What is Debian?
Debian is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux.
Debian GNU/Linux provides more than a pure OS: it comes with over 25113 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine.
Getting Started
The latest stable release of Debian is 5.0. The last update to this release was made on February 14th, 2009. Read more about available versions of Debian.
If you'd like to start using Debian, you can easily obtain a copy, and then follow the installation instructions to install it.
If you're upgrading to the latest stable release from a previous version, please read the release notes before proceeding.
To get help in using or setting up Debian, see our documentation and support pages.
Users that speak languages other than English should check the international section.
People who use systems other than Intel x86 should check the ports section.
News
[15 Mar 2009] Skolelinux for Schools in Rhineland-Palatinate
[14 Feb 2009] Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 released
[10 Feb 2009] Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated
[08 Feb 2009] Debian Project seeks Hardware Donations
[29 Dec 2008] Debian mourns the loss of Thiemo Seufer
[18 Dec 2008] Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated
For older news items see the News Page. If you would like to receive mail whenever new Debian news comes out, subscribe to the debian-announce mailing list.
Security Advisories
[18 Mar 2009] DSA-1744 weechat - missing input sanitization
[17 Mar 2009] DSA-1743 libtk-img - buffer overflows
[16 Mar 2009] DSA-1742 libsndfile - integer overflow
[14 Mar 2009] DSA-1740 yaws - denial of service
[11 Mar 2009] DSA-1738 curl - arbitrary file access
[11 Mar 2009] DSA-1737 wesnoth - several vulnerabilities
[10 Mar 2009] DSA-1736 mahara - insufficient input sanitising
[10 Mar 2009] DSA-1735 znc - missing input sanitization
[05 Mar 2009] DSA-1734 opensc - programming error
[03 Mar 2009] DSA-1733 vim - several vulnerabilities
[03 Mar 2009] DSA-1732 squid3 - denial of service
For older security advisories see the Security Page. If you would like to receive security advisories as soon as they're announced, subscribe to the debian-security-announce mailing list.
