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Debian GNU/Linux| Category | | | Summary | | Debian, or as it's officially dubbed "Debian GNU/Linux" is the end product of a community of individuals that came together to form the association "The Debian Project". The Debian Project was begun due to all the founding members havi |
| | Body | Debian was first founded in 1993 by it's creator Ian Murdock. Ian was a student at Purdue University at the time and as a study focus for one of his essays, authored the "Debian Manifesto" (Append. 1) which covers the promotes the creation of a Linux distribution to be maintained by an open community in the spirit of Linux and GNU. Ian named his distribution "Debian", a title which he had created quite simply from the first three letters of his wife Debra's name added with his name, Deb+Ian.
After a few 0.9x releases and the long-awaited 1.x release during 1994 through 1996, Ian was replaced by Bruce Perens (founder of technocrat.net) as the Project Leader. Bruce Perens then left in 1998 before the release of Debian 2.0. The Debian Project proceeded to elect new leaders and make two more 2.x releases, each including more packages and ports of wortwhile software.
Since then the releases are as follow:
(The code names of Debian releases are names of characters from the movie Toy Story)
# 3.1 -- sarge, partially "frozen" 31 July 2004, officially frozen 3 May 2005, expected release on 30 May 2005
# 3.0 -- woody, July 19, 2002
# 2.2 -- potato, August 15, 2000
# 2.1 -- slink, March 9, 1999
# 2.0 -- hamm, July 24, 1998
# 1.3 -- bo, June 2, 1997
# 1.2 -- rex, December 12, 1996
# 1.1 -- buzz, June 17, 1996
The big question today in regard to operating systems, especially when it comes to Linux is "why is distro A better than distro B?". When The Debian Project was asked "What is the difference between Debian GNU/Linux and other Linux distributions? Why should I choose Debian over some other distribution?", they responded with this:
These key features distinguish Debian from other Linux distributions:
The Debian package maintenance system:
The entire system, or any individual component of it, can be upgraded in place without reformatting, without losing custom configuration files, and (in most cases) without rebooting the system. Most Linux distributions available today have some kind of package maintenance system; the Debian package maintenance system is unique and particularly robust. (see Basics of the Debian package management system, Chapter 6)
Open development:
Whereas other Linux distributions are developed by individuals, small, closed groups, or commercial vendors, Debian is the only Linux distribution that is being developed cooperatively by many individuals through the Internet, in the same spirit as Linux and other free software.
More than 900 volunteer package maintainers are working on over 8250 packages and improving Debian GNU/Linux. The Debian developers contribute to the project not by writing new applications (in most cases), but by packaging existing software according to the standards of the project, by communicating bug reports to upstream developers, and by providing user support. See also additional information on how to become a contributor in How can I become a Debian software developer?, Section 12.1.
The Bug Tracking System:
The geographical dispersion of the Debian developers required sophisticated tools and quick communication of bugs and bug-fixes to accelerate the development of the system. Users are encouraged to send bugs in a formal style, which are quickly accessible by WWW archives or via e-mail. See additional information in this FAQ on the management of the bug log in Are there logs of known bugs?, Section 11.4.
The Debian Policy:
Debian has an extensive specification of our standards of quality, the Debian Policy. This document defines the qualities and standards to which we hold Debian packages.
If something needs to be fixed or improved, we just do it. Mail sent to the mailing lists often gets answers within 15 minutes (or less), for free, and by the people who developed it. Compare that to typical phone support: hours spent on the phone, for money, only to get someone who doesn't know the system well enough to even understand your question. If you have heard that GNU/Linux is difficult to install, then you haven't tried Debian lately. We are constantly improving the installation process. You can do the installation directly from CD, DOS, floppies or even over the network. Debian comes with over 8710 different pieces of software. Every bit of it is free. If you have proprietary software that runs under GNU/Linux, you can still use it - in fact, there may even be an installer in Debian that will automatically install and set up everything for you. Debian surpasses all other distributions in how well its packages are integrated. Since all software is packaged by a coherent group, not only can all packages be found at a single site, but you can be assured that we have already worked out all issues regarding complicated dependencies. While we feel that the deb format has some advantages over the rpm format, it is the integration between the packages that makes a Debian system more robust. There are many many more reasons, for the rest, please see http://www.debian.org/intro/why_debian
In closure, Debian is a top Linux distribution and is well worth the try. These days it seems to be the one that takes the cake!
Ref: Wikipedia / Debian.org
Appendix 1. The full Debian Manifesto - http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/project-history/ap-manifesto.en.html |
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This article was imported from zZine. (original author: craytonic)
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