
{#meta#:
<meta name="keywords" content="social contract, dfsg, social contract,
dfsg, dfsg, debian social contract, dfsg">
:#meta#}


<p>Version 1.2 ratified on October 1st, 2022.</p>

<p>Supersedes
<a href="social_contract.1.1">Version 1.1</a> ratified on April 26th, 2004,
and <a href="social_contract.1.0">Version 1.0</a> ratified on July 5, 1997.
</p>

<p>Debian, the producers of the Debian system, have created the
<strong>Debian Social Contract</strong>. The <a href="#guidelines">Debian Free Software
Guidelines (DFSG)</a> part of the contract, initially designed
as a set of commitments that we agree to abide by, has been adopted by
the free software community as the basis of the
<a href="https://opensource.org/docs/osd">Open Source Definition</a>.</p>

<hr />
    <h2><q>Social Contract</q> with the Free Software Community</h2>

    <ol>
      <li>
	<strong>Debian will remain 100% free</strong>
	<p>
	  We provide the guidelines that we use to determine if a work
	  is <q><em>free</em></q> in the document entitled <q><cite>The Debian Free
	  Software Guidelines</cite></q>. We promise that the Debian system and
	  all its components will be free according to these
	  guidelines. We will support people who create or use both
	  free and non-free works on Debian. We will never make the
	  system require the use of a non-free component.
	</p>
      </li>
      <li><strong>We will give back to the free software community</strong>
	<p>
	  When we write new components of the Debian system, we will
	  license them in a manner consistent with the Debian Free
	  Software Guidelines.  We will make the best system we can,
	  so that free works will be widely distributed and used.  We
	  will communicate things such as bug fixes, improvements and
	  user requests to the <q><em>upstream</em></q> authors of works
	  included in our system.
	</p>
      </li>
      <li><strong>We will not hide problems</strong>
	<p>
	  We will keep our entire bug report database open for public
	  view at all times. Reports that people file online will
	  promptly become visible to others.
	</p>
      </li>
      <li><strong>Our priorities are our users and free software</strong>
	<p>
	  We will be guided by the needs of our users and the free
	  software community. We will place their interests first in
	  our priorities. We will support the needs of our users for
	  operation in many different kinds of computing
	  environments. We will not object to non-free works that are
	  intended to be used on Debian systems, or attempt to charge
	  a fee to people who create or use such works. We will allow
	  others to create distributions containing both the Debian
	  system and other works, without any fee from us. In
	  furtherance of these goals, we will provide an integrated
	  system of high-quality materials with no legal restrictions
	  that would prevent such uses of the system.
	</p>
      </li>
      <li><strong>Works that do not meet our free software standards</strong>
	<p>
	  We acknowledge that some of our users require the use of
	  works that do not conform to the Debian Free Software
	  Guidelines. We have created <q><code>contrib</code></q> and
	  <q><code>non-free</code></q> areas in our archive for these
	  works. The packages in these areas are not part of the
	  Debian system, although they have been configured for use
	  with Debian. We encourage CD manufacturers to read the
	  licenses of the packages in these areas and determine if
	  they can distribute the packages on their CDs. Thus,
	  although non-free works are not a part of Debian, we support
	  their use and provide infrastructure for non-free packages
	  (such as our bug tracking system and mailing lists). The Debian
          official media may include firmware that is otherwise not part
          of the Debian system to enable use of Debian with hardware that
          requires such firmware.
	</p>
      </li>
    </ol>
<hr />
<h2 id="guidelines">The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG)</h2>
<ol>
   <li><p><strong>Free Redistribution</strong></p>
     <p>The license of a Debian component may not restrict any
     party from selling or giving away the software as a
     component of an aggregate software distribution containing
     programs from several different sources. The license may not
     require a royalty or other fee for such sale.</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>Source Code</strong></p>
     <p>The program must include source code, and must allow
     distribution in source code as well as compiled
     form.</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>Derived Works</strong></p>
     <p>The license must allow modifications and derived works, and
     must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as
     the license of the original software.</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>Integrity of The Author's Source Code</strong></p>
     <p>The license may restrict source-code from being distributed
     in modified form <strong>only</strong> if the license allows
     the distribution of <q><tt>patch files</tt></q> with the source
     code for the purpose of modifying the program at build
     time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of
     software built from modified source code. The license may
     require derived works to carry a different name or version
     number from the original software.  (<em>This is a
     compromise. The Debian group encourages all authors not to
     restrict any files, source or binary, from being
     modified.</em>)</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups</strong></p>
     <p>The license must not discriminate against any person or
     group of persons.</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor</strong></p>
     <p>The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the
     program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may
     not restrict the program from being used in a business, or
     from being used for genetic research.</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>Distribution of License</strong></p>
     <p>The rights attached to the program must apply to all to
     whom the program is redistributed without the need for
     execution of an additional license by those
     parties.</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>License Must Not Be Specific to Debian</strong></p>
     <p>The rights attached to the program must not depend on the
     program's being part of a Debian system. If the program is
     extracted from Debian and used or distributed without Debian
     but otherwise within the terms of the program's license, all
     parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the
     same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with
     the Debian system.</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>License Must Not Contaminate Other Software</strong></p>
     <p>The license must not place restrictions on other software
     that is distributed along with the licensed
     software. For example, the license must not insist that all
     other programs distributed on the same medium must be free
     software.</p></li>
   <li><p><strong>Example Licenses</strong></p>
     <p>The <q><strong><a href="https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GPL</a></strong></q>,
     <q><strong><a href="https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause">BSD</a></strong></q>, and
     <q><strong><a href="https://perldoc.perl.org/perlartistic.html">Artistic</a></strong></q>
     licenses are examples of licenses that we consider <q><em>free</em></q>.</p></li>
</ol>

<p><em>The concept of stating our <q>social contract with the free
software community</q> was suggested by Ean Schuessler. This document
was drafted by Bruce Perens, refined by the other Debian developers
during a month-long e-mail conference in June 1997, and then
<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-announce/debian-announce-1997/msg00017.html">\
accepted</a> as the publicly stated policy of the Debian Project.</em></p>

<p><em>Bruce Perens later removed the Debian-specific references from the
Debian Free Software Guidelines to create
<a href="https://opensource.org/docs/definition.php"><q>The Open
Source Definition</q></a>.</em></p>

<p><em>Other organizations may derive from and build on this document.
Please give credit to the Debian project if you do.</em></p>
