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Debian Policy Manual
********************

     Debian Policy Manual 4.3.0.3, Feb 27, 2019

     The Debian Policy Mailing List

     Copyright © 2019, 1997, 1998 Ian Jackson, Christian Schwarz,
     1998-2017, The Debian Policy Mailing List

This manual describes the policy requirements for the Debian
distribution.  This includes the structure and contents of the Debian
archive and several design issues of the operating system, as well as
technical requirements that each package must satisfy to be included in
the distribution.

This is Debian Policy version 4.3.0.3, released on 2019-02-27.

About this manual
The Debian Archive
Binary packages
Source packages
Control files and their fields
Package maintainer scripts and installation procedure
Declaring relationships between packages
Shared libraries
The Operating System
Files: Files<2>.
Customized programs
Documentation
Introduction and scope of these appendices
Binary packages (from old Packaging Manual): Binary packages from old Packaging Manual.
Source packages (from old Packaging Manual): Source packages from old Packaging Manual.
Control files and their fields (from old Packaging Manual): Control files and their fields from old Packaging Manual.
Configuration file handling (from old Packaging Manual): Configuration file handling from old Packaging Manual.
Alternative versions of an interface - update-alternatives (from old Packaging Manual): Alternative versions of an interface - update-alternatives from old Packaging Manual.
Diversions - overriding a package’s version of a file (from old Packaging Manual): Diversions - overriding a package’s version of a file from old Packaging Manual.
Debian Policy changes process
Maintainer script flowcharts
Upgrading checklist
License

— The Detailed Node Listing — About this manual

Scope
New versions of this document
Authors and Maintainers
Related documents
Definitions
Translations

Authors and Maintainers

Early history
Current process
Improvements

The Debian Archive

The Debian Free Software Guidelines
Archive areas
Copyright considerations
Sections
Priorities

Archive areas

The main archive area
The contrib archive area
The non-free archive area

Binary packages

The package name
The version of a package
The maintainer of a package
The description of a package
Dependencies
Virtual packages
Base system
Essential packages
Maintainer Scripts

The package name

Packages with potentially offensive content

The version of a package

Version numbers based on dates
Uniqueness of version numbers

The description of a package

The single line synopsis
The extended description

Maintainer Scripts

Prompting in maintainer scripts

Source packages

Standards conformance
Package relationships
Changes to the upstream sources
Debian changelog; debian/changelog: Debian changelog debian/changelog.
Copyright; debian/copyright: Copyright debian/copyright.
Error trapping in makefiles
Time Stamps
Restrictions on objects in source packages
Main building script; debian/rules: Main building script debian/rules.
Variable substitutions; debian/substvars: Variable substitutions debian/substvars.
Optional upstream source location; debian/watch: Optional upstream source location debian/watch.
Generated files list; debian/files: Generated files list debian/files.
Convenience copies of code
Source package handling; debian/README.source: Source package handling debian/README source.
Reproducibility
Missing sources; debian/missing-sources: Missing sources debian/missing-sources.
Vendor-specific patch series

Main building script: debian/rules

debian/rules and DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
debian/rules and Rules-Requires-Root

Control files and their fields

Syntax of control files
Source package control files – debian/control
Binary package control files – DEBIAN/control
Debian source control files – .dsc: Debian source control files – dsc.
Debian changes files – .changes: Debian changes files – changes.
List of fields
User-defined fields
Obsolete fields

List of fields

Version

Epochs should be used sparingly

Rules-Requires-Root

Remarks
Definition of the keywords
Provided keywords

Obsolete fields

DM-Upload-Allowed: DM-Upload-Allowed<2>.

