Hi! On Fri, 2026-07-17 at 15:04:00 +0300, Martin-Éric Racine wrote: > Package: debian-policy > Severity: wishlist > X-Debbugs-Cc: [email protected] > > Standards-Version 4.7.4 was introduced during the development of > Debian 14, but the version number doesn't reflect that.
> Meanwhile, debhelper-compat 14 was introduced during the same development > cycle and it indeed matches the upcoming Debian release version. > > I propose that, from now on, Debian Policy switches to a 3-part version: > > x.y.z > > Where X denotes the Debian release (e.g. 14 for Forky) during which > the policy was introduced, X denotes major changes in policy or > packaging, Y denotes minor adjustments in policy or packaging. > > As an example, the current 4.7.4 could be renumbered to 14.7.4 to > reflect the ongoing development schedule. The problem is that the Debian Policy and debhelper are not alike. In the Debian Policy case, major changes are added whenever, regardless of a specific start of a Debian release cycle. For debhelper, incompatible or breaking changes get accumulated in the next compat level and then released, which makes it easy to sync with a Debian release cycle, and by definition all those changes will be major. Using the Debian release number for the Debian Policy would mean that the first component would no longer imply major changes in the Policy, just the time when they happened in the Debian release cycle. Thanks, Guillem
