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 October 23rd, 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
[23 Oct 2008] Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated
[08 Aug 2008] Mar del Plata to host 8th Debian conference
[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
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 Dec 2008] DSA-1680 clamav - buffer overflow, stack consumption
[03 Dec 2008] DSA-1679 awstats - cross-site scripting
[03 Dec 2008] DSA-1678 perl - design flaws
[02 Dec 2008] DSA-1677 cupsys - integer overflow
[01 Dec 2008] DSA-1676 flamethrower - insecure temp file generation
[30 Nov 2008] DSA-1675 phpmyadmin - insufficient input sanitising
[30 Nov 2008] DSA-1674 jailer - insecure temp file generation
[29 Nov 2008] DSA-1673 wireshark - several vulnerabilities
[29 Nov 2008] DSA-1672 imlib2 - buffer overflow
[24 Nov 2008] DSA-1671 iceweasel - several vulnerabilities
[24 Nov 2008] DSA-1670 enscript - buffer overflows
[23 Nov 2008] DSA-1669 xulrunner - several vulnerabilities
[22 Nov 2008] DSA-1668 hf - programming error
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.