Debian -- People: Who we are and what we do

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Debian -- People: Who we are and what we do </title> <link rel="author" href="mailto:webmaster@debian.org"> <meta name="Generator" content="WML 2.32.0"> <meta name="Modified" content="2025-02-16 15:37:53"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"> <meta name="mobileoptimized" content="300"> <meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="true"> <link href="../debhome.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="../startpage.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="../5img-carousel-slider.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="../debian-en.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico"> <meta name="Keywords" content="debian, GNU, linux, unix, open source, free, DFSG"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Debian website search" href="../search.en.xml"> </head> <body> <div id="header"> <div id="upperheader"> <div id="logo"> <a href="../" title="Debian Home"><img src="../Pics/openlogo-50.png" alt="Debian" width="50" height="61"></a> </div>  <div id="searchbox"> <form name="p" method="get" action="https://search.debian.org/cgi-bin/omega"> <p> <input type="hidden" name="DB" value="en"> <input name="P" value="" size="14"> <input type="submit" value="Search"> </p> </form> </div>  </div>   <div id="navbar"> <p class="hidecss"><a href="#content">Skip Quicknav</a></p> <ul>  <li><a href="https://bits.debian.org/" title="Bits from Debian">Blog</a></li> <li><a href="https://micronews.debian.org" title="Micronews from Debian">Micronews</a></li> <li><a href="https://planet.debian.org/" title="The Planet of Debian">Planet</a></li> </ul> </div>  <p id="breadcrumbs">  </p> </div>   <div id="content"> <h1>People: Who we are and what we do</h1> <link href="../font-awesome.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <div id="toc"> <ul class="toc"> <li><a href="#history">How it all started</a> <li><a href="#devcont">Developers and Contributors</a> <li><a href="#supporters">Individuals and Organizations supporting Debian</a> <li><a href="#users">Debian Users</a> </ul> </div> <aside> <p><span class="fas fa-caret-right fa-3x"></span> Since many people have asked: Debian is pronounced <span style="white-space: nowrap;">/ˈde.bi.ən/.</span> It's named after the creator of Debian, Ian Murdock, and his wife, Debra.</p> </aside> <h2><a id="history">How it all started</a></h2> <p>It was in August 1993, when Ian Murdock started working on a new operating system which would be made openly, in the spirit of Linux and GNU. He sent out an open invitation to other software developers, asking them to contribute to a software distribution based on the Linux kernel, which was relatively new back then. Debian was meant to be carefully and conscientiously put together, and to be maintained and supported with similar care, embracing an open design, contributions, and support from the Free Software community.</p> <p>It started as a small, tightly-knit group of Free Software hackers and gradually grew to become a large, well-organized community of developers, contributors, and users.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><button type="button"><span class="fas fa-book-open fa-2x"></span> <a href="../doc/manuals/project-history/">Read the complete History</a></button></p> <h2><a id="devcont">Developers and Contributors</a></h2> <p> Debian is an all-volunteer organization. More than thousand active developers spread <a href="../devel/developers.loc">around the world</a> work on Debian in their spare time. Few of us have actually met in person. Instead, we communicate primarily through email (mailing lists at <a href="https://lists.debian.org/">lists.debian.org</a>) and IRC (channel #debian at irc.debian.org). </p> <p> The complete list of official Debian members can be found on <a href="https://nm.debian.org/members">nm.debian.org</a>, and <a href="https://contributors.debian.org">contributors.debian.org</a> shows a list of all contributors and teams who work on the Debian distribution.</p> <p>The Debian Project has a carefully <a href="organization">organized structure</a>. For more information on how the Debian project looks from the inside, please visit the <a href="../devel/">Developers' Corner</a>.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><button type="button"><span class="fas fa-book-open fa-2x"></span> <a href="philosophy">Read about our Philosophy</a></button></p> <h2><a id="supporters">Individuals and Organizations supporting Debian</a></h2> <p>Apart from developers and contributors, many other individuals and organizations are part of the Debian community:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://db.debian.org/machines.cgi">Hosting and hardware sponsors</a></li> <li><a href="../mirror/sponsors">Mirror sponsors</a></li> <li><a href="../partners/">Development and service partners</a></li> <li><a href="../consultants">Consultants</a></li> <li><a href="../CD/vendors">Vendors of Debian installation media</a></li> <li><a href="../distrib/pre-installed">Computer vendors offering pre-installed Debian machines</a></li> <li><a href="../events/merchandise">Merchandise vendors</a></li> </ul> <h2><a id="users">Debian Users</a></h2> <p> Debian is used by a wide range of organizations, large and small, as well as many thousands of individuals. See our <a href="../users/">Who's using Debian?</a> page for a list of educational, commercial, and non-profit organizations as well as government agencies which have submitted short descriptions of how and why they use Debian. </p> <div class="clr"></div> </div>  <div id="footer"> <hr class="hidecss"> <p>Back to the <a href="../">Debian Project homepage</a>.</p> <hr>  <div id="pageLang"> <div id="langSelector"> This page is also available in the following languages: <div id="langContainer"> <select onchange="location = this.value;"> <option value="" disabled selected>Select your language</option> <option value="people.da.html" title="Danish" lang="da">dansk</option> <option value="people.de.html" title="German" lang="de">Deutsch</option> <option value="people.es.html" title="Spanish" lang="es">español</option> <option value="people.fr.html" title="French" lang="fr">français</option> <option value="people.it.html" title="Italian" lang="it">Italiano</option> <option value="people.hu.html" title="Hungarian" lang="hu">magyar</option> <option value="people.nl.html" title="Dutch" lang="nl">Nederlands</option> <option value="people.nb.html" title="Norwegian" lang="nb">norsk (bokmål)</option> <option value="people.pt.html" title="Portuguese" lang="pt">Português</option> <option value="people.sv.html" title="Swedish" lang="sv">svenska</option> <option value="people.vi.html" title="Vietnamese" lang="vi">Tiếng Việt</option> <option value="people.bg.html" title="Bulgarian" lang="bg">Български (Bəlgarski)</option> <option value="people.ru.html" title="Russian" lang="ru">Русский (Russkij)</option> <option value="people.zh-cn.html" title="Chinese (China)" lang="zh-CN">中文(简)</option> <option value="people.zh-hk.html" title="Chinese (Hong Kong)" lang="zh-HK">中文(HK)</option> <option value="people.zh-tw.html" title="Chinese (Taiwan)" lang="zh-TW">中文(繁)</option> <option value="people.ko.html" title="Korean" lang="ko">한국어 (Korean)</option> <option value="people.el.html" title="Greek" lang="el">Ελληνικά (Ellinika)</option> <option value="people.fa.html" title="Persian" lang="fa">فارسی (Farsi)</option> </select> </div> How to set <a href="../intro/cn">the default document language</a> </div></div> <hr> <div id="fineprint">  <p>See our <a href="../contact">contact page</a> to get in touch. Web site source code is <a href="https://salsa.debian.org/webmaster-team/webwml">available</a>.</p> <p> Last Modified: Fri, Feb 11 16:40:41 UTC 2022 &emsp; Last Built: Sun, Feb 16 15:37:53 UTC 2025 <br> Copyright © 1997-2022 <a href="https://www.spi-inc.org/">SPI</a> and others; See <a href="../license" rel="copyright">license terms</a><br> Debian is a registered <a href="../trademark">trademark</a> of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. </p>  </div> </div>  </body> </html>

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Debian -- People: Who we are and what we do