
   Version 1.0 ratified on July 5, 1997. Superseded by Version 1.1,
   ratified on April 26, 2004.

   Debian, the producers of the Debian GNU/Linux system, have created the
   Debian Social Contract. The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)
   part of the contract, initially designed as a set of commitments that
   we agree to abide by, has been adopted by the free software community
   as the basis of the Open Source Definition.
     _________________________________________________________________

"Social Contract" with the Free Software Community

    1. Debian Will Remain 100% Free Software
       We promise to keep the Debian GNU/Linux Distribution entirely free
       software. As there are many definitions of free software, we
       include the guidelines we use to determine if software is "free"
       below. We will support our users who develop and run non-free
       software on Debian, but we will never make the system depend on an
       item of non-free software.
    2. We Will Give Back to the Free Software Community
       When we write new components of the Debian system, we will license
       them as free software. We will make the best system we can, so
       that free software will be widely distributed and used. We will
       feed back bug-fixes, improvements, user requests, etc. to the
       "upstream" authors of software included in our system.
    3. We Won't Hide Problems
       We will keep our entire bug-report database open for public view
       at all times. Reports that users file on-line will immediately
       become visible to others.
    4. Our Priorities are Our Users and Free Software
       We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free-software
       community. We will place their interests first in our priorities.
       We will support the needs of our users for operation in many
       different kinds of computing environment. We won't object to
       commercial software that is intended to run on Debian systems, and
       we'll allow others to create value-added distributions containing
       both Debian and commercial software, without any fee from us. To
       support these goals, we will provide an integrated system of
       high-quality, 100% free software, with no legal restrictions that
       would prevent these kinds of use.
    5. Programs That Don't Meet Our Free-Software Standards
       We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of programs
       that don't conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have
       created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our FTP archive for this
       software. The software in these directories is not part of the
       Debian system, although it has been configured for use with
       Debian. We encourage CD manufacturers to read the licenses of
       software packages in these directories and determine if they can
       distribute that software on their CDs. Thus, although non-free
       software isn't a part of Debian, we support its use, and we
       provide infrastructure (such as our bug-tracking system and
       mailing lists) for non-free software packages.
     _________________________________________________________________

The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)

    1. Free Redistribution
       The license of a Debian component may not restrict any party from
       selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate
       software distribution containing programs from several different
       sources. The license may not require a royalty or other fee for
       such sale.
    2. Source Code
       The program must include source code, and must allow distribution
       in source code as well as compiled form.
    3. Derived Works
       The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must
       allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license
       of the original software.
    4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code
       The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in
       modified form _only_ if the license allows the distribution of
       "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying
       the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit
       distribution of software built from modified source code. The
       license may require derived works to carry a different name or
       version number from the original software. (This is a compromise.
       The Debian group encourages all authors not to restrict any files,
       source or binary, from being modified.)
    5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
       The license must not discriminate against any person or group of
       persons.
    6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
       The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the
       program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not
       restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being
       used for genetic research.
    7. Distribution of License
       The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the
       program is redistributed without the need for execution of an
       additional license by those parties.
    8. License Must Not Be Specific to Debian
       The rights attached to the program must not depend on the
       program's being part of a Debian system. If the program is
       extracted from Debian and used or distributed without Debian but
       otherwise within the terms of the program's license, all parties
       to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights
       as those that are granted in conjunction with the Debian system.
    9. License Must Not Contaminate Other Software
       The license must not place restrictions on other software that is
       distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the
       license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the
       same medium must be free software.
   10. Example Licenses
       The "GPL", "BSD", and "Artistic" licenses are examples of licenses
       that we consider "free".

   The concept of stating our "social contract with the free software
   community" was suggested by Ean Schuessler. This document was drafted
   by Bruce Perens, refined by the other Debian developers during a
   month-long e-mail conference in June 1997, and then accepted as the
   publicly stated policy of the Debian Project.

   Bruce Perens later removed the Debian-specific references from the
   Debian Free Software Guidelines to create "The Open Source
   Definition".

   Other organizations may derive from and build on this document. Please
   give credit to the Debian project if you do.
