Debian_Jargon-160x160.png

A glossary for terms specific to Debian.

If you don't find the entry you wanted below, check

Alternatively, you can add it yourself. If you can't define it yourself you can put ToDo instead, but always check the sites mentioned above - if it isn't Debian-specific, an existing definition elsewhere is likely to be more helpful.

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A

Adoption

The process of taking over as maintainer of a package that has been orphaned or tagged RFA.

Advocate

A Debian member who advocates an application. Advocates should know the applicant fairly well and should be able to give an overview of the applicant's work, interests, and plans. Advocates are often the sponsors of an applicant.

Alioth

Former Debian FusionForge service providing a collaborative development environment, now replaced by Salsa

All

When used in place of a specific architecture, indicates that a package is arch-independent, with no contents that vary from one architecture to another.

Allowed

As a multiarch classifier, like a more limited version of foreign, indicating that cross-architecture dependencies qualified as "any" will work.

Alpha

A port (and former release architecture, still available via debports) using the Linux kernel on (Compaq/Digital) Alpha hardware.

Alternatives

A mechanism invented for Debian (and adopted by some other distros) to improve integration when programs need to call common utilities but can't predict which implementations are available. If some app needs to open a terminal window, for instance, it can invoke the generic name x-terminal-emulator, and the alternatives system arranges for that to be a symlink to gnome-terminal or xterm or whatever is installed - see update-alternatives(1).

AM

See Application Manager.

Amd64

A port (and current release architecture) using the Linux kernel on 64-bit PCs - technically x86-64 or AMD64 or Intel64, nontechnically most new consumer PCs or laptops.

ANAIS

Short for "Architecture Not Allowed In Source"; used in bug reports for package removal, usually indicating that the number of architectures for which the package is to be built has been reduced. Nothing to do with the name Anaïs (cf. britney etc.).

Any

When used by a source package in place of a specific build architecture, indicates that it can be built on every release architecture. When used in a dependency specification, indicates that it can be satisfied by a package of a different architecture as long as that package declares itself to be "Multi-Arch: allowed".

Applicant

A person requesting membership in the Debian project; prospective Debian developer.

Application Manager (AM)

A Debian member who is assigned to an applicant to collect the information needed by the Debian account managers to decide about an application. One application manager can be assigned to more than one applicant. Nothing to do with software applications or package management.

APT

A package management system that handles fetching the list of packages, resolving package dependencies, etc. It then uses dpkg to perform the actual package installation, removal, etc. The package apt provides the commandline tool apt(8) (along with apt-get(8) and apt-cache(8)) but other APT front-ends exist such as aptitude and synaptic.

Arch

Short for architecture.

Arch-qualified

(Of an APT source, package dependency or similar) Marked as being limited to a particular architecture. Not to be confused with archive qualification.

Architecture
The type of system a piece of software is built for:
  • (Not Debian-specific) A general category of hardware (such as "486" or "little-endian"), or a variant of some piece of software tailored for this hardware; may specifically mean the category as determined by some particular tool, such as arch(1) or dpkg-architecture(1).

  • One of the platforms for which Debian packages are built, known by labels such as amd64 or mipsel, and also differentiated by the OS kernel used - the same hardware (not literally an Intel 386 processor) may dualboot i386 and kfreebsd-i386 architectures. See also port, release architecture.

Archive
Can mean:
  • (Not Debian-specific) A set of items combined into one file, such as a tarball or .deb file (technically an ar(1) archive).

  • An organized, searchable collection of files, such as a software repository.
  • Used as a synonym for suite in apt/aptitude search patterns (see apt-patterns(7): apt show '~i?archive(backports)').

Archive qualification

See qualification. Not to be confused with arch-qualified.

Area

The term used in Debian Policy for the main, contrib, non-free, and non-free-firmware divisions of the repositories (also known as components).

Arm

A port (and former release architecture, superseded by armel and no longer maintained) using the Linux kernel on ARM/StrongARM hardware, a CPU type originally created for the Acorn Archimedes (ARM being an acronym for Acorn RISC Machine).

Arm64

A port (and current release architecture) using the Linux kernel on 64-bit arm hardware, targeting the new version 8 architecture which includes the AArch64 execution state.

Armel

A port (and current release architecture, superseding arm), using the Linux kernel on little-endian ARM/StrongARM chips, which are now common in embedded/mobile devices.

Armhf

A port (and current release architecture) using the Linux kernel on newer armel-style hardware with an FPU. It explicitly targets version 7 of the ARM architecture, using the hard-float version of the ARM EABI.

Autoremoval

A system for removing non-key packages from testing if they have RC bugs and no immediate sign of a fix (see announcement).

Avr32

A stalled port (never a release architecture and no longer available via debports) using the Linux kernel on Atmel's 32-bit RISC architecture.

B

B-D

Short for Build-Depends.

B-D-I

Short for Build-Depends-Indep.

Backports

Backports are versions of packages from testing and unstable that have been rebuilt to be able to install and run on the stable distribution. Originally a separate unofficial service but now hosted in the standard repositories; not to be confused with debports.

Backports Security Advisory (BSA)

The equivalent of a Debian Security Advisory for backports, sent out to debian-backports-announce

Base system

Binary packages with priority required or important; a minimalist set of packages installed before everything else on a new system. Designed to provide just the things you'd be surprised to find missing on a usable UNIX system. Not to be confused with the even smaller essential or minbase sets.

B-D

Short for Build-Depends.

B-D-I

Short for Build-Depends-Indep.

BD-Uninstallable

A wanna-build state.

Ben

The transition-tracker utility used by the Release Team.

Binary
Several potentially confusing (but not Debian-specific) meanings:
  • Any non-textfile, such as a JPEG format image.
  • Any ELF executable (often used generically to include shellscripts and other non-binary executables normally found in a bin directory).

  • The output of a build process - see binary package.

Binary package

An installable .deb file as opposed to the source package it's built from. The idea is that this is the "binary" compiled in the package building process (regardless of whether the output .deb contains a binary executable, documentation, or indeed Linux kernel source code). See also virtual package.

BinNMU

A binary(-package)-only Non-Maintainer Upload, occasionally needed to fix problems with individual builds - see binNMU.

Bits

(As in "Bits from the DPL") Frequently used title for progress updates and event reports sent to the mailinglists.

Bo

The codename for Debian 1.3, release date: 1997.

BoF

Short for "Birds of a Feather"; a common type of discussion session held at DebConf.

Bookworm

The codename for Debian 12, the current stable distribution, release date: 2023.

BPO

The string bpo is used in the version strings of official backports to indicate that they come from what used to be called BackPorts.Org (now https://backports.debian.org, though that's the "home page", not the URL you need in your APT sources list)

Britney

The set of scripts that manages the migration of packages into testing. Originally it was one of many similar FTPmaster scripts with names like katie and madison, most of which have since been swallowed up by DAK.

BSA

Short for "Backports Security Advisory".

BSP

Short for "Bug Squashing Party"; a get-together of Debian enthusiasts (either virtual or In Real Life) for the purpose of fixing as many bugs as possible.

BTS

Short for "Bug Tracking System". Where used as a mailinglist label it indicates that a thread has been resolved by the submission of a patch.

BTS-link

A system for synchronizing bug status in the Debian BTS with external bug tracking systems like Bugzilla. See this mail.

Build-Depends (B-D)
Control field used for build-time dependencies; often abbreviated to B-D in changelog entries.

