Translations by Glenn J. Mason

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.

<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.

Linus Torvalds continues to coordinate the work of several hundred developers with the help of a few trusty deputies. An excellent weekly summary of discussions on the <userinput>linux-kernel</userinput> mailing list is <ulink url="&url-kernel-traffic;">Kernel Traffic</ulink>. More information about the <userinput>linux-kernel</userinput> mailing list can be found on the <ulink url="&url-linux-kernel-list-faq;">linux-kernel mailing list FAQ</ulink>.

To protect your system against <quote>Trojan horses</quote> and other malevolent software, Debian's servers verify that uploaded packages come from their registered Debian maintainers. Debian packagers also take great care to configure their packages in a secure manner. When security problems in shipped packages do appear, fixes are usually available very quickly. With Debian's simple update options, security fixes can be downloaded and installed automatically across the Internet.

Debian GNU/Hurd is a Debian GNU system that replaces the Linux monolithic kernel with the GNU Hurd &mdash; a set of servers running on top of the GNU Mach microkernel. The Hurd is still unfinished, and is unsuitable for day-to-day use, but work is continuing. The Hurd is currently only being developed for the i386 architecture, although ports to other architectures will be made once the system becomes more stable.

For information on how to download &debian; from the Internet or from whom official Debian CDs can be purchased, see the <ulink url="&url-debian-distrib;">distribution web page</ulink>. The <ulink url="&url-debian-mirrors;">list of Debian mirrors</ulink> contains a full set of official Debian mirrors, so you can easily find the nearest one.

Debian can be upgraded after installation very easily. The installation procedure will help set up the system so that you can make those upgrades once installation is complete, if need be.

This document is constantly being revised. Be sure to check the <ulink url="&url-release-area;"> Debian &release; pages</ulink> for any last-minute information about the &release; release of the &debian; system. Updated versions of this installation manual are also available from the <ulink url="&url-install-manual;">official Install Manual pages</ulink>.

About Copyrights and Software Licenses

Calling software <emphasis>free</emphasis> doesn't mean that the software isn't copyrighted, and it doesn't mean that CDs containing that software must be distributed at no charge. Free software, in part, means that the licenses of individual programs do not require you to pay for the privilege of distributing or using those programs. Free software also means that not only may anyone extend, adapt, and modify the software, but that they may distribute the results of their work as well.

Many of the programs in the system are licensed under the <emphasis>GNU</emphasis> <emphasis>General Public License</emphasis>, often simply referred to as <quote>the GPL</quote>. The GPL requires you to make the <emphasis>source code</emphasis> of the programs available whenever you distribute a binary copy of the program; that provision of the license ensures that any user will be able to modify the software. Because of this provision, the source code<footnote> <para> For information on how to locate, unpack, and build binaries from Debian source packages, see the <ulink url="&url-debian-faq;">Debian FAQ</ulink>, under <quote>Basics of the Debian Package Management System</quote>. </para> </footnote> for all such programs is available in the Debian system.

There are several other forms of copyright statements and software licenses used on the programs in Debian. You can find the copyrights and licenses for every package installed on your system by looking in the file <filename>/usr/share/doc/<replaceable>package-name</replaceable>/copyright </filename> once you've installed a package on your system.

For more information about licenses and how Debian determines whether software is free enough to be included in the main distribution, see the <ulink url="&url-dfsg;">Debian Free Software Guidelines</ulink>.