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Debian Linux Turns 25 (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the long-long-journey dept.

BrianFagioli writes: Debian is one of the most important open source projects ever. The Debian Linux operating system is extremely popular in its own right, but also, it is used as the base for countless other distributions. Ubuntu, for instance -- one of the most-used distros -- is Debian-based. Even Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu, also has a Debian edition. Not to mention, Raspbian -- the official Raspberry Pi OS -- which is based on Debian too.

Today, Debian is celebrating a very important milestone -- a 25th birthday! Yes, it is seriously that old -- its development was announced on August 16, 1993. When the late Ian Murdock announced 25 years ago in comp.os.linux.development, the imminent completion of a brand-new Linux release, [...] the Debian Linux Release', nobody would have expected the 'Debian Linux Release' would become what's nowadays known as the Debian Project, one of the largest and most influential free software projects. "Its primary product is Debian, a free operating system (OS) for your computer, as well as for plenty of other systems which enhance your life. From the inner workings of your nearby airport to your car entertainment system, and from cloud servers hosting your favorite websites to the IoT devices that communicate with them, Debian can power it all," says Ana Guerrero Lopez of Debian. Further reading: Slackware, Oldest Actively Maintained GNU/Linux Distribution, Turns 25.

28 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Debian is an amazing distribution. Thanks to everyone who has worked on it over the years.

    RIP Ian.

  2. Thanks to all... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Thank you Ian, Deb, and the countless volunteers for the years of hard work. You've changed an industry.

    1. Re:Thanks to all... by pintpusher · · Score: 2

      Yes yes! Thank you thank you!

      --
      man, I feel like mold.
  3. yeesh by guygo · · Score: 2

    now I really DO feel old. 25? Oy!

  4. Debian is a huge time saver. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One of the things I _hate_ about computing is the need to constantly upgrade. Upgrade your OS from this version to that version. I just want the damn thing to work and I don't want to screw around with it. So many years ago when I found out Debian allows you to just upgrade the system in place from one release to another, I was ready to see how well it worked.

    At home I have a couple different servers, a mix of Debian and CentOS. The Debian server is my file/print/Plex server, that I've been running for about 10 years now. It's gone through multiple installs of Debian. apt-get dist-upgrade has worked with only a couple minor flaws for 10 years now, and made it so I don't have to spend my afternoon every 2-3 years recreating a server. It just works!

    So thanks Debian for making my life easier.

  5. Hip, hip ... by vrassoc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am proud to say that Debian has been my distro of choice for 20 of those 25 years.

    Happy, happy birthday, Debian! Here's to 25 more!

    1. Re:Hip, hip ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Debian died for me when it went to SystemD. I dropped it like a box of rocks.

    2. Re:Hip, hip ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Devuan

  6. Donation link. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Debian is one of the good guys. In a world where more and more software scrapes your data and monetizes you out the rear, Linux distros like Debian are trying to hold the line of keeping YOU in control of your computing experience, rather than a huge multinational in control.

    I'm sure someone will point out they are not perfect, and that is true, but compared to Windows, Android, iOS, and others, Debian does a damned fine job of keeping your computer, your computer.

    I donate to them once a quarter, to try to tilt the balance away from user-hostile software, hyper-monetization, and corporate spyware everywhere.

    Donatiions.

  7. RIP Ian Murdock by greenwow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And think you for all of your contributions.

    1. Re: RIP Ian Murdock by schklerg · · Score: 2

      The story of his death still seems weird to me. His distro is still my favorite

      --
      Be Excellent To Each Other
  8. Re:Lixux, son of Unix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And on Nov. 3, UNIX will turn 47.

    Yes... and on Jan 19th, 2038, it turns -68!

  9. Important milestone? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2, Interesting

    An important milestone is something like definitively switching to systemd and excluding any alternatives but 25 years is merely an arbitrary slice of time.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Important milestone? by neilo_1701D · · Score: 4, Insightful

      An important milestone is something like definitively switching to systemd and excluding any alternatives but 25 years is merely an arbitrary slice of time.

      Holy smoke that's a scary graph.

      If our issue open / closed list looked like that for that long, we'd be out on our ear and the client moved on to something / someone else!

    2. Re:Important milestone? by F.Ultra · · Score: 2

      Until you realise that a large part of the "issues" are feature requests and questions. In GitHub everything is an issue.

  10. Thank you, developers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    I stand and applaud for those who have contributed to Debian for 25 years. Thank you!

    (from someone who first ran Consensys SVR4 Unix on a 386 before Linux arrived))

  11. Re:Apt and the App store. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have always found it interesting the hatrid towards other OS's App stores for Apple and Microsoft, While Apt is in essence is the same concept but is warmly loved.

    People love apt-get and hate the app store because apt-get does not attempt to lock you into anything. There is no 30% cut of anything being skimmed off by middlemen. There is no iOS-like "put the user in a jail cell and tell them what's acceptable to run".

    It's the difference between a tool that preserves your freedom while making your life easier, and a tool that tries to lock you into an ecosystem and control your behavior for the benefit of your corporate overlords.

  12. And then... by AlanObject · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And then systemd arrived.

    1. Re: And then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Indeed, long live devuan, rip debian.

    2. Re:And then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      And then systemd arrived.

      And then Debian was forked to make Devuan.