Build-Depends-Indep (B-D-I)
Control field used for build-time dependencies that are needed only for "build-indep" as opposed to "build-arch" compilation targets.

Build-essential

The only package that's literally essential for building a Debian binary package is make (because Policy mandates the use of a Makefile), but the "build-essential" toolkit is a convenient short-cut: a standard set of packages defined to be required for all "normal" Debian packaging work, which can therefore be omitted from lists of build dependencies as obvious, just as essential packages are omitted from install-time dependencies.

Building

A wanna-build state

Bullseye

The codename for Debian 11, the current oldstable, release date: 2021.

Buster

The codename for Debian 10, release date: 2019.

Buzz

The codename for Debian 1.1, release date: 1996.

BYHAND

The queue on ftp-master (alongside NEW) for uploads that need special manual handling, such as D-I images.

C

CDBS

Short for "Common Debian Build System" (provided by cdbs).

CFV

in General Resolution procedure, the Call For Votes.

Changes

See .changes.

Collab-maint

Short for "collaborative maintenance"; a repository for packages that don't belong to any particular team but would benefit from being team-maintained. On alioth all DDs had access as automatic members of the collab-maint group; the salsa equivalent is simply debian.

Component

The term used in sources.list(5) for the main, contrib, non-free, and non-free-firmware archive areas.

Conffile

A technical term defined in Policy; a file declared in a binary package's conffiles file is treated specially by dpkg to ensure that local modifications are not blindly overwritten by a package upgrade or deleted by a remove. Conffiles are (always?) stored in /etc, and are often conventional global configuration files but may also be initscripts, cronjobs, or similar.

Configuration file

Any file affecting the operation of a program, or providing site- or host-specific information, or otherwise customizing a program's behavior. May or may not be system-wide, or in an intelligible line-oriented text format, or marked as a conffile. Personal configuration files are traditionally stored as dotfiles in the home directory (see also rc-file).

Contrib
Additional, external software, in either of two senses:
  • In various project upstreams, a collection of extra software produced by third parties and included into a distribution "without warranty".
  • in Debian, software that is itself DFSG-compliant but requires software not available in main to build or run usefully (or the archive area such software is separated out into).

Control file

As defined in Debian Policy:

  • The control file included in the debian directory of each source package contains dependency information required to build the package, and has separate stanzas containing further information for each binary-package.

  • The control file included in the DEBIAN directory of each binary .deb (formed from the corresponding stanza in the source control file) contains dependency information required to install the package, plus the package description etc.

  • Any "control file"; that is, any file with the same multi-field syntax as the above - for instance, .dsc files are also counted as control files.

Custom Debian Distribution (CDD)

The old name for a subset of Debian configured to support a particular target group out-of-the-box. Now known as Debian Pure Blends.

Critical
Has two related Debian-specific meanings:

Cruft

General hacker jargon for superfluous junk, with a Debian-specific extra meaning in FTP master terminology: "crufty" .debs are ones that need to be identified and removed from the archive (see NBS, NVIU), a process known as "decrufting".

D

D-

Abbreviations such as d-d-a are commonly used as shorthand names for Debian mailinglists (in this case, debian-devel-announce).

D-I

See Debian-Installer.

D-W

See Debian-Women

Dak

(Short for "Debian Archive Kit") The toolset used to manage the Debian repositories - see DakHowTo and DebianDak.

DAM

Short for "Debian Account Manager".

Dbgsym

The type of debugging packages available from the debian-debug archive (mostly replacing the older -dbg versions). See DebugPackage, AutomaticDebugPackages, or the stretch release notes (2.2.8).

DD

Short for "Debian Developer".

DDE

Short for "Debian Data Export".

Ddeb

See .ddeb.

DDP

Short for the "Debian Documentation Project".

DDPO

The Debian Developer's Packages Overview, which lists the packages maintained by a Debian Developer or Team.

DDTP

Short for the Debian Description Translation Project.

Deb

See .deb.

Deb822

The format of Debian control files, based on RFC822 (i.e. email headers)

DebCamp

See DebCamp; the hacking session right before DebConf.

Debconf
Two things distinguished by capitalization:

Debian Account

Typically the login account of a Debian Developer, but sometimes also used to refer to a Debian Maintainer account. See also Salsa account.

Debian Account Manager (DAM)

A Debian member who has been delegated by the Debian project leader to manage Debian account creation and removal. The DAM has the final decision over an application.

Debian Contributor

A general term for active members of the Debian community, whether or not they have DD status. This term is sometimes used to emphasize that people contribute to Debian in other ways as well as by maintaining packages (as recognized by general resolution).

Debian Data Export (DDE)

Formerly a web interface giving access to Debian data in various formats. See ProjectB, UDD.

Debian-debug

The extra archive (hosted alongside the primary debian/ repository) providing dbgsym packages, which can be installed to generate a stack trace for crashing software.

Debian Developer (DD)

A Debian Project member who has gone through the New-Member process and had their application accepted is called a Debian Developer.

Debian Developer's Reference (DevRef)

A (packaged) document which serves as a packaging Howto and a guide to best practices as a Debian Developer.

Debian Documentation Project

A Debian sub-project covering various documentation issues. See webpages.

Debian Installer (D-I)

Debian Installer is the software used to initially install Debian on your hard disk. This should not be confused with the software used to install additional packages on a running Debian system (see APT).

Debian Linux Kernel Handbook

A (packaged) document providing a reference manual for working on the Linux kernel in Debian.

Debian Maintainer (DM)

The status of a person who has passed the Debian Maintainer process. A Debian Maintainer is granted some limited rights over packages - in particular, the right to upload packages to the Debian archives. DMs aren't yet members of the Debian Project, so can't for example vote in project elections. See also Debian Developer, Salsa account. Not to be confused with the role of package Maintainer.

Debian Maintainer Dashboard

A UDD-based workload overview (a Debian Dashboard for Maintainers rather than a Dashboard for Debian Maintainers).

Debian Member

Full members of the Debian Project are referred to as Debian Project Member.

Debian Package Tracker

The Debian service providing access to information about packages for maintainers, QA workers, and advanced users (slowly replacing the old PTS).

Debian Policy Manual

A (packaged) document describing what packages should contain, how they should be configured, and generally how packages fit together to create a Debian system.

Debian Project

An organization of free software developers spread around the world with a common goal: to produce a completely free operating system. See the Debian web pages for more information.

Debian Project Leader (DPL)

The official representative of the Debian Project to the outside world, with internal managerial and coordinatory duties; elected annually. See https://www.debian.org/devel/leader.

Debian Project News (DPN)

A newsletter with a variable schedule sent out to debian-news, collecting information of interest to the Debian community in general.

Debian Pure Blends

A subset of Debian that is configured to support a particular target group out-of-the-box. Debian Pure Blends were formerly known as Custom Debian Distributions (CDD).

Debian Security Advisory (DSA)

A warning message sent to the debian-security-announce mailinglist about a security alert for Debian software with available fixes. Not to be confused with the DSA team.

Debian System Administrators (DSA)

The Debian System Administrators team, who handle the basic infrastructure of the project. Not to be confused with DSA messages.

Debian Weekly News (DWN)

A newsletter that ran (less regularly than the name suggests) from 1999 until 2007; replaced by the Debian Project News.

Debian Women (D-W)

A subproject founded in 2004 to encourage more women to use Debian and to join the Debian project. The Debian-Women initiative is supported by both men and women.

