Debian
| Debian | |
|---|---|
Screenshot of Debian 13 (Trixie) with the GNOME desktop environment version 48.3 | |
| Developer | The Debian Project |
| OS family | Unix-like |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open-source |
| Initial release | August 1993[1] |
| Latest release | 13.1 (Trixie) / 6 September 2025[2] |
| Repository | salsa.debian.org |
| Available in | 78 languages |
List of languages Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese | |
| Update method |
|
| Package manager | APT, dpkg |
| Supported platforms | |
| Kernel type | Monolithic (Linux kernel) |
| Userland | GNU |
| Default user interface | GNOME (others available)[a] |
| License | DFSG-compatible licenses, plus proprietary firmware files |
| Official website | www |
Debian (/ˈdɛbiən/)[4] is a free and open source[b] Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kernel, and is the basis of many other Linux distributions.
As of September 2025, Debian is the second-oldest Linux distribution still in active development: only Slackware is older. The project is coordinated over the Internet by a team of volunteers guided by the Debian Project Leader and three foundation documents: the Debian Social Contract, the Debian Constitution, and the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
In general, Debian has been developed openly and distributed freely according to some of the principles of the GNU Project and Free Software.[5][7] Because of this, the Free Software Foundation sponsored the project from November 1994 to November 1995.[8] However, Debian is no longer endorsed by GNU and the FSF because of 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.[5][6] On June 16, 1997, the Debian Project founded Software in the Public Interest, a nonprofit organization, to continue financing its development.
- ^ "Chapter 4. A Detailed History". Retrieved November 10, 2024.
- ^ "Updated Debian 13: 13.1 released". September 6, 2025. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
- ^ "DebianDesktopHowTo: Select a Desktop Environment". Debian Wiki. Retrieved May 23, 2025.
- ^ "Debian -- About". Debian. Archived from the original on January 17, 1999. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Explaining Why We Don't Endorse Other Systems". GNU. Archived from the original on November 2, 2023.
- ^ a b "General Resolution: non-free firmware: results". Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
- ^ "Debian Social Contract". Debian. October 1, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ "A Brief History of Debian". Archived from the original on November 3, 2023.
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