Debian
Debian (English [ dɛbi̯ən ] ) is a jointly developed since 1993, free operating system. Debian GNU / Linux, which is based on the basic system tools of the GNU Project and the Linux kernel is one of the oldest, most influential and widely used GNU / Linux distributions. The best known today is Debian-GNU/Linux-Derivat Ubuntu.
Since version 6.0 ( Squeeze) with Debian GNU / kFreeBSD the first official port to a different operating system core - those of the FreeBSD project - available as a Technology Preview. For version 7.0 ( Wheezy ) the release of Debian GNU / Hurd, an official port to the GNU Hurd, was discussed. However, this was rejected.
Debian contains a wide range of application programs and tools; currently there are over 37,500 software packages.
- 2.1 Vulnerability in key generator
- 3.1 release cycle
- 3.2 Software Categories
- 3.3 architectures
Project
Debian was founded by Ian Murdock to life in August 1993 and has since been actively developed. Today, the project has over 1000 official developers. Debian developer can be anyone who successfully passes the so-called New Members Process: Applicants will be tested for their knowledge and skills, as well as ensuring that they are familiar with the ideology of the project.
The name of the operating system is derived from the name of the Debian founder Ian Murdock and his then-girlfriend and future wife Debra Lynn. Just a few months after the foundation, in May 1994, the project decided to change the official name of Debian Linux to Debian GNU / Linux, which followed the opinion of the Free Software Foundation that often as Linux designated operating system, a variant of the GNU system was ( about the background of this difference of opinion about see GNU / Linux naming controversy ). Since Debian officially since version 6.0 ( Squeeze) in two variants - GNU / Linux and GNU / kFreeBSD - is available, since these are all referred in relation to those of the respective suffix; So today is generally spoken only by Debian.
The system is known for its package management dpkg and its frontend APT. With these it is possible to replace old versions of Debian GNU / Linux through current or install new software packages. They are also responsible to resolve all dependencies needed by a program, so to load all program packages and install, which requires the software you want.
History
1993-1998
On August 16, 1993, the " Debian Linux Release " was announced by Ian Murdock. He had tried to use SLS, which was one of the first comprehensive Linux distributions. However, because he was dissatisfied with the quality, he designed his own system, but was inspired by SLS. In the same year he also published the Debian Manifesto, a compilation of his point of view to Debian. The focus here was an open development " in the spirit of Linux and GNU ."
By 1995, the project released the first development versions 0.9x with the version numbers. During this time there was also sponsored by the Free Software Foundation. At this time the project had about 60 developers. 1996 finally the first stable version 1.1 was released. Never to an actual Version 1.0 - Because a CD -ROM vendor had accidentally released a previous version under the number 1.0, it came - to avoid confusion. In April 1996, Murdock was replaced by Bruce Perens as head of the project. In the following years changed this position a few times. On June 17, followed in 1996 with Buzz (version 1.1 ) is the first release, which was an alias. All other publications were also provided with such, which also is always aligned to a character from the movie Toy Story. In 1997, the Debian Social Contract was ratified by prior discussion.
On 24 July 1998 the version 2.0 Hamm was released, which was available for the first time for several architectures. The project included at this time in 1500 and 400 packages developers.
1999-2004
It was followed by other 2.x releases with new ports to other architectures as well as an increasing number of packages. Of particular note is the development of APT. Also came with Debian GNU / Hurd the first port to a non-Linux kernel.
In 2000, the testing branch was established. In the following period, the Debian website has been translated into 20 languages. It came to the establishment of the sub-projects Debian Jr. and Debian Med which targeted children and medical research and practice. 2001 developer conference debconf took place for the first time. It was attended by 40 developers.
Version 3.0 Woody July 19, 2002 contained the first time the K Desktop Environment, after the license issue of Qt was released. The project had grown to 900 developers and 8500 binary packages. The official distribution consisted of 7 CDs.
Since 2005
Only scarce three years later, on 6 June 2005, it came to the release of version 3.1 Sarge. The long period gave the project a number of criticisms. Meantime with Ubuntu was also the most important today Debian derivative. Sarge contained about 15,400 packages and therefore require 14 CDs. The participants were about 1,500 developers in this publication. In addition to the mass of updated and newly added packages, especially the newly written installation program must be emphasized, has been translated into 40 languages. For the first time OpenOffice.org was taken.
2006, the seventh debconf was in Oaxtepec, Mexico, held. In addition, after the name dispute between Debian and Mozilla by Debian was the appropriate package of Mozilla Firefox in Iceweasel, and the renamed Mozilla Thunderbird in icedove.
On April 8, 2007 4.0 Etch is released from about 1000 developers version. It contained approximately 18,200 binary packages. In February 2009, followed by 5.0 Lenny, and Lenny was in February 2011 and published oldstable 6.0 Squeeze with over 29,000 software packages as stable.
On 4 May 2013, Version 7.0 was set as "stable " with " Wheezy ".
Organization
The Debian project is constituted by the Debian Constitution. It regulates the democratic organizational structure with regular elections. In addition, the project with the social contract Debian Social Contract committed to free software.
Since 26 April 2004, the version 1.1 of the partnership agreement is valid. The actual substantive amendment states that all components of the Debian system ( in the main branch main) must be free, not just the software. The Debian Free Software Guidelines no longer refer only to free software, but generally to the public domain. Because the impacts of a designated " editoriell " change for many developers was surprising, it was decided in an additional vote in July 2004 that this change will take effect in June 2005 after the release of sarge.
The current head of the Debian project is Lucas Nussbaum. He has taken this position on April 17, 2013 by Stefano Zacchiroli. The item is awarded once a year by choice again. All elections and referenda done electronically (using a digital signature ) to the Schulze method.
As an umbrella organization for Debian and other Free Software projects 1997 Software was founded in the Public Interest.
Debian Social Contract
The Debian Social Contract (English Debian Social Contract ) is a measure adopted by the Debian Project public policy that regulates basics of how the free software Debian manufactured, distributed and supervised. The social contract is based on a proposal by Ean Schuessler. Bruce Perens designed a first version of the document, which was then refined with other Debian developers in June 1997, before it was accepted as public policy. Version 1.0 was ratified on 5 July 1997. On 26 April 2004, the revised version 1.1 was ratified. They replaced since its predecessor.
A particularly significant, facility and about the Debian project itself part of the contract, the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG ). The Community for the establishment of the concept of open source software in the public used this as a basis to write their definition of open source. Bruce Perens generalized guidelines, while striking out Debian from the text in order to create The Open Source Definition (Eng. The Open Source Definition ). It has since been used by the Open Source Initiative ( OSI). Over time, some differences have here, however, arise.
The detained in the contract obligation to provide free software is removed from the Debian project very seriously. Central discussion in the Linux environment are largely determined by the project, as the consistently free documentation of the programs ( Discussion of the GFDL ), or the avoidance of brand name because a manufacturer may also affect the project. One effect of this policy was the name dispute between Debian and Mozilla, which led to a renaming of the application in Firefox Iceweasel within Debian.
Debian and Security
Software problems are handled openly, so also all the security issues. Safety aspects are discussed openly on the debian -security-announce mailing list. Debian security advisories are sent over a public mailing list posted on a public server ( both inside and outside ) and. From this procedure one expects a faster detection of vulnerabilities and thus the ability to fix this sooner. The opposite approach of the Security through obscurity is however considered to be impractical. The fact that the development of the distribution is done publicly visible participation of a large number of people requires special safety measures. For example, changes to packages in principle be digitally signed with a verifiable key. For the user, the validity of the signature is then checked before installation. The measure aims to impede third parties to inject malicious software into Debian packages.
Package maintainers adjust the security aspects of their software to the general principles of Debian. Therefore, after installation services are often "safe" preset, which can be perceived by a user as a " restriction ". However, Debian tries to balance security aspects and simple administration. For example, services such as ssh and ntp is not installed inactive, as is customary in the distributions of the BSD family.
If a security issue has been discovered in a Debian package, it will be published directly together with an assessment of the resulting risk. In parallel, a security update of this package will be prepared and published on a specific server as soon as possible. Critical vulnerabilities are often concluded in this way within hours.
Vulnerability in the key generator
The customized Debian implementation of the authorities responsible for the key generation process of random OpenSSL library worked from September 2006 until 13 May 2008 to a significant vulnerability. The generated secret key could be calculated estimated and thus in a short time ( pre-) (1024 - to 2048 -bit key in about two hours). In particular, OpenSSH and secure communications in Web browsers were affected - GnuPG is not.
The security risk persists for all RSA keys that were created during this period on affected systems and have not been recreated since updating the library. Also, all DSA keys that were ever heard of a computer (client ) is used with a bad random number generator, since uncertain, even if they were originally created on a computer with properly -working random number generator.
Publications ( Releases )
Release cycle
From Debian three versions ( releases) are available at any time in parallel: stable ( 'stable' ), testing (' testing ') and unstable ( unstable '). Following the publication of any stable version of the previous stable version will be continued as oldstable ( old - stable ' ) for at least one year.
Each version is given a code name that comes from characters in the movie Toy Story. Currently, " Squeeze" (6.0 ) is oldstable, " Wheezy " (7.0 ) stable and " Jessie " (8.0 ) the name of the testing branch. unstable is always called " Sid ". Sid was the boy next door who has ruined toys in the movie Toy Story. Many see it as a backronym for " still in development " (in development yet) or as a recursive acronym for " sid is dangerous " ( sid is dangerous ).