Debports

A service hosted at ports.debian.org, which hosts ports that do not currently qualify as official release architectures and are not yet (or no longer) integrated into the main archives.

Deferred

A set of queues on ftp-master where the queue daemon stores packages that were uploaded to the corresponding delayed queue - see README.

DEHS

Short for (the late) "Debian External Health Status" service.

Delayed

A set of directories on ftp-master (ranging from "0-day" to "15-day") that receive uploads not intended for immediate processing, usually to give the package's maintainer an opportunity to check the acceptability of an NMU before it goes into the archive. Compare deferred.

DEP

Short for "Debian Enhancement Proposal", an RFC-like mechanism for planning efforts within the Debian Project.

Dependency-based boot

A scheme for organizing service startup, now standard in init systems; "dependency-based" here means checking for things like networking and mounted file systems, not package installation relationships.

Dependency package

An empty binary package that exists only for the sake of its declared dependencies on other packages, for instance to keep the current default version of gcc installed. See metapackage and transitional package for other common types.

Dep-wait

(Plus more rarely dep-wait-removed) A wanna-build state.

Derivative

A term with various senses in finance, IP law, etc., but used in Debian for "child" distributions like Ubuntu; see the DerivativesFrontDesk.

Developer News

See Misc Developer News.

DevRef

Short for the Debian Developer's Reference.

DEX

Short for the Debian Derivatives Exchange Project.

DFSG

Short for the "Debian Free Software Guidelines"; the rules of thumb included in the Debian Social Contract that can be used to judge whether material counts for the project's purposes as free. The string dfsg is sometimes appended to package version strings (or even names) to indicate that the Debian source is different from the upstream version because it has been repacked with non-free material removed to ensure it is distributable in main (compare ds).

D-I

See Debian-Installer.

dinstall

A batch job for updating the dak database and generating a new version of the mirror metadata.

Distribution (distro, dist)
Can mean:
  • (Not Debian-specific) The complete set of software from one upstream project, considered as a unit. MacTeX is a TeX distribution, for instance, whereas NetBSD is a full Operating System distribution. This is the sense (often abbreviated "distro") in which Debian is "a distribution".
  • A suite within the Debian repositories capable of providing a fully functional OS on its own, unlike the supplementary ones such as "testing-security". This is the sense in which stable is "a distribution".

  • Used more generally (e.g. in sources.list(5)) as a synonym for suite; hence source URLs which put https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/experimental/ alongside all the other dists.

distro-tracker

Another name for the Debian Package Tracker.

Dist-upgrade
Can mean:
  • In Debian package management, the process of migrating a whole system from one release to the next (dist-upgrades skipping a release are not supported).

  • In apt specifically, an action that makes relatively aggressive (but intelligent) attempts to bring the system fully up to date, even if this requires some changes to the list of installed packages (that is, it may automatically install, remove, or replace packages). Compare plain upgrade, and aptitude's full-upgrade.

DLA

Debian LTS Advisory, posted to the Debian LTS Announce mailing list, used to identify updates coming through LTS.

DM

See Debian Maintainer.

DMD

See Debian Maintainer Dashboard.

DMUA

Short for "DM-Upload-Allowed"; not to be confused with DMUP.

DMUP

Short for "Debian Machine Use Policies"; the Acceptable Use Policy for machines on the Debian network. Not to be confused with DMUA.

DM-Upload-Allowed (DMUA)

A field in control files (normally added by a sponsor) to license uploads signed by a Debian Maintainer rather than a full Debian Developer. No longer used.

DONE

An i18n mailinglist label used to mark a thread as resolved (where this does not involve the submission of a patch to the BTS).

Dotfoo

For Debian-specific file extensions ("dotdeb" etc.) see . (dot).

Downgrade

An action not officially supported in Debian package management, though often possible (and where it isn't, a purge and re-install of the older version is often good enough).

DPL

Short for "Debian Project Leader".

DPMT

The Debian Python Modules Team, who work to improve the Python modules situation in Debian.

DPN

See Debian Project News

DPT

See Debian Package Tracker

DS

Short for "Debian Source"; the string ds is sometimes included in package version strings to indicate that the Debian source is different from the upstream version for some administrative reason not related to the DFSG (and documented in README.source), such as removing third-party libraries.

DSA

Short for either "Debian Security Advisory" or "Debian Systems Administrators".

DSC

See .dsc.

DUCK

Short for "Debian URL Checker", a former debian.net service monitoring Homepage and VCS links (now itself a 404).

Dummy package

An empty package created either to circumvent the dependency system (see equivs) or to express dependencies of its own (see metapackage, dependency package). Sometimes confusingly treated as specifically meaning a transitional package.

D-W

See Debian-Women

DWN

See Debian Weekly News

E

Emergency

The highest upload urgency level, synonymous with critical.

Essential

A control file variable similar to but not part of the package priority mechanism; "Essential: yes" causes package-management tools to refuse any orders to remove the binary package in question. The essential package set provides the absolute minimal functionality that must be available and usable on the system at all times. The idea is, if you're hit by a software or hardware failure halfway through an upgrade, leaving your package database in an inconsistent state, the essential packages should still work well enough to boot the system and perform repairs. See also Protected, required, and pseudo-essential.

Etch

The codename for Debian 4.0, release date: 2007.

Etch-and-a-half

Debian etch 4.0r4, a 2008 point release which was unusual in featuring several new hardware drivers along with an optional new kernel.

Etchnhalf

See Etch-and-a-half.

Experimental

The experimental repository is an incomplete distribution which developers can use to try out versions of software not intended to migrate to testing, and which users are warned not to install.

Extra

Formerly the lowest package priority, but now synonymous with optional.

F

Failed

(Plus more rarely failed-removed) A wanna-build state.

FD

Short for "Front Desk".

FHS

See Filesystem Hierarchy Standard.

Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS)

The FilesystemHierarchyStandard defines the main directories and their contents in Linux and other Unix-like computer operating systems. The Debian Policy Manual only explains the exceptions applying to Debian.

Foreign

As a multiarch classifier, indicates that a package does not itself support the parallel installation of multiple versions with different architectures, but can be used as a cross-arch dependency.

Forky

Planned codename for the "testing+1" to come after trixie, for release as Debian 14.

Free

Compliant with the DFSG, and eligible to go in main.

Freeze

The distribution development freeze is a period of time when the Debian Project is working to finalize and stabilize the content of the testing distribution (resolving Release Critical bugs, making final tweaks to Debian-Installer, deciding the contents of the CDs, etc.) before its release as the new stable. Debian's release policy is one of Release when Ready, so the length of the freeze period isn't fixed, but it tends to last something like six months and may be subdivided into "transition freeze", "soft freeze", and "full/hard freeze" milestones.

Front Desk
A team functioning as a first point of contact for Debian. Can mean:

Frozen

The state of testing during a freeze.

FTBFS

Short for "Fails To Build From Source", a bugreport type produced by the build infrastructure when a binary package cannot be compiled.

FTBR

Short for "Fails To Build Reproducibly".

FTCBFS

Short for "Fails To Cross-Build From Source", a bugreport type analogous to FTBFS but dealing with cross-compiling.

FTP master
Several things, none of which necessarily involve the File Transfer Protocol:
  • The ftp-master server, the primary copy of the Debian archive.

  • The FTPMaster team that looks after this server, doing tasks such as checking the NEW queue.

  • Senior members of this team also rank as "FTP Masters".

