applications/Science/Social

      Social sciences-related software.

      Examples: gnomesword, hanzim, bibletime

  Applications/Shells

    Various shells to be used inside a terminal emulator.

    Examples: bash, ksh, zsh

  Applications/Sound

    Sound players, editors, and rippers/recorders.

    Examples: beep-media-player, grip, audacity

  Applications/System

    System related software.

    Applications/System/Administration

      Administrative and system configuration utilities, also tools for personal user settings.

      Examples: gnome-control-center, configure-debian, gksu

    Applications/System/Hardware

      Tools for manipulating specific hardware, especially non-standard laptop hardware.

      Examples: toshutils, nvclock-gtk, nvtv

    Applications/System/Language Environment

      This section is reserved for language-env as a special case.

    Applications/System/Monitoring

      System information and monitoring tools, log viewers, etc.

      Examples: top, hal-device-manager, gtkdiskfree

    Applications/System/Package Management

      Package managers and related tools.

      Examples: aptitude, deborphan, smartpm

    Applications/System/Security

      Security, cryptography and privacy related software, antiviruses, tools to track and report bugs, etc.

      Examples: gpgkeys, bastille, avscan

  Applications/Terminal Emulators

    Graphical terminal emulators.

    Examples: xterm, gnome-terminal, rxvt

  Applications/Text

    Text oriented tools like dictionaries, OCR, translation, text analysis software, etc.

    Examples: kdrill, stardict, turkey

  Applications/TV and Radio

    TV-in, TV-out, FM radio, teletext browsers, etc.

    Examples: gradio, gatos, alevt

  Applications/Viewers

    Software for viewing images, documents and other (non-video) media.

    Examples: gqview, evince, gthumb

  Applications/Video

    Video players, editors, and rippers/recorders.

    Examples: istanbul, totem, kino

  Applications/Web Development

    Software for web site editing, web programming, and site administration.

    Examples: bluefish, screem, gphpedit

Games

  Games and recreations

  Games/Action

    Games that involve a lot of action and require fast reflexes.

    Examples: xsoldier, supertux, xmoto

  Games/Adventure

    Role playing and adventure games, interactive movies and stories, etc.

    Examples: beneath-a-steel-sky, egoboo, kq

  Games/Blocks

    Tetris-like games involving falling blocks.

    Examples: crack-attack, frozen-bubble, netris

  Games/Board

    Games played on a board.

    Examples: phalanx, xshogi, xboard

  Games/Card

    Games involving a deck of cards.

    Examples: pysol, ace-of-penguins, xpat2

  Games/Puzzles

    Tests of ingenuity and logic.

    Examples: xmpuzzles, sgt-puzzles, enigma

  Games/Simulation

    Simulations of the real world in all detail and complexity.

    Examples: flightgear, torcs

  Games/Strategy

    Games involving long-term strategic thinking.

    Examples: wesnoth, widelands, netpanzer

  Games/Tools

    Server browsers, configurators, editors, and other game-related tools that are not games themselves.

    Examples: xqf, crystalspace

  Games/Toys

    Amusements, eye-candy, entertaining demos, screen hacks (screensavers), etc.

    Examples: xdesktopwaves, xphoon, xpenguins

Help

  programs that provide user documentation

  Examples: debian-reference, apt-howto, dhelp

Screen

  Programs that affect the whole screen.

  Screen/Saving

    Tools for blanking the screen. Entries of screen hacks and configuration GUIs should go to other appropriate sections.

    Examples: xscreensaver, xlockmore

  Screen/Locking

    Tools for locking the screen.

    Examples: xscreensaver, xlockmore

Window Managers

  X window managers.

  Examples: fluxbox, metacity, waimea

FVWM Modules

  FVWM-based window manager modules. As only modules related to the running window-manager are displayed, do not create subsections for specific window-managers.

  Examples: fvwm, fvwm-gnome, fvwm95

Window Maker

  This section is reserved for wmaker as a special case.

  All wmaker specific entries must go here.