PRESERVATION SCORE
How well an entry is archived — not how good the software is.
The Preservation Rating is a score out of 100 shown on every software entry. It measures how well an entry is archived — not the quality of the software itself — and it is calculated automatically from fields already on the entry. Nobody sets this score by hand, and it updates the moment the underlying information changes.
The Five Categories
Each category is worth up to 5 stars. The overall score shown on the entry page is the percentage of the maximum possible 25 stars, expressed as a number out of 100.
Mirror Redundancy
One star for every mirror listed on the entry that is marked available, up to 5. A project preserved in only one place is one broken link away from being lost — more independent, working copies mean it survives longer.
Documentation
Points for having a description, a history note, at least one external documentation link, and at least one linked FKPF documentation entry — with a bonus when both an external link and a linked entry exist, since that means the documentation itself is backed up in more than one place.
Reproducibility
Points for the entry being flagged as a reproducible build, and for publishing checksums. A reproducible build means anyone can rebuild the exact same binary from source and check it — the strongest guarantee that what is preserved is genuine.
License
Points for having a license on record, for that license matching a known entry in the FKPF license archive, and for a link to the license text. A clearly identified license is what keeps software legally safe to preserve and redistribute.
Metadata
One point for each of author, website, category, versions, maintainers and last-verified date that is filled in. Metadata is what makes an archived entry findable and trustworthy years from now.
Not the Same as Verification
Software entries that also declare download targets show a separate Verification block on their page. That one actually downloads each file on a recurring schedule and checks its SHA-256/SHA-512 against the declared value.
The Preservation Rating never downloads anything. It only reflects how completely the entry itself is filled in — how many mirrors are listed, whether documentation exists, whether the license is identified, and whether the metadata is complete.
A high Preservation Rating means the entry is well-documented and well-described. It does not mean the downloads have been checked — only Verification does that.