48-685: The Debian Social Contract (DSC) is a document that frames the moral agenda of the Debian project. The values outlined in the Social Contract provide the basic principles for the Debian Free Software Guidelines that serve as the basis of the Open Source Definition . Debian believes the makers of a free software operating system should provide guarantees when a user entrusts them with control of
96-405: A bootable USB drive ( Live USB ). Package management operations can be performed with different tools available on Debian, from the lowest level command dpkg to graphical front-ends like Synaptic . The recommended standard for administering packages on a Debian system is the apt toolset. dpkg provides the low-level infrastructure for package management. The dpkg database contains
144-403: A Debian installer on a single floppy disk , and wrote a new installer. By the time Debian 1.2 was released, the project had grown to nearly two hundred volunteers. Perens left the project in 1998. Ian Jackson became the leader in 1998. Debian 2.0 introduced the second official port, m68k . During this time the first port to a non-Linux kernel, Debian GNU/Hurd , was started. On December 2,
192-464: A Debian server. The repository provides packages already included in Debian, interfering with the official maintenance. Eventually, project leader Stefano Zacchiroli asked Marillat to either settle an agreement about the packaging or to stop using the "Debian" name. Marillat chose the latter and renamed the repository to deb-multimedia.org. The repository was so popular that the switchover was announced by
240-469: A choice of desktop environments. These Debian Live images allow users to boot from removable media and run Debian without affecting the contents of their computer. A full install of Debian to the computer's hard drive can be initiated from the live image environment. Personalized images can be built with the live-build tool for discs, USB drives and for network booting purposes. Installation images are hybrid on some architectures and can be used to create
288-475: A computer. These guarantees include: The idea of the DSC was first proposed by Ean Schuessler after a conversation with Bob Young , co-founder of Red Hat . Schuessler said Red Hat should issue a set of guidelines that would guarantee to the community as the company expanded it would always be committed to the ideals of Free Software . Young said this would be a "kiss of death" for Red Hat, implying it would constrain
336-557: A developer who died of Duchenne muscular dystrophy . In late 2000, the project reorganized the archive with new package "pools" and created the Testing distribution, made up of packages considered stable, to reduce the freeze for the next release. In the same year, developers began holding an annual conference called DebConf with talks and workshops for developers and technical users. In May 2001, Hewlett-Packard announced plans to base its Linux development on Debian. In July 2002,
384-476: A new distribution. Debian 0.01, released on September 15, 1993, was the first of several internal releases. Version 0.90 was the first public release, providing support through mailing lists hosted at Pixar . The release included the Debian Linux Manifesto, outlining Murdock's view for the new operating system . In it he called for the creation of a distribution to be maintained "openly in
432-712: A time-based freeze . In general, Debian has been developed openly and distributed freely according to some of the principles of the GNU Project and Free Software. Because of this, the Free Software Foundation sponsored the project from November 1994 to November 1995. However, it is no longer endorsed by GNU and the FSF due to the distribution's long-term practice of hosting non-free software repositories and, since 2022, its inclusion of non-free firmware in its installation media by default. On June 16, 1997,
480-409: A two-year cycle was announced. Time-based freezes are intended to blend the predictability of time based releases with Debian's policy of feature based releases, and to reduce overall freeze time. The Squeeze cycle was going to be especially short; however, this initial schedule was abandoned. In September 2010, the backports service became official, providing more recent versions of some software for
528-573: Is a free and open source Linux distribution , developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is the basis for many other distributions , such as Ubuntu , Linux Mint , Tails , Proxmox , Kali Linux , Pardus , TrueNAS SCALE , and Astra Linux . Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kernel and, as of September 2023,
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#1732773166855576-470: Is a popular choice for servers , for example as the operating system component of a LAMP stack. Several flavors of the Linux kernel exist for each port. For example, the i386 port has flavors for IA-32 PCs supporting Physical Address Extension and real-time computing , for older PCs, and for x86-64 PCs. The Linux kernel does not officially contain firmware lacking source code, although such firmware
