programsfor

programsfor is a conceptual catalog and discovery project intended to organize software programs by their intended function and target platforms. The name is used to describe both a proposed metadata schema and a community-driven repository that indexes applications rather than merely listing sources or repositories.

Purpose and scope: Its goal is to improve discoverability, enable side-by-side comparisons, and support interoperability by providing standardized metadata about each program, such as primary use case, supported operating systems, licenses, dependencies, and version information. The project emphasizes clear descriptions, safety notes, and provenance to help users make informed choices.

Structure and metadata: Entries typically include fields for program name, short description, use case, platform (for example, Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile), license, latest version, release date, dependencies, recommended hardware, and risk notes (privacy or security concerns). The metadata may be expressed in machine-readable formats such as JSON-LD or RDF to support programmatic discovery and integration with other catalogs or tools.

Governance and community: programsfor is designed as a community-maintained initiative with contributor guidelines, code of conduct, and moderation policies. Decisions about schema changes and curation are expected to be made through consensus or maintainer agreement; submissions may require verification or community reviews to ensure accuracy and reliability.

Reception and status: As a nascent concept, programsfor has seen pilot discussions and exploratory implementations within open-data and software-catalog communities but has not achieved widespread adoption. Proponents argue it could complement package managers and app stores by focusing on catalog-level metadata and task-oriented descriptions, while critics note potential overlap with existing efforts and the need for sustainable governance.