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+ <!entity cvs-rev "$Revision: 1.52 $">
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<copyright>
<copyrightsummary>
-copyright ©1998, 1999 Adam Di Carlo</copyrightsummary>
+copyright ©1998 &ndash 2001 Adam Di Carlo</copyrightsummary>
<copyrightsummary>
copyright ©1997, 1998 Christian Schwarz</copyrightsummary>
<p>
their packages (<ref id="tools">).
<p>
It should be clear that this reference does not discuss the technical
-details of the Debian package nor how to generate Debian packages;
-that information is discussed in the <url id="&url-pkg-manual;"
-name="Debian Packaging Manual">. Nor does this reference detail the
-standards to which Debian software must comply; that information can
-be found in the <url id="&url-debian-policy;" name="Debian Policy
-Manual">.
+details of the Debian package nor how to generate Debian packages.
+Nor does this reference detail the standards to which Debian software
+must comply. All of such information can be found in the <url
+id="&url-debian-policy;" name="Debian Policy Manual">.
<p>
Furthermore, this document is <em>not an expression of formal
-policy</em>. It contains documentation for the Debian system, and
-generally agreed-upon best practices.
+policy</em>. It contains documentation for the Debian system and
+generally agreed-upon best practices. Thus, it is what is called a
+``normative'' document.
<chapt id="new-maintainer">Applying to Become a Maintainer
There's a LDAP database containing many informations concerning all
developers, you can access it at <url id="&url-debian-db;">. You can
update your password (this password is propagated to most of the machines
-that are accessible to you), your adress, your country, the latitude and
+that are accessible to you), your address, your country, the latitude and
longitude of the point where you live, phone and fax numbers, your
preferred shell, your IRC nickname, your web page and the email that
you're using as alias for your debian.org email. Most of the information
work for Debian and they can't be reached by email if any problem occurs.
The other developers need to know that you're on vacation so that they'll
do whatever is needed when such a problem occurs. Usually this means that
-other developers are allowed to NMU your package if a big problem (release
-critical bugs, security update, ...) occurs while you're on vacation.
+other developers are allowed to NMU (see <ref id="nmu">) your package if a
+big problem (release critical bugs, security update, ...) occurs while
+you're on vacation.
<p>
In order to inform the other developers, there's two things that you should do.
First send a mail to &email-debian-private; giving the period of time when
by sending a mail to the Quality Assurance (QA) group
(&email-debian-qa;) or justify yourself and present your plan to fix
it by sending a mail to the bug concerned report. Otherwise people
-from the QA group may want to do a Non Maintainer Upload (NMU) after
-trying to contact you (they might not wait as long as usual before
-they do their NMU if they have seen no recent activity from you on the
-BTS).
+from the QA group may want to do a Non-Maintainer Upload (see
+<ref id="nmu">) after trying to contact you (they might not wait as long as
+usual before they do their NMU if they have seen no recent activity from you
+on the BTS).
<sect id="qa-effort">Quality Assurance Effort
<p>
it to see the responses.
<p>
The following are the core Debian mailing lists: &email-debian-devel;,
-&email-debian-policy;, &email-debian-user;
-
-<!-- FIXME: &email-debian-user; results in same as does -->
-<!-- &email-debian-policy; - possibly an error in common.ent? -->
-
-, &email-debian-private;,
+&email-debian-policy;, &email-debian-user;, &email-debian-private;,
&email-debian-announce;, and &email-debian-devel-announce;. All
developers are expected to be subscribed to at least
&email-debian-private; and &email-debian-devel-announce;. There are
(<tt>.deb</tt>'s, currently around &number-of-pkgs;) and a few
additional files (documentation, installation disk images, etc.).
<p>
-Here is an example directory tree of a complete Debian distribution:
+Here is an example directory tree of a complete Debian archive:
<p>
&sample-dist-dirtree;
<p>
-As you can see, the top-level directory of the distribution contains
-three directories, namely <em>main</em>, <em>contrib</em>, and
-<em>non-free</em>. These directories are called <em>sections</em>.
- <p>
-In each section, there is a directory with the source packages
-(source), a directory for each supported architecture
+As you can see, the top-level directory contains two directories,
+<tt>dists/</tt> and <tt>pool/</tt>. The latter is a ``pool'' in which the
+packages actually are, and which is handled by the archive maintenance
+database and the accompanying programs. The former contains the
+distributions, <em>stable</em>, <em>testing</em> and <em>unstable</em>.
