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 July 26th, 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
[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
[17 Feb 2008] Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated
[28 Dec 2007] Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 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
[26 Jul 2008] DSA-1618 ruby1.9 - several vulnerabilities
[26 Jul 2008] DSA-1616 clamav - denial of service
[25 Jul 2008] DSA-1617 refpolicy - incompatible policy
[23 Jul 2008] DSA-1615 xulrunner - several vulnerabilities
[23 Jul 2008] DSA-1614 iceweasel - several vulnerabilities
[22 Jul 2008] DSA-1613 libgd2 - multiple vulnerabilities
[21 Jul 2008] DSA-1612 ruby1.8 - several vulnerabilities
[16 Jul 2008] DSA-1611 afuse - privilege escalation
[15 Jul 2008] DSA-1610 gaim - integer overflow
[15 Jul 2008] DSA-1609 lighttpd - various
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.