Debian is a GNU/Linux distribution. The name comes from the founder of the project, Ian Murdock, and his wife, Debra. Hence "Deb" and "Ian".

If you use Debian, you tend to love Debian. Why?

Non-commercial

It's not controlled by a corporate entity.

APT

To install anything you just type apt-get install package and you're away. Dependencies are all handled for you. No more rabbiting around the internet for an RPM that might do what you want it to do...

Runs on lots of platforms

i386, Motorola 68k, Alpha, Sparc, PowerPC, ARM, MIPS, HP PA-RISC, IA64 (Itanium) and S390. AMD64 coming soon!

Incredibly easy to maintain

apt-get upgrade every night and you'll be running the latest versions of everything.

Very true to Linux

Some purists dont like RedHat's directory structures. It's also pragmatic and ideological; what you know as Debian today is Debian GNU/Linux, and they are also looking at Debian GNU/HURD.

There are some reasons not to like Debian, the most obvious of which is that packages have to be uploaded into the repository before you can get them. You can always install things from source, or use other peoples' experimental .deb sources just by changing your AptSourcesList. See NewZealandLinuxMirrors for places in NewZealand to get Debs/ISOs.

The DebianLinux PackageManagement format is Deb. See DebianPackaging on how to create these, or DebianPackageTools for how to use dpkg(8)/APT/other programs that install .deb packages.

debian.org have an online FAQ; we have a local DebianFaq? as well as some handy DebianNotes.

Read about the different FlavoursOfDebian.

For people who want to install DebianLinux but are scared off by stories about its installer, there's The Very Verbose Debian 3.0 Installation Walkthrough.

See also:

• Debian Wiki
• A Debian Grimoire
• Debian Help (UK)

Part of CategoryDistribution and CategoryDebian