The code name Buzz ( Debian 1.1, June 17, 1996) was the first Debian release with an alias name. She was named as all others so far, after a character in the movie Toy Story, in this case, Buzz Lightyear. At this time, Bruce Perens had taken over the management of the project by Ian Murdock. Bruce was working at Pixar, the company that produced the film.
At times were long periods between releases. Then there were various reactions, such as packets of different publications have been mixed. However, this is impossible if too different central parts of the system. So there was between sarge and etch a change in glibc ABI, the update made it necessary for most packages. For some tasks, such as spam and virus detection Debian offered at times a source package called " volatile" ( impermanent ), which was replaced with squeeze through a new package source " updates". For some programs, you can make do with so-called backports. These are packages of newer program versions that were compiled for an old publication.
Software Categories
Within a given release, contains the main department the real Debian system. main consists entirely of free software and other works according to the DFSG. It is possible to install packages from main alone with a fully functional system. non-free includes software is proprietary, and contrib hosts software itself is free, but can not run without software from non-free, as before Java programs that require the Java Runtime Environment from Sun Microsystems. contrib and non-free are not an official part of Debian, but assistance from, among others, by providing the standard for main infrastructure.
Architectures
Debian supports a number of hardware architectures. A distinction is made between official release architectures and ports. In order to be officially supported as a release architecture, a number of conditions must be met. Thus, a sufficiently large team is needed, a sufficient number of corresponding computer has the Debian project to create packages are available, and almost all the packages must be built on the architecture and the software usable. Each architecture is initially supported as a port and can be upgraded to an officially supported architecture. Conversely, can be devalued official release architecture for port if the requirements are no longer satisfied to release architectures. For ports, there is no stable releases, but there is only the unstable version.
Revision history
Dissemination
According to an online survey conducted by Heise online in February 2009 Debian Linux ( multiple answers possible ) with 47 percent of the free server operating system most widely used in German companies. With the free desktop operating systems Debian Linux is a distribution of 29.9 % to second place behind Ubuntu ( 60.8 %), derived by Debian - closely followed by openSUSE ( 28.8 % as of February 2009). Debian Linux is the most widely used Linux distribution for web servers.
Debian is next to Scientific Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux used on the International Space Station, as NASA announced.
Use by public institutions
The government of the Spanish region of Extremadura has the Debian - based distribution GNU / LinEx developed from 2002 to 2011 and introduced in the schools and in the public health system. Early 2012 was the regional administration announced that LinEx will set shortly after they announced that the administration would now 40,000 jobs switched to Debian.
The city of Munich has switched with their Debian -based operating systems LiMux end of 2008 entirely on free software. The German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology is among other things a Debian on desktop systems. Even Vienna offered from 2004 to 2009 with Wienux the city administration a Debian-based free alternative. 2009 skolelinux, a customized version of Debian was tested in a pilot phase at eleven schools in the state of Rhineland -Palatinate, after the system had already been introduced by the "Project 3s " in a number of schools in Hamburg.
Kernel
The Debian Project is supported in addition to the Linux distribution Debian GNU / Linux with the Linux kernel, other variants of the GNU system with other nuclei.
By publishing squeeze in 2011 was with Debian GNU / kFreeBSD is the first release with the kernel of the FreeBSD operating system instead. This is initially only for x86 architectures (32 and 64 bit ) is available. The names Debian GNU / kFreeBSD is to emphasize that it is merely the FreeBSD kernel while the system tools such as make the GNU system correspond, not the BSD family. Thus the system is for users of mostly similar to Debian GNU / Linux to FreeBSD.
In the future, the version Debian GNU / Hurd with the kernel GNU Hurd to be released. Concrete release schedules are not yet available, however. A variant of Debian GNU / NetBSD with the kernel from NetBSD was abandoned in 2002.
Debian Pure Blends
Under a Debian Pure Blend ( Debian internally also briefly Blend ) refers to an internal adjustment of Debian GNU / Linux, which serves a particular purpose. Blends form thematic substructures within the unstructured package pools of approximately 30,000 binary packages from Debian and therefore allow easy access to relevant packages for specific subject areas. In addition, stands behind a glare also a competent for the field development team, which serves as a contact for specific applications and deals with the packing of belonging to the art software.
The most common blends are
- Skolelinux (also: Debian Edu )
- Debian Med and
- Debian Science
- Debian Accessibility
- DebiChem
- DeMuDi (Debian multimedia).
Debian derivatives
The wide range of packages, and the reliable system of package management make Debian attractive to deduce further independent distributions. This will be granted by the for all applicable components, extensive freedom license legally possible. Therefore, there are a large number of distributions that use mainly or solely packages from Debian. Many of these distributions are for a specific purpose, such as use as a server or at school aligned.
A widely used, derived by Debian distribution is Ubuntu.
Trivia
After a vague estimate of the Debian developer James Bromberger the source code for all programs included in Debian 7.0 is worth about 14 billion euros. The estimate is based on assumptions about the annual salary and the programming power of an average programmer.