Debian Guidelines for Artistic Assets and Fonts

The Debian operating system applies the exact same strict freedom standards to artistic assets—including sound samples, game textures, 3D models, and typography—as it does to compiled software code. Under the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG), any content included in Debian’s official distribution must grant users the right to use, modify, redistribute, and commercially exploit the work. Consequently, artistic works cannot be licensed under restrictive "non-commercial" or "no-derivatives" terms, and they must provide the "preferred form for making modifications," creating unique packaging requirements for games, media suites, and fonts.

The DFSG Applies to All Content

Debian does not differentiate between functional code and artistic media within its package repository. While some other distributions treat media, documentation, and firmware under separate, more relaxed licensing criteria, Debian's Social Contract explicitly requires everything shipped in the official main archive to be 100% free software.

If an artistic asset carries a Creative Commons NonCommercial (CC-BY-NC) or NoDerivatives (CC-BY-ND) license, it cannot enter Debian main. To be accepted, assets must use DFSG-compliant licenses such as CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, the zlib license, or public domain dedications like CC0.

The "Source Code" Requirement for Media

The DFSG mandates that software must include source code. For artistic media, Debian defines source code according to the standard GNU definition: the preferred form of the work for making modifications. This creates specific standards across various media types:

  • Game Textures and 2D Art: Pre-rendered bitmaps (such as PNG or JPEG) are acceptable only if they were originally authored as raster images. If an asset was created as a layered image or vector graphic, the source files (such as GIMP .xcf or Inkscape .svg files) must be provided during package building.
  • 3D Models: Meshes exported directly into game-ready binary formats must be accompanied by the original project files (such as Blender .blend files), complete with rigging, unbaked textures, and material definitions.
  • Audio and Music: Highly compressed or pre-mixed audio files (such as MP3 or Ogg Vorbis) may not satisfy source requirements if the audio was originally tracked or produced in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Packaging guidelines favor inclusion of the multi-track source, MIDI files, or soundtracker modules whenever available.

If these editable sources are missing, the assets are considered "binary-only" blobs and are barred from main.

Font Packaging Policies

Debian maintains a dedicated Font Packaging Policy. Fonts must be fully modifiable and redistributable, typically licensed under the SIL Open Font License (OFL) or the GNU General Public License with a Font Exception.

Compiled TrueType (TTF) or OpenType (OTF) files must be accompanied by their editable source formats—such as FontForge .sfd files or Unified Font Object (.ufo) directories—whenever such sources exist upstream. Furthermore, Debian packages fonts separately from applications so that system-wide typography can be shared, updated, and audited independently of individual software suites.

Archive Segregation: Main, Contrib, and Non-Free

When artistic assets fail to meet Debian's criteria, the packages are categorized into specific archive areas:

  • Main: Contains game engines, applications, and their corresponding media assets that are entirely DFSG-compliant, complete with editable sources.
  • Contrib: Houses free, open-source software that depends on non-free external media to function. For example, an open-source game engine that requires proprietary textures or music to run belongs in contrib.
  • Non-Free: Contains assets that allow redistribution but prohibit modification, restrict commercial use, or fail to provide the original source artwork.