SVARDOS HELP SYSTEM [20240126][pkgrules]

*** Packages inclusion rules ***

SvarDOS is a DOS distribution that comes with plenty of third-party packages. With time, packages get updated and new packages are being added. However, SvarDOS is not a shareware distribution CD, nor it is a "warez" production of any kind. Every software that is distributed within SvarDOS must comply to a few common sense rules, as listed below.

Objective usefulness

The distributed software must be useful. There is no point in distributing hundreds of "Hello World" programs for example. The software must be useable as a finished product and provide some features that are proven to be seeked by at least a subset of the user base. Games are considered useful, as long as they fulfill their goal of providing actual distraction.

Reasonable quality

The packaged program must exhibit traits of reasonable quality. This means that it should have a deterministic behavior, and be free of undesirable side-effects to the user's computer (not crashing, freezing, resulting in unexpected loss of data, etc). It should also provide clear, non-ambiguous instructions to the user about how the program is meant to be used.

Free (no cost)

The program must be free - that is, available at no financial cost. It doesn't have to comply to an OSI-approved license or be open-source (even if that would be preferred), but at the very least it must be free for personal, non-commercial use. This includes "Freeware", "postcardware", etc. "Shareware" is acceptable, too, as long as the shareware version of the program fullfills the conditions of usefulness, quality and allows repackaged distribution.

Distribution allowed

The program must allow distribution without restrictions, and must not forbid being redistributed in a re-packaged form. CORE EXCEPTIONS While the above rules are valid for all third-party packages that may be distributed with SvarDOS, it does NOT apply to the "CORE" packages that contain the operating system itself. SvarDOS being a free (as in "libre") operating system, all CORE packages must comply to a libre-like license - be it GPL, BSD, MIT, public domain, or anything that allows for unrestricted distribution, provides source code and allows to modify it freely.