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FEAT-067 - External VPN Kill-Switch Watchdog

Decision

Abandoned. eMule BB will not pursue an external VPN kill-switch/watchdog helper as a product feature, sidecar, or active roadmap item.

Rationale

eMule BB already has the product boundary needed for release: provider-neutral interface/address binding, startup bind blocking, resolved bind diagnostics, and separate WebServer bind policy. A process-killing watchdog would be a broader machine policy tool, not an eMule feature. VPN provider kill switches, firewall rules, route policy, and OS-level enforcement remain operator-owned external controls.

Preserved Provenance

The retired idea explored a standalone helper that would:

  • monitor a configured VPN interface/address/route
  • treat unknown VPN health as unsafe
  • discover protected P2P processes such as emule.exe
  • request graceful shutdown and then force termination
  • write an audit log for VPN health transitions and process action

This remains historical analysis only. Do not promote it as current product direction without opening a new active item and explicitly overriding this WONT_DO decision.

Product Documentation Rule

Product docs may describe eMule BB bind policy and diagnostics. They must not describe a maintained eMule BB VPN kill-switch helper or watchdog. If users require kill-switch semantics, point them to external VPN-provider, firewall, or OS policy outside the eMule BB product claim.