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The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
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<br>Chapter 5 - The Debian FTP archives
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<h2><a name="s-dirtree"></a>5.1 What are all those directories at the Debian FTP archives?</h2>
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The software that has been packaged for Debian GNU/Linux is available in one of
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several directory trees on each Debian mirror site.
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The <samp>dists</samp> directory is short for "distributions", and it
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is the canonical way to access the currently available Debian releases (and
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The <samp>pool</samp> directory contains the actual packages, see <a
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href="#s-pools">What's in the <samp>pool</samp> directory?, Section 5.10</a>.
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There are the following supplementary directories:
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<dt><em>/tools/</em>:</dt>
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DOS utilities for creating boot disks, partitioning your disk drive,
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compressing/decompressing files, and booting Linux.
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<dt><em>/doc/</em>:</dt>
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The basic Debian documentation, such as the FAQ, the bug reporting system
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<dt><em>/indices/</em>:</dt>
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The Maintainers file and the override files.
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<dt><em>/project/</em>:</dt>
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mostly developer-only materials, such as:
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<dt><em>project/experimental/</em>:</dt>
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This directory contains packages and tools which are still being developed, and
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are still in the alpha testing stage. Users shouldn't be using packages from
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here, because they can be dangerous and harmful even for the most experienced
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<h2><a name="s-dists"></a>5.2 How many Debian distributions are there in the <samp>dists</samp> directory?</h2>
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There are three distributions, the "stable" distribution, the
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"testing" distribution, and the "unstable" distribution.
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The "testing" distribution is sometimes `frozen' (see <a
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href="#s-frozen">What about "testing"? How is it `frozen'?, Section
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<h2><a name="s-codenames"></a>5.3 What are all those names like slink, potato, etc.?</h2>
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They are just "codenames". When a Debian distribution is in the
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development stage, it has no version number but a codename. The purpose of
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these codenames is to make easier the mirroring of the Debian distributions (if
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a real directory like <samp>unstable</samp> suddenly changed its name to
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<samp>stable</samp>, a lot of stuff would have to be needlessly downloaded
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Currently, <samp>stable</samp> is a symbolic link to <samp>etch</samp> (i.e.
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Debian GNU/Linux 4.0) and <samp>testing</samp> is a symbolic link to
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<samp>lenny</samp>. This means that <samp>etch</samp> is the current stable
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distribution and <samp>lenny</samp> is the current testing distribution.
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<samp>unstable</samp> is a permanent symbolic link to <samp>sid</samp>, as
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<samp>sid</samp> is always the unstable distribution (see <a href="#s-sid">What
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about "sid"?, Section 5.4</a>).
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<h3><a name="s-oldcodenames"></a>5.3.1 Which other codenames have been used in the past?</h3>
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Other codenames that have been already used are: <samp>buzz</samp> for release
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1.1, <samp>rex</samp> for release 1.2, <samp>bo</samp> for releases 1.3.x,
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<samp>hamm</samp> for release 2.0, <samp>slink</samp> for release 2.1,
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<samp>potato</samp> for release 2.2, <samp>woody</samp> for release 3.0 and
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<samp>sarge</samp> for release 3.1.
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<h3><a name="s-sourceforcodenames"></a>5.3.2 Where do these codenames come from?</h3>
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So far they have been characters taken from the movie "Toy Story" by
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<em>buzz</em> (Buzz Lightyear) was the spaceman,
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<em>rex</em> was the tyrannosaurus,
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<em>bo</em> (Bo Peep) was the girl who took care of the sheep,
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<em>hamm</em> was the piggy bank,
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<em>slink</em> (Slinky Dog (R)) was the toy dog,
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<em>potato</em> was, of course, Mr. Potato (R),
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<em>woody</em> was the cowboy,
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<em>sarge</em> was the sergeant of the Green Plastic Army Men,
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<em>etch</em> was the toy blackboard (Etch-a-Sketch (R)),
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<em>lenny</em> was the binoculars.
