30 Years of Debian: Celebrating Debian’s Legacy

Rohan Timalsina

August 28, 2023 - TuxCare expert team

The Debian Project, which made the Debian GNU/Linux system, has turned 30 years old. Can you believe it? Back in 1993, the late Ian Murdock started this project in an effort to create the “Universal Operating System.” This was like a big project that laid the foundation for one of the most famous open-source systems in the world.

By starting from scratch and tackling issues like size, upgrades, and installation processes, Ian’s guiding principles created the basis for the Debian release methodology. He even thought about people who don’t have internet so that they could use Debian, too. Ian didn’t know it then, but his work started something great. People from all over the world started to help and turned Debian into a project that’s run by many volunteers.

After 30 years, Debian is used by many people worldwide. Some use the main Debian operating system, and others use versions that are based on Debian, like Ubuntu and Linux Mint. From the old days until now, Debian has shown how people working together can make amazing things, especially in open-source projects.

The developers are still working on making Debian better. The stable version, Debian 12.1, was recently released with 89 bug fixes and 26 security updates. They are also busy working on the next big update, Debian 13 ‘Trixie,’ which will be the first to work with a new type of computer hardware called RISC-V.

Conclusion

Debian’s incredible journey happened because of the people who volunteered. At first, it was a project run by volunteers, but now it’s known everywhere. This shows that incredible things can happen when people work together for a common goal. As Debian turns 30, it’s a big thank you to everyone who helped. If you’ve been part of Debian for a long time or just joined, this special moment is for you. Let’s celebrate the history, now, and the future of an operating system that’s changing technology meaningfully.

Happy 30th birthday, Debian!

The sources for this article include a story from DebugPointNews.

Summary