624-525: Is an APT tool which can be used in command-line and on the GUI. GDebi can install a local .deb file via the command line like the dpkg command, but with access to repositories to resolve dependencies. Other graphical front-ends for APT include Software Center , Synaptic and Apper . GNOME Software is a graphical front-end for PackageKit , which itself can work on top of various software packaging systems. The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) define
672-466: Is available in non-free packages and alternative installation media. Debian offers CD and DVD images specifically built for Xfce , GNOME , KDE , MATE , Cinnamon , LXDE , and LXQt . MATE support was added in 2014, and Cinnamon support was added with Debian 8 Jessie. Less common window managers such as Enlightenment , Openbox , Fluxbox , IceWM , Window Maker and others are available. The default desktop environment of version 7 Wheezy
720-460: Is simply grub, while version 1 was renamed to grub-legacy. This conflicts with distros (e.g., Fedora Linux ), where grub version 2 is named grub2. The default desktop may be chosen from the DVD boot menu among GNOME , KDE Plasma , Xfce and LXDE , and from special disc 1 CDs. Debian releases live install images for CDs, DVDs and USB thumb drives, for IA-32 and x86-64 architectures, and with
768-654: The Azure cloud platform. Microsoft has also added a user environment to their Windows 10 desktop operating system called Windows Subsystem for Linux that offers a Debian subset. Debian has access to online repositories that contain over 51,000 packages . Debian officially contains only free software, but non-free software can be downloaded and installed from the Debian repositories. Debian includes popular free programs such as LibreOffice , Firefox web browser, Evolution mail, K3b disc burner, VLC media player , GIMP image editor, and Evince document viewer. Debian
816-461: The DFSG, such as documentation with invariant sections and proprietary software , and legally questionable packages. Contrib includes packages which do comply with the DFSG but fail other requirements. For example, they may depend on packages which are in non-free or requires such for building them. Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation have criticized the Debian project for hosting
864-621: The Debian Free Software Guidelines. After the FSF withdrew their sponsorship in the midst of the free software vs. open source debate , Perens initiated the creation of the legal umbrella organization Software in the Public Interest instead of seeking renewed involvement with the FSF. He led the conversion of the project from a.out to ELF . He created the BusyBox program to make it possible to run
912-484: The Debian Project founded the nonprofit organization Software in the Public Interest to continue financially supporting development. Debian distribution codenames are based on the names of characters from the Toy Story films. Debian's unstable trunk is named after Sid , a character who regularly destroyed his toys. First announced on August 16, 1993, Debian was founded by Ian Murdock , who initially called
960-496: The Debian-based Ubuntu , named "4.10 Warty Warthog", was released on October 20, 2004. Because it was distributed as a free download, it became one of the most popular and successful operating systems with more than "40 million users" according to Canonical Ltd. However, Murdock was critical of the differences between Ubuntu packages and Debian, stating that it leads to incompatibilities. The 3.1 Sarge release
1008-530: The Firefox software were to change non-free artwork and to provide security patches. In February 2016, it was announced that Mozilla and Debian had reached an agreement and Iceweasel would revert to the name Firefox; similar agreement was anticipated for Icedove/Thunderbird. A fund-raising experiment, Dunc-Tank, was created to solve the release cycle problem and release managers were paid to work full-time; in response, unpaid developers slowed down their work and
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#17327731668551056-527: The archive but remain buildable via jigdo . Throughout Debian's lifetime, both the Debian distribution and its website have won various awards from different organizations, including Server Distribution of the Year 2011, The best Linux distro of 2011 , and a Best of the Net award for October 1998. On December 2, 2015, Microsoft announced that they would offer Debian GNU/Linux as an endorsed distribution on
1104-410: The branches. They may be used to install a specific older version of some software. Stable and oldstable get minor updates, called point releases ; as of August 2021 , the stable release is version 11.7, released on April 29, 2023 ; 18 months ago ( 2023-04-29 ) , and the oldstable release is version 10.10. The numbering scheme for the point releases up to Debian 4.0
1152-623: The company's ability to generate profit. Concerned about Young's response, Schuessler and other Debian developers decided to broach the idea of a "social contract" that would supplement Debian's initial manifesto written by Ian Murdock . Bruce Perens later led the effort from June 1997 to coordinate the creation of the DSC using the Free Software Definition as its basis. The Debian project ratified its social contract 1.0 on July 5, 1997. Debian Debian ( / ˈ d ɛ b i ə n / ), also known as Debian GNU/Linux ,
1200-580: The distinctive meaning of the word "free" as in " free and open-source software ". Packages that comply with these guidelines, usually under the GNU General Public License, Modified BSD License or Artistic License , are included inside the main area; otherwise, they are included inside the non-free and contrib areas. These last two areas are not distributed within the official installation media, but they can be adopted manually. Non-free includes packages that do not comply with
1248-416: The first Linux distributions . The first release was by Peter MacDonald in August 1992. Their slogan at the time was "Gentle Touchdowns for DOS Bailouts". SLS was the first release to offer a comprehensive Linux distribution containing more than the Linux kernel , GNU , and other basic utilities, including an implementation of the X Window System . SLS was the most popular Linux distribution at
1296-401: The first Debian Constitution was ratified. From 1999, the project leader was elected yearly. APT was deployed with Debian 2.1. The number of applicants was overwhelming and the project established the new member process. The first Debian derivatives, namely Libranet , Corel Linux and Stormix 's Storm Linux, were started in 1999. The 2.2 release in 2000 was dedicated to Joel Klecker,
1344-468: The first disc image from online repositories. Debian offers different network installation methods. A minimal install of Debian is available via the netinst CD, whereby Debian is installed with just a base and later added software can be downloaded from the Internet. Another option is to boot the installer from the network. The default bootstrap loader is GNU GRUB version 2, though the package name
1392-424: The language, ranging from the highly supported German and French to the barely translated Creek and Samoan . The Debian 10 installer is available in 76 languages. Multimedia support has been problematic in Debian regarding codecs threatened by possible patent infringements, lacking source code, or under too restrictive licenses. Even though packages with problems related to their distribution could go into
1440-401: The list of installed software on the current system. The dpkg command tool does not know about repositories. The command can work with local .deb package files, and information from the dpkg database. An Advanced Packaging Tool (APT) allows a Debian system to retrieve and resolve package dependencies from repositories . APT tools share dependency information and cached packages. GDebi
1488-533: The most memorable was the Vancouver prospectus. After a meeting held in Vancouver , release manager Steve Langasek announced a plan to reduce the number of supported ports to four in order to shorten future release cycles. There was a large reaction because the proposal looked more like a decision and because such a drop would damage Debian's aim to be "the universal operating system". The first version of
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1536-470: The non-free area, software such as libdvdcss is not hosted at Debian . A notable third party repository exists, formerly named Debian-multimedia.org, providing software not present in Debian such as Windows codecs, libdvdcss and the Adobe Flash Player . Even though this repository is maintained by Christian Marillat, a Debian developer, it is not part of the project and is not hosted on
1584-491: The non-free repository and because the contrib and non-free areas are easily accessible, an opinion echoed by some in Debian including the former project leader Wichert Akkerman. The internal dissent in the Debian project regarding the non-free section has persisted, but the last time it came to a vote in 2004, the majority decided to keep it. The most popular optional Linux cross-distribution package manager are graphical (front-ends) package managers. They are available within
1632-442: The number of packages that were educational, had a medical affiliation, and ones made for people with disabilities. In 2006, as a result of a much-publicized dispute, Mozilla software was rebranded in Debian , with Firefox forked as Iceweasel and Thunderbird as Icedove. The Mozilla Corporation stated that software with unapproved modifications could not be distributed under the Firefox trademark. Two reasons that Debian modified
1680-695: The official Debian Repository but are not installed by default. They are widely popular with both Debian users and Debian software developers who are interested in installing the most recent versions of application or using the cross-distribution package manager built-in sandbox environment. While at the same time remaining in control of the security. Four most popular cross-distribution package managers, sorted in alphabetical order: Three branches of Debian (also called releases , distributions or suites ) are regularly maintained: Other branches in Debian: The snapshot archive provides older versions of
1728-401: The official blog of the Debian project. Debian offers DVD and CD images for installation that can be downloaded using BitTorrent or jigdo . Physical discs can also be bought from retailers. The full sets are made up of several discs (the amd64 port consists of 13 DVDs or 84 CDs), but only the first disc is required for installation, as the installer can retrieve software not contained in