+Each of those distribution directories is divided in equivalent
+subdirectories purpose of which is equal, so we will only explain how it
+looks in stable. The <tt>Packages</tt> and <tt>Sources</tt> files in the
+distribution subdirectories can reference files in the <tt>pool/</tt>
+directory.
+ <p>
+<tt>dists/stable</tt> contains three directories, namely <em>main</em>,
+<em>contrib</em>, and <em>non-free</em>.
+ <p>
+In each of the areas, there is a directory with the source packages
+(<tt>source</tt>), a directory for each supported architecture
(<tt>binary-i386</tt>, <tt>binary-m68k</tt>, etc.), and a directory
for architecture independent packages (<tt>binary-all</tt>).
<p>
-The <em>main</em> section contains additional directories which holds
+The <em>main</em> area contains additional directories which holds
the disk images and some essential pieces of documentation required
for installing the Debian distribution on a specific architecture
(<tt>disks-i386</tt>, <tt>disks-m68k</tt>, etc.).
<p>
-The <em>binary</em> and <em>source</em> directories are divided
+The <em>binary-*</em> and <em>source</em> directories are divided
further into <em>subsections</em>.
<sect>Sections
<p>
-The <em>main</em> section is what makes up the <em>official Debian
-GNU/Linux distribution</em>. The <em>main</em> section is official
-because it fully complies with all our guidelines. The other two
-sections do not, to different degrees; as such, they are not
-officially part of Debian.
+The <em>main</em> section of the Debian archive is what makes up the
+<strong>official Debian GNU/Linux distribution</strong>.
+The <em>main</em> section is official because it fully complies with
+all our guidelines. The other two sections do not, to different degrees;
+as such, they are <strong>not</strong> officially part of Debian GNU/Linux.
<p>
Every package in the main section must fully comply with the <url
id="&url-dfsg;" name="Debian Free Software Guidelines"> (DFSG) and
our definition of ``free software.'' Check out the Debian Policy
Manual for details.
<p>
+Packages in the <em>contrib</em> section have to comply with the DFSG,
+but may fail other requirements. For instance, they may depend on
+non-free packages.
+ <p>
Packages which do not apply to the DFSG are placed in the
<em>non-free</em> section. These packages are not considered as part
of the Debian distribution, though we support their use, and we
provide infrastructure (such as our bug-tracking system and mailing
lists) for non-free software packages.
<p>
-Packages in the <em>contrib</em> section have to comply with the DFSG,
-but may fail other requirements. For instance, they may depend on
-non-free packages.
- <p>
The <url id="&url-debian-policy;" name="Debian Policy Manual">
contains a more exact definition of the three sections. The above
discussion is just an introduction.
shipped for <em>i386</em> and <em>m68k</em> architectures. Debian 2.1
ships for the <em>i386</em>, <em>m68k</em>, <em>alpha</em>, and
<em>sparc</em> architectures. Debian 2.2 adds support for the
-<em>powerpc</em> architecture.
+<em>powerpc</em> and <em>arm</em> architectures.
<p>
Information for developers or uses about the specific ports are
available at the <url id="&url-debian-ports;" name="Debian Ports web
Subsections simply exist to simplify the organization and browsing of
available packages. Please check the current Debian distribution to
see which sections are available.
-
+ <p>
+Note however that with the introduction of package pools (see the top-level
+<em>pool/</em> directory), the subsections in the form of subdirectories
+will eventually cease to exist. They will be kept in the packages' `Section'
+header fields, though.
<sect>Packages
<p>
<p>
The directory system described in the previous chapter is itself
contained within <em>distribution directories</em>. Each
-distribution is contained in the <tt>dists</tt> directory in the
-top-level of the Debian archive itself (the symlinks from the
-top-level directory to the distributions themselves are for backwards
-compatability and are deprecated).
+distribution is actually contained in the <tt>pool</tt> directory in the
+top-level of the Debian archive itself.
<p>
To summarize, the Debian archive has a root directory within an FTP
server. For instance, at the mirror site,
contained in <ftppath>/debian</ftppath>, which is a common location
(another is <ftppath>/pub/debian</ftppath>).