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<em>sid</em> was the boy next door who destroyed toys.
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<h2><a name="s-sid"></a>5.4 What about "sid"?</h2>
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<em>sid</em> or <em>unstable</em> is the place where most of the packages are
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initially uploaded. It will never be released directly, because packages which
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are to be released will first have to be included in <em>testing</em>, in order
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to be released in <em>stable</em> later on. sid contains packages for both
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released and unreleased architectures.
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The name "sid" also comes from the "Toy Story" animated
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motion picture: Sid was the boy next door who destroyed toys :-)
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[<a href="footnotes.en.html#f1" name="fr1">1</a>]
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<h2><a name="s-stable"></a>5.5 What does the stable directory contain?</h2>
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stable/main/: This directory contains the packages which formally constitute
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the most recent release of the Debian GNU/Linux system.
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These packages all comply with the <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">Debian Free Software
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Guidelines</a></code>, and are all freely usable and distributable.
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stable/non-free/: This directory contains packages distribution of which is
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restricted in a way that requires that distributors take careful account of the
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specified copyright requirements.
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For example, some packages have licenses which prohibit commercial
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distribution. Others can be redistributed but are in fact shareware and not
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freeware. The licenses of each of these packages must be studied, and possibly
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negotiated, before the packages are included in any redistribution (e.g., in a
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stable/contrib/: This directory contains packages which are DFSG-free and
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<em>freely distributable</em> themselves, but somehow depend on a package that
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is <em>not</em> freely distributable and thus available only in the non-free
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<h2><a name="s-testing"></a>5.6 What does the testing directory contain?</h2>
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Packages are installed into the `testing' directory after they have undergone
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some degree of testing in <a href="#s-unstable">unstable</a>.
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They must be in sync on all architectures where they have been built and
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mustn't have dependencies that make them uninstallable; they also have to have
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fewer release-critical bugs than the versions currently in testing. This way,
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we hope that `testing' is always close to being a release candidate.
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More information about the status of "testing" in general and the
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individual packages is available at <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/devel/testing">http://www.debian.org/devel/testing</a></code>
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<h3><a name="s-frozen"></a>5.6.1 What about "testing"? How is it `frozen'?</h3>
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When the "testing" distribution is mature enough, the release manager
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starts `freezing' it. The normal propagation delays are increased to ensure
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that as little as possible new bugs from "unstable" enter
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After a while, the "testing" distribution becomes truly `frozen'.
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This means that all new packages that are to propagate to the
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"testing" are held back, unless they include release-critical bug
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fixes. The "testing" distribution can also remain in such a deep
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freeze during the so-called `test cycles', when the release is imminent.
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We keep a record of bugs in the "testing" distribution that can hold
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off a package from being released, or bugs that can hold back the whole
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release. For details, please see <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/releases/testing/">current testing release
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information</a></code>.
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Once that bug count lowers to maximum acceptable values, the frozen
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"testing" distribution is declared "stable" and released
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with a version number.
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With each new release, the previous "stable" distribution becomes
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obsolete and moves to the archive. For more information please see <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/archive">Debian archive</a></code>.
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<h2><a name="s-unstable"></a>5.7 What does the unstable directory contain?</h2>
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The `unstable' directory contains a snapshot of the current development system.
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Users are welcome to use and test these packages, but are warned about their
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state of readiness. The advantage of using the unstable distribution is that
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you are always up-to-date with the latest in GNU/Linux software industry, but
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if it breaks: you get to keep both parts :-)
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There are also main, contrib and non-free subdirectories in `unstable',
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separated on the same criteria as in `stable'.
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<h2><a name="s-archsections"></a>5.8 What are all those directories inside <samp>dists/stable/main</samp>?</h2>
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Within each of the major directory trees[<a href="footnotes.en.html#f2"
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name="fr2">2</a>], there are three sets of subdirectories containing index
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There's one set of <samp>binary-<var>something</var></samp> subdirectories
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which contain index files for binary packages of each available computer
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architecture, for example <samp>binary-i386</samp> for packages which execute
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on Intel x86 PC machines or <samp>binary-sparc</samp> for packages which
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execute on Sun SPARCStations.