Package maintainer scripts and installation procedure

Introduction to package maintainer scripts
Maintainer scripts idempotency
Controlling terminal for maintainer scripts
Exit status
Summary of ways maintainer scripts are called
Details of unpack phase of installation or upgrade
Details of configuration
Details of removal and/or configuration purging

Declaring relationships between packages

Syntax of relationship fields
Binary Dependencies - Depends, Recommends, Suggests, Enhances, Pre-Depends: Binary Dependencies - Depends Recommends Suggests Enhances Pre-Depends.
Packages which break other packages - Breaks
Conflicting binary packages - Conflicts
Virtual packages - Provides
Overwriting files and replacing packages - Replaces
Relationships between source and binary packages - Build-Depends, Build-Depends-Indep, Build-Depends-Arch, Build-Conflicts, Build-Conflicts-Indep, Build-Conflicts-Arch: Relationships between source and binary packages - Build-Depends Build-Depends-Indep Build-Depends-Arch Build-Conflicts Build-Conflicts-Indep Build-Conflicts-Arch.
Additional source packages used to build the binary - Built-Using

Overwriting files and replacing packages - Replaces

Overwriting files in other packages
Replacing whole packages, forcing their removal: Replacing whole packages forcing their removal.

Shared libraries

Run-time shared libraries
Shared library support files
Static libraries
Development files
Dependencies between the packages of the same library
Dependencies between the library and other packages

Run-time shared libraries

ldconfig

Dependencies between the library and other packages

Generating dependencies on shared libraries
Shared library ABI changes
The symbols system
The shlibs system

The symbols system

The symbols files present on the system
The symbols File Format
Providing a symbols file

The shlibs system

The shlibs files present on the system
The shlibs File Format
Providing a shlibs file

The Operating System

File system hierarchy
Users and groups
System run levels and init.d scripts: System run levels and init d scripts.
Console messages from init.d scripts: Console messages from init d scripts.
Cron jobs
Menus
Multimedia handlers
Keyboard configuration
Environment variables
Registering Documents using doc-base
Alternate init systems

File system hierarchy

File System Structure
Site-specific programs
The system-wide mail directory
/run and /run/lock

Users and groups

Introduction
UID and GID classes
Non-existent home directories

System run levels and init.d scripts

Introduction: Introduction<2>.
Writing the scripts
Interfacing with init systems
Boot-time initialization
Example

Interfacing with init systems

Managing the links
Running initscripts

Cron jobs

Cron job file names

Multimedia handlers

Registration of media type handlers with desktop entries
Registration of media type handlers with mailcap entries
Providing media types to files

Alternate init systems

Event-based boot with upstart

Files

Binaries
Libraries
Shared libraries: Shared libraries<2>.
Scripts
Symbolic links
Device files
Configuration files
Log files
Permissions and owners
File names

Configuration files

Definitions: Definitions<2>.
Location
Behavior
Sharing configuration files
User configuration files (“dotfiles”): User configuration files “dotfiles”.

Permissions and owners

The use of dpkg-statoverride

Customized programs

Architecture specification strings
Daemons
Using pseudo-ttys and modifying wtmp, utmp and lastlog: Using pseudo-ttys and modifying wtmp utmp and lastlog.
Editors and pagers
Web servers and applications
Mail transport, delivery and user agents: Mail transport delivery and user agents.
News system configuration
Programs for the X Window System
Perl programs and modules
Emacs lisp programs
Games

Architecture specification strings

Architecture wildcards

Programs for the X Window System

Providing X support and package priorities
Packages providing an X server
Packages providing a terminal emulator
Packages providing a window manager
Packages providing fonts
Application defaults files
Installation directory issues

Documentation

Manual pages
Info documents
Additional documentation
Preferred documentation formats
Copyright information
Examples
Changelog files and release notes

Copyright information

Machine-readable copyright information

Binary packages (from old Packaging Manual)

Creating package files - dpkg-deb
Package control information files
The main control information file; control: The main control information file control.
Time Stamps: Time Stamps<2>.

Source packages (from old Packaging Manual)

Tools for processing source packages
The Debian package source tree
Source packages as archives
Unpacking a Debian source package without dpkg-source

Tools for processing source packages

dpkg-source - packs and unpacks Debian source packages
dpkg-buildpackage - overall package-building control script
dpkg-gencontrol - generates binary package control files
dpkg-shlibdeps - calculates shared library dependencies
dpkg-distaddfile - adds a file to debian/files
dpkg-genchanges - generates a .changes upload control file: dpkg-genchanges - generates a changes upload control file.
dpkg-parsechangelog - produces parsed representation of a changelog
dpkg-architecture - information about the build and host system

The Debian package source tree

debian/rules - the main building script
debian/substvars and variable substitutions
debian/files
debian/tmp

Unpacking a Debian source package without dpkg-source

Restrictions on objects in source packages: Restrictions on objects in source packages<2>.