<p>
-Within that archive root, the actual distributions are contained in
-the <tt>dists</tt> directory. Here is an overview of the layout:
- <p>
-<example>
-<var>archive root</var>/dists/<var>distribution</var>/<var>section</var>/<var>architecture</var>/<var>subsection</var>/<var>packages</var>
-</example>
+A distribution is comprised of Debian source and binary packages, and the
+respective <tt>Sources</tt> and <tt>Packages</tt> index files, containing
+the header information from all those packages. The former are kept in the
+<tt>pool/</tt> directory, while the latter are kept in the <tt>dists/</tt>
+directory of the archive (because of backwards compatibility).
-Extrapolating from this layout, you know that to find the i386 base
-packages for the distribution <em>slink</em>, you would look in
-<ftppath>/debian/dists/slink/main/binary-i386/base/</ftppath>.
- <sect1>Stable, unstable, and sometimes frozen
+ <sect1>Stable, testing, unstable, and sometimes frozen
<p>
There is always a distribution called <em>stable</em> (residing in
-<tt>dists/stable</tt>) and one called <em>unstable</em> (residing in
+<tt>dists/stable</tt>), one called <em>testing</em> (residing in
+<tt>dists/testing</tt>), and one called <em>unstable</em> (residing in
<tt>dists/unstable</tt>). This reflects the development process of the
Debian project.
<p>
distribution</em>). Every Debian developer can update his or her
packages in this distribution at any time. Thus, the contents of this
distribution change from day-to-day. Since no special effort is done
-to test this distribution, it is sometimes ``unstable.''
- <p>
-After a period of development, the <em>unstable</em> distribution is
-copied to a new distribution directory, called <em>frozen</em>. After
-that has been done, no changes are allowed to the frozen distribution except
+to make sure everything in this distribution is working properly, it is
+sometimes ``unstable.''
+ <p>
+Packages get copied from <em>unstable</em> to <em>testing</em> if they
+satisfy certain criteria. To get into <em>testing</em> distribution, a
+package needs to be in the archive for two weeks and not have any release
+critical bugs. After that period, it will propagate into <em>testing</em>
+as soon as anything it depends on is also added. This process is automatic.
+ <p>
+After a period of development, once the release manager deems fit, the
+<em>testing</em> distribution is renamed to <em>frozen</em>. Once
+that has been done, no changes are allowed to that distribution except
bug fixes; that's why it's called ``frozen.'' After another month or
-a little longer, the <em>frozen</em> distribution is renamed to
-<em>stable</em>, overriding the old <em>stable</em> distribution,
+a little longer, depending on the progress, the <em>frozen</em> distribution
+goes into a `deep freeze', when no changes are made to it except those
+needed for the installation system. This is called a ``test cycle'', and it
+can last up to two weeks. There can be several test cycles, until the
+distribution is prepared for release, as decided by the release manager.
+At the end of the last test cycle, the <em>frozen</em> distribution is
+renamed to <em>stable</em>, overriding the old <em>stable</em> distribution,
which is removed at that time.
<p>
This development cycle is based on the assumption that the
(e.g., `1.3' becomes `1.3r1', `2.0r2' becomes `2.0r3', and so forth).
<p>
Note that development under <em>unstable</em> continues during the
-``freeze'' period, since a new <em>unstable</em> distribution is be
-created when the older <em>unstable</em> is moved to <em>frozen</em>.
+``freeze'' period, since the <em>unstable</em> distribution remains in
+place when the <em>testing</em> is moved to <em>frozen</em>.
Another wrinkle is that when the <em>frozen</em> distribution is
offically released, the old stable distribution is completely removed
from the Debian archives (although they do live on at
<tt>archive-host;</tt>).
<p>
-In summary, there is always a <em>stable</em> and an <em>unstable</em>
-distribution available, and a <em>frozen</em> distribution shows up
-for a month or so from time to time.
+In summary, there is always a <em>stable</em>, a <em>testing</em> and an
+<em>unstable</em> distribution available, and a <em>frozen</em> distribution
+shows up for a couple of months from time to time.
<sect1>Experimental
+<!-- Note: experimental is currently dead because of the package pools.
+ Once that changes, the description below will most probably need
+ adjustments. -->
<p>
The <em>experimental</em> distribution is a specialty distribution.
