95-670: The Linux Standard Base ( LSB ) was a joint project by several Linux distributions under the organizational structure of the Linux Foundation to standardize the software system structure, including the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard . LSB was based on the POSIX specification, the Single UNIX Specification (SUS), and several other open standards, but extended them in certain areas. According to LSB: The goal of
190-527: A Wayland compositor such as Sway , KDE 's KWin , or GNOME 's Mutter ), a desktop environment (most commonly GNOME , KDE Plasma , or Xfce ), a sound server (usually either PulseAudio or more recently PipeWire ), and other related programs may be included or installed by the user. Typically, most of the included software is free and open-source software – made available both as binary for convenience and as source code to allow for modifying it. A distro may also include proprietary software that
285-405: 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
380-439: A CD with only a small amount of data on it. New users tend to begin by partitioning a hard drive in order to keep their previously installed operating system. The Linux distribution can then be installed on its own separate partition without affecting previously saved data. In a Live CD setup, the computer boots the entire operating system from CD without first installing it on the computer's hard disk. Many distributions have
475-403: 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,
570-460: 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
665-520: A Live CD installer , where the computer boots the operating system from the disk, and it can then be installed on the computer's hard disk, providing a seamless transition from the OS running from the CD to the OS running from the hard disk. Both servers and personal computers that come with Linux already installed are available from vendors including Hewlett-Packard , Dell and System76 . On embedded devices, Linux
760-469: 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
855-540: A conscious effort to use a different operating system, and they must either perform the actual installation themselves, or depend on support from a friend, relative, or computer professional. Debian Debian ( / ˈ d ɛ b i ə n / ), also known as Debian GNU/Linux , is a free and open source Linux distribution , developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian
950-552: 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,
1045-512: A distribution, an administrator may create a "distributionless" installation. It is possible to build such systems from scratch, avoiding distributions altogether. One needs a way to generate the first binaries until the system is self-hosting . This can be done via compilation on another system capable of building binaries for the intended target (possibly by cross-compilation ). For example, see Linux From Scratch . In broad terms, Linux distributions may be: The diversity of Linux distributions
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#17328478717401140-588: A new SLS-based distribution, Slackware , was released by Patrick Volkerding . Also dissatisfied with SLS, Ian Murdock set to create a free distribution by founding Debian in August 1993, with first public BETA released in January 1994 and first stable version in June 1996. Users were attracted to Linux distributions as alternatives to the DOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems on IBM PC compatible computers, Mac OS on
1235-466: 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
1330-464: A package are present (and either notify the user to install them, or install them automatically). The package can also be provided as source code to be compiled on the system. Most distributions install packages, including the kernel and other core operating system components, in a predetermined configuration. A few now require or permit configuration adjustments at first install time. This makes installation less daunting, particularly for new users, but
1425-404: A proprietary operating system or by translating proprietary API calls (e.g., calls to Microsoft's Win32 or DirectX APIs) into native Linux API calls. A virtual machine can also be used to run a proprietary OS (like Microsoft Windows) on top of Linux. Computer hardware is usually sold with an operating system other than Linux already installed by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). In
1520-509: A specific instruction set , while some (such as Gentoo ) are distributed mostly in source code form and must be built before installation. Linus Torvalds developed the Linux kernel and distributed its first version, 0.01, in 1991. Linux was initially distributed as source code only, and later as a pair of downloadable floppy disk images: one bootable and containing the Linux kernel itself, and
1615-713: A specific application or service. Examples of packages are a library for handling the PNG image format, a collection of fonts, and a web browser . The package is typically provided as compiled code, with installation and removal of packages handled by a package management system (PMS) rather than a simple file archiver . Each package intended for such a PMS contains meta-information such as its description, version number, and its dependencies (other packages it requires to run). The package management system evaluates this meta-information to allow package searches, perform automatic upgrades to newer versions, and to check that all dependencies of
1710-668: 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 a time-based freeze . In general, Debian has been developed openly and distributed freely according to some of the principles of
