(debian-policy.info)Standards-Version

---

Next: Version Prev: Package interrelationship fields Depends Pre-Depends Recommends Suggests Breaks Conflicts Provides Replaces Enhances Up: List of fields

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

5.6.11 ‘Standards-Version’
--------------------------

The most recent version of the standards (the policy manual and
associated texts) with which the package complies.  See Note: Standards
conformance.

The version number has four components: major and minor version number
and major and minor patch level.  When the standards change in a way
that requires every package to change the major number will be changed.
Significant changes that will require work in many packages will be
signaled by a change to the minor number.  The major patch level will be
changed for any change to the meaning of the standards, however small;
the minor patch level will be changed when only cosmetic, typographical
or other edits are made which neither change the meaning of the document
nor affect the contents of packages.

Thus only the first three components of the policy version are
significant in the `Standards-Version' control field, and so either
these three components or all four components may be specified.  (1)

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1) In the past, people specified the full version number in the
Standards-Version field, for example “2.3.0.0”.  Since minor patch-level
changes don’t introduce new policy, it was thought it would be better to
relax policy and only require the first 3 components to be specified, in
this example “2.3.0”.  All four components may still be used if someone
wishes to do so.