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 18733 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine.
Getting Started
The latest stable release of Debian is 4.0. The last update to this release was made on October 23rd, 2008. 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
[23 Oct 2008] Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated
[08 Aug 2008] Mar del Plata to host 8th Debian conference
[26 Jul 2008] Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated and support for newer hardware added
[27 Apr 2008] Debian is participating in the 2008 Google Summer of Code
[13 Apr 2008] Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 updated
[29 Feb 2008] Security Support for Debian 3.1 to be terminated
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
[17 Nov 2008] DSA-1666 libxml2 - several vulnerabilities
[12 Nov 2008] DSA-1665 libcdaudio - heap overflow
[10 Nov 2008] DSA-1664 ekg - missing input sanitising
[09 Nov 2008] DSA-1663 net-snmp - several vulnerabilities
[06 Nov 2008] DSA-1662 mysql-dfsg-5.0 - authorization bypass
[29 Oct 2008] DSA-1661 openoffice.org - several vulnerabilities
[26 Oct 2008] DSA-1660 clamav - null pointer dereference, resource exhaustation
[23 Oct 2008] DSA-1659 libspf2 - buffer overflow
[22 Oct 2008] DSA-1658 dbus - programming error
[20 Oct 2008] DSA-1657 qemu - insecure temporary files
[20 Oct 2008] DSA-1656 cupsys - several vulnerabilities
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.