FTWCA

Short for "For Those Who Care About" (compare "Bits...").

Full-upgrade

An aptitude action more or less equivalent to (and formerly known as) a dist-upgrade.

G

General Resolution (GR)

A decision ratified by a vote of Debian Developers, according to the procedure specified in the Debian Constitution.

Giveback

In autobuilder jargon, packages are "taken" when an attempt is made to build them. Failures are often transient, fixed by simply trying again after a few days, so a "giveback" removes the "taken" flag from the package in the wanna-build database and puts it back into the normal needs-build queue.

GR

Short for "General Resolution".

Grave

An RC bug severity.

H

Hamm

The codename for Debian 2.0, release date: 1998.

Hijack

Illicit adoption of a package without the agreement of its maintainer; compare salvage.

HOLD

An i18n mailinglist label used to put work "on hold", warning that any work done on updates now is likely to be wasted.

Hppa

A port (formerly a release architecture and still available via debports) using the Linux kernel on Hewlett Packard Precision Architecture RISC workstations and servers.

Hurd-amd64

A port (not yet a release architecture but available via debports) using the Hurd kernel on amd64-style hardware.

Hurd-i386

A port (not yet a release architecture but available via debports) using the Hurd kernel on i386-style hardware.

I

I386

A "port" (or rather the original release architecture, and still a current one, though now at risk) using the Linux kernel on 32-bit hardware - the kind dominating the PC market through the 90s/00s and known variously as IBM-clone, x86, IA-32, or (W)Intel-compatible computers.

Ia64

A port (and former release architecture, still available via debports) using the Linux kernel on Intel IA-64 AKA Itanium hardware, not to be confused with amd64.

IANADD

Short for "I Am Not A Debian Developer" - a caveat in the tradition of IANAL.

IANAL

Short for "I Am Not A Lawyer", often used on the debian-legal mailing list. Not Debian-specific; see Wikipedia's definition.

ICE

Short for "Internal Compiler Error"; used in bug reports for package removal, usually indicating that gcc does not yet fully support a new architecture.

Important
Three Debian-specific meanings:

Install
In terms of software, can mean:
  • To set up an Operating System (e.g. with Debian-Installer), or otherwise introduce software onto a system (e.g. with install(1)). Examples include installing a bootable image to your boot-sector, a homebrew kernel in /boot, or a shellscript in /usr/local/sbin. The Debian system is designed to permit various forms of local installation performed outside the package database, but you have to keep track of them yourself.

  • In Debian package management, to put a binary package onto a system in a way that registers it with the package database. Note that the package management system sees package upgrades as a subcategory of installs.

  • In APT (or front-ends), a particular action. Note however that install and remove can each be used to perform the opposite function, if given an appropriate suffix (e.g.: apt install foo- bar- will remove packages foo and bar).

Installed

A wanna-build state.

IP

(Not Debian-specific) A highly ambiguous initialism, which can mean:

  • Internet Protocol, the primary communications protocol on the net.
  • Internet Protocol address (as in "what's your IP?").
  • Instruction Pointer address (as in "segfault at ip 000000000000dead").
  • Intellectual Property, the intangible assets covered by copyright/licensing/patent/trademark law.

ITA

Short for "Intent to Adopt", used to track the status of orphaned packages (see WNPP) or documentation (see DDP).

ITD

Short for "Intent to Document", used by a documentation maintainer who intends to start writing a document. Using the WNPP system avoids duplicated effort; see DDP.

ITO

Short for "Intent To Orphan", used to label messages from a Maintainer giving advance warning of the orphaning of packages. Not an official part of the WNPP system, but useful as a way of letting interested developers stake claims.

ITP

Short for "Intent To Package", used by a Debian Developer or Maintainer who intends to package a piece of software; see WNPP

ITR

Short for "Intent To Review"; an i18n mailinglist label (for human consumption) used to indicate that localization work is ongoing; also the message sent to a package Maintainer as the first step in the Smith Project debconf review process.

ITS

Short for "Intent To Salvage", used by a Debian Developer or Maintainer who intends to salvage a neglected package.

ITT

Short for "Intent To Translate"; an i18n mailinglist label used by a translator who intends to start translating a document, as a mechanism to prevent duplication of effort; see DDP.

J

Jessie

The codename for Debian 8, release date: 2015.

K

Katie

The script (these days really just a subcomponent of DAK) that validates uploaded packages (and mails the uploader to say whether they've been accepted).

Kernel Handbook

See the Debian Linux Kernel Handbook.

Key

Key packages (see list) are source packages that are exempt from autoremoval, either directly due to popularity or via build or runtime dependencies

Kfreebsd-amd64

A port (and former "technology preview" release architecture, still available via debports) using the FreeBSD kernel on amd64-style hardware.

Kfreebsd-i386

A port (and former "technology preview" release architecture, still available via debports) using the FreeBSD kernel on i386-style hardware.

KSP

Short for "Key Signing Party", a common event at DebConfs and other real-life get-togethers.

L

L10n

A tag indicating a bug in localization (en_GB: localisation) support.

LCFC

Short for "Last Chance For Comment"; an i18n mailinglist label used to indicate that work has been done and calling for any last-minute corrections before it is declared finished.

Lenny

The codename for Debian 5.0, release date: 2009.

Lfs

(A tag indicating a bug in) Large File Support (meaning individual files over two gigabytes). Not to be confused with the LinuxFromScratch distribution.

Loong64

A port (not yet a release architecture but available via debports) using the Linux kernel on a RISC-style 64-bit ISA.

LTS

Short for "Long Term Support"; see LTS. Debian releases are routinely given full security support on a longer timescale than most commercial software; this means extra support on top of that.

M

M32

Sometimes seen as an alternative name for m32r.

M32r

A long-abandoned port which never made it as far as debports using the Linux kernel on Renesas M32R embedded hardware.

M68k

A port (formerly a release architecture and still available via debports) using the Linux kernel on Motorola-680x0 CPUs, once common in Sun3/Apple/Atari/Amiga machines.

Madison

Formerly a utility for listing information about packages (suite, version, etc.) in the toolkit used to manage Debian repositories. Long ago mostly absorbed by dak as dak ls, but the old name is still visible in various places.

Main

The "truly Debian" archive area, reserved for free software.

Maintainer

The maintainer of a package is the person or group of people responsible for package maintenance; see Debian Policy. See also Debian Maintainer.

Maintainer Script

A script added to a package by the Maintainer, usually meaning specifically the preinst, postinst, prerm, and postrm files - see MaintainerScripts.

Maintscript

Short for Maintainer Script.

MAJ

Short for "Mise à Jour" (French for "update"); an i18n mailinglist label used to indicate that a document needs to be updated and that the work is reserved for the previous translator.

Mass bug filing (MBF)

Reporting a great number of bugs for the same problem. See the Debian Developer's Reference.

MBF

Short for "Mass Bug Filing".

Mentee

An occasionally seen word for "an individual being mentored". This term, like sponsee, may trigger responses of "that's not even a word" (though alternatives like "mentoree" aren't much safer).

Mentor

An experienced Debian Member who takes responsibility for assisting a less experienced member or Applicant. Outside occasional efforts such as the Debian Women mentoring program, such relationships generally exist only on an informal and unofficial basis. Every Applicant has an advocate who may effectively act as a mentor; but despite the name of the debian-mentors mailing list, its primary function is to put new maintainers in touch with sponsors.