1805-409: 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
1900-416: Is a Linux distribution that can be booted from removable storage media such as optical discs or USB flash drives , instead of being installed on and booted from a hard disk drive . The portability of installation-free distributions makes them advantageous for applications such as demonstrations, borrowing someone else's computer, rescue operations, or as installation media for a standard distribution. When
1995-757: Is a Linux distribution; others, such as Google engineer Patrick Brady, disagree by noting the lack of support for many GNU tools in Android, including glibc . Other Linux-kernel-based operating systems include Tizen , Mer / Sailfish OS , KaiOS and Amazon's Kindle firmware . Lightweight Linux distributions are those that have been designed with support for older hardware in mind, allowing older hardware to still be used productively, or, for maximum possible speed in newer hardware by leaving more resources available for use by applications. Examples include Tiny Core Linux , Puppy Linux and Slitaz . Other distributions target specific niches, such as: The Free Standards Group
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#17328478717402090-418: 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
2185-496: Is about 3.67%. Many Linux distributions provide an installation system akin to that provided with other modern operating systems. Other distributions, including Gentoo Linux , provide only the binaries of a basic kernel, compilation tools, and an installer; the installer compiles all the requested software for the specific architecture of the user's computer, using these tools and the software's source code. Distributions are normally segmented into packages . Each package contains
2280-533: Is also registered as an official ISO / IEC international standard. ISO/IEC 23360 and ISO/IEC TR 24715 can be freely downloaded from ISO website. While LSB was a standard and without a competitor, it was followed only by few Linux distributions . For instance, only 21 distribution releases (versions) were certified for LSB version 4.0, notably Red Flag Linux Desktop 6.0, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0, SUSE Linux Enterprise 11, and Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) ; even fewer were certified for version 4.1. The LSB
2375-616: Is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro, if distributed on its own, is often obtained via a website intended specifically for the purpose. Distros have been designed for a wide variety of systems ranging from personal computers (for example, Linux Mint ) to servers (for example, Red Hat Enterprise Linux ) and from embedded devices (for example, OpenWrt ) to supercomputers (for example, Rocks Cluster Distribution ). A distro typically includes many components in addition to
2470-522: 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
2565-460: Is an organization formed by major software and hardware vendors that aims to improve interoperability between different distributions. Among their proposed standards are the Linux Standard Base , which defines a common ABI and packaging system for Linux, and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard which recommends a standard filenaming chart, notably the basic directory names found on the root of
2660-466: 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
2755-671: Is due to technical, organizational, and philosophical variation among vendors and users. The permissive licensing of free software means that users with sufficient knowledge and interest can customize any existing distribution, or design one to suit their own needs. Rolling Linux distributions are kept current using small and frequent updates . The terms partially rolling and partly rolling (along with synonyms semi-rolling and half-rolling ), fully rolling , truly rolling and optionally rolling are sometimes used by software developers and users. Repositories of rolling distributions usually contain very recent software releases —often
2850-489: Is not always acceptable. For specific requirements, much software must be carefully configured to be useful, to work correctly with other software, or to be secure, and local administrators are often obliged to spend time reviewing and reconfiguring it. Some (but not all) distributions go to considerable lengths to adjust and customize the software they include, and some provide configuration tools to help users do so. By obtaining and installing everything normally provided in
2945-545: Is not available in source code form, such as a device driver binary . A distro may be described as a particular assortment of application and utility software (various GNU tools and libraries, for example), packaged with the Linux kernel in such a way that its capabilities meet users' needs. The software is usually adapted to the distribution and then combined into software packages by the distribution's maintainers. The software packages are available online in repositories , which are storage locations usually distributed around
Linux Standard Base - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-424: Is often referred to as "distro hopping". Virtual machine software such as VirtualBox and VMware Workstation virtualize hardware allowing users to test live media on a virtual machine without installing to the real system. Some websites like DistroWatch offer lists of distributions, and link to screenshots of operating systems as a way to get a first impression of various distributions. Some distributions let
3135-457: 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
