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移除书签1.1. 什么是 Debian？
文化 Debian 名称的起源
没有什么特别的：Debian 不是一个缩写词。它的名字实际上是两个姓氏的组合：Ian Murdock，和他那时的女朋友，Debra。所以就有了 Debra + Ian = Debian。
Debian 是一个 GNU/Linux 的发行版。我们稍后将会详细地讨论什么是发行版第 1.5 节 “发行版的角色”。但是当前情况下，我们暂且将其简单地归纳为一个完整的操作系统，包括软件和系统的安装及管理，所有的这些都基于 Linux 内核和自由软件（尤其是来自 GNU 项目的自由软件）。
当他在自由软件基金会（FSF）的领导下于1993年创建 Debian 时，Ian Murdock 有清晰的目标，他在 Debian Manifesto 中对其作了阐述。他所追求的自由操作系统将有两个首要的特性。第一点是质量：Debian 将在最大的关怀与努力下进行开发，以与 Linux 内核相配。另外，它同样将是一个非商业化的发行版，足够可靠而能够和主流商业发行版相竞争。在他眼里，这两个雄心壮志只能以开放 Debian 开发过程的方式达成，正如 Linux 和 GNU 工程所做的那样。因此，互帮互查将能够持续地改进这个项目。
文化 GNU，自由软件基金会（FSF）的工程
GNU 工程是一系列由自由软件基金会（FSF）开发或赞助的自由软件，由其标志性领袖，理查德·M·斯托曼（Richard M. Stallman）发起。GNU 是一个递归缩写，代表“GNU 不是 Unix（GNU is Not Unix）”。
文化 理查德·斯托曼
FSF’s founder and author of the GPL license, Richard M. Stallman (often referred to by his initials, RMS) is a charismatic leader of the Free Software movement. Due to his uncompromising positions, he is not unanimously admired, but his non-technical contributions to Free Software (in particular, the legal and philosophical) are respected by everybody.
1.1.1. 一个多平台操作系统
社区 伊恩·默多克的旅程
伊恩·默多克是 Debian 项目的创立者，也是该项目从1993年至1996年的第一任领导者。在把接力棒交给 Bruce Perens 之后，伊恩不经常参与公众活动。他回到了自由软件社区的背后工作，为了尝试商业发行一个 Debian 的衍生发行版建立了 Progeny 公司。遗憾的是，这次冒险尝试是一个商业失败，开发活动也被放弃了。公司在经历了几年的摸爬滚打之后，以一个服务提供商的身份最终于2007年的4月破产。在 Progeny 发起的各个项目中，只有 discover 继续存在。这是一个自动硬件检查工具。
Ian Murdock died on 28 December 2015 in San Francisco after a series of worrying tweets where he reported having been assaulted by police. In July 2016 it was announced that his death had been ruled a suicide.
Debian, remaining true to its initial principles, has had so much success that, today, it has reached a tremendous size. Currently there are 10 hardware architectures officially supported and also other kernels like FreeBSD (although the FreeBSD-based ports are not part of the set of officially supported architectures). Furthermore, with more than 28,000 source packages, the available software can meet almost any need that one could have, whether at home or in the enterprise.
The sheer size of the distribution can be inconvenient: it is really unreasonable to distribute 16 DVD-ROMs to install a complete version on a standard PC… This is why Debian is increasingly considered as a “meta-distribution”, from which one extracts more specific distributions intended for a particular public: Debian Science for scientific use, Debian Edu for education and pedagogical use in an academic environment, Debian Med for medical applications, Debian Jr. for young children, etc. A more complete list of the subprojects can be found in 第 1.3.3.1 节 “Debian 现有的子计划”, dedicated to that purpose.
