%% Creating Missions that Make a Difference %% Copyright 2002 Bdale Garbee %% %% Presented as a dinner talk to the Gelato Strategy Council in Palo Alto %% on Wednesday, 23 January 2002. %% %% Define the fonts we will use %% %deffont "standard" tfont "Arial.ttf" %deffont "typewriter" tfont "Times_New_Roman.ttf" %deffont "fixed" xfont "terminal" %% %% Default settings for special lines %% %default 1 leftfill, fore "black", back "white", bimage "background.bmp" %default 2 size 7, vgap 10, prefix " ", font "standard" %default 3 size 2, bar "gray70", vgap 10 %default 4 size 5, vgap 30, font "standard" %% %% Default settings for indented lines %% %tab 1 size 5, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon box "green" 50 %tab 2 size 4, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon arc "red" 50 %tab 3 size 3, vgap 40, prefix " ", icon delta3 "blue" 40 %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page %nodefault, font "standard", fore "black", back "white", bimage "background.bmp" %center Creating Missions that Make a Difference An Inside Look at Debian %size 6 Bdale Garbee %size 5 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is Debian? %font "typewriter" `The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system.' %font "standard" More specifically, Debian: is one of the most popular GNU/Linux distributions runs on the most architectures is a completely open volunteer organization is quite international is the largest GNU/Linux distribution works with companies to develop and maintain software is Focused on Freedom is well represented in the free software world %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Key Points in History Aug 1993 Debian 0.01 released Jan 1994 Debian 0.91 released The Debian Linux Manifesto simple package manager about 12 contributors, last "one-man release" Mar 1995 Debian 0.93R5 released concept of explicit package maintainers dpkg introduced Nov 1995 Debian 0.93R6 released dselect introduced about 60 contributors Jun 1997 Debian Social Contract Jul 1998 Debian 2.0 released first non-ia32 architecture (m68k) supported %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page The Debian Linux Manifesto Debian Linux is a brand-new kind of Linux distribution ... developed openly in the spirit of Linux and GNU. Debian is being carefully and conscientiously put together and will be maintained and supported with similar care. The Debian design process is open to ensure that the system is of the highest quality and that it reflects the needs of the user community. ... that Linux is not a commercial product and that it never should be, but that this does not mean that Linux will never be able to compete commercially. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Debian Social Contract Debian Will Remain 100% Free Software We Will Give Back to the Free Software Community We Won't Hide Problems Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software Programs That Don't Meet Our Free-Software Standards %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) Free Redistribution Source Code Derived Works Integrity of The Author's Source Code No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor Distribution of License License Must Not Be Specific to Debian License Must Not Contaminate Other Software Example Licenses %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Bug Tracking System and Policy Manual Since 1994 Debian has had a public bugtracking system on the Internet. This is an open system to which people can submit bugreports, features requests and other comments. It is used primarily email-in, web-out. One important success factor for Debian is the integration of all the different packages. This is coordinated through the policy document, which gives guidelines for building and maintaining packages. Packaging and policy checking tools facilitate correctness. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page A Few Debian Statistics 6 released architectures alpha, arm, i386, m68k, powerpc, sparc several ports in progress ia64, mips/mipsel, hppa, s390, sh only distribution also working with the HURD 955 maintainers 5643 source packages 8853 binary packages %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Number of Developers Over Time %center, newimage "developers.gif" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Package Count Over Time %center, newimage "packages.gif" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page What is a Mission? From the Latin root through French, meaning "to send". The act of sending, or the state of being sent; a being sent or delegated by authority, with certain powers for transacting business; comission. That with which a messenger or agent is charged; an errand; business or duty on which one is sent; a commission. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page The Evolution of Debian's Mission For a project like Debian, a mission is more about attracting than about sending... but attracting carefully! Ian Murdock's Debian Manifesto Bruce Perens' Notion of Debian as a Base Holders of the Higher Ground The Arrival of apt-get, and Great Gobs of Real Users New Maintainer Processing %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page Making a Difference Understand and share a set of relevant values. Articulate a clear and concise long-term vision. Define a process for communicating the values and vision to newcomers, gaining their commitment early. Don't be afraid to revisit the vision and all that it evokes, but if you find your core values have changed... %center all bets are off! %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %page To Learn More %center %size 10 http://www.debian.org/