Chapter 3 - Binary packages

The Ubuntu distribution is based on the Debian package management system, called dpkg. Thus, all packages in the Ubuntu distribution must be provided in the .deb file format.

3.1 The package name

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.1)

3.2 The version of a package

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.2)

3.2.1 Version numbers based on dates

(Modifies: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.2.1)

In general, Ubuntu packages should use the same version numbers as the upstream sources.

However, in some cases where the upstream version number is based on a date (e.g., a development “snapshot” release) the package management system cannot handle these version numbers without epochs. For example, dpkg will consider “96May01” to be greater than “96Dec24”.

To prevent having to use epochs for every new upstream version, the date based portion of the version number should be changed to the following format in such cases: “19960501”, “19961224”. It is up to the maintainer whether they want to bother the upstream maintainer to change the version numbers upstream, too.

Note that other version formats based on dates which are parsed correctly by the package management system should not be changed.

Native Debian or Ubuntu packages (i.e., packages which have been written especially for Debian or Ubuntu) whose version numbers include dates should always use the “YYYYMMDD” format.

3.3 The maintainer of a package

(Modifies: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.3)

Every package must have a Debian maintainer (the maintainer may be one person or a group of people reachable from a common email address, such as a mailing list). The maintainer is responsible for ensuring that the package is placed in the appropriate distributions.

The maintainer must be specified in the Maintainer control field with their correct name and a working email address. If one person maintains several packages, they should try to avoid having different forms of their name and email address in the Maintainer fields of those packages.

The format of the Maintainer control field is described in Maintainer, Section 5.6.2.

If the maintainer of a package quits from the Debian project, “Debian QA Group” mailto:packages@qa.debian.org takes over the maintainer-ship of the package until someone else volunteers for that task. These packages are called orphaned packages. [1]

Ubuntu: Packages that are modified in Ubuntu should have an Ubuntu-specific Maintainer field. [2] All Ubuntu binary packages, and Ubuntu source packages that are modified relative to Debian (that is, its version number contains the string “ubuntu”), should have their Maintainer field adjusted as follows:

  • If the Maintainer field contains an ubuntu.com email address, or one associated with an Ubuntu developer, then no modifications should be made.

  • If the package is in main or restricted, the Maintainer field should be set to Ubuntu Core Developers mailto:ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com.

  • If the package is in universe or multiverse, the Maintainer field should be set to Ubuntu MOTU Developers mailto:ubuntu-motu@lists.ubuntu.com.

If the Maintainer field is modified, then the old value must be saved in a field named XSBC-Original-Maintainer. Because it is mandated and very common, it is not necessary or appropriate to document this change in debian/changelog, unless it is the only change involved in the upload.

3.4 The description of a package

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.4)

3.5 Dependencies

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.5)

3.6 Virtual packages

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.6)

3.7 Base system

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.7)

3.8 Essential packages

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.8)

3.9 Maintainer scripts

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.9)

3.9.1 Prompting in maintainer scripts

(Shared with Debian, see: Debian Policy Manual, Section 3.9.1)

← (Chapter 2 - The Ubuntu Archive) | (Chapter 4 - Source packages) →