A Debian Pure Blend is a project completely inside of

Debian Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of D ...

targeting a server or a desktop installation in very broad and general terms. A Debian Pure Blend aims to cover interests of specialised users, who might be children, lawyers, medical staff, visually impaired people, certain academic fields, etc. The common goal of those is to make installation and administration of computers for their target users as easy as possible, and to serve in the role as the missing link between software developers and users well.

Idea

The ideas behind Debian Pure Blends are * providing an out-of-the-box working solution (i.e. some useful collection of software from the Debian pool for the designated target group of specialists) for end-users * providing a frame in which specialists can better channelize their efforts of sustaining a software ecosystem for their field The Debian 8 "Jessie" release consists of approximately 43,000 software packages. Therefore, without knowing the specific name of a given application, it can be difficult for a user to find packages matching their needs. This is particularly an issue when the name of the software doesn't make its function clear.

Technical

Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...

that is configured to support a particular target group out-of-the-box. All changes and improvements are integrated to the official Debian repositories. A Debian Pure Blend can contain multiple flavors (or profiles) (e.g., Debian Edu has flavors for main-server, workstation, and thin-client-server). Technically a Debian Pure Blend builds a set of metapackages and provides an overview about the packages which are included and which are on the todo list for further inclusion. Both pages are rendered from the information inside the tasks files in an SVN. Most of the distributions based on Debian, like for example

Knoppix KNOPPIX ( ) is an operating system based on Debian designed to be run directly from a CD / DVD (Live CD) or a USB flash drive (Live USB), one of the first live operating system distributions (just after Yggdrasil Linux). Knoppix was developed b ...

or Sacix, are not Debian Pure Blends, and

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: ''Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All the ...

is not even binary compatible with Debian.

Linux Mint Debian Edition Linux Mint is a community-driven Linux distribution based on Ubuntu (which is in turn based on Debian), bundled with a variety of free and open-source applications. It can provide full out-of-the-box multimedia support for those who choose to i ...

is binary compatible with Debian, but is also not a Debian Pure Blend.

Existing Debian Pure Blends

* Debian Junior: Debian for children "from 1 to 99" *

Debian-Med A Debian Pure Blend is a project completely inside of Debian targeting a server or a desktop installation in very broad and general terms. A Debian Pure Blend aims to cover interests of specialised users, who might be children, lawyers, medical st ...

: Debian in Health Care * Debian Edu: Debian for Education * Debian GIS: Debian with many

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...

-Packages, e.g. GRASS GIS,

QGIS QGIS is a free and open-source cross-platform desktop geographic information system (GIS) application that supports viewing, editing, printing, and analysis of geospatial data. Functionality QGIS functions as geographic information system (GIS ...

, GPSPrune, QLandkarteGT, et al. * Debian Astro: Debian for professional and amateur astronomers * DebiChem: Debian for chemists * Hamradio: Debian for radio amateurs * Debian Accessibility * Debian Science * Debian Accessibility Project *

FreedomBox FreedomBox is a free software home server operating system based on Debian, backed by the FreedomBox Foundation. Launched in 2010, FreedomBox has grown from a software system to an ecosystem including a DIY community as well as some commercial p ...

Debian-Med

The Debian Med project is a Debian Pure Blend created to provide a co-ordinated

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

and collection of available

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

packages that are well-suited for the requirements for medical practices and

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...

. Debian Med does not create or program software, but integrates software available under a license conforming to the

DFSG The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) is a set of guidelines that the Debian Project uses to determine whether a software license is a free software license, which in turn is used to determine whether a piece of software can be included in De ...

into Debian and also extends Debian to be a better platform for this field of interest. The Debian Software Repositories contain over 51,000 packages. Debian Med serves as a magnifying lens to categorize all those packages, that as suited for the field of medicine.

References

External links

Detailed paper about Debian Pure BlendsDebian Wiki Blends articleBlends mailing listDebian-med
*
Debian Med talks
*
Wiki page
with further information for users and developers. {{Free healthcare software Debian-based distributions Linux distributions