Metapackage

A dependency package designed to automatically pull in a family of packages; may function as a shortcut to simplify installation of a full desktop environment. Sometimes hyphenated ("meta-package"), sometimes used as a synonym for plain dependency package.

MIA

Short for "Missing In Action"; (a database tracking) Debian package maintainers who have abandoned their duties without retiring. Nothing to do with the name Mia (cf. britney).

Migration

Any process that involves transferring a large set of items, such as (most often in Debian) the automatic movement of packages from one suite to the next. No, it doesn't mean they travel in swarms, and they don't fly back in the winter.

Minbase

The set of packages installed by a debootstrap run with --variant=minbase, consisting of the essential packages plus apt.

Minor

A low bug severity.

Mips

A port (and release architecture until buster, now removed) using the Linux kernel on big-endian SGI-style MIPS hardware.

Mips64el

A port (and current release architecture) using the Linux kernel on 64-bit mipsel-style hardware.

Mipsel

A port (and release architecture until bookworm, removed for trixie) using the Linux kernel on the little-endian version of mips-style hardware.

Misc Developer News

A bulletin collating minor news items of interest to Debian Developers sent out to debian-devel-announce whenever sufficient material has been collected on its Wiki page. Compare the Debian Project News.

Multiarch

The scheme permitting software from multiple architectures to be used on one machine. Also known as multi-arch.

N

Native

A source package with no upstream and no use outside of Debian can leave out some complications in its packaging by using the "native" source format.

NBS

Short for "Not Built from Source"; one of the criteria used to detect candidates for automated package removal, in this case removing a binary package that isn't built from any remaining source package. See ftpmaster_Removals.

Needs-build

A wanna-build state.

Netbsd-alpha

A long-abandoned port (which never made it as far as debports) using the NetBSD kernel on alpha-style hardware.

Netbsd-i386

A long-abandoned port (which never made it as far as debports) using the NetBSD kernel on i386-style hardware.

NEW

The queue on ftp-master for packages uploaded for the first time, which need to be reviewed first. This doesn't mean such an upload is available as a new package: it may get a REJECT, or on the other hand it may be revisiting NEW due to a rename, a move between areas, or a reorganization of the set of binary packages built from a source-package.

New Maintainer

See New Member.

New Member (NM)

(Formerly New Maintainer) The process of becoming an official Debian Member, or a person going through that process. See also Applicant, Debian Member.

NMU

Short for "Non-Maintainer Upload"; a version of a package that wasn't uploaded by an official Maintainer, but rather by another Debian Developer. This typically occurs for security updates, Mass Bug Filings, and when the maintainer is on holiday - see Debian Developer's Reference.

No

As a multiarch classifier, indicates that only a native-architecture version can safely be used, even as a dependency.

Non-free

Not compliant with the DFSG; also, the archive area for software which is non-free but can be legally distributed by Debian. From bookworm, firmware is split out into the non-free-firmware area.

Non-free-firmware

A new (in bookworm) component for the Debian archives distinct from non-free proper, containing non-DFSG-compliant firmware that might be needed in order to run Debian on particular hardware. The rationale is that separating this out allows users to use such hardware without having to enable the whole of non-free.

Non-US

(Obsolete) A subdivision of the Debian archives needed for the slink/potato/woody releases to deal with US legal restrictions on the export of cryptographic software. Software such as GPG was hosted only on mirrors outside the USA.

Normal

The default bug severity.

Not-for-us

A wanna-build state (not to be confused with non-us).

NPOASR

Short for "Never Part Of A Stable Release"; used in bug reports for package removal, implying that users won't see the package's absence as a regression.

NVIU

Short for "Newer Version In Unstable"; one of the criteria used to detect candidates for automated package removal, in this case removing an experimental build as superseded by a more recent build already present in unstable. See ftpmaster_Removals.

O

O

Short for the QA status "Orphaned".

Obsolete
Can mean:
  • In apt/aptitude search patterns, any currently installed package which is not available (in any version) from any known archive (see apt-patterns(7): apt show '?obsolete'). This usually means that the system has dist-upgraded to a new stable release that no longer contains that package. Transitional packages don't register as obsolete in this sense.

  • Also used to refer to automatically installed packages that are no longer needed (such as orphan libraries) and would be candidates for autoremoval.

  • Also, in dpkg-query(1) output (e.g. dpkg-query -Wf\${Conffiles}), a file that some installed package stopped providing as a conffile without taking the required steps to tidy up.

Oldoldstable

One step older than oldstable (and likewise for oldoldoldstable and so on).

Oldstable

The distribution before the current stable release, which continues to receive some level of security support for a while (commonly a year) after it is superseded.

Oldstable proposed-updates

The equivalent to stable-proposed-updates for oldstable.

Optional

The priority for packages not installed by default; compare extra (which used to rank even lower but is now being deprecated).

OPU

Short for "Oldstable Proposed Updates"; used to tag subject lines of processing requests. See PU.

Or1k

A shortlived port (which never made it to debports) using the Linux kernel on OpenRISC hardware

Origin

Has two subtly different senses even within the jargon of pinning defined in apt_preferences(5):

  • In a line like "Pin: origin 'dl.google.com'", it's a repository hostname to be associated with a "Pin-Priority:" line.

  • In a line like "Pin: release o='Google, Inc.'" (where the "o" stands for an "Origin:" line in a Release file), it's the name of the vendor or source organization behind the repository. This can also be used in apt/aptitude search patterns (see apt-patterns(7): apt show '?origin(Debian Backports)').

Orphan

(Not to be confused with the following) In Debian package management, a stray installed package with no reverse dependencies (such as a library for which the corresponding executable has been purged), which can be detected with tools such as deborphan. Such unwanted relics are now increasingly tracked by APT itself.

Orphaned (O)

(Not to be confused with the above) Used in package QA to indicate that a package has no maintainer, and is in need of adoption (see ITA and WNPP). If the package has a priority of standard or higher, the severity of the orphaning bug report should be set to important. The term is similarly used to indicate documentation that the author is declaring abandoned; see DDP.

P

P-a-s

Short for "Packages-arch-specific".

Package
Can mean:

Package maintenance

The software-development task of looking after a package within Debian (that is, bugtracking, following upstream development, etc. - see maintainer); not to be confused with package management.

Package management

The administrative task of regulating the software installed on a particular system (using tools such as APT); not to be confused with package maintenance.

Packages-arch-specific (P-a-s)

In the buildd system, the "Packages-arch-specific" list names the binary packages that are not to be built from source on particular architectures.

Package Tracking System (PTS)

The Package Tracking System is the older interface to maintenance status information about Debian packages (now deprecated in favor of the Debian Package Tracker)

PAPT

Short for "Python Applications Packaging Team".

P-a-s

Short for "Packages-arch-specific".

Pending

A BTS tag indicating that "a solution to this bug has been found and an upload will be made soon". In practice this may mean anything from "my regular sponsor is away for the weekend" to "it'll be folded into the scheduled major release in the new year".

PET
The former Package Entropy Tracker service (now defunct).

Philosophy and Procedures (P&P)

An element in the New Member checking process in which applicants are evaluated on their understanding of the principles of free software and of best practice in cooperative development.

Pinning

APT pinning is the name given to the use of apt_preferences(5) to define a modified system of package-management priorities. This makes it possible, for instance, to run an essentially stable system but specify particular packages for which newer candidates (e.g. backports) will automatically be preferred for installation.

