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The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
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<br>Chapter 12 - Contributing to the Debian Project
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<code><a href="http://www.debian.org/donations">Donations</a></code> of time
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(to develop new packages, maintain existing packages, or provide user support),
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resources (to mirror the FTP and WWW archives), and money (to pay for new
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testbeds as well as hardware for the archives) can help the project.
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<h2><a name="s-contrib"></a>12.1 How can I become a Debian software developer?</h2>
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The development of Debian is open to all, and new users with the right skills
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and/or the willingness to learn are needed to maintain existing packages which
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have been "orphaned" by their previous maintainers, to develop new
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packages, and to provide user support.
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The description of becoming a Debian developer can be found at the <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/devel/join/newmaint">New Maintainer's
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Corner</a></code> at the Debian web site.
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<h2><a name="s-contribresources"></a>12.2 How can I contribute resources to the Debian project?</h2>
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Since the project aims to make a substantial body of software rapidly and
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easily accessible throughout the globe, mirrors are urgently needed. It is
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desirable but not absolutely necessary to mirror all of the archive. Please
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visit the <code><a href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/size">Debian mirror
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size</a></code> page for information on the disk space requirements.
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Most of the mirroring is accomplished entirely automatically by scripts,
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without any interaction. However, the occasional glitch or system change
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occurs which requires human intervention.
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If you have a high-speed connection to the Internet, the resources to mirror
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all or part of the distribution, and are willing to take the time (or find
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someone) who can provide regular maintenance of the system, then please contact
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href="mailto:debian-admin@lists.debian.org">debian-admin@lists.debian.org</a></code>.
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<h2><a name="s-supportingorganizations"></a>12.3 How can I contribute financially to the Debian project?</h2>
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One can make individual donations to one of two organizations that are critical
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to the development of the Debian project.
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<h3><a name="s-SPI"></a>12.3.1 Software in the Public Interest</h3>
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Software in the Public Interest (SPI) is an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit
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organization, formed when FSF withdrew their sponsorship of Debian. The
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purpose of the organization is to develop and distribute free software.
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Our goals are very much like those of FSF, and we encourage programmers to use
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the GNU General Public License on their programs. However, we have a slightly
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different focus in that we are building and distributing a Linux system that
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diverges in many technical details from the GNU system planned by FSF. We
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still communicate with FSF, and we cooperate in sending them changes to GNU
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software and in asking our users to donate to FSF and the GNU project.
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SPI can be reached at: <code><a
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href="http://www.spi-inc.org/">http://www.spi-inc.org/</a></code>.
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<h3><a name="s-FSF"></a>12.3.2 Free Software Foundation</h3>
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At this time there is no formal connection between Debian and the Free Software
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Foundation. However, the Free Software Foundation is responsible for some of
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the most important software components in Debian, including the GNU C compiler,
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GNU Emacs, and much of the C run-time library that is used by all programs on
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the system. FSF pioneered much of what free software is today: they wrote the
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General Public License that is used on much of the Debian software, and they
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invented the "GNU" project to create an entirely free Unix system.
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Debian should be considered a descendent of the GNU system.
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FSF can be reached at: <code><a
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href="http://www.fsf.org/">http://www.fsf.org/</a></code>.
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The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
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version 3.1.5, 17 January 2007<br>
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Authors are listed at <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors">Debian FAQ Authors</a><br>