Re: Assistance Requested: History and Patching
Hi Dan,
* Clarke, Daniel (US - Arlington) <daclarke@deloitte.com> [2016-07-27 19:23]:
> My name is Dan and I have been given the following task by my
> client: What is the history of Debian, and, specifically, whether
> there is a central authority that publishes patches and what is
> their credibility?
Debian is a project which consists of many different people who
collaborate. Debian is an OS integrator -- we take software developed
by other open source projects and integrate them into an operating
system by creating Debian packages of the software.
Updates are obtained from the original software developers. Debian
makes some changes (for integration, bug fixes or other) but works
closely with the original developers of the software (such as the
Linux kernel, Firefox, and QEMU).
Security support for Debian's latest software release is provided
through the Debian security team. Again, they work with the original
developers of the software on those fixes. Debian backports security
fixes to the software in the stable release rather than adding new
software versions.
Official security support through the security team is provided for a
software release as long as it's the current stable release and for 12
more months from the time a new stable release is made.
The Debian Long Term Support (LTS) initiative provides further support
for a total of 5 years. The Debian LTS initiative is primarily
sponsored through an outside company which engages Debian contributors
on a paid basis.
Here are some links:
https://www.debian.org/security/faq
https://wiki.debian.org/LTS/
Debian maintains a list of consultants who can be engaged for paid
work:
https://www.debian.org/consultants/
I hope this information is useful.
--
Martin Michlmayr
http://www.cyrius.com/
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