Piuparts

Short for "Package Installation, UPgrading And Removal Testing Suite" - see piuparts.

Pocket

Repository subvariants for a given release such as "security", "updates", "backports", "proposed", and (in principle) so on. This is an Ubuntuism, but one that covers a concept in Debian-style repository layouts that otherwise lacks an established name.

Point release

Point releases are updated versions of a release, with incremented minor revision number (hence the name), incorporating all accumulated security fixes and grave bug-fixes. (Also, In Real Life, a type of minor avalanche.)

Popcon

The popcon score of a Debian package (see webpage) is meant to reflect its "popularity"; it is derived from data generated via the package popularity-contest, which periodically and anonymously submits statistics about which binary packages are installed on a system and whether they are used.

Port
Can mean:
  • (Not Debian-specific) A physical hardware interface.
  • (Not Debian-specific) A TCP networking endpoint identified by port number.
  • (Not Debian-specific) A platform that software has been converted to run on.
  • A hardware/OS kernel combo for which some effort has been made to render Debian installable. See architecture, debports, Debian ports pages.

Porter

A person who is working on a Debian port.

Porterbox

A Debian-run machine that is available for Debian contributors and porters to help improve Debian ports.

Potato

The codename for Debian 2.2, release date: 2000.

Powerpc

A port (and former release architecture, still available via debports) using the Linux kernel on IBM/Motorola PowerPC hardware, meaning PowerMacs and other pre-Intel Macs.

Powerpcspe

A port (never a release architecture and no longer available via debports) using the Linux kernel on a slightly more obscure variant of powerpc hardware; "SPE" stands for "Signal Processing Extension" (and not as you might have guessed "Synergistic Processing Element").

P&P

See Philosophy and Procedures.

Ppc64

A new port (not yet a release architecture but available via debports) using the Linux kernel on 64-bit PowerPC CPUs with VMX (AKA AltiVec).

Ppc64el

A new port (and current release architecture) using the Linux kernel on the little-endian version of ppc64-style hardware; it targets Power 7+ and Power 8 CPUs using the new Open Power ELFv2 ABI.

Priority

A ranking system for binary packages, indicating how important it is for users to have them installed, and ranging from required down to optional (now that extra is being deprecated). See Debian Policy.

ProjectB

A database storing Debian archive metadata (such as what versions of what packages are in what suites for what architectures) used by DAK. See ProjectB, DDE, UDD.

Proposed-updates

The mechanism for getting newer versions of packages into a point release, when they will be moved to the main suite for that release (not to stable-updates). See stable-proposed-updates and oldstable-proposed-updates.

Protected

A package property similar to Essential, but weaker. See the entry in deb-control(5); it's possible to avoid installing a package that's flagged as "Protected" (if only on an unusual sort of install, such as a container), but if it is installed then package management tools won't allow it to be removed without a 'force' option. (Originally known as "Important".)

Pseudo-essential

A label applied to binary packages such as libc6 that are not themselves essential but are dependencies or pre-dependencies from essential packages, which has a similar effect. apt itself is not an example, but is a sort of pseudo-pseudo-essential special case as it refuses to try to remove itself.

Pseudo-package

(Not to be confused with virtual package, prospective package, or the package sudo) A BTS address that doesn't correspond to a package name; see definitions.

PTS

Short for "Package Tracking System".

PU

Short for "(Stable) Proposed Updates"; used to tag subject lines of processing requests. See also OPU, TPU.

Purge

In Debian package management, to uninstall a package completely, deleting its conffiles. See remove.

Q

QA

Short for "Quality Assurance" - see qa.debian.org.

Qualification

The term used for the judgment as to whether something is in a fit state to be officially part of a release - whether a particular port will be a release architecture, whether a desktop will be the default on install media, etc.

R

R3, R^3, or R³

Short for Rules-Requires-Root.

RC
Has several easily confused meanings, mostly not Debian-specific:
  • Short for "Release Candidate", in version strings (v1.9~rc5 comes before v1.9).
  • Short for "Release-Critical" in the BTS.

  • Short for "Radio Controlled" (see rc-buggy).

  • In a filename such as ~/.bashrc, indicates a type of configuration-file - usually interpreted as short for "runtime configuration".

  • In the sysv-rc system, indicates a type of set-up script (in /etc/rc*.d) - usually interpreted as short for "runlevel configuration".

Rc-buggy

sometimes seen as an unofficial permanent codename for experimental, punning on the name of the Radio Controlled toy car in the original Toy Story.

REJECT

A message from the FTP Masters denying entry to the Debian archive for a package in NEW, on the grounds of legality, namespace issues, or general bugginess; see FAQ.

Release

see Debian Release

  • The occasion of a new stable version of Debian being declared ready for production use.

  • A suite that has been or is going to be released; more generally, a synonym for suite - even sid has a Release file and is traditionally (if oxymoronically) referred to as "the unstable release".

Release Architecture

An architecture supported as part of a stable release; ports qualify for this status when their autobuilders prove capable of "keeping up" and successfully building a sufficient proportion of the archive.

Release Critical (RC)

A bug that cannot be allowed in stable; a release cannot occur until all such bugs have been handled (by removal if necessary). Currently these are the bugs with critical, grave and serious severity level.

Remove
Can mean:
  • To delete a package from the archives - see RM.

  • In Debian package management, to uninstall a package, especially in a fashion that leaves behind conffiles (thus if you remove and then reinstall a package you won't lose your custom setup). See purge.

  • In APT (or front-ends), a particular action. Note however that install and remove can each be used to perform the opposite function, if given an appropriate suffix (e.g.: apt remove foo+ bar+ will install packages foo and bar).

Reproducible

Don't confuse the BTS tag "unreproducible" with the idea of a "not reproducible" bug! The word can mean:

  • (Of a bug) general enough, or reported in sufficient detail, to enable the maintainer/upstream developers to trigger it in a test environment;

  • (Of a package build process) deterministic enough to enable users/distributors to verify for themselves that a given binary is produced from its declared sources rather than (e.g.) incorporating malware - see ReproducibleBuilds.

Requalification

See qualification.

RequestTracker (RT)

The issue-tracking system rt.debian.org, used by the Security and DSA teams (among others).

Required

The highest package priority; not to be confused with essential.

Rex

The codename for Debian 1.2, release date: 1996.

RFA

Short for "Request For Adoption"; a WNPP bug tag indicating that (due to lack of time, interest, or other resources) the current maintainer is asking for someone else to maintain this package. They will maintain it in the meantime, but perhaps not in the best possible way. Compare Orphaned.

RFD

Short for "Request For Documentation"; a DDP bug tag indicating that a manual or other documentation on a given topic is not yet available on the DDP and the reporting user requests that DDP members should give it priority when deciding which documents need to be written.

RFH

Short for "Request For Help"; a WNPP bug tag indicating that the current maintainer wants to continue to maintain this package, but needs some help to do this. This may be because the maintainer is overstretched in general, or because this package is particularly hard to maintain, or because bugs require specialist expertise to fix.

RFP

Short for "Request For Package"; a WNPP bug tag indicating that the reporter has found an interesting piece of software and would like someone else to maintain it for Debian.

RFR

Short for "Request For Review"; an i18n mailinglist label used (e.g. as part of the Smith Project debconf review process) to call for extra reviewers to inspect a set of proposed amendments.

RFS

Short for "Request For Sponsor". See DebianMentorsFaq and mentors.debian.net.

