How to Blacklist a package

Note: The canonical procedure and file format is specified in the blacklist.git repo (files: README and SYNTAX). This article may not always be accurate, and should be updated occasionally to reflect the blacklist.git specification.

If you find a package that contains, depends upon or recommends nonfree software, report an issue for it unless it's obvious that it won't be liberated and you can blacklist it.

We have a couple extra lists to narrow the number of perfectly free packages based on more strict criteria. These are your-privacy-blacklist.txt and your-gaming-freedom-blacklist.txt, for packages which are bad at protecting privacy or only exist for the sake of using nonfree software; respectively. See Nonprism and Emulator licensing issues for more info.

1 Blacklist the package

• If you don't have write access to the blacklist, ask for it or send a patch produced using git format-patch to dev@lists.parabola.nu. At the very least you want to inform us of the issue, preferably by #reporting an issue.
• If you do have write access:

1. if possible, start by making a replacement available for all the affected architectures (packages in your-gaming-freedom-blacklist.txt are not meant to have a replacement, though this could change in the future), or #report a bug if the package could be changed to be free.

2. clone the blacklist project to your computer:

# git clone ssh://git@parabola.nu/srv/git/blacklist.git # or https://projects.parabola.nu/blacklist.git for read-only access

enter the project directory and bring it to date:

# git pull

3. add the package to blacklist.txt in a new line according to the following syntax:

original-package:[libre-replacement]:[ref]:[id]:short description where something within [] is optional (see the file: SYNTAX for description of each field), e.g:

linux:linux-libre:fsf:linux_linux-backports-modules.2A_linux-ubuntu-modules:[semifree] nonfree blobs and firmwares

The replacement must be compatible for use by humans and scripts, e.g. fastjar is not a replacement for zip although both solve the same problem.

4. # cd ~/blacklist and push the changes:

git add blacklist.txt
git commit -m "description of your change"
git push

5. ssh into repo.parabola.nu and pull the change:

@repo$ cd ~/blacklist && git pull

6. run

@repo$ db-check-nonfree

7. pull abslibre.git and make a new release of the corresponding blacklist package (e.g. your-freedom). as of 2017, a hook has been added to blacklist.git that instructs an automated builder to update abslibre.git and the package itself.

2 File a bug report

Choose the project responsible for it, nearly always Packages, and report an issue with the "Freedom issue" type and priority. Report separate issues for appropriate projects if the package is included with installation media.

Unless there is a much better reference to use as a description of and solution to the problem, then this bug report on the Parabola bug tracker, should be used as the bug reference in the blacklist files, as described above.

3 See also

• Blacklist
• Creating -libre packages