Hello, Triggered by the discussion to include a controversial "visual novel" in the Debian archive, we feel that a statement from the ftpteam on what is considered acceptable for the archive is called for. The following may be triggered by just one proposed (and in the meantime retracted) package, but it is equally valid for a lot of other possible candidate packages. The packages in question may adhere to our technical standards, and may be entirely free in any way we usually judge them - but this is not about those standards. This is also not a moral judgement about the content of such packages, as that judgement does vary a lot depending on who you ask, where you are, as well as how you were raised. We opt instead to use a reasoning based on what might harm the project, our mirrors, our derivatives or our users. Let us explain with some examples what we mean by "harm our project, our mirrors, derivatives, or users". As an example, child pornography or abusive material is something that is outlawed around most of the world. In many of the countries where our Developers live (as well as your fellow FTPTeam), you can even go to jail for just seeing it, even if you haven't actively engaged in it, nor did you actively search for it. Downloading a package that contained such material, even by mistake, might directly harm our developers and our users; and having such files in our archive might also directly harm the project as a whole. As a second example, we might consider adult pornography, which, even if legal in many countries, still usually requires a series of controls to prevent access from underage children. Since we don't have any such controls over the archive, let alone the mirror network, nor do we want to impose any such controls on our derivatives, this material would not be acceptable in our archive. Those are just two examples - we sure could go and write down some more. But they are examples: we can't foresee all the possible content someone may propose. So instead, we have a simple set of questions that should be applied, helping to judge contents before upload: - Is it likely illegal in the majority of the countries of our Developers? - Will it harm Debian, our mirrors, derivatives or users and potentially endanger them or require extra work on their side to protect them from such? If you can answer these questions with a yes or even a maybe - don't upload the package to any project machine (including a VCS), let alone the archive. If you are unsure your prospective package may be affected, ask FTPMaster before uploading to the archive, or Debian resp. Alioth admins before uploading to a VCS repository on Debian machines. -- bye Joerg, for the FTPMasters and FTP Team
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