system/ideals.mdwn



Our ideals for systems we use and design,
and some example underlying consequences.

Must be Free

Must comply with Debian Free Software Guidelines


Must be stable

Should be a pure subset of Debian stable (e.g. no backports)


Should be secure

Avoid packages not supported by the security team


Should be maintained

Avoid packages listing "QA team" as maintainer
Avoid packages validated against years-old Debian Policy


Should be localized

User-facing packages should support swedish


Should be simple

User-facing packages should have a uniform style
Web-based services should all appear on a single website,
with a unifying front page and/or overarching menu
A single desktop environment should be used


Should require zero administration

Package update should all happen automatically
Avoid services needing technical attention

Avoid PHP-based code


Should be eco friendly

Usable with cheap computers
Usable with old computers
Should have low electricity consumption
Avoid packages requiring heavy computing

Avoid OpenGL as requirement (optional use is fine)

Avoid desktop environments GNOME, KDE


Avoid packages requiring massive memory

Avoid Java-based code
Avoid LibreOffice
Avoid web browsers Chromium, Firefox


For each "Should", document reasons for each exception made.