Control files and their fields (from old Packaging Manual)

Syntax of control files: Syntax of control files<2>.
List of fields: List of fields<2>.

List of fields

Filename and MSDOS-Filename
Size and MD5sum
Status
Config-Version
Conffiles
Obsolete fields: Obsolete fields<2>.

Configuration file handling (from old Packaging Manual)

Automatic handling of configuration files by dpkg
Fully-featured maintainer script configuration handling

Debian Policy changes process

Introduction: Introduction<3>.
Change Goals
Current Process
Other Tags

Current Process

State A; More information required: State A More information required.
State B; Discussion: State B Discussion.
State C; Proposal: State C Proposal.
State D; Wording proposed: State D Wording proposed.
State E; Seconded: State E Seconded.
State F; Accepted: State F Accepted.
State G; Reject: State G Reject.

Upgrading checklist

About the checklist
Version 4.3.0: Version 4 3 0.
Version 4.2.1: Version 4 2 1.
Version 4.2.0: Version 4 2 0.
Version 4.1.5: Version 4 1 5.
Version 4.1.4: Version 4 1 4.
Version 4.1.3: Version 4 1 3.
Version 4.1.2: Version 4 1 2.
Version 4.1.1: Version 4 1 1.
Version 4.1.0: Version 4 1 0.
Version 4.0.1: Version 4 0 1.
Version 4.0.0: Version 4 0 0.
Version 3.9.8: Version 3 9 8.
Version 3.9.7: Version 3 9 7.
Version 3.9.6: Version 3 9 6.
Version 3.9.5: Version 3 9 5.
Version 3.9.4: Version 3 9 4.
Version 3.9.3: Version 3 9 3.
Version 3.9.2: Version 3 9 2.
Version 3.9.1: Version 3 9 1.
Version 3.9.0: Version 3 9 0.
Version 3.8.4: Version 3 8 4.
Version 3.8.3: Version 3 8 3.
Version 3.8.2: Version 3 8 2.
Version 3.8.1: Version 3 8 1.
Version 3.8.0: Version 3 8 0.
Version 3.7.3: Version 3 7 3.
Version 3.7.2.2: Version 3 7 2 2.
Version 3.7.2: Version 3 7 2.
Version 3.7.1: Version 3 7 1.
Version 3.7.0: Version 3 7 0.
Version 3.6.2: Version 3 6 2.
Version 3.6.1: Version 3 6 1.
Version 3.6.0: Version 3 6 0.
Version 3.5.10: Version 3 5 10.
Version 3.5.9: Version 3 5 9.
Version 3.5.8: Version 3 5 8.
Version 3.5.7: Version 3 5 7.
Version 3.5.6: Version 3 5 6.
Version 3.5.5: Version 3 5 5.
Version 3.5.4: Version 3 5 4.
Version 3.5.3: Version 3 5 3.
Version 3.5.2: Version 3 5 2.
Version 3.5.1: Version 3 5 1.
Version 3.5.0: Version 3 5 0.
Version 3.2.1.1: Version 3 2 1 1.
Version 3.2.1: Version 3 2 1.
Version 3.2.0: Version 3 2 0.
Version 3.1.1: Version 3 1 1.
Version 3.1.0: Version 3 1 0.
Version 3.0.1: Version 3 0 1.
Version 3.0.0: Version 3 0 0.
Version 2.5.0: Version 2 5 0.
Version 2.4.1: Version 2 4 1.
Version 2.4.0: Version 2 4 0.
Version 2.3.0: Version 2 3 0.
Version 2.2.0: Version 2 2 0.
Version 2.1.3: Version 2 1 3.
Version 2.1.2: Version 2 1 2.
Version 2.1.1: Version 2 1 1.
Version 2.1.0: Version 2 1 0.

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