    3. Re:And then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I do hate this defetist attitude. You use Debian without systemd (I do). You can turn to Devuan Or Slackware. In any case, if you characterize yourself as "professional", contribute to one of those options if you want to keep systemd-free Linux distros viable, instead of whining.

      That's how it works around here.

    4. Re:And then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not about rolling over on it, it is facing reality. If you've got to deal with RHEL/CentOS 7 servers, you're stuck with it. What are you going to do, go and install sysvinit on your production servers? No, you're just going to deal. Same with Ubuntu and Debian systems. I'm a sysadmin, it's my job to understand how to configure and operate these systems. In this case, it means learning and understanding systemd.

      Don't get me wrong, I think systemd is a solution looking for a problem. I run Devuan on my own systems.

      I leave my anti-systemd zealotry at the front door of the office.

    5. Re:And then... by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, what's this "Debian turns 25" crap? Debian died the moment they picked up systemd. At least to me. Devuan all the way (when forced to use Linux). Meanwhile, FreeBSD still feels 100x better to administer and tinker with versus Linux. Linux is strong in proprietary vendor support for things like 3D graphics cards and a few other edge cases like Infiniband cards. However, overall, the secret is getting out that Linux has lost it's cool and gone corporate long ago, completed by it's stunning stupidity in design due to Lennart Pottering style missteps. Going to conventions, talking at trade shows, hanging out at the hacker & maker spaces, yep.... my informal poll suggests Linux is best for corporate bean counting assholes who need to run RHEL to run Oracle or else Chinese crap-hardware makers who can make that shitty Broadcom or Marvell hardware function for 10 minutes without locking up using Linux. The cool kids moved on to BSD just like they always have (I remember the same phenomenon in the 1990s, too). Linux used to at least make good training wheels, and have better package management, but no longer. It's become too polluted with crap that a sane IT pro will just have to unlearn or be forever cursed and burdened with meanwhile BSD has become too excellent to ignore.

    6. Re:And then... by Seven+Spirals · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A lot of people are stuck in the same situation as you. I take support calls for systemd all the fucking time from them. I'd say about 40% of my Linux calls are systemd-related now. Before 2015 there was maybe one call a year where someone had horked their init scripts or whatever. I've had to learn systemd quite well to support it. Before I knew Kerberos, I was a bit afraid and put off by it. However, once I learned it I could sorta-kinda understand why they made it so over-complicated. I still don't like Kerberos, but after learning it thoroughly, I do like it more than I used to. With Systemd it's been exactly opposite. The more I learn about it (and that's a lot at this point) the more I think it's the biggest pile of shit I've ever seen. Pulseaudio is also amazing in that it's everywhere in the distros, but it still sucks so badly it's amazing. GNOME used to be a laughingstock. Now it's just an outrage and an unwelcome influence (spawning DBUS, Systemd, Pulseaudio, and other horrors) on Linux. Nonetheless, I get it. You can't make arbitrary decisions about your company infrastructure. Just understand that those of us who consult and professionally support Linux thank you sincerely for staying with a systemd-distro. It keeps us in the $$$.

  13. Re:Apt and the App store. by Kjella · · Score: 3, Interesting

    People love apt-get and hate the app store because apt-get does not attempt to lock you into anything. There is no 30% cut of anything being skimmed off by middlemen.

    Well 30% of $0 doesn't work out to much, Debian doesn't want paid apps in their repository. Meanwhile "people" leave $60 billion dollars in Apple and Google's app store. I like open source, but if you want/need some kind of COTS software open source doesn't like you. Not even Steam managed to turn that ship around, Linux is 0.5% of their market and dropping. It's a smashing success for cloud servers where you can just clone up a thousand instances without worrying about licensing but on the desktop it's still 1% hippies and tin foil hats. I'll be joining you once Win7 goes out of support, but sigh... it's not exactly with great love anymore.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  14. Re: Apt and the App store. by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    Well no not really. The counter argument is based on only one app store iOS. There is one for Mac, that you are not so locked in. And Microsofts and Google has one as well which isn't as stringent as iOS is.

    Most apt repositories are for Open Source software so they are not charging for it. If you are going to be charging for your software, why shouldn't the store take a cut of your profits? They are putting your software in a place for millions of people can see, they are handling a bunch of billing features, using their platform to push out updates.

    So if you are going to charge $1.00 for the software paying Apple 0.30 is actually a good deal.
    If you had your own store your credit card fees would probably be more then what they paid for it.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  15. Re:Less relevant than ever. by asackett · · Score: 2

    I'd expect that history books about computing would more than passingly mention the internet, where Linux and BSD have always run the majority of servers.

    --

    Warning: This signature may offend some viewers.

  16. The "Year of the Linux Desktop" was 1994 by gerald.edward.butler · · Score: 2

    I've been using Linux exclusively on all of my own computers since 1994. I've never owned any computer that ran a Microsoft or Apple OS as it's primary OS. Ever. I went from TRS-80/Commodore/Atari to DOS-based IBM PC, to OS/2 Warp in the '92/'93 time-frame, then Linux in '93/'94 and never looked back. The Year of the Linux Desktop came a long time ago.