这些 Debian 的组成部分由定义清晰的框架组织而成，保证“子发行版”之间互相兼容、互不干扰。它们都采用一致的方案释放出新版本。同时它们都基于相同的基础构建而成，可以轻松地使用 Debian 仓库中的软件进行扩展、完善和个性化配置。
所有 Debian 的工具都遵循这个指导方向：debian-cd 已经存在很长时间了，它可以用来创建一组光盘，其中仅包含一系列预先选择的软件包；debian-installer 也是一个模块化的安装工具，易于适应不同的需求。APT 可以使用不同的来源安装软件包，同时保证系统整体的一致性。
工具 创建 Debian 安装光盘
debian-cd 创建即时可用的安装媒介（如 CD、DVD、蓝光等等）的 ISO 镜像。所有关于这个软件的讨论（使用英文）均在 [debian-cd@lists.debian.org](https://debian-handbook.info/browse/zh-CN/stable/mailto:debian-cd@lists.debian.org) 这个邮件列表中进行。这个团队由 Steve Mclntyre 领导，他同时控制着官方的 Debian 镜像构建过程。
基本知识 每台电脑，都有它的架构
术语 “architecture（架构）” 表明了计算机的类型（最为人所知的就是 Mac 或是 PC 了）。每一种架构的主要区别在于它使用的处理器，通常不同的处理器之间是不能兼容的。这些硬件的不同包含了大量不同的操作方法，因此需要为每种不同的架构分别编译软件。
Most software available in Debian is written in portable programming languages: the same source code can be compiled for various architectures. In effect, an executable binary, always compiled for a specific architecture, will not usually function on any of the other architectures.
Remember that each program is created by writing source code; this source code is a text file composed of instructions in a given programming language. Before you can use the software, it is necessary to compile the source code, which means transforming the code into a binary (a series of machine instructions executable by the processor). Each programming language has a specific compiler to execute this operation (for example, gcc for the C programming language).
工具 安装程序
debian-installer 是 Debian 安装程序的名字。它的模块化设计令他可以应用于各种各样的安装场景。开发工作在 Cyril Brulebois 的指导下沟通协调于 [debian-boot@lists.debian.org](https://debian-handbook.info/browse/zh-CN/stable/mailto:debian-boot@lists.debian.org) 邮件列表。
1.1.2. 自由软件的质量
Debian follows all of the principles of Free Software, and its new versions are not released until they are ready. Developers do not work upon a set schedule and don’t have to rush to meet an arbitrary deadline. People frequently complain of the long time between Debian’s stable releases, but this caution ensures that Debian’s legendary reliability is met: long months of testing are indeed necessary for the full distribution to receive the “stable” label.
Debian will not compromise on quality: all known critical bugs on key packages are resolved in any new version, even if this requires the initially forecast release date to be pushed back. Optional packages whose critical bugs are not fixed, and thus do not meet the quality requirements, are simply dropped from the stable release.
1.1.3. 法律框架：非营利组织
从法律上来说，Debian 是一个由美国的非营利志愿者协会管理的项目。这个项目大约有一千左右的 Debian 开发者，但是聚集了远超这个数的贡献者（翻译者，bug 报告者，艺术家，临时开发者等）。
To carry its mission to fruition, Debian has a large infrastructure, with many servers connected across the Internet, offered and hosted by many sponsors.
社区 在 Debian 的背后有 SPI（Software in the Public Interest）与当地分支机构的帮助
Debian doesn’t own any server in its own name, since it is only a project within the Software in the Public Interest (SPI) association, which manages the hardware and financial aspects (donations, purchase of hardware, etc.). Although it was initially created specifically for the Debian project, this association now hosts other free software projects, especially the PostgreSQL database, Freedesktop.org (project for standardization of various parts of modern graphical desktop environments, such as GNOME and KDE Plasma), and the LibreOffice office suite.
在 SPI 之外，各种地区协会与 Debian 密切协作来为 Debian 项目筹措资金，使得不必要所有事情都集中在美国；在 Debian 项目的语汇中这些协会被称作 “可信组织” 。这样的设置避免了过高的国际交流成本，同时也契合了项目本身的去中心化的理念。
Do not hesitate to join your local association and support the project!
