%versiondata; ]> ChrisWaters JoeyHess JoostWitteveen The Debian Policy Mailing List debian-policy@lists.debian.org version &version; &date; This manual describes the policy requirements for the Menu system used in the Debian distribution. This document is part of the policy package for Debian. 1999 Chris Waters Joey Hess Joost Witteveen These are the copyright dates of the original Debian Menu sub-policy. Since then, this document has been updated by many others. No comprehensive collection of copyright notices for subsequent work exists. This manual is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL in the Debian distribution or on the World Wide Web at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/. This document is distributed as the menu-policy files in the Debian package debian-policy. It is also available from the Debian web mirrors at https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/menu-policy/. This document has been extracted and separated from the Menu package to: Increase the visibility of the Menu sub policy Reduce the coupling between policy and implementation. If this separation is not made, every time we want to change menu policy, we have to arrange to get the maintainer to release a new version of the package, even if the package has not otherwise changed. It also involves yet another layer, making the policy changes that much harder to implement. The debian-policy mailing list has taken responsibility for the contents of this document, with the Menu package maintainer's responsible for packaging administrivia only. If you have a package which doesn't fit within the existing menu hierarchy, please bring it up on the debian-devel mailing list. If you have other proposals for changing the menu hierarchy, or making other changes to menu policy, please bring it up on debian-policy.

Here is the authoritative list of Debian's menu structure. Packages must be placed in leaf sections. Applications Normal applications Applications/Accessibility Tools to aid people with disabilities or for machines lacking usual input devices. Examples: gok, yasr, dasher. Applications/Amateur Radio Anything relating to HAM radio. Examples: baken, hamsoft, twlog Applications/Data Management Interactive database programs, collection managers, address books, bibliography tools, etc. gaby, alexandria, mdbtools Applications/Editors Editors, other than office word processors, for text-based information. Examples: ksubtile, nano, hexedit Applications/Education Educational and training softwares. Examples: gtypist, gcompris, quiz Applications/Emulators Software that allows you to run non-native software or more than one OS at a time. Examples: wine, dosemu, qemu Applications/File Management Tools for file management, archiving, searching, CD/DVD burning, backup, etc. Examples: file-roller, mc, baobab Applications/Graphics 2D and 3D graphics manipulation software. Examples: gimp, inkscape, imagemagick Applications/Mobile Devices Software that allows you to interface with mobile devices (phones, PDAs, etc.). Examples: kandy, gnokii, gnome-pilot Applications/Network Network related software. This is a three-level section, do not put entries directly here. Applications/Network/Communication Mail, USENET news, chat, instant messaging, IP telephony, video conferencing software, etc. Examples: xchat, gaim, mutt Applications/Network/File Transfer File transfer software such as download managers, FTP clients, P2P clients, etc. Examples: amule, gftp, d4x Applications/Network/Monitoring Network monitoring software Examples: gip, ettercap, iptstate Applications/Network/Web Browsing Web browsers, tools for offline browsing, etc. Examples: elinks, epiphany-browser, webhttrack Applications/Network/Web News Web feed (RSS, Atom, etc.) and podcast aggregators. Examples: akregator, kitty, liferea Applications/Office Office suites, word processors, spreadsheets, CRM, ERP, financial software, etc. Examples: openoffice.org, tinyerp-client, gnucash Applications/Programming IDEs, debuggers, etc. Examples: anjuta, gdb, eclipse Applications/Project Management Timetable managers, group task trackers, bug tracking software, etc. Examples: planner, bugzilla, gnotime Applications/Science Scientific and engineering-related software. Applications/Science/Astronomy Astronomy-related software. Examples: celestia, spacechart, stellarium Applications/Science/Biology Biology-related software. Examples: arb, ncbi-tools-x11, seaview Applications/Science/Chemistry Chemistry-related software. Examples: chemtool, kalzium, xdrawchem Applications/Science/Data Analysis Software designed for processing, extracting, and presenting generic scientific data. Examples: fityk, ygraph, mn-fit Applications/Science/Electronics Circuit design tools, simulators and assemblers for microprocessors, etc Examples: geda, gnucap, tkgate Applications/Science/Engineering CAD, UML tools, diagram-drawing and other engineering-related software. Examples: tcm, dia, qcad Applications/Science/Geoscience Geoscience-related software. Examples: earth3d, qgis, therion Applications/Science/Mathematics Mathematics-related software. Examples: gcalctool, snappea, xeukleides Applications/Science/Medicine Medicine-related software. Examples: mssstest, gnumed-client, xmedcon Applications/Science/Physics Physics-related software. Examples: kxterm, ifrit, paw Applications/Science/Social Social sciences-related software. Examples: gnomesword, hanzim, bibletime Applications/Shells Various shells to be used inside a terminal emulator. Examples: bash, ksh, zsh Applications/Sound Sound players, editors, and rippers/recorders. Examples: beep-media-player, grip, audacity Applications/System System related software. Applications/System/Administration Administrative and system configuration utilities, also tools for personal user settings. Examples: gnome-control-center, configure-debian, gksu Applications/System/Hardware Tools for manipulating specific hardware, especially non-standard laptop hardware. Examples: toshutils, nvclock-gtk, nvtv Applications/System/Language Environment This section is reserved for language-env as a special case. Applications/System/Monitoring System information and monitoring tools, log viewers, etc. Examples: top, hal-device-manager, gtkdiskfree Applications/System/Package Management Package managers and related tools. Examples: aptitude, deborphan, smartpm Applications/System/Security Security, cryptography and privacy related software, antiviruses, tools to track and report bugs, etc. Examples: gpgkeys, bastille, avscan Applications/Terminal Emulators Graphical terminal emulators. Examples: xterm, gnome-terminal, rxvt Applications/Text Text oriented tools like dictionaries, OCR, translation, text analysis software, etc. Examples: kdrill, stardict, turkey Applications/TV and Radio TV-in, TV-out, FM radio, teletext browsers, etc. Examples: gradio, gatos, alevt Applications/Viewers Software for viewing images, documents and other (non-video) media. Examples: gqview, evince, gthumb Applications/Video Video players, editors, and rippers/recorders. Examples: istanbul, totem, kino Applications/Web Development Software for web site editing, web programming, and site administration. Examples: bluefish, screem, gphpedit Games Games and recreations Games/Action Games that involve a lot of action and require fast reflexes. Examples: xsoldier, supertux, xmoto Games/Adventure Role playing and adventure games, interactive movies and stories, etc. Examples: beneath-a-steel-sky, egoboo, kq Games/Blocks Tetris-like games involving falling blocks. Examples: crack-attack, frozen-bubble, netris Games/Board Games played on a board. Examples: phalanx, xshogi, xboard Games/Card Games involving a deck of cards. Examples: pysol, ace-of-penguins, xpat2 Games/Puzzles Tests of ingenuity and logic. Examples: xmpuzzles, sgt-puzzles, enigma Games/Simulation Simulations of the real world in all detail and complexity. Examples: flightgear, torcs Games/Strategy Games involving long-term strategic thinking. Examples: wesnoth, widelands, netpanzer Games/Tools Server browsers, configurators, editors, and other game-related tools that are not games themselves. Examples: xqf, crystalspace Games/Toys Amusements, eye-candy, entertaining demos, screen hacks (screensavers), etc. Examples: xdesktopwaves, xphoon, xpenguins Help programs that provide user documentation Examples: debian-reference, apt-howto, dhelp Screen Programs that affect the whole screen. Screen/Saving Tools for blanking the screen. Entries of screen hacks and configuration GUIs should go to other appropriate sections. Examples: xscreensaver, xlockmore Screen/Locking Tools for locking the screen. Examples: xscreensaver, xlockmore Window Managers X window managers. Examples: fluxbox, metacity, waimea FVWM Modules FVWM-based window manager modules. As only modules related to the running window-manager are displayed, do not create subsections for specific window-managers. Examples: fvwm, fvwm-gnome, fvwm95 Window Maker This section is reserved for wmaker as a special case. All wmaker specific entries must go here.