<!-- retain these comments for translator revision tracking -->
<!-- $Id$ -->

 <sect1 id="what-is-debian">
 <title>What is Debian?</title>
<para>

Debian is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to developing free
software and promoting the ideals of the Free Software community.
The Debian Project began in 1993, when Ian Murdock issued an open
invitation to software developers to contribute to a complete and
coherent software distribution based on the relatively new Linux
kernel.  That relatively small band of dedicated enthusiasts,
originally funded by the
<ulink url="&url-fsf;">Free Software Foundation</ulink>
and influenced by the
<ulink url="&url-gnu-intro;">GNU</ulink>
philosophy, has grown over the years into an organization of around
&num-of-debian-developers; <firstterm>Debian Developers</firstterm>.

</para><para>

Debian Developers are involved in a variety of activities, including
<ulink url="&url-debian-home;">Web</ulink>
and <ulink url="&url-debian-ftp;">FTP</ulink>
site administration, graphic design, legal analysis of
software licenses, writing documentation, and, of course, maintaining
software packages.

</para><para>

In the interest of communicating our philosophy and attracting
developers who believe in the principles that Debian stands for, the
Debian Project has published a number of documents that outline our
values and serve as guides to what it means to be a Debian Developer:

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>

The
<ulink url="&url-social-contract;">Debian Social Contract</ulink> is
a statement of Debian's commitments to the Free Software Community.
Anyone who agrees to abide to the Social Contract may become a
<ulink url="&url-new-maintainer;">maintainer</ulink>.
Any maintainer can introduce new software into Debian &mdash; provided
that the software meets our criteria for being free, and the package
follows our quality standards.

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

The
<ulink url="&url-dfsg;">Debian Free Software Guidelines</ulink> are a
clear and concise statement of Debian's criteria for free software.
The DFSG is a very influential document in the Free Software Movement,
and was the foundation of the
<ulink url="&url-osd;">The Open Source Definition</ulink>.

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

The
<ulink url="&url-debian-policy;">Debian Policy Manual</ulink> is an
extensive specification of the Debian Project's standards of quality.

</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para><para>

Debian developers are also involved in a number of other projects;
some specific to Debian, others involving some or all of the Linux
community.  Some examples include:

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>

The
<ulink url="&url-fhs-home;">Filesystem Hierarchy Standard</ulink>
(FHS) is an effort to standardize the layout of the Linux
file system. The FHS will allow software developers to concentrate
their efforts on designing programs, without having to worry about how
the package will be installed in different GNU/Linux distributions.

</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>

<ulink url="&url-debian-jr;">Debian Jr.</ulink>
is an internal project, aimed at making sure Debian has something to
offer to our youngest users.

</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</para><para>

For more general information about Debian, see the
<ulink url="&url-debian-faq;">Debian FAQ</ulink>.

</para>

 </sect1>

