Bug#1144627: debian-policy: Introduce architecture as 2.6 and document baseline

Sean Whitton <[email protected]> Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:01:23 +0100

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.policy
Message-ID	<87zeyjrbm4.fsf__35251.9444584445$1787048010$gmane$org@melete.silentflame.com>

Bastien Roucaries [17/Aug 12:16pm +02] wrote:
> Package: debian-policy
> Version: 4.7.4.1
> Severity: important
>
> Hi
>
> I will like for ease of reading to define a new section 2.6 architecture
>
> [proposal]
>
> Debian uses a dual‑level architecture system in its packaging: arch:all
> packages contain architecture‑independent content such as documentation, icons,
> scripts, or pure Python or Java code, and are built once for all architectures.
>
> This distinction allows Debian to efficiently manage multi‑architecture builds,
> minimize duplication, and ensure that architecture‑specific optimizations or
> constraints are respected during compilation and dependency resolution.
>
> In contrast, arch:any packages contain compiled binaries and must be built
> separately for each supported architecture (for instance amd64, arm64, riscv64,
> s390x).
>
> Each binary package produced from an arch:any source is tagged with its
> specific architecture, while arch:all produces a single binary package shared
> across the archive, for instance arch:amd64 or arch:S390x.
>
> Archive wise package are compiled for a baseline that is a specific ABI and
> ISA.

We wouldn't add a new section like this because it'd cause renumbering.
Instead we'd want to append a new section 2.13 to the chapter.

I'm not sure about adding a new section that contains only informative
text.  I think I'd like to see how this would be combined with some
text about relevant normative requirements that you think are currently
not documented.

-- 
Sean Whitton

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