The Debian Administrator's Handbook will guide you on your way to autonomy. It could only be written by authors who master both the technical aspects and the inner workings of the Debian project, and who know the needs of seasoned professionals as well as enthusiasts. Raphaël Hertzog and Roland Mas had the required qualities and managed to create and update this book. I thank them very much for their work and have no doubt that reading this book will be both helpful and pleasant.
Nat Makarevitch (PGP/GPG fingerprint: 2010 4A02 9C0E 7D1F 5631 ADF0 453C 4549 0230 D602)
Foreword
Linux has been garnering strength for the last few years, and its growing popularity drives more and more users to make the jump. The first step on that path is to pick a distribution. This is an important decision, because each distribution has its own peculiarities, and future migration costs can be avoided if the right choice is made from the start.
BACK TO BASICS Linux distribution, Linux kernel
Strictly speaking, Linux is only a kernel, the core piece of software sitting between the hardware and the applications.
A “Linux distribution” is a full operating system; it usually includes the Linux kernel, an installer program, and most importantly applications and other software required to turn a computer into an actually useful tool.
Debian GNU/Linux is a “generic” Linux distribution that fits most users. The purpose of this book is to show its many aspects so you can make an informed decision when choosing.
1. Why This Book?
CULTURE Commercial distributions
Most Linux distributions are backed by a for-profit company that develops them and sells them under some kind of commercial scheme. Examples include Ubuntu, mainly developed by Canonical Ltd.; Mandriva Linux, by French company Mandriva SA; and Suse Linux, maintained and made commercially available by Novell.
At the other end of the spectrum lie the likes of Debian and the Apache Software Foundation (which hosts the development for the Apache web server). Debian is above all a project in the Free Software world, implemented by volunteers working together through the Internet.
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 <hertzog@debian.org> (Raphaël) and <lolando@debian.org> (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.
The next chapters will be a more detailed tour of the system, starting with basic infrastructure and services (chapters 8 to 10) and going progressively up the stack to reach the user applications in chapter 13. Chapter 12 deals with more advanced subjects that will most directly concern administrators of large sets of computers (including servers), while chapter 14 is a brief introduction to the wider subject of computer security and gives a few keys to avoid most problems.