diff --git a/PACKAGING.md b/PACKAGING.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3bb4ff40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PACKAGING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# Packaging Guidelines
+
+Docker-maintained `.deb` and `.rpm` packages follow a consistent set of
+guidelines. New packages are expected to meet the same bar.
+
+## Build from source in the package path
+
+The shipped binary must be compiled from source by the distro package recipe
+itself. For Debian packages, that means the build happens through
+`debian/rules` / `dh_auto_build`. For RPM packages, that means the build
+happens through the spec `%build` section and the result is installed into
+the buildroot from `%install`. The package build may stage source files and
+helper scripts, but it must not install a compiled binary produced by a
+separate target, image, CI artifact, or non-package build step. Binary
+packages don't need to contain source in their payload; what matters is that
+the package build *consumes source as an input* and produces the binary itself.
+
+## Tie the package to its target distro environment
+
+Because the binary is built inside the target distro image, the package is bound
+to the correct toolchain, libc, system libraries, packaging flags, and any
+distro-specific build assumptions. Copying in a binary produced elsewhere breaks
+that link — the package would ship a binary that was not actually built for the
+environment the package represents.
+
+## The source revision is the source of truth
+
+The input to a package build is the source revision, not a prebuilt CI artifact.
+The contract is `source → distro package build environment → binary → package`,
+never `prebuilt artifact → package`. The artifact boundary matters even when the
+binary is produced from the same commit in the same release pipeline.
+
+## Preserve honest provenance and SBOMs
+
+The package provenance must describe the actual build chain for the package:
+`source revision → distro package build environment → binary → package`.
+
+Binary packages do not need to include source in their payload, and private
+source can remain private. What matters is that the source revision or digest is
+recorded as build material, and that the binary shipped in the package is
+produced by the package build itself.
+
+A package build that installs a prebuilt binary can only honestly attest to
+`prebuilt binary → package`. Even if that binary was produced from the same
+commit in another trusted CI job, the package attestation no longer covers the
+full source-to-package chain, and the package SBOM is less useful for auditing
+how the shipped binary was produced.
+
+This follows the provenance model described by SLSA, where the attestation
+records the materials and build steps used to produce the artifact:
+https://slsa.dev/spec/v1.2/provenance
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b076dca4..e232ef30 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ are published as a Docker image [on Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/dockere
 
 ___
 
+* [Packaging guidelines](#packaging-guidelines)
 * [Release](#release)
 * [Build](#build)
   * [Requirements](#requirements)
@@ -20,6 +21,13 @@ ___
   * [Remote override](#remote-override)
 * [Contributing](#contributing)
 
+## Packaging guidelines
+
+Docker-maintained `.deb` and `.rpm` packages must build shipped binaries from
+source in the distro package build path. See [PACKAGING.md](PACKAGING.md) for
+the full packaging contract around source builds, distro build environments,
+provenance, and SBOMs.
+
 ## Release
 
 Packages are published to [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/dockereng/packaging)