3230-513: Is sometimes possible on closely related distributions. There are several ways to install a Linux distribution. The most common method of installing Linux is by booting from a live USB memory stick , which can be created by using a USB image writer application and the ISO image, which can be downloaded from various Linux distribution websites. DVD disks, CD disks, network installations and even other hard drives can also be used as "installation media". In
3325-450: 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, the second oldest Linux distribution still in active development, only behind Slackware . The project is coordinated over the Internet by
3420-462: Is typically held in the device's firmware and may or may not be consumer-accessible. Anaconda , one of the more popular installers, is used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux , Fedora (which uses the Fedora Media Writer ) and other distributions to simplify the installation process. Debian, Ubuntu and many others use Debian-Installer . The process of constantly switching between distributions
3515-523: The ld-lsb.so ), a number of commands and utilities that extend the POSIX standard, the layout of the file system hierarchy , run levels , the printing system, including spoolers such as CUPS and tools like Foomatic , and several extensions to the X Window System . It also specified boot facilities, such as $ local_fs , $ network , which were used to indicate service dependencies in System V -style initialization scripts. A machine readable comment block at
3610-633: The lsb-release package in Debian-based distributions. The standard stopped being updated in 2015 and current Linux distributions do not adhere to or offer it; however, the lsb_release command is sometimes still available. On February 7, 2023, a former maintainer of the LSB wrote, "The LSB project is essentially abandoned." LSB was designed to be binary-compatible and produced a stable application binary interface (ABI) for independent software vendors . To achieve backward compatibility, each subsequent version
3705-529: The Apple Macintosh , and proprietary versions of Unix . Most early adopters were familiar with Unix from work or school. They embraced Linux distributions for their low (or absent) cost, and the availability of the source code for most or all of their software. As of 2024, Linux has become more popular in server and embedded devices markets than in the desktop market. It is used in approximately 58.9% of web servers; its current operating system market share
3800-650: 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
3895-588: 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, the Debian Project founded
Linux Standard Base - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-523: The end-user needs to use Debian's Alien program to transform them into the native package format and then install them. The LSB-specified RPM format had a restricted subset of RPM features—to block usage of RPM features that would be untranslatable to .deb with Alien or other package conversion programs, and vice versa, as each format has capabilities the other lacks. In practice, not all Linux binary packages were necessarily LSB-compliant, so while most could be converted between .rpm and .deb, this operation
4085-510: 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
4180-425: The software development process , standard releases require significant development effort to keep old versions up-to-date by propagating bug fixes back to the newest branch, versus focusing on the newest development branch . Also, unlike rolling releases, standard releases require more than one code branch to be developed and maintained, which increases the workload of the software developers and maintainers. On
4275-400: The 1990s, Linux distributions were installed using sets of floppy disks but this has been abandoned by all major distributions. By the 2000s many distributions offered CD and DVD sets with the vital packages on the first disc and less important packages on later ones. Some distributions, such as Debian also enabled installation over a network after booting from either a set of floppy disks or
4370-457: 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
4465-538: 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
4560-487: 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
4655-525: 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
4750-471: The LSB is to develop and promote a set of open standards that will increase compatibility among Linux distributions and enable software applications to run on any compliant system even in binary form . In addition, the LSB will help coordinate efforts to recruit software vendors to port and write products for Linux Operating Systems. LSB compliance might be certified for a product by a certification procedure. LSB specified standard libraries (centered around
4845-461: The Linux kernel. Commonly, it includes a package manager , an init system (such as systemd , OpenRC , or runit ), GNU tools and libraries , documentation, IP network configuration utilities, the getty TTY setup program, and many more. To provide a desktop experience (most commonly the Mesa userspace graphics drivers) a display server (the most common being the X.org Server , or, more recently,
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#17328478717404940-520: 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
5035-410: 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
5130-590: The case of IBM PC compatibles , the OS is usually Microsoft Windows ; in the case of Apple 's Mac computers, it has always been macOS ; Sun Microsystems sold SPARC hardware with the Solaris installed; video game consoles such as the Xbox , PlayStation , Wii , and the Nintendo Switch each have their own proprietary OS. This limits Linux's market share: consumers are unaware that an alternative exists, they must make
