International audienceWe observe that a system of irreducible, fiber-linear, first-class constraints on $T^*M$ is equivalent to the definition of a foliation Lie algebroid over M. The BFV formulation of the constrained system is given by the Hamiltonian lift of the Vaintrob description (E[1], Q) of the Lie algebroid to its cotangent bundle $T^*E[1]$ . Affine deformations of the constraints are parametrized by the first Lie algebroid cohomology $H^1_Q$ and lead to irreducible constraints also for much more general Lie algebroids such as Dirac structures, the modified BFV function follows by the addition of a representative of the deformation charge. Adding a Hamiltonian to the system corresponds to a metric g on M. Evolution invariance of th...