I have just uploaded version 3.8.0.0 of Debian Policy.
Please note that the Policy release cycle is not currently
well-synchronized with the release cycle, and adjusting to this version of
Policy is *not* a priority for the upcoming lenny release unless the
relevant provision has already separately been accepted as a release goal.
This is too late in the release cycle to expect that. In particular, the
new README.source provision should not be considered a goal for lenny.
Some packages are already frozen and many more will be frozen shortly, and
most of those packages will not reflect Policy 3.8.0. That's fine. None
of the changes that haven't already happened in the archive are urgent for
the release. However, if you are making new uploads for lenny for other
reasons, bringing those uploads in line with Policy 3.8.0 is certainly
fine.
I'm hopeful that going into the next release cycle we'll be able to
release more versions of Policy earlier in the release cycle.
A new upload of Lintian synchronized with Policy 3.8.0 will be out within
the next few days.
Here is the summary of changes in this version from upgrading-checklist.
As always, the description in this summary is not normative, only a rough
indication of what's changed. If you have any questions about these
provisions, please see the referenced Policy document section first.
* 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. [2.4, 3.7]
* 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]
* 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, 10.1]
* 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 [4.9.1]
* Debian packages should not use convience copies of code from other
packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
used that way. [4.13]
* 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. [4.14]
* The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped. [5.6.3]
* An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
a version number. [5.6.12]
* New Homepage field for upstream web sites. [5.6.23]
* 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. [6.5, 6.6, 7]
* 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. [8.1, 8.2]
* Files in /etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly} must be
configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
directory. [9.5]
* Packages providing /etc/X11/Xresources files need not conflict with
xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2), which is long-obsolete. [11.8.6]
* 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. [12.1]
* 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. [12.5]
* Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names. [debconf]
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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