Debian on the Desktop

Our Philosophy

We recognize that many Desktop Environments exist and will support the use of them - this includes making sure they work well on Debian. Our goal is to make the graphical interfaces easy to use for beginners while allowing advanced users and experts to tweak things if they like.

We will try to ensure that software is configured for the most common desktop use. For example, the regular user account created during the installation should have permission to play audio and video, print, and manage the system through sudo. Also, we would like to keep debconf (the Debian configuration management system) questions to the absolute minimum. There is no need to present difficult technical details during the installation. Instead, we will try to ensure that debconf questions make sense to the users. A novice may not even understand what these questions are about. An expert, however, is perfectly happy to configure the dekstop environment after the installation is complete.

How you can help

We're looking for motivated people who make things happen. You don't have to be a Debian Developer (DD) to submit patches or make packages. The core Debian Desktop team will ensure that your work is integrated. So, here are some things you can do to help:

Join us