Distribution and installation

The distribution contract declares what a SouveraineOS body is: package names, architectures, producers and installer profiles. Component repositories may build their code, but they do not choose their own release set or grow a second delivery path.

Packages are delivered through a signed archive. The profile graph is checked before release, and a future graphical installer will consume the same graph: select a ready target, obtain its declared packages, apply its boot plan and run commissioning.

Inspect the package graph

The public distribution manifest currently names 28 package entries across five producers, two architectures, six targets and five profiles. Its validator checks package ownership, architecture coverage, profile composition and producer output against that graph.

Every current profile is explicitly blocked or planned. The manifest is evidence of an owned package and distribution contract; it is not a claim that a stable release, public package index or ready installer exists today.

Target is not installer readiness

A named body and a ready installer are separate facts. The HP ProBook is an observed x86_64 workstation with Souveraine installed, while its x86-laptop profile remains blocked pending a hardware profile and installer path. The same discipline keeps an active phone bring-up or a future Apple-mobile family from being advertised as a downloadable image.

That keeps the installer honest. It is an interface over a known release plan, not a wizard that guesses which files a device needs.

Why packages matter

A hand-copied binary can demonstrate an idea. It cannot demonstrate a system. An owned package has a producer, a version, a declared destination and an update path. SouveraineOS treats that distinction as part of the engineering, not release-day paperwork.