Chapter 1. Introducción -- ¿Qué es el proyecto Debian?

Table of Contents

1.1. El comienzo
1.2. Pronunciación de Debian

The Debian Project is a worldwide group of volunteers who endeavor to produce an operating system distribution that is composed entirely of free software. The principle product of the project to date is the Debian GNU/Linux software distribution, which includes the Linux operating system kernel, and thousands of prepackaged applications. Various processor types are supported to one extent or another, including 32 and 64 bit x86, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC and IBM S/390.

Debian motivated the formation of Software in the Public Interest, Inc., a New York-based non-profit organization. SPI was founded to help Debian and other similar organizations develop and distribute open hardware and software. Among other things, SPI provides a mechanism by which The Debian Project may accept contributions that are tax deductible in the United States.

Para obtener más información acerca del Software libre, consulte el Contrato social de debian y las Directrices de software libre de Debian asociadas, o bien la página ¿Qué significa libre?.

The Debian Project was officially founded by Ian Murdock on August 16th, 1993. (There is also a scanned printout of that announcement.) At that time, the whole concept of a "distribution" of Linux was new. Ian intended Debian to be a distribution which would be made openly, in the spirit of Linux and GNU (read his manifesto provided as an appendix to this document for more details). The creation of Debian was sponsored by the FSF's GNU project for one year (November 1994 to November 1995).

Debian estaba pensada para ser desarrollada cuidadosa y conscientemente y ser mantenida y soportada con un cuidado similar. Lo que comenzó con un pequeño y grupo muy unido de hackers de software libre, fue creciendo gradualmente hasta convertirse en una gran comunidad de desarrolladores y usuarios bien organizada.

When it began, Debian was the only distribution that was open for every developer and user to contribute their work. It remains the most significant distributor of Linux that is not a commercial entity. It is the only large project with a constitution, social contract, and policy documents to organize the project. Debian is also the only distribution which is "micro packaged" using detailed dependency information regarding inter-package relationships to ensure system consistency across upgrades.

Debian ha adoptado un gran conjunto de directrices y procedimientos para el empaquetamiento y la distribución de software para poder alcanzar y mantener altos estándares de calidad. Se producen herramientas, sistemas automáticos y documentación de cada uno de los aspectos claves de Debian de una forma abierta y visible para poder sostener estos estándares.

The official pronunciation of Debian is 'deb ee n'. The name comes from the names of the creator of Debian, Ian Murdock, and his wife, Debra.