                           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.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

   Table of Contents

   1. About this document

   2. Menu Structure

                2.1. Preferred menu structure

                         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

   Table of Contents

   2.1. Preferred 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.
