Introduction to the Debian mailing lists ======================================== Most of the the conversation between Debian developers and users is managed through several mailing lists. Debian GNU/Linux is developed through distributed development all around the world. Therefore email is the preferred way to discuss various items. There are several world-open mailing lists while there are also some lists which are only open to active developers. Please don't interpret this as closed development, everyone is encouraged to help development of debian and to spread the word of free software. On the other hand it doesn't make much sense discussing internal topics with non-developers. All original Debian mailing lists run on a special server with a mail transport agent that is optimized for lists. This host is called lists.debian.org. All submission, subscription and unsubscription messages have to go to this host. The language used on all lists is English unless stated otherwise. There are some user lists for other languages available. Subscription / Unsubscription ----------------------------- Our lists are served by Smartlist. This results in a comfortable way to manage them. If the subscription policy for a particular list is `open' anyone is able to subscribe/unsubscribe on their own. *NO* subscription or unsubscription messages should be sent to the lists address, but to a special control address which is slightly different from the lists address. To subscribe or unsubscribe to such a list, please send mail to -REQUEST@lists.debian.org with the word `subscribe' or `unsubscribe' as subject. Please remember the -REQUEST inside of the name. If you need to contact a human listmaster, direct your mail to listmaster@debian.org or listmaster@va.debian.org . These are two different machines in case one is offline. To find out who is responsible for the lists, take a look at http://www.debian.org/devel/maintainer_contacts.html . User lists There are several user based mailing lists where developers and users can get in contact to discuss and solve problems. debian-user@lists.debian.org Description : This is the main mailing list for all users and developers of Debian GNU/Linux systems. Many developers also follow the threads and step in to help every now and then. Digest : debian-user-digest@lists.debian.org Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-isp@lists.debian.org Description : This list discusses issues and problems specific to Internet Service Providers (ISP for short). Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-mirrors@lists.debian.org Description : Important changes of the ftp archive are announced here to give archive maintainers a chance to take care of their archives. Moderated : yes Subscription: open debian-announce@lists.debian.org Description : News and important changes in the project are announced here. Moderated : yes Subscription: open debian-security-announce@lists.debian.org Description : The security team informs the users about security problems here. Mainly security advisories covering fixed packages are released. Moderated : yes Subscription: open debian-news@lists.debian.org Description : General news about the distribution and the project. Moderated : yes Subscription: open debian-changes@lists.debian.org Description : Changes to the releases are announced here. This includes security upgrades as well as important bugfixes. Digest : debian-changes-digest@lists.debian.org Moderated : yes Subscription: open Development lists There are several lists on which developers and experienced users discuss more technical issues. In addition, there are some announcement lists to help experienced users keep track of development. debian-testing@lists.debian.org Description : This list finds problems with the next Debian release. This includes: trying the installation, trying the upgrade, and testing individual packages. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-consultants@lists.debian.org Description : This list is intended to help Debian GNU/Linux consultants communicate with each other. Moderated : no Subscription: closed debian-legal@lists.debian.org Description : Subject of this list are discussions about legality issues such as copyrights. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-pilot@lists.debian.org Description : This list is not for people who drive airplanes, but for the 3COM Pilot palmtop. GPL works for it and there is some significant free software that can work with Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-mentors@lists.debian.org Description : This list is for newbie maintainers who seek help with initial packaging and other developer-related issues. Those who prefer one-on-one help should also post to the list, and an experienced developer will volunteer. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-beowulf@lists.debian.org Description : This list covers discussion about Beowulf system running Debian GNU. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-devel-announce@lists.debian.org Description : Announcements of development issues like policy changes, important release issues &c. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-vote@lists.debian.org Description : Proposals, discussions and announcements related to Official Debian Votes. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-snapshots@lists.debian.org Description : This list is for developers who are interested in building an automated system for generating "snapshot" Debian packages on a regular basis from upstream snapshots or CVS sources. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-cd@lists.debian.org Description : Creating Debian CDs is subject of this list. Moderated : yes Subscription: open debian-admin@lists.debian.org Description : This is our internal list used for administering the Debian machine park. Moderated : no Subscription: closed deity@lists.debian.org Description : Debian GNU/Linux will get a new, friendly frontend to its package maintenance system. Its codename is deity (now known as APT) and its development is discussed here. The -digest is open to everyone. Digest : deity-digest@lists.debian.org Moderated : no Subscription: deity-developers only debian-devel@lists.debian.org Description : This is the main discussion list for development topics. All developers should be subscribed to this list. As it is open to the public anyone can join the discussion. Digest : debian-devel-digest@lists.debian.org Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-devel-changes@lists.debian.org Description : Postings about new uploads, processed packages &c. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-ctte-private@lists.debian.org Description : Private communication between tech committee members. Moderated : no Subscription: Debian Technical Committee only debian-private@lists.debian.org Description : This list covers developer-to-developer issues. It is the main communication media for all developers. It's only supposed to be used for politically or technically sensitive discussions. Anything sent there should be treated as sensitive and not to be spread to other lists; thus cross-posting between it and an open list defeats the purpose of the list. Moderated : no Subscription: developers only debian-www-cvs@lists.debian.org Description : This list only distributes CSV commit logs for the Debian web pages which are CVS controlled. This list allows people who are interested in the logs to get the notifications. Moderated : yes Subscription: open debian-glibc@lists.debian.org Description : The C library, or libc is the most important library on a UNIX-like system. This list is for discussion of matters related to the Debian packaging of GNU libc. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-www@lists.debian.org Description : The design, structure and translation of our webpages are discussed here. If important changes are in progress they're discussed on this list first Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-admintool@lists.debian.org Description : The topic for this list is an administration tool for Debian. This tool should be able to maintain most of the configuration files that come with the packages. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-hams@lists.debian.org Description : Support for HAMRadio within Debian GNU/Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-policy@lists.debian.org Description : Debian Policy is the topic of this list. Changes are discussed here before they are implemented. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-qa@lists.debian.org Description : Quality assurance is important for a distribution. This list addresses this quality. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-publicity@lists.debian.org Description : This list prepares press releases and discusses them before they get released and translated. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-firewall@lists.debian.org Description : This list is for discussion of implementation and maintenance of firewalls using Debian. Both basic issues and new more exotic developments are discussed here. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-freshmeat@lists.debian.org Description : This is a list for discussion of the Deb Freshmeat Repository (DFMR) and announcement of new .debs that have been uploaded to the DFMR. The DFMR team is a group of Debian developers that package applications (or upload existing ones) in Freshmeat's appendix for the Freshmeat repository. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-python@lists.debian.org Description : Discussion of issues related to Python on Debian systems with an stress on packaging standards. Therefore relevant for maintainers of Python related packages. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-dpkg@lists.debian.org Description : The program dpkg is the main tool for package maintenance within the distribution. This list contains discussions about it, especially on technical matters. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-email@lists.debian.org Description : The intention of this list is to act as a grab-bag for Debian related correspondence such as contacting upstream authors about licenses, bugs etc. or discussing the project with others where it might be useful to have the discussion archived somewhere. This is archived on the development machine and only developers have access to it. Moderated : no Subscription: developers only debian-autobuild@lists.debian.org Description : This list is used for discussions on auto-compile tools and systems that will build the distribution. Autobuild routines help in porting the distribution to other architectures. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-ctte@lists.debian.org Description : Public meeting, business and announcements of the Debian Technical Committee Moderated : yes Subscription: open debian-doc@lists.debian.org Description : Documentation of different parts of the system addressed on this list. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-faq@lists.debian.org Description : Various topics concerning the FAQ are discussed on this list. Moderated : no Subscription: open Internationalization and Translations These lists cover user and i18n concerns in non-english languages. debian-l10n-spanish@lists.debian.org Description : This list is used to discuss localization issues, mainly about translating Debian docs and programs to Spanish. Language : Spanish Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-i18n@lists.debian.org Description : Internationalization (i18n) of the distribution is discussed here. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-user-spanish@lists.debian.org Description : This list is used to provide support for Spanish speaking users of Debian GNU/Linux. Language : Spanish Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-user-portugese@lists.debian.org Description : This list is used to give Portuguese-speaking users of Debian sub-projects (not only GNU/Linux) a forum to to some work together, ranging from internationalization to advocacy (ala debian-publicity) to translation of the website to user support (ala debian-user) and even the occasional project-internal flamewar (ala debian-devel). Language : Portuguese (both European and Brazilian, and other dialects are welcome) Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-french@lists.debian.org Description : Native French speaking users of Debian GNU/Linux discuss various topics on this list. Language : French Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-italian@lists.debian.org Description : This list supports native Italian speaking users of Debian GNU/Linux. Language : Italian Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-user-de@jfl.de Description : This mailing list is the main mailing list for German speaking users. To subscribe to the list send "subscribe debian-user-de" to majordomo@jfl.de To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe debian-user-de" to the same address. Language : german Moderated : no Subscription: open Ports to non-i386 architectures Debian GNU/Linux is ported to several other systems. debian-mips@lists.debian.org Description : Discussions on the MIPS port of Debian GNU/Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-68k@lists.debian.org Description : Discussions on the m68k port of Debian GNU/Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-hurd@lists.debian.org Description : This list is for discussion of the port of Debian to the Hurd (GNU) operating system. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-ultralinux@lists.debian.org Description : Discussion on the Sparc64 (known as ultrasparc) port for Debian GNU/Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-sparc@lists.debian.org Description : Discussions on the SPARC port of Debian GNU/Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-arm@lists.debian.org Description : Discussion on the ARM (esp. Corel Netwinder) port for Debian GNU/Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-powerpc@lists.debian.org Description : Discussion on the PowerPC port of Debian GNU/Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open win32@lists.debian.org Description : This list is about porting the Debian distribution to Win32 systems... (hence Debian GNU/Win32) Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-alpha@lists.debian.org Description : Discussion on the Alpha port of Debian GNU/Linux. Moderated : no Subscription: open The Bugtracking System The bugtracking system for Debian GNU/Linux is open to the public. It produces a lot of mail that might be of general interest for some users and developers. Therefore some forwarding lists were created to distribute mail from the bugtracking system. debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org Description : All submitted bug reports as well as further information on them are distributed here. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-bugs-reports@lists.debian.org Description : This lists distribute the weekly bugs reports Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-bugs-closed@lists.debian.org Description : This list notifies its subscribers when bugs are closed. Moderated : no Subscription: open debian-bugs-forwarded@lists.debian.org Description : The mail that forwards bugs to their upstream author is distributed via this list. Moderated : no Subscription: open Lists hosted for other projects Our listserver provides listserver facilities for other free projects as well. mptools-devel@lists.debian.org Description : Developer list for the mpTOOLS project, multi-platform tools in Java. See http://members.tripod.com/~mpTOOLS/dev.html Moderated : no Subscription: open zinc-devel@lists.debian.org Description : This list is used to discuss development of the game Zinc. See http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~olet/zinc.html if you want more info on Zinc. This list will probably be useful only for the Zinc-team. Moderated : no Subscription: open berlin-reports@lists.debian.org Description : This list is a bag for automatic generated mails from the Berlin development tools: CVS and Bugs Moderated : yes Subscription: open lsb-spec@lists.debian.org Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) written standard list. While this is an open list, non-committee members are encouraged to lurk quietly. Moderated : no Subscription: open other-gnomehack@lists.debian.org Description : GNOMEhack is a GNOME graphical front-end to Nethack. This list is used to discuss development of it. See http://www.inconnect.com/~andersen/erik/gnomehack/gnomehack.html if you want more information. Moderated : no Subscription: open lcs-eng@lists.debian.org Description : List used by the "Linux Compatibility Standard" committee to discuss issues relating to defining this standard. While this is an open list, non-committee members are encouraged to lurk quietly. Moderated : no Subscription: open lsb-discuss@lists.debian.org Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) general discussion. While this is an open list, non-committee members are encouraged to lurk quietly. Moderated : no Subscription: open lsb-test@lists.debian.org Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) test suite list. While this is an open list, non-committee members are encouraged to lurk quietly. Moderated : no Subscription: open other-vgui-discuss@lists.debian.org Description : The V C++ GUI Framework - an object-oriented GUI library for X, Win32 and OS/2. V is licensed under the GNU LGPL. The web page is at http://www.objectcentral.com/ . Moderated : no Subscription: open berlin-design@lists.debian.org Description : Developer list for the Berlin Consortium. See also http://www.berlin-consortium.org/ Moderated : no Subscription: open other-sart@lists.debian.org Description : SART is a free raytracer that uses Guile extension language and is distributed under GPL. This list is intended to discuss anything related to SART, as well as to post announcements. The SART website is at http://petra.zesoi.fer.hr/~silovic/sart/ . Moderated : no Subscription: open lsb-impl@lists.debian.org Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) sample implementation list. While this is an open list, non-committee members are encouraged to lurk quietly. Moderated : no Subscription: open spi-email@lists.debian.org Description : The intention of this list is to act as a bag for SPI-related correspondence such as contacting vendors etc. or discussing the project with others where it might be useful to have the discussion archived somewhere. This is being archived on the development site and only SPI members have access to it. Moderated : no Subscription: developers only lsb-vendor@lists.debian.org Description : LSB vendor forum. Moderated : no Subscription: closed lsb-eng@lists.debian.org Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) uses it to discuss issues relating to defining this standard. Moderated : no Subscription: closed Mailing list advertising policy ------------------------------- This policy is intended to fight mailing-list "spamming". The Debian Linux mailing lists accept commercial advertising for payment. We offer a fee waiver if you can show us the canceled check for a $1000 (U.S.) or more donation to "Software in the Public Interest" (SPI). One donation per advertisement, please. If you don't wish to donate, simply post your advertisement to the list, and the operator of the mailing lists will bill you $1999 (U.S). The list operator will donate this amount, minus the expense of collecting it, to SPI. Please note that the lists are distributed automatically - messages are generally not read or checked in any way before they are distributed. By the act of posting your advertisement you agree to accept responsibility for the fee, you agree to indemnify the mailing-list operator against any legal claims from you or others in connection with your advertisement, and you agree to pay any legal and business expenses incurred in collecting late payment. Our liability to you is limited to a good-faith effort to deliver your message. Reduced rates and/or waiver of fee are available for Debian-related advertisements. You must consult the mailing-list operator in advance of posting for any reduction or fee waiver.