Frequently Asked Question

What is the Debian family and which distributions belong to it?

Debian, founded by Ian Murdock in 1993, is one of the oldest and most influential Linux distributions, governed by an elected leader and a written social contract that codifies its commitment to free software. It uses the .deb package format and the apt family of tools, ships in stable, testing, and unstable (Sid) branches, and is famous for the length and conservatism of its stable releases.

Most "user-friendly" desktop Linux distributions are built on Debian. Ubuntu, launched in 2004 by Canonical, is the best known, with twice-yearly releases and an LTS every two years. Linux Mint rebases Ubuntu LTS with a more traditional desktop. Pop!_OS, Kali, Parrot, Raspberry Pi OS, Elementary, and many others all sit somewhere in that Debian-Ubuntu lineage and inherit apt and the .deb packaging conventions.