5225-569: 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
5320-401: 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,
5415-463: 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
5510-424: 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
5605-459: The latest stable versions available. They have pseudo-releases and installation media that are simply snapshots of the distribution at the time of the installation image's release. Typically, a rolling-release OS installed from older installation medium can be fully updated after it is installed. Depending on the usage case, there can be pros and cons to both standard release and rolling release software development methodologies . In terms of
5700-401: 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
5795-523: 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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#17328478717405890-435: The need to change the contents of the system's hard disk drive. The website DistroWatch lists many Linux distributions and displays some of the ones that have the most web traffic on the site. The Wikimedia Foundation released an analysis of the browser User Agents of visitors to WMF websites until 2015, which includes details of the most popular Operating System identifiers, including some Linux distributions. Many of
5985-462: 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
6080-491: 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
6175-442: 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
6270-689: 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
6365-401: 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
6460-797: The operating system is booted from a read-only medium such as a CD or DVD, any user data that needs to be retained between sessions cannot be stored on the boot device but must be written to another storage device, such as a USB flash drive or a hard disk drive. Many Linux distributions provide a "live" form in addition to their conventional form, which is a network-based or removable-media image intended to be used only for installation; such distributions include SUSE , Ubuntu, Linux Mint , MEPIS and Fedora Linux . Some distributions, including Knoppix , Puppy Linux , Devil-Linux, SuperGamer , SliTaz GNU/Linux and dyne:bolic , are designed primarily for live use. Additionally, some minimal distributions can be run directly from as little space as one floppy disk without
6555-450: The other hand, software features and technology planning are easier in standard releases due to a better understanding of upcoming features in the next version(s). Software release cycles can also be synchronized with those of major upstream software projects, such as desktop environments . As for the user experience , standard releases are often viewed as more stable and bug-free since software conflicts can be more easily addressed and
6650-446: The other with a set of GNU utilities and tools for setting up a file system. Since the installation procedure was complicated, especially in the face of growing amounts of available software, distributions sprang up to simplify it. Early distributions included: The two oldest, still active distribution projects started in 1993. The SLS distribution was not well maintained, so in July 1993
6745-409: The popular distributions are listed below. Several operating systems include the Linux kernel, but have a userland that differs significantly from that of mainstream Linux distributions: Whether such operating systems count as a "Linux distribution" is a controversial topic. They use the Linux kernel, so the Linux Foundation and Chris DiBona , Google's former open-source chief, agree that Android
6840-442: 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
6935-632: The project. In September 2015, the Debian project confirmed that while support for Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) would continue, support for LSB had been dropped. Ubuntu followed Debian in November 2015. Additionally, the compliance test suites were criticized for being buggy and incomplete—most notably, in 2005 Ulrich Drepper criticized the LSB for poorly written tests which can cause incompatibility between LSB-certified distributions when some implement incorrect behavior to make buggy tests work, while others apply for and receive waivers from complying with
7030-560: 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
7125-448: The rolling release model can have advantages in timely security updates, fixing system or application security bugs and vulnerabilities , that standard releases may have to wait till the next release for or patch in various versions. In a rolling release distribution, where the user has chosen to run it as a highly dynamic system, the constant flux of software packages can introduce new unintended vulnerabilities. A "live" distribution
7220-507: The software stack more thoroughly tested and evaluated, during the software development cycle. For this reason, they tend to be the preferred choice in enterprise environments and mission-critical tasks. However, rolling releases offer more current software which can also provide increased stability and fewer software bugs along with the additional benefits of new features, greater functionality, faster running speeds, and improved system and application security . Regarding software security ,
7315-402: 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
7410-475: 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 )
7505-507: The standard did not dictate which package format the system must use for its own packages, merely that RPM must be supported to allow packages from third-party distributors to be installed on a conforming system. Debian included optional support for LSB early on, at version 1.1 in "woody" (3.0; July 19, 2002), 2.0 in "sarge" (3.1; June 6, 2005), 3.1 in "etch" (4.0; April 8, 2007), 3.2 in "lenny" (5.0; February 14, 2009) and 4.1 in "wheezy" (7; May 4, 2013). To use foreign LSB-compliant RPM packages,
7600-579: 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
7695-492: The tests. He also denounced a lack of application testing, pointing out that testing only distributions can never solve the problem of applications relying on implementation-defined behavior. For the vendors considering LSB certifications in their portability efforts, the Linux Foundation sponsored a tool that analyzed and provided guidance on symbols and libraries that go beyond the LSB. Media: Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro )
7790-477: The top of a script provided the information necessary to determine at which point of the initialization process the script should be invoked; it was called the LSB header. The command lsb_release -a was available in many systems to get the LSB version details, or could be made available by installing an appropriate package, for example the redhat-lsb package in Red-Hat -flavored distributions such as Fedora , or
7885-435: The tree of any Linux filesystem. Those standards, however, see limited use, even among the distributions developed by members of the organization. The diversity of Linux distributions means that not all software runs on all distributions, depending on what libraries and other system attributes are required. Packaged software and software repositories are usually specific to a particular distribution, though cross-installation
7980-462: The user install Linux on top of their current system, such as WinLinux or coLinux . Linux is installed to the Windows hard disk partition, and can be started from inside Windows itself. Virtual machines (such as VirtualBox or VMware ) also make it possible for Linux to be run inside another OS. The VM software simulates a separate computer onto which the Linux system is installed. After installation,
8075-640: The virtual machine can be booted as if it were an independent computer. Various tools are also available to perform full dual-boot installations from existing platforms without a CD, most notably: Some specific proprietary software products are not available in any form for Linux. As of September 2015, the Steam gaming service has over 1,500 games available on Linux, compared to 2,323 games for Mac and 6,500 Windows games. Emulation and API-translation projects like Wine and CrossOver make it possible to run non-Linux-based software on Linux systems, either by emulating
8170-724: The world. Beside "glue" components, such as the distribution installers (for example, Debian-Installer and Anaconda ) and the package management systems, very few packages are actually written by a distribution's maintainers. Distributions have been designed for a wide range of computing environments, including desktops , servers , laptops , netbooks , mobile devices (phones and tablets), and embedded systems . There are commercially backed distributions, such as Fedora Linux ( Red Hat ), openSUSE ( SUSE ) and Ubuntu ( Canonical Ltd. ), and entirely community-driven distributions, such as Debian , Slackware , Gentoo and Arch Linux . Most distributions come ready-to-use and prebuilt for
8265-548: Was criticized for not taking input from projects, most notably the Debian project, outside the sphere of its member companies. LSB specified that software packages should either be delivered as an LSB-compliant installer, or (preferably) be delivered in a restricted form of the RPM Package Manager format. This choice of package format precluded the use of other existing package formats not compatible with RPM. To address this,
8360-502: 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
8455-478: Was purely additive. In other words, interfaces were only added; no interfaces were removed. The LSB adopted an interface deprecation policy to give application developers enough time in case an interface was removed from LSB. This allowed the developer to rely on every interface in LSB for a known time and also to plan for changes. Interfaces were only removed after having been marked "deprecated" for at least three major versions, or roughly eleven years. LSB 5.0
8550-468: 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
8645-486: 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 )
8740-430: 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
8835-583: Was restricted to a subset of packages. By using Alien, Debian was LSB-compatible for all intents and purposes, but according to the description of their lsb package, the presence of the package "does not imply that we believe that Debian fully complies with the Linux Standard Base, and should not be construed as a statement that Debian is LSB-compliant." Debian strived to comply with the LSB, but with many limitations. However, this effort ceased around July 2015 due to lack of interest and workforce inside
8930-481: 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
9025-472: Was the first major release that broke backward compatibility with earlier versions. The LSB, version 3.1, is registered as an official ISO / IEC international standard. The main parts of it are: There is also ISO/IEC TR 24715:2006 which identifies areas of conflict between ISO/IEC 23360 (the Linux Standard Base 3.1 specification) and the ISO/IEC 9945:2003 (POSIX) International Standard. The LSB, version 5.0,
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