1776-442: The project released version 3.0, code-named Woody, the first release to include cryptographic software, a free licensed KDE and internationalization . During these last release cycles, the Debian project drew considerable criticism from the free software community because of the long time between stable releases. Some events disturbed the project while working on Sarge, as Debian servers were attacked by fire and hackers. One of
1824-575: The release was delayed. Debian 4.0 ( Etch ) was released in April 2007, featuring the x86-64 port and a graphical installer. Debian 5.0 ( Lenny ) was released in February 2009, supporting Marvell's Orion platform and netbooks such as the Asus Eee PC . The release was dedicated to Thiemo Seufer, a developer who died in a car crash. In July 2009, the policy of time-based development freezes on
1872-687: The second oldest Linux distribution still in active development, only behind Slackware . The project is coordinated over the Internet by a team of volunteers guided by the Debian Project Leader and three foundational documents: the Debian Social Contract , the Debian Constitution, and the Debian Free Software Guidelines . New distributions are updated continually, and the next candidate is released after
1920-402: The spirit of Linux and GNU." The Debian project released the 0.9x versions in 1994 and 1995. During this time it was sponsored by the Free Software Foundation for one year. Ian Murdock delegated the base system, the core packages of Debian, to Bruce Perens and Murdock focused on the management of the growing project. The first ports to non- IA-32 architectures began in 1995, and Debian 1.1
1968-478: The stable release. Debian 6.0 (Squeeze) was released in February 2011, featuring Debian GNU/kFreeBSD as a technology preview, along with adding a dependency-based boot system, and moving problematic firmware to the non-free section. Debian 7 ( Wheezy ) was released in May 2013, featuring multiarch support. Debian 8 ( Jessie ) was released in April 2015, using systemd as the new init system. Debian 9 ( Stretch )
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2016-601: The system "the Debian Linux Release". The word "Debian" was formed as a portmanteau of the first name of his then-girlfriend (later ex-wife) Debra Lynn and his own first name. Before Debian's release, the Softlanding Linux System (SLS) had been a popular Linux distribution and the basis for Slackware . The perceived poor maintenance and prevalence of bugs in SLS motivated Murdock to launch
2064-553: Was made in June 2005. This release updated 73% of the software and included over 9,000 new packages. A new installer with a modular design, Debian-Installer , allowed installations with RAID , XFS and LVM support, improved hardware detection, made installations easier for novice users, and was translated into almost forty languages. An installation manual and release notes were in ten and fifteen languages respectively. The efforts of Skolelinux, Debian-Med and Debian-Accessibility raised
2112-478: Was released in 1996. By that time and thanks to Ian Jackson , the dpkg package manager was already an essential part of Debian. In 1996, Bruce Perens assumed the project leadership. Perens was a controversial leader, regarded as authoritarian and strongly attached to Debian. He drafted a social contract and edited suggestions from a month-long discussion into the Debian Social Contract and
2160-537: Was released in June 2017, with nftables as a replacement for iptables, support for Flatpak apps, and MariaDB as the replacement for MySQL. Debian 10 ( Buster ) was released in July 2019, adding support for Secure Boot and enabling AppArmor by default. Debian 11 ( Bullseye ) was released in August 2021, enabling persistency in the system journal, adding support for driverless scanning, and containing kernel-level support for exFAT filesystems. Debian 12 ( Bookworm )
2208-430: Was released on June 10, 2023, including various improvements and features, increasing the supported Linux Kernel to version 6.1, and leveraging new "Emerald" artwork. Debian is still in development and new packages are uploaded to unstable every day. Debian used to be released as a very large set of CDs for each architecture, but with the release of Debian 9 (Stretch) in 2017, many of the images have been dropped from
2256-542: Was temporarily switched to Xfce, because GNOME 3 did not fit on the first CD of the set. The default for the version 8 Jessie was changed again to Xfce in November 2013, and back to GNOME in September 2014. Several parts of Debian are translated into languages other than American English, including package descriptions, configuration messages, documentation and the website. The level of software localization depends on
2304-405: Was to include the letter r (for revision ) after the main version number and then the number of the point release; for example, the latest point release of version 4.0 is 4.0r9. This scheme was chosen because a new dotted version would make the old one look obsolete and vendors would have trouble selling their CDs. Softlanding Linux System Softlanding Linux System ( SLS ) was one of
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