Debian Archive criteria

Definitions

A new architecture has to follow the Rules for new architectures, and answer all Questions for new architectures.

A new OS has to follow the Rules for new architectures and answer all Questions for new architectures as well as all Further questions for OSes.

To have the answers all at one location, please create a page below wiki.debian.org/ArchiveQualification/.

Rules for existing architectures

• If an architecture fails to be included in 2 successive official releases, it is moved out of the official archive (and away from the ftp-master.debian.org host).
• If a removed architecture later can prove it will be able to make the next official release, it can be re-included into the official archive. This step additionally needs the acceptance of the Security, the Release and the Debian Admin Team. (It needs security autobuilders, porter machines, etc.)

Rules for new architectures

• A newly included architecture has to be completely built using packages available in plain Debian sources. External patches cannot be used.
• At the time of inclusion a minimal set of binary packages will be imported into the archive, just enough to get build-essential ready to go and an official buildd setup and running. Everything else will be rebuilt from scratch. As soon as enough is rebuilt to get the initial toolchain built using "native" Debian, this will be rebuilt too.
• The packages imported from external source and used for the initial build run must be signed by one of the lead porters, who must be a DD.
• There must be at least two machines ready to be maintained by the Debian System Administrators, so at the start of its lifetime there will be at least one buildd and one porter machine.
  The inclusion into the archive will almost certainly happen before the machines are handed over to DSA, but this should happen as soon as feasible afterwards. (Note that this is the minimum to get into the archive. The release team may have additional requirements to allow the architecture to release, so there would normally need to be more machines, especially more buildds.)
  Note: The machines, their setup and hosting etc should be coordinated with DSA and needs to be acceptable to DSA. Please coordinate with them, they might be able to help you in more ways you can imagine, but at least they can help to avoid useless work if a hosting wouldnt be acceptable. :)

Questions for new architectures

• Are machines available to buy for the general public?
• Is full source available?
• Is this architecture related to other architectures already in the archive, or that also should be considered, either now or in the future? Can the related architectures be supported in a single architecture (eg, with a biarch arrangement)?
• Are there 3 or more developers (or NMs) actively maintaining the port? Who are they?
• What sort of architecture is this? Desktop/workstation? Mainframe/supercomputer? Embedded? Something else?
• Does it have any users? If a desktop system, are there Debian admins who run Debian systems on the arch? If an embedded system are there real systems shipping that a Debian port will be useful for? If a mainframe system are there real systems with many users that a Debian port will be useful for? Who are they?
• Is there kernel and toolchain support? At what level? Are the latest versions supported, or are legacy releases required for compatability with some hardware?
• Has the ABI stabalised, or are there major ABI changes coming up? Is the ABI stable enough to ensure users will be able just "apt-get dist-upgrade" from one version to the next?
• How do you install a system? (URL to a HOWTO)
• Has a buildd been setup? How much of the archive has been built (count by source package, builds of old versions are fine for this case)?
• What hardware is potentially available as a fast buildd?
• Is there an example box developers can login to to see if it works?

It's also worth considering whether the port has any special requirements. If the port is mainly for embedded systems, it may be appropriate to have different installation or release arrangements compared to normal desktop/workstation architectures.

Further questions for OSes

• Are there existing comprehensive free distributions of this OS? If so, why is a Debian distribution useful?
• What demonstrable benefits does this OS have over existing Debian OSes?
• Does this system have a standard Unix API?
• Does the OS support modern glibc and gcc?
• What is the license on the kernel and core libraries? Is the license free? Is the license GPL compatible? (Note that if it's not free, distributing the software violates the Social Contract; and if it's not GPL compatible, GPL software such as dpkg can't be linked to it)
• Does the OS build largely without source changes? If so, what proportion of the archive has built?

It's worth thinking about whether it makes sense to integrate the port with Debian's Linux-based distribution -- having separate sources may not only reduce the impact on the release architectures, but also make it easier to do development on the new OS as well.

Note that if significant changes are needed to more than just a small number of packages, your porting team will not only need to provide patches for most of those changes and make sure they work, but also ensure they don't cause problems for existing ports.