Riscv64

A port (expected to become a release architecture in trixie) using the Linux kernel on 64-bit RISC-V hardware.

RM

Used in subject lines of package removal requests. It might look like it's addressed to the Release Manager, but it's just a shouty version of rm.

Rolling

A proposed distribution similar to testing but intended to be advertised as continuously usable. Some work was done on an unofficial implementation.

RoM

Short for "Request of Maintainer"; used in bug reports for package removal, to indicate that it has been agreed with the package's own maintainer.

Root
A word with several technical uses (not Debian-specific), all deriving from the same metaphor of a node structure with a root and branches:
  • The root directory (/) is the top level directory of the file system hierarchy - the part of the "directory tree" that everything else connects to.

  • The root file system is the primary mountpoint everything else is attached to; it contains the root directory, plus various other essential directories such as /bin and /lib, and may or may not include others such as /boot or /home.

  • The root user (uid 0) is the so-called "superuser", with unlimited privileges - equivalent to the "Administrator" on some other operating systems. (This name might lead you to expect users to be arranged in some sort of organizational tree structure, but it just means that the superuser can modify the root directory.)
  • The root window is the desktop background, the element of the graphical environment that all other windows are defined relative to. (Thus "root tile" as a synonym for "desktop wallpaper".)
  • The root zone is the core of the DNS system, where the nameservers that are authoritative for Top Level Domains (the "root nameservers") live.
  • The directory /root is the home directory of the root user, housed on the root file system. Not to be confused with the root directory as defined above.

Not forgetting its senses of "inverse exponent", or "gain illicit superuser access, either for malicious purposes or to bypass a proprietary OS", or (in AU/NZ slang) "have sex with"... and it doesn't help that for some it's homophonous with "route".

ROP

Short for "Request Of Porter"; used in bug reports for package removal, to indicate that the package is no longer built on a particular set of architectures.

RoQA

Short for "Request of Quality Assurance"; used in bug reports for package removal, to indicate that it has been agreed with the QA team (usually because the package is orphaned).

RoRT

Short for "Request of Release Team"; used in bug reports for package removal, to indicate that issues have been confirmed by the Release Team.

ROSRM

Short for "Request of Stable Release Manager"; used in bug reports for package removal, to indicate that it has been agreed with the powers that be.

RoST

Short for "Request of Security Team"; used in bug reports for package removal, to indicate that issues have been confirmed by the Security Team.

RT

Short for "Request Tracker".

Rules-Requires-Root

A control file field indicating whether package builds require the use of (fake)root - see proposal.

S

S390

A port (and former release architecture, superseded by s390x) using the Linux kernel on IBM s/390 AKA zSeries mainframe hardware.

S390x

A port (and current release architecture) using the Linux kernel and providing a 64-bit userland on s390-style hardware.

Safe-upgrade

An aptitude action more or less equivalent to (and formerly known as) an upgrade.

Salsa

Salsa is a gitlab-based collaborative development platform for Debian, replacing Alioth. See Salsa.

Salsa (guest) account

To contribute to a project hosted on Salsa, register for a guest account, then ask to have that account given commit rights.

Salvage

A newly defined streamlined process for taking over responsibility for a neglected package.

Same

As a multiarch classifier, indicates that a package does support the parallel installation of multiple versions with different architectures, but cannot satisfy cross-architecture dependencies.

Sarge

The codename for Debian 3.1, release date: 2005.

Section
Can mean:
  • A notional subdivision of the Debian repositories into functional categories such as "admin", "kde", and "video".
  • Also sometimes used (e.g. in apt-ftparchive(1)) as a synonym for archive area.

Security

The suite used to propagate fixes for security issues into stable, maintained by the security team.

Serious

An RC bug severity.

Severity

A ranking system for bugreports, indicating how important it is for it to be fixed, and ranging from wishlist to critical. See definitions.

Sh

Sometimes seen as an alternative name for sh4.

Sh4

A port (not yet a release architecture but available via debports) using the Linux kernel on Hitachi SuperH hardware (used e.g. in Dreamcasts).

Shlibs

Not to be confused with schlubs.

  • Short for SHared LIBrarieS - that is, dynamically loadable subroutines compiled into object files so that a single copy loaded into memory can be accessed by as many different processes as need it. Normally have the file extension .so, followed by interface-version numbers.

  • A special file defined in Debian Policy for tracking shared library dependencies.

Sid

The permanent codename for unstable ("Still In Development" is an unofficial backronym). While other codenames cycle through from testing to stable to oldstable, the name "Sid" stays in the same place permanently.

Slink

The codename for Debian 2.1, release date: 1999.

Source
Can mean:
  • A package origin defined by an entry in a sources.list(5) file.

  • Compilable code, the input of a build process - see source package. When APT error messages talk about "source lines" they mean sources (in the above sense) for sources (in this sense).

  • A bash(1) builtin that executes commands from a file.

Sourceful

Of a package upload, including source code. Transitions vary in whether they require new sourceful uploads or only binNMUs.

Source-only

Of a package upload, including source code and no pre-built binary. See SourceOnlyUploads.

Source package
Can mean:
  • A unit of upstream software (with a single build system), which may correspond to several separate binary packages within Debian.

  • The bundle of files (.dsc file, upstream tarball, etc) used as input to the package-building process.

Sparc

A port (and former release architecture, no longer available via debports) using the Linux kernel on 32-bit Sun4-style SPARC hardware.

Sparc64

A port (not yet a release architecture but available via debports) using the Linux kernel on 64-bit versions of sparc-type hardware.

SPI

Short for "Software in the Public Interest, Inc.", the nonprofit foundation that manages resources and accepts donations on behalf of the Debian Project (which has no legal authority for doing so itself).

Sponsee

An occasionally seen word for "an individual being sponsored". This term, like mentee, may trigger responses of "that's not even a word" (though alternatives like "sponsoree" aren't much safer).

Sponsor

A Debian Member with upload privileges who uses them on behalf of a package maintainer without such privileges. The sponsor is required to take responsibility for checking that there are no show-stopping quality issues, but is not recorded as the maintainer of the package. A sponsorship may be a one-off event, or the sponsor may also act informally as a mentor, helping to track down bugs and improve the packaging. See also advocate.

Spoons

A term that refers to the amount of emotional or mental energy a person has available for tasks. Popularised within Debian by Enrico Zini's Consensually doing things together? talk at DebConf17 (slides blog, video).

Sprint

(Not Debian-specific) A developer meeting dedicated to intensive work on some project - see Sprints.

Squeeze

The codename for Debian 6.0, release date: 2011.

SRM

Short for "Stable Release Manager", a member of the Release Team - see Debian's Organizational Structure for details.

Stable

The stable suite is the distribution recommended for production use. Each stable release is "promoted" from testing status as the result of a cycle of development, debugging, and integration that usually lasts about two years.

Stable-proposed-updates

The suite where proposed fixes for major bugs in stable are queued for inclusion in a point release.

Stable Update Announcement (SUA)

The equivalent of a Debian Security Advisory for non-security-related Stable Updates, sent out to debian-stable-announce

Stable-updates

The StableUpdates suite (originally implemented as volatile) is where proposed updates are queued for packages such as virus scanners that become uselessly out of date over the lifespan of a release.

Standard

A package priority (the lowest priority that's installed by default).

Stanza

A set of lines in a control file dealing with a particular package; the file may contain several of these, separated by empty lines (see deb822(5)). Also known as paragraphs, but not to be confused with the paragraphs (in the non-technical sense) that can occur within a text field (such as in a package description).

