A merge request numbered 699 is sitting on the GitLab of F-Droid, the open-source app repository, titled "Interim Policy on Use of Generative AI." It takes the generative AI policy Debian just passed and adapts it with minor changes for use as F-Droid's own interim policy. The proposal's stance matches Debian's: it neither endorses nor bans the use of generative AI in development, maintenance, and documentation work.
Debian's own process has already wrapped up. The general resolution, numbered vote_002 and titled "LLM usage in Debian," ran a discussion period from July 23 to August 13, followed by voting from August 15 to 28. The ballot listed nine options, ranging from banning LLM contributions via the Social Contract to avoiding LLM use over climate impact. Option 5, "Responsible Use of Generative AI," ultimately won with 281 votes. The quorum threshold was 48.49 — every option on the ballot cleared it.
The Policy Puts the Burden on Contributors
The winning text passes no judgment on the tools themselves; instead, it sets standards for what gets submitted. Every contribution to Debian must meet the same requirements for quality, correctness, maintainability, and legal compliance, regardless of whether AI was used. Contributors are expected to review and test AI-generated content before submitting it, and they bear responsibility if something goes wrong.
The disclosure requirement is written loosely: contributors are encouraged to note that they used AI, but it isn't mandatory — the text frames it as professional courtesy rather than a compliance requirement.
F-Droid Adds Two Provisions of Its Own
The adapted version isn't a straight copy. Compared with the Debian text, F-Droid's proposal adds two extra restrictions: confidential information and security-sensitive material must not be submitted to third-party AI services, and large-scale automated operations require prior discussion and continued human oversight.
These two provisions target risks that don't fully overlap with what Debian faces. Debian is an operating system distribution mainly dealing with packaging and maintenance workflows; F-Droid is an app distribution repository that holds signing keys and app review processes — if a large-scale automated action goes wrong, it affects what end users install on their phones. Singling out "large-scale automated operations" is more specific than a generic call for human oversight in a general-purpose policy.
The Board Isn't United
F-Droid board member Neil Brown publicly voiced his objection in a personal blog post on September 5. In his own words:
"I don't want to see genAI code in either F-Droid's own software, or in apps in F-Droid's repository."
His reasoning isn't about code quality. "Ethics matter to me... A community is about more than code," he wrote — arguing that a community is more than a collection of code, and that a project's stance itself sends a signal: "a position sends a signal. It says 'this is what we want our community to be'."
Brown notes in the post that these are his personal views, not F-Droid's official position, and that other board members see it differently. As of now, the proposal remains undecided, and F-Droid has not issued an official announcement.
Two Projects, Two Approaches
Debian used its general resolution mechanism: nine options laid out for all developers to vote on, with results on record and dissent visible in the vote tally. F-Droid is taking the faster route of an interim policy, at the cost of leaving disagreement scattered across proposal discussions and personal blog posts, with no converging vote to resolve it.
How the same text lands differently in the two projects says more than the policy wording itself: open-source projects still don't have a universal way to resolve their disagreements over generative AI.
Sources: Debian's general resolution voting page, F-Droid GitLab proposal #699, CocoLoop, Neil Brown's personal blog. The resolution name, discussion and voting periods, winning option, and the 281 votes against the 48.49 quorum were verified via Debian's official voting page; F-Droid's two added restrictions were verified via the GitLab proposal page.