Version 1.2 ratified on October 1st, 2022.
Supersedes Version 1.1 ratified on April 26th, 2004, and Version 1.0
ratified on July 5, 1997.
Debian, the producers of the Debian 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.
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"Social Contract" with the Free Software Community
1. Debian will remain 100% free
We provide the guidelines that we use to determine if a work is
"free" in the document entitled "The Debian Free Software
Guidelines". We promise that the Debian system and all its
components will be free according to these guidelines. We will
support people who create or use both free and non-free works on
Debian. We will never make the system require the use of a non-free
component.
2. We will give back to the free software community
When we write new components of the Debian system, we will license
them in a manner consistent with the Debian Free Software
Guidelines. We will make the best system we can, so that free works
will be widely distributed and used. We will communicate things
such as bug fixes, improvements and user requests to the "upstream"
authors of works included in our system.
3. We will not hide problems
We will keep our entire bug report database open for public view at
all times. Reports that people file online will promptly 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 environments. We will not object to
non-free works that are intended to be used on Debian systems, or
attempt to charge a fee to people who create or use such works. We
will allow others to create distributions containing both the
Debian system and other works, without any fee from us. In
furtherance of these goals, we will provide an integrated system of
high-quality materials with no legal restrictions that would
prevent such uses of the system.
5. Works that do not meet our free software standards
We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of works that
do not conform to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. We have
created "contrib" and "non-free" areas in our archive for these
works. The packages in these areas are not part of the Debian
system, although they have been configured for use with Debian. We
encourage CD manufacturers to read the licenses of the packages in
these areas and determine if they can distribute the packages on
their CDs. Thus, although non-free works are not a part of Debian,
we support their use and provide infrastructure for non-free
packages (such as our bug tracking system and mailing lists). The
Debian official media may include firmware that is otherwise not
part of the Debian system to enable use of Debian with hardware
that requires such firmware.
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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.
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