The Debian Administrator's Handbook

Linux has gathered a fair amount of media coverage, which mostly benefits the distributions supported by a real marketing department — in other words, to company-backed distributions (Ubuntu, Red Hat, Suse, Mandriva, and so on). But Debian is far from being a marginal distribution; according to a German study made in early 2009, Debian is the most widely used distribution on servers (with nearly half of the responding companies having at least one Debian server), and the second most widely deployed on desktops (right behind Ubuntu, which is a Debian derivative).

→ http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/Eingesetzte-Produkte-224518.html

The purpose of this book is to help you discover this distribution. We hope to share the experience we've gathered since we joined the project as developers and contributors in 1998 (Raphaël) and 2000 (Roland). With any luck, our enthusiasm will be communicative, and maybe you'll join us sometime…

The first edition of this book (in 2004) served to fill a gaping hole: it was the first French-language book that focused exclusively on Debian. At that time, many other books were written on the topic both for French-speaking and English-speaking readers. Unfortunately almost none of them got updated, and today we again find ourselves in a situation where there are very few good books on Debian. We truly hope that this first English edition will fill this gap and help many users.

2. Who Is this Book For?

We tried to make this book useful for many categories of readers. First, systems administrators (both beginners and experienced) will find explanations about the installation and deployment of Debian on many computers. They will also get a glimpse of most of the services available on Debian, along with matching configuration instructions and a description of the specifics coming from the distribution. Understanding the mechanisms involved in Debian's development will enable them to deal with unforeseen problems, knowing that they can always find help within the community.

Users of another Linux distribution, or of another Unix variant, will discover the specifics of Debian, and should become operational very quickly while benefitting fully from the unique advantages of this distribution.

Finally, readers who already have some knowledge of Debian and want to know more about the community behind it should see their expectations fulfilled. This book should make them much closer to joining us as contributors.

3. Chosen Approach

All of the generic documentation you can find about GNU/Linux also applies to Debian, since Debian includes most common free software. However, the distribution brings many enhancements, which is why we chose to primarily describe the “Debian way” of doing things.

It is interesting to follow the Debian recommendations, but it is even better to understand their rationale. Therefore, we won't restrict ourselves to practical explanations only; we will also describe the project's workings, so as to provide you with comprehensive and consistent knowledge.

4. Book Structure

Following the structure and aims of Eyrolles' “Administrator's Handbook” collection, this book revolves around a case study providing both support and illustration for all topics being addressed.

NOTE Web site, authors' email

This book has its own website, which hosts whatever elements that can make it more useful. In particular, it includes an online version of the book with clickable links, and possible errata. Feel free to browse it and to leave us some feedback. We will be happy to read your comments or support messages. Send them by email to (Raphaël) and (Roland).

→ http://debian-handbook.info/

Chapter 1 focuses on a non-technical presentation of the Debian project and describes its goals and organization. These aspects are important because they define a general framework that others chapters will complete with more concrete information.

Chapters 2 and 3 provide a broad outline of the case study. At this point, novice readers can take the time to read appendix B, where they'll find a short remedial course explaining a number of basic computing notions, as well as concepts inherent to any Unix system.

To get on with our real subject matter, we will quite naturally start with the installation process (chapter 4); chapters 5 and 6 will unveil basic tools that any Debian administrator will use, such as those of the APT family, which is largely responsible for the distribution's excellent reputation. These chapters are in no way reserved to professionals, since everyone is their own administrator at home.

Chapter 7 will be an important parenthesis; it describes workflows to efficiently use documentation and to quickly gain an understanding of problems in order to solve them.