It is not a full distribution in the same sense as `stable' and
Every released Debian distribution has a <em>code name</em>: Debian
1.1 is called `buzz'; Debian 1.2, `rex'; Debian 1.3, `bo'; Debian 2.0,
`hamm'; Debian 2.1, `slink'; and Debian 2.2, `potato'. There is also
-a ``pseudo-distribution'', called `sid', which is contains packages for
-architectures which are not yet officially supported or released by
-Debian. These architectures are planned to be integrated into the
-mainstream distribution at some future date.
+a ``pseudo-distribution'', called `sid', which is the current
+`unstable' distribution; since packages are moved from `unstable' to
+`testing' as they approach stability, `sid' itself is never released.
+As well as the usual contents of a Debian distribution, `sid' contains
+packages for architectures which are not yet officially supported or
+released by Debian. These architectures are planned to be integrated
+into the mainstream distribution at some future date.
<p>
Since Debian has an open development model (i.e., everyone can
-participate and follow the development) even the unstable distribution
-is distributed to the Internet through the Debian FTP and HTTP server
-network. Thus, if we had called the directory which contains the
-development version `unstable', then we would have to rename it to
-`stable' when the version is released, which would cause all FTP
-mirrors to re-retrieve the whole distribution (which is quite
-large).
+participate and follow the development) even the `unstable' and `testing'
+distributions are distributed to the Internet through the Debian FTP and
+HTTP server network. Thus, if we had called the directory which contains
+the release candidate version `testing', then we would have to rename it
+to `stable' when the version is released, which would cause all FTP
+mirrors to re-retrieve the whole distribution (which is quite large).
<p>
On the other hand, if we called the distribution directories
<em>Debian-x.y</em> from the beginning, people would think that Debian
1.1, and not 1.0.)
<p>
Thus, the names of the distribution directories in the archive are
-determined by their code names and not their release status (i.e.,
+determined by their code names and not their release status (e.g.,
`slink'). These names stay the same during the development period and
after the release; symbolic links, which can be changed easily,
indicate the currently released stable distribution. That's why the
real distribution directories use the <em>code names</em>, while symbolic
-links for <em>stable</em>, <em>unstable</em>, and <em>frozen</em>
-point to the appropriate release directories.
+links for <em>stable</em>, <em>testing</em>, <em>unstable</em>, and
+<em>frozen</em> point to the appropriate release directories.
<chapt id="upload">Package uploads
&control-file-fields;
<p>
All of these fields are mandatory for a Debian upload. See the list
-of control fields in the <url id="&url-pkg-manual;" name="Debian
-Packaging Manual"> for the contents of these fields. You can close
-bugs automatically using the <tt>Description</tt> field, see <ref
+of control fields in the <url id="&url-debian-policy;" name="Debian
+Policy Manual"> for the contents of these fields. You can close bugs
+automatically using the <tt>Description</tt> field, see <ref
id="upload-bugfix">. Only the <tt>Distribution</tt> field is
discussed in this section, since it relates to the archive maintenance
policies.
<file>debian/changelog</file> file, indicates which distribution the
package is intended for. There are four possible values for this
field: `stable', `unstable', `frozen', or `experimental'; these values
-can also be combined. For instance, if you have a crucial security
-fix release of a package, and the package has not diverged between the
-<em>stable</em> and <em>unstable</em> distributions, then you might
-put `stable unstable' in the <file>changelog</file>'s
-<tt>Distribution</tt> field. Or, if Debian has been frozen, and you
+can also be combined. Or, if Debian has been frozen, and you
want to get a bug-fix release into <em>frozen</em>, you would set the
distribution to `frozen unstable'. (See <ref id="upload-frozen"> for
more information on when to upload to <em>frozen</em>.) Note that it
never makes sense to combine the <em>experimental</em> distribution with
-anything else. Also note that setting the distribution to `stable' means
+anything else.
+ <p>
+You should avoid combining `stable' with others because of potential
+problems with library dependencies (for your package and for the package
+built by the build daemons for other architecture).
