These volunteers work together by following a strict set of guidelines governing how packages are assembled. These guidelines are developed cooperatively in discussions on Internet mailing lists.
1.2 A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating System
As we mentioned earlier in section 1.1, the design of Debian GNU/Linux comes from the Unix operating system. Unlike common desktop operating systems such as DOS, Windows, and MacOS, GNU/Linux is usually found on large servers and multiuser systems.
This means that Debian has features those other operating systems lack. It allows a large number of people to use the same computer at once, as long as each user has his or her own terminal.[[2]] To permit many users to work at once, Debian must allow many programs and applications to run simultaneously. This feature is called multitasking.
[2] A terminal is just a keyboard and a screen that are connected to the computer through the network, over a modem, or directly. You keyboard and monitor form a terminal that is directly attached to the computer: This special terminal is often called the console.
Much of the power (and complexity) of GNU/Linux systems stems from these two features. For example, the system must have a way to keep users from accidentally deleting each other’s files. The operating system also must coordinate the many programs running at once to ensure that they don’t all use the same resource, such as a hard drive, at the same time.
If you keep in mind what Debian was originally designed to do, many aspects of it will make a lot more sense. You’ll learn to take advantage of the power of these features.
1.3 What Is Free Software?
When Debian developers and users speak of “Free Software,” they refer to freedom rather than price. Debian is free in this sense: You are free to modify and redistribute it and will always have access to the source code for this purpose. The Debian Free Software Guidelines[[3]] describe in more detail exactly what is meant by “free.” The Free Software Foundation[[4]], originator of the GNU Project, is another excellent source of information. You can find a more detailed discussion of free software on the Debian web site[[5]]. One of the most well-known works in this field is Richard M. Stallman’s essay, Why Software Should Be Free[[6]]; take a look at it for some insight into why we support Free Software as we do. Recently, some people have started calling Free Software “Open Source Software”; the two terms are interchangable.
[3] http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines