Evolution of the Debian Community

• Ian Murdock's Debian Manifesto attracted people excited by the idea of Free Software to join the project

• The Social Contract and associated Debian Free Software Guidelines articulated the core set of shared values of the growing Debian community. Acceptance of these values became a criteria for acceptance into the community.

• As the community continued to evolve, a constitution was drafted to clarify roles and responsibilities, and to provide for conflict resolution and decision making.

• The Debian community continues to evolve, but the results already speak for themselves...