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The complete list of available architectures for each release is available at
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<code><a href="http://www.debian.org/releases/">the release's web
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page</a></code>. For the current release, please see <a
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href="ch-compat.en.html#s-arches">On what hardware architectures/systems does
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Debian GNU/Linux run?, Section 3.1</a>.
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The index files in binary-* are called Packages(.gz) and they include a summary
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of each binary package that is included in that distribution. The actual
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binary packages (for <em>woody</em> and subsequent releases) reside in the top
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level <a href="#s-pools"><samp>pool</samp> directory</a>.
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Furthermore, there's a subdirectory called source/ which contains index files
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for source packages included in the distribution. The index file is called
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Last but not least, there's a set of subdirectories meant for the installation
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system index files. In the <em>woody</em> release, these are named
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<samp>disks-<var>architecture</var></samp>; in <em>sarge</em>, they are at
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<samp>debian-installer/binary-<var>architecture</var></samp>.
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<h2><a name="s-source"></a>5.9 Where is the source code?</h2>
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Source code is included for everything in the Debian system. Moreover, the
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license terms of most programs in the system <em>require</em> that source code
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be distributed along with the programs, or that an offer to provide the source
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code accompany the programs.
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The source code is distributed in the <samp>pool</samp> directory (see <a
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href="#s-pools">What's in the <samp>pool</samp> directory?, Section 5.10</a>)
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together with all the architecture-specific binary directories. To retrieve
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the source code without having to be familiar with the structure of the FTP
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archive, try a command like <samp>apt-get source mypackagename</samp>.
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Some packages are only distributed as source code due to the restrictions in
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their licenses. Notably, one such package is <samp>pine</samp>, see <a
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href="ch-software.en.html#s-pine">Where is pine?, Section 4.10</a> for more
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Source code may or may not be available for packages in the "contrib"
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and "non-free" directories, which are not formally part of the Debian
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<h2><a name="s-pools"></a>5.10 What's in the <samp>pool</samp> directory?</h2>
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Packages are kept in a large `pool', structured according to the name of the
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source package. To make this manageable, the pool is subdivided by section
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(`main', `contrib' and `non-free') and by the first letter of the source
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package name. These directories contain several files: the binary packages for
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each architecture, and the source packages from which the binary packages were
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You can find out where each package is placed by executing a command like
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<samp>apt-cache showsrc mypackagename</samp> and looking at the `Directory:'
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line. For example, the <samp>apache</samp> packages are stored in
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<samp>pool/main/a/apache/</samp>.
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Additionally, since there are so many <samp>lib*</samp> packages, these are
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treated specially: for instance, libpaper packages are stored in
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<samp>pool/main/libp/libpaper/</samp>.
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[<a href="footnotes.en.html#f3" name="fr3">3</a>]
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<h2><a name="s-incoming"></a>5.11 What is "incoming"?</h2>
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After a developer uploads a package, it stays for a short while in the
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"incoming" directory before it is checked that it's genuine and
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allowed into the archive.
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Usually nobody should install things from this place. However, in some rare
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cases of emergency, the incoming directory is available at <code><a
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href="http://incoming.debian.org/">http://incoming.debian.org/</a></code>. You
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can manually fetch packages, check the GPG signature and MD5sums in the
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.changes and .dsc files, and then install them.
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<h2><a name="s-ownrepository"></a>5.12 How do I set up my own apt-able repository?</h2>
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If you have built some private Debian packages which you'd like to install
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using the standard Debian package management tools, you can set up your own
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apt-able package archive. This is also useful if you'd like to share your
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Debian packages while these are not distributed by the Debian project.
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Instructions on how to do this are given in the <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/repository-howto/repository-howto">Debian
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Repository HOWTO</a></code>.
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[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">3</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">10</a> ]
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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>
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