+Also note that setting the distribution to `stable' means
that the package will be placed into the <tt>proposed-updates</tt>
directory of the Debian archive for further testing before it is actually
included in <em>stable</em>. The Release Team (which can be reached at
software will process it by running <prgn>dinstall</prgn> on your changes
file: <example>dinstall -n foo.changes</example>
- <sect1 id="upload-non-us">Uploading to <tt>non-us</tt> (pandora)
+ <sect1 id="upload-non-us">Uploading to <tt>non-US</tt> (pandora)
<p>
As discussed above, export controlled software should not be uploaded
to <tt>ftp-master</tt>. Instead, use <prgn>scp</prgn> or non-anonymous
You can check your upload the same way it's done on <tt>ftp-master</tt>,
with:
<example>dinstall -n foo.changes</example>
-
+ <p>
+Note that U.S. residents or citizens are subject to restrictions on
+export of cryptographic software. As of this writing, U.S. citizens are
+allowed to export some cryptographic software, subject to notification
+rules by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
+ <p>
+Debian policy does not prevent upload to non-US by U.S. residents or
+citizens, but care should be taken in doing so. It is recommended that
+developers take all necessary steps to ensure that they are not
+breaking current US law by doing an upload to non-US, <em>including
+consulting a lawyer</em>.
+ <p>
+For packages in non-US main or contrib, developers should at least
+follow the <url id="&url-u.s.-export;" name="procedure outlined by the
+US Government">. Maintainers of non-US/non-free packages should
+further consult these <url id="url-notification-of-export" name="rules
+on notification of export"> of non-free software.
+ <p>
+This section is for information only and does not constitute legal
+advice. Again, it is strongly recommended that U.S. citizens and
+residents consult a lawyer before doing uploads to non-US.
+
+
<sect1>Uploads via <tt>chiark</tt>
<p>
If you have a slow network connection to <tt>ftp-master</tt>, there are
<item>
Don't set architecture to a value other than ``all'' or ``any'' unless
you really mean it. In too many cases, maintainers don't follow the
-instructions in the <url id="&url-pkg-manual;" name="Debian Packaging
+instructions in the <url id="&url-debian-policy;;" name="Debian Policy
Manual">. Setting your architecture to ``i386'' is usually incorrect.
<item>
Make sure your source package is correct. Do <tt>dpkg-source -x
not need to touch any of the files in the source package. This
includes <file>debian/changelog</file>.
<p>
-Sometimes you need to recompile a packages against other packages
+Sometimes you need to recompile a package against other packages
which have been updated, such as libraries. You do have to bump the
version number in this case, so that the upgrade system can function
properly. Even so, these are considered binary-only NMUs -- there is
<p>
If you need to change the section for one of your packages, change the
package control information to place the package in the desired
-section, and re-upload the package (see the <url id="&url-pkg-manual;"
-name="Debian Packaging Manual"> for details). Carefully examine the
+section, and re-upload the package (see the <url id="&url-debian-policy;"
+name="Debian Policy Manual"> for details). Carefully examine the
installation log sent to you when the package is installed into the
archive. If for some reason the old location of the package remains,
file a bug against <tt>ftp.debian.org</tt> asking that the old
Sometimes you made a mistake naming the package and you need to rename
it. In this case, you need to follow a two-step process. First, set
your <file>debian/control</file> file to replace and conflict with the
-obsolete name of the package (see the <url id="&url-pkg-manual;"
-name="Debian Packaging Manual"> for details). Once you've uploaded
+obsolete name of the package (see the <url id="&url-debian-policy;"
+name="Debian Policy Manual"> for details). Once you've uploaded
that package, and the package has moved into the archive, file a bug
against <tt>ftp.debian.org</tt> asking to remove the package with the
obsolete name.
id="upload-checking"> and <ref id="lintian-reports">.
+ <sect id="debconf">
+ <heading><package>debconf</package></heading>
+ <p>
+<package>debconf</package> provides a consistent interface to
+configuring packages interactively. It is user interface
+intedependant, allowing end-users to configure packages with a
+text-only interface, an HTML interface, or a dialog interface. New
+interfaces can be added modularly.
+ <p>
+Many feel that this system should be used for all packages requiring
+interactive configuration. <package>debconf</package> is not
+currently required by Debian Policy, however, that may change in the
+future.
+
+
<sect id="debhelper">
<heading><package>debhelper</package>
<p>
~ianmdlvl / developers-reference.git / blobdiff