Ian Jackson is a longtime
free software
Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...
author and
Debian
Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...
developer. Jackson wrote
dpkg
dpkg is the software at the base of the package management system in the free software, free operating system Debian and its numerous Debian family, derivatives. dpkg is used to install, remove, and provide information about deb (file format), . ...
(replacing a more primitive Perl tool with the same name), SAUCE (Software Against Unsolicited Commercial Email), userv and
debbugs. He used to maintain the
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
FAQ. He run
chiark.greenend.org.uk a Linux system which is home to
PuTTY
PuTTY () is a free and open-source terminal emulator, serial console and network file transfer application. It supports several network protocols, including SCP, SSH, Telnet, rlogin, and raw socket connection. It can also connect to a se ...
among other things.
As of October 2021, he works for the
Tor Project. He has previously worked for
Citrix,
Canonical
The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, ''canonical exampl ...
, and
nCipher.
Jackson became
Debian Project Leader in January 1998, and Wichert Akkerman took his place in 1999.
Debian GNU/Linux 2.0 (hamm) was released during his term. During that time he was also a vice-president and then president of
Software in the Public Interest
Software in the Public Interest, Inc. (SPI) is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization domiciled in New York State formed to help other organizations create and distribute free open-source software and open-source hardware. Anyone is eligible to ...
in 1998 and 1999.
Jackson received a PhD in
Computer Science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
from
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in 1998. His PhD thesis was entitled ''Who goes here ? Confidentiality of location through anonymity''.
Jackson was a member of the Debian Technical Committee until November 2014 when he resigned as a result of controversies around the proposed use of
systemd
systemd is a software suite that provides an array of system components for Linux operating systems. The main aim is to unify service configuration and behavior