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 June 27th, 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
[27 Jun 2009] Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 updated
[23 May 2009] Debian Archive Signing Key to be changed
[11 Apr 2009] Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 updated
[08 Apr 2009] Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated
[15 Mar 2009] Skolelinux for Schools in Rhineland-Palatinate
[14 Feb 2009] Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 released
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
[04 Jul 2009] DSA-1826 eggdrop - several vulnerabilities
[03 Jul 2009] DSA-1825 nagios2, nagios3 - insufficient input validation
[25 Jun 2009] DSA-1824 phpmyadmin - several vulnerabilities
[25 Jun 2009] DSA-1823 samba - several vulnerabilities
[23 Jun 2009] DSA-1822 mahara - insufficient input sanitization
[22 Jun 2009] DSA-1821 amule - insufficient input sanitising
[18 Jun 2009] DSA-1820 xulrunner - several vulnerabilities
[18 Jun 2009] DSA-1819 vlc - several vulnerabilities
[18 Jun 2009] DSA-1818 gforge - insufficient input sanitising
[17 Jun 2009] DSA-1817 ctorrent - stack-based buffer overflow
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.