%% Debian - What's that then? %% Copyright 2001 Wichert Akkerman %% %% Presented at the LinuxForum 2001 in Copenhagen, Denmark. %% %% Abstract: %% The Debian project has been around for a while now, but it's %% still a black box to many. An interesting shade of black, but not %% transparent. %% In order to assimilate more developers, euhm, that is attract %% more people to help, this talk will open the box and show what is %% inside. %% We'll discuss a bit of Debian history, why it's so fun to work on %% it, and how it is build, from the people that work on it, the rules %% that bind them, to the technical bits like the policy manual and %% the package manager. %% %% %% Define the fonts we will use %% %deffont "standard" tfont "arial.ttf" %deffont "typewriter" tfont "courbd.tf" %% %% Default settings for special lines %% %default 1 leftfill, fore "black", back "white", bimage "background.bmp" %default 2 size 7, vgap 10, prefix " ", font "standard" %default 3 size 2, bar "gray70", vgap 10 %default 4 size 5, vgap 30, font "standard" %% %% Default settings for indented lines %% %tab 1 size 5, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon box "green" 50 %tab 2 size 4, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon arc "red" 50 %tab 3 size 3, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon delta3 "blue" 40 %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page %nodefault, font "standard", fore "black", back "white", bimage "background.bmp" %center Debian What's that then? %size 6 Wichert Akkerman %size 5 wichert@linux.com %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Overview Free Software What is Debian? The fun factor Schedule for world domination %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free Software? Free Software is software with a license that gives you freedom instead of restricting it. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Free Software? Debian Free Software Guidelines: Free Redistribution Source code must be included Derived works must be allowed Integrity restrictions of source No discrimination against persons or groups No discrimination against fields of endeavor Distribution under same License License must not be Debian-specific License must not contaminate other software %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Free Software History In the beginning academia & hackers, everything was free late 1960's: distinction between users and programmers, first complex OSes AT&T developers create Unix, free for academia. late 1970's: big academic Unix projects: X and networking. Both are free %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page FS History continued 1980's: AT&T split, Unix goes commercial, legal battle over BSD Unix Richard Stallman starts the FSF tainted BSD code replaced 1991: Linus Torvalds buys a 386 first distributions emerge, the web is born 1993: project for an open Linux distribution starts: Debian %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page FS History continued 1998: Open Source term coined, OSI created netscape opens browser Oracle and Informix are not planning to support Linux. Linux support for Ingres announced doubts about Windows 2000 Oracle and Informix annnounce Linux support Linus on forbes cover IBM announced DB2 for Linux and contributes Haifa to egcs Intel and Netscape invest in RH Microsoft refers to Linux in trial Corel says WP8 will be free for personal use %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page FS History continued (still 1998) 144.000 Mexican schools will use Linux SGI joins Linux International Sun announces Linux on ultrasparc support Linux sales growth in 1998 estimated at more then 200% IBM releases AFS and DB2 beta for Linux IBM releases Jikes and Secure Mailer using semi-free licenses %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page FS History continued 1999: Lotus announces Notes and Domino servers for Linux IBM joins Linux International Apple announces it will release part of their new OS under APSL Corel starts Corel Linux %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Debian? %font "typewriter" `The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system.' %font "standard" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Debian? More specifically, Debian: is a completely open volunteer organization run on the highest number of architectures (6 released, 4 in development) is quite international is one of the most popular GNU/Linux distributions is the largest GNU/Linux distribution (3901 packages) works with companies to develop and maintain software is Focused on Freedom is well represented in the free software world: Free Standards Group Gnome Foundation board Linux International Linux Standards Base XFree86 ... %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Debian organization Debian would not be what it is without coordination and organization. SPI Partners Constitution Bug Tracking System Teams Mailing lists IRC channels Debian conference Policy %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Software in the Public Interest Legally Debian does not exist, but sometimes you need to have a legal entity. For this purpose SPI was founded. SPI is a New York-based registered non-profit organization which can provide some services for projects: can hold money, trademarks and other properties can serve as treasurer can serve as a legal entity in agreements can accept tax-deductible donations (US only) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Partners Debian needs a certain amount of resources to do its work: Hardware Bandwidth Show presence (booths) For these we rely on donations and partners. Partners are organizations that provide us with a resource for an extended period of time. Examples are Brainfood and VA Linux Systems. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page The constitution The constitution defines tasks and responsibilities within Debian. It defines the following roles: Developers Project Leader Technical Commitee Project Secretary Project Leader Delegates %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page The hierarchy %center, newimage "hierarchy.eps" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Bug Tracking System Since 1994 Debian has had a public bugtracking system online. This is an open system to which people can submit bugreports, features requests and other comments. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Dividing the work - teams In order to structure our efforts a lot of work is done in teams. A team is generally a mailinglist where interested people cooperate on a specific goal. Examples: CD creation documentation Debian Junior new maintainers translations security website maintenance %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Mailing lists General mailinglists: debian-announce debian-news debian-security-announce debian-{hams,jr,project,security,...} Development mailinglists: debian-devel debian-{dpkg,ipv6,perl,python,policy,release,sgml,..) debian-{alpha,arm,m68k,mips,powerpc,s390,sparc, %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page IRC Channels Realtime interactive discussions can be more productive. For those use IRC channels on irc.debian.org (part of the OpenProjects network). #debian : random discussions #debian-boot : installer development #debian-bugs : bugsquash parties %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Debian conference 2000 featured the first Debian conference. This is a new annual event where Debian developers (and interested others) gather to exchange ideas, swap war stories and get to known each other. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page The policy document One important success factor for Debian is the integration of all the different packages. This is coordinated through the policy document, which gives guidelines for building and maintaining packages. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Example policy rules Version numbering How to use package relations Menu policy Using pseudo-ttys Working with utmp Documentation %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Debian growth-rate %size 4 November 1995: 0.93r6 60 developers June 1996: 1.1 Buzz 474 packages December 1996: 1.2 Rex 848 packages, 120 developers July 1997: 1.3 Bo 974 packages, 200 developers July 1998: 2.0 Hamm i386 and m68k 1524 packages, 400+ developers March 1999: 2.1 Slink alpha, i386, m68k and sparc 2269 packages, 450+ developers August 2000: 2.2 Potato alpha, arm, i386, m68k, powerpc and sparc 3901 packages, 500+ developers %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page The number of packages keeps growing %center, newimage "packages.gif" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page The number of developer keeps growing %center, newimage "developers.gif" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What makes Debian fun ? Everyone is free to participate in Debian. But why would you do that? you get to see how a volunteer organization works experience all aspects of free software `stroke your ego' meeting fellow developers (`Debian developers always know good bars') excellent flamewar training %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Some random reactions Mr. linux.com has been converted %font "typewriter", size 4 From: Trae McCombs To: debian-www@lists.debian.org Subject: Debian "Point of Contact" Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 22:13:28 -0400 Hi gang, I want to start out by saying that I LOVE debian ;) I've been converted and have been free of other distro's for well over 2 weeks now. All I can say is, apt-get RULES! :) [...] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Some random reactions Dealing with non-native English speakers can be amusing! %font "typewriter", size 4 From: To: leader@debian.org, wakkerma@debian.org Subject: Debian Chinese and discussion ... ^_^ Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 21:43:18 +0800 [...] To be horniest, I would like to have a closer relationship between us and Debian. [...] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Some random reactions More ego-boosting %font "typewriter", size 4 BTW, thank you so much for doing a wonderful job with Potato. My wife and I both love it very much Wichert. Thanks to you and all the debian team for all you do for us. You people are all in our prayers and thoughts. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Some random reactions Some emails are just.... weird %font "typewriter", size 4 Dear Wichert, please help some freinds and i settle a dispute that we are having. We were discussing the xsexiness of people who had their own linux distribution and the top 2 contenders came down to you, Wichert Akkerman and Patrick (Volkswagon) Volkerding. (there wasnt really that much competition..that mandrake guy is as ugly as a _insert something ugly here_). We were hoping that you could reply to this email and enclose some pictures of yourself (preferably naked so that we can superimpose a number of different outfits upon you) so that we can put it to a vote which of you is sexier... you or the volkswagon. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page World domination Plans are progressing nicely: August 1993 - Debian founded 1994 - first Linux package manager April 1997 - Debian in space July 1997 - Debian in space, take 2 June 1998 - plot to overload mirrors using apt December 1999 - Debian Powers 512 Node CLOWN Cluster into Book of Records April 1999 - Corel starts Corel Linux September 1999 - France telecom uses Debian for their network infrastructure April 2000 - Alcove and IBM start Debian support July 2000 - Debian get its own conference August 2000 - IDG/Linus Torvalds award August 2000 - HP parisc port will be based on Debian %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page World domination lessons April is a bad month for evil schemes Being a non-profit is hard A good product sells itself Super Cow Powers help (moo) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page World domination plans Boldly going where no non-profit has gone before 2002 - cluster Debian 2002 - All Linux distributions start using dpkg 2003 - Microsoft wakes up and and replaces MIS with dpkg/apt 2005 - Everyone is now using a free OS and joins the free software community 2006 - apt gets a "teahotearlgrey" command 2008 - End world hunger %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page The end %size 6 and now.... for something completely different %center, size 12 Øl (og hygge)