Debian Social Contract

The Debian Social Contract (DSC) is a document which frames the moral agenda of the Debian project. The values outlined in the Social Contract provide the basic principles for the Debian Free Software Guidelines, which serve as the basis of the Open Source Definition.

Debian believes that the makers of a free software operating system should provide certain guarantees when a user entrusts them with control of a computer. These guarantees include:

Ensuring that the operating system remains open and free.
Giving improvements back to the community which made the operating system possible.
Not hiding problems with the software or organization.
Staying focused on the users and the software that started the phenomena.
Making it possible for the software to be used with non-free software.

History

The idea of the DSC was first proposed by Ean Schuessler after a conversation with Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat. Schuessler remarked that Red Hat should issue a set of guidelines that would guarantee to the community that as the company expanded, it would always be committed to the ideals of Free Software. Young remarked that this would be a "kiss of death" for RedHat, implying that it would constrain the company's ability to generate profit. Concerned about Young's response, Schuessler and other Debian developers decided to bring up the idea of a "social contract" that would supplement Debian's initial Manifesto, written by Ian Murdock. Bruce Perens later headed the effort in June 1997^[1] to coordinate the creation of the DSC, using the Free Software Definition as basis.^[2]^[3]

The Debian project ratified its social contract 1.0 on July 5, 1997.^[4]

References

^ Debian's "Social Contract" with the Free Software Community email from Bruce Perens to debian-announce, July 4th 1997
^ Coleman, Gabriella (September 15, 2005). "Three Ethical Moments in Debian". NYU - Department of Media, Culture, and Communication. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
^ Chopra, Samir; Dexter, Scott D. (2008). Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software. Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture Series. Psychology Press. pp. 37–38.

^ "Debian Social Contract". Debian project. Retrieved 17 June 2013.

External links

Debian Social Contract

Debian

Infrastructure	DebConf Software in the Public Interest Debian Free Software Guidelines Debian Social Contract Alioth

Software	deb format dpkg APT aptitude debconf package Debian-Installer win32-loader Rebranded Mozilla software Alien Jigdo dash cdrkit vrms wajig

Variants	Debian GNU/Hurd Debian GNU/kFreeBSD Debian Pure Blend

Unofficial derivatives	64 Studio aptosid Bharat Operating System Solutions CrunchBang Linux Elive Knoppix LMDE MEPIS Parsix SolusOS Ubuntu

People	Bdale Garbee Sam Hocevar Ian Jackson Martin Michlmayr Ian Murdock Bruce Perens Stefano Zacchiroli

Category Wikiversity

Categories

This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.

Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.

By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.

Debian Social Contract