Stretch

The codename for Debian 9, release date: 2017.

SUA

see Stable Update Announcement.

Suite
Can mean:
  • A set of closely integrated packages (often multiple source packages), such as an "office suite".

  • Used in Release files and elsewhere to mean a repository holding one particular "branch" of Debian's development process - unstable, testing, and so on. Compare archive, distribution, release.

    • Also generalized to include individual supplementary sub-repositories such as security or backports. (These may rarely be distinguished as pockets.)

Syncproxy

debian.org servers that receive archive updates from ftp-master and distribute them to servers that mirror the Debian archive. These servers are layer two and higher in the Debian mirror hierarchy.

T

TAF

Short for "Travail à Faire" (French for "work to do"); an i18n mailinglist label used to indicate that a volunteer is needed to handle some work. Originated on debian-l10n-french, but also used for instance in the Smith Project.

Tasks and Skills (T&S)

An element in the New Member checking process in which applicants are evaluated on their technical knowledge.

Tdeb

See .tdeb.

Testing

Testing is the Debian distribution automatically generated out of packages migrating from unstable. The first step towards a new stable release is that testing undergoes a freeze.

Testing-proposed-updates

The equivalent to stable-proposed-updates for testing, used only in cases where the fixes need to bypass unstable.

Testing-security

The testing-security suite is almost always empty because testing no longer directly receives security updates, because most new package versions fixing security bugs can simply go through unstable as usual. During the freeze in rare cases security updates might go through testing-security and or TPU.

TINLA

Short for "This Is Not Legal Advice"; compare IANAL.

TPU

Short for "Testing Proposed Updates"; used to tag subject lines of processing requests. See PU.

Transition

Often short for "library transition". A new version of a widely-used dependency hitting unstable can mean that large numbers of related packages need rebuilds or significant fixes before the whole set can migrate to testing.

Transitional package

A dependency package designed to automatically replace one package with another, to smooth over a rename or similar migration (especially for users performing a dist-upgrade). Not connected with library transitions.

Trixie

The codename for the current testing, for release as Debian 13.

T&S

See Tasks and Skills.

U

UDD

Short for "the Ultimate Debian Database". Not to be confused with "Ubuntu Distributed Development".

Udeb

See .udeb.

Ultimate Debian Database (UDD)

A single SQL database gathering a lot of data about various aspects of Debian. See UDD, DDE, ProjectB.

Unblock

Used to tag bug reports requesting a freeze exception.

Unstable

The unstable distribution (also known as Sid) is where new versions of packages are first introduced into Debian; if all goes well they then automatically migrate to Testing.

Update

In APT (or front-ends), the process of refreshing the package-management system's information about what packages are available from the registered sources. Not to be confused with (or omitted before) an upgrade. See also proposed-updates, stable-updates.

Upgrade
Can mean:
  • In Debian package management, the process of installing newer versions of a set of binary packages (by default, an upgrade affects all packages that have newer candidates available).

  • In apt specifically, the kind of upgrade that only fetches and installs new versions of packages, without changing the list of installed packages (so for instance a package whose new version has extra dependencies would be left unupgraded). Compare dist-upgrade, and aptitude's safe-upgrade.

Upload

Putting a package into (the appropriate queue for) a repository, usually meaning on ftp-master.

Uploaded

A wanna-build state.

Uploaders

An optional field in control files listing any co-maintainers for a package besides the primary Maintainer (each of which has upload privileges).

Urgency

A ranking system for uploads, indicating how important it is for the new version to reach the archives, and ranging from low to critical. See Debian Policy.

User
A term with various potentially confusing senses (not Debian-specific):
  • An actual human being currently logged into the system.
  • Any service recipient (including for instance remote processes accessing a web server).
  • An account, which may belong to a user in the first sense or just be a "system" account.
  • In chmod(1), the specific user (in the above sense) with ownership of a file.

  • Any normal, unprivileged account (thus "as a user" versus "as root").

  • Any normal, non-technical human user, likely also to be a user in the above sense.

The name of the top-level /usr directory was also originally short for "user" (since at the time home directories lived there).

Username

The string (corresponding to a numeric uid) that identifies a user to the system. Ambiguous when written as "user name" - root is a username; "Professor Sam Q. McRandom" is a user name.

Userspace

(Of a process) Running outside the kernel; everything up to and including init(1) is a user process in this sense. Ambiguous when written as "user space" (which may mean storage capacity available to users).

V

Virtual package

A binary package name that doesn't correspond to any .deb file. It may have no version or it may have a version. This can occur in several ways, mostly involving packages declaring "Provides: foo" or "Provides: foo (= N)" where multiple implementations of "foo" are supported via the alternatives system. The terminology used by APT distinguishes:

  • "pure" virtual packages: "foo-gnome" and "foo-kde" exist but "foo" itself is only a cover term;
  • "single" virtual packages: degenerate cases of the above where only one implementation declaring "Provides: foo" exists (so the "Provides:" functions more like an "Alias:");
  • "mixed" virtual packages: as well as the alternatives with "Provides: foo" there's also a real package named "foo";
  • ghost packages: former packages (real or virtual) that now exist only as names mentioned in dependencies.

Volatile

Roughly speaking, the old name for the Stable Updates suite.

W

Wanna-build

A tool forming part of the autobuild system that maintains a database of the build status of packages; see definitions.

WaT or WAT

"Where are They?" or "Where Art Thou?" (depending on which era of the acronym we are talking about). The process of trying to get in touch with inactive Debian members and eventually removing their membership or getting them active again.

Wheezy

The codename for Debian 7, release date: 2013.

Wishlist

The lowest bug severity (which can include things that aren't literally bugs at all).

WNPP

Short for "Work-Needing and Prospective Packages" - a pseudo-package used to collect reports of packages (and potential packages) in need of (new) maintainers in Debian. See ITP, O, RFA, RFH, RFP.

Woody

The codename for Debian 3.0, release date: 2002.

X

X32

A new port (not yet a release architecture but available via debports) using the Linux kernel on amd64-style (x86-64) hardware, but saving overhead by using a 32-bit pointer size.

X Strike Force (XSF)

The team responsible for maintaining packages for the X Window System in Debian.

Y

Yada
"Yet Another Debianization Aid", a (former) packaging tool, now deprecated and removed.

Z

Zurg

A character from the Toy Story series not yet used as a codename for a Debian release.

. (dot)

.changes

The file extension used for a Debian changes file, which is a particular format of control file used by the Debian archive maintenance software to process updates to packages.

.ddeb

The file extension used for Ubuntu automatic debug packages, implemented in Debian as dbgsym packages.

.deb

The file extension used for the standard installable binary package format used by Debian-based distributions.

.d.o, .d.n, .dc.o

Short for ".debian.org", ".debian.net" and ".debconf.org". Examples: "wiki.d.o", "lists.d.o".

Sometimes all elements are abbreviated, as in p.d.o, which may mean either packages.debian.org or planet.debian.org. Sometimes even the dots are left out as in debian-www@ldo for debian-www@lists.debian.org.

libolla offers some support for such abbreviated domain names.

.dsc

The file extension used for a Debian Source Control file, which is a particular format of control file forming a crucial component of a source-package.

.tdeb

The file extension used for (proposed) separate translation packages - see Dep-4.

.udeb

The file extension used for special binary packages containing Debian-Installer modules, not intended for installation on a normal system.