Bits from Debian

Bits from Debian

Debian turns 33!

On Sun 16 August 2026 with tags debian project anniversary birthday DebianDay
Written by Debian Publicity Team

It has now been thirty-three years since the Debian project was announced to the world by Ian Murdock, on August 16, 1993. This anniversary is an opportunity to reaffirm the goals, characteristics, and qualities of the Debian project: it’s an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. Our distribution is characterized by a commitment to software freedom, as enshrined in the Debian Social Contract and the Debian Free Software Guidelines. It focuses on security and stability. This stability is crucial to Debian position in the free software ecosystem.

With our users as our priority, Debian makes special efforts regarding accessibility with Debian-Accessibility and diversity with our Outreach Programs.

Debian Day is a great opportunity to get together, whether for a local meetup, or simply to grab a coffee with other members of the Debian community. Check out the Debian Day wiki to see if there is a celebration near you. And if there isn't, maybe you can organize it next year!

Today is also an opportunity for you to start or resume your contributions to Debian. For example, you can install the how-can-i-help package and see if there is a bug in any of the software that you use that you can help to fix, contribute small tips on how to install Debian on your machines to our wiki pages, or put a Debian live image in an USB memory and give it to some person near you, who still didn't discover Debian.

Thanks to everybody who has contributed to develop our beloved operating system in these 33 years, and Happy birthday Debian!


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