Tour => Allowed or denied? Getting help in selecting software for a given task. Allowed to ask? Or against site rules?

Question

I've been a user of stack-exchange sites for more than a decade.

I usually take very much into consideration the "Tour" section and what can be asked and what not before posting to a site I've not yet had too much activity.

Today I'm facing that we want to implement any open-source made in PHP to manage photos and PDFs of my company and I wonder if it would be better a Media Manager and a separate Document Manager and which ones are out there.

I've tried to research GitHub to find what projects are there, but I can't find a clear answer.

I'm tempted to ask here in the "Open Source" community of stack exchange. So the first thing I've done is go to the Tour.

I can see that it's forbidden "if you want to know how to use Free & Open projects" but this is not about a question of "how to use this or that program".

I can see that it's forbidden "if you would like recommendations for Free & Open media" but this is not about media (like Creative Commons audios, photos and videos). It's about selecting software.

Nevertheless all the "Ask about" section seems more versed over the licensing, team-building and management for developing, etc. So it seems more a community of Open Source specific for "software creators". Although I'm a coder and I'm ready to contribute to Open Source projects when needed, the question is specifically about how to find if I need one tool, two tools, which one etc. But there's a pre-requisite within: Those tools MUST be Open Source. A free closed-source is not suitable precisely because we want to contribute to bug-correction if needed.

I wonder if this is the correct site to ask, or better I go to SuperUser or similar.

ADDITIONALLY:

Should we clarify in the tour if the process of finding the right open-source program for a specific need is neatly allowed/forbidden?

Answer 1

The on topic help page is quite explicit about it (I bolded the relevant part for emphasis) - you're asking for a recommendation for Open Source software, which won't be on topic here:

if you would like recommendations for Free/Open software or media (ask on Software Recommendations)

In short, you should ask this question over a Software Recomendations instead.

Answer 2

I never saw any link to the "on topic" page you are referring.

I would suggest to add it to the "Don't ask about" in the "Tour", which now only refers to "media" and not "software":

The very same text you've set in the "On Topic" page would do: "if you would like recommendations for Free/Open software or media (ask on Software Recommendations)"

If I search for "topic" in the "Tour page" there's only one single appearance and it's for referencing the tags:

So... if it's not because you mentioned this page here in this answer, I was not able to quickly find the "On Topic" page.

To find it I had to go to the SECOND option in the menu (help instead of tour), then click on "What types of questions should I avoid asking?" and finally on "on-topic for this site.".

So really I'd encourage to add it to the tour to help keep the site clean.

Thanks to all contributors that make SE a charm.

I hope this suggestion helps improving.