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Goal is to list what type of software we are going to include in the distribution (hence, distribute).

This policy is tied to the Licensing policy and will influence the Mirrors policy.

Types of software

Technical constraint

  • supported vs not-supported (or un-maintained, what means "supported" here, if ever) => support policy ?

Commercial constraint

  • paid vs gratis

Legal constraint

  • license: free/libre vs non-free/proprietary (per FSF definition or OSI definition - see licensing policy)
  • distribution: for non-free software, distribution/usage conditions may not be the same (explicit permission, or not)
    • firmware that may be redistributable
    • other binaries
  • implementations/technics prohibited or controlled (exportation rules, registration): encryption, DRMs
  • patents:
    • including code covered by a patent vs not (note that it is difficult to _know_ that)
    • if covered, is this a patent with:
      • explicit permission
      • explicit prohibition
      • nothing substantial
  • unknown
    • binary without a license (firmware)
    •  ?

How do we group/manage all these dimensions?

From this (knowing what we expect to include/exclude), we can derive on the media policy (what and why), even for what we exclude.

References

(many more points but these are pivots in the discussion):