Re: Differences of Debian vs. the Other Guys
Manoj hit all the major points, and about every other point under the sun :)
But I would like to expand on what I think are the key differences.
1) It's a distributed volunteer based system with lots of contributors. This
sometimes leads to long arguments, but it means that policies must be
thrashed out and specified precisely. It means that systems must have well
designed modular interfaces to make it possible for packages to be
maintained effectively by different maintainers. It also means we have a
huge number of packages, all of which are held to the same standards and
using the same bugtracking system. No directories of "use at your own risk"
contributions.
2) Debian has a very strong commitment to Free Software. Everything in the
distribution proper is supposed to be Free Software. Non-free software is
in a separate section which isn't included on most CDs. Users of Debian can
be sure they have the freedom to use and modify any component of the
distribution without breaking restrictive licenses. I've included our
Social Contract and the Debian Free Software Guidelines below to help make
this clearer.
Debian GNU/Linux Social Contract
We are Software In The Public Interest, producers of the Debian GNU/Linux
system. This is the "social contract" we offer to the free software
community.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Social Contract" with the Free Software Community
1. Debian Will Remain 100% Free Software
We promise to keep the Debian GNU/Linux Distribution entirely free
software. As there are many definitions of free software, we include
the guidelines we use to determine if software is "free" below. We will
support our users who develop and run non-free software on Debian, but
we will never make the system depend on an item of non-free software.
2. We Will Give Back to the Free Software Community
When we write new components of the Debian system, we will license them
as free software. We will make the best system we can, so that free
software will be widely distributed and used. We will feed back
bug-fixes, improvements, user requests, etc. to the "upstream" authors
of software included in our system.
3. We Won't Hide Problems
We will keep our entire bug-report database open for public view at all
times. Reports that users file on-line will immediately become visible
to others.
4. Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software
We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free-software
community. We will place their interests first in our priorities. We
will support the needs of our users for operation in many different
kinds of computing environment. We won't object to commercial software
that is intended to run on Debian systems, and we'll allow others to
create value-added distributions containing both Debian and commercial
software, without any fee from us. To support these goals, we will
provide an integrated system of high-quality, 100% free software, with
no legal restrictions that would prevent these kinds of use.
5. Programs That Don't Meet Our Free-Software Standards
We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of programs that
don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have created
"contrib" and "non-free" areas in our FTP archive for this software.
The software in these directories is not part of the Debian system,
although it has been configured for use with Debian. We encourage CD
manufacturers to read the licenses of software packages in these
directories and determine if they can distribute that software on their
CDs. Thus, although non-free software isn't a part of Debian, we
support its use, and we provide infrastructure (such as our
bug-tracking system and mailing lists) for non-free software packages.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Debian Free Software Guidelines
1. Free Redistribution
The license of a Debian component may not restrict any party from
selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate
software distribution containing programs from several different
sources. The license may not require a royalty or other fee for such
sale.
2. Source Code
The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in
source code as well as compiled form.
3. Derived Works
The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow
them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the
original software.
4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code
The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified
form _only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with
the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time.
The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from
modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a
different name or version number from the original software. (This is a
compromise. The Debian group encourages all authors to not restrict any
files, source or binary, from being modified.)
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of
persons.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in
a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the
program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic
research.
7. Distribution of License
The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the
program is redistributed without the need for execution of an
additional license by those parties.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to Debian
The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's
being part of a Debian system. If the program is extracted from Debian
and used or distributed without Debian but otherwise within the terms
of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is
redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in
conjunction with the Debian system.
9. License Must Not Contaminate Other Software
The license must not place restrictions on other software that is
distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license
must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium
must be free software.
10. Example Licenses
The "GPL", "BSD", and "Artistic" licenses are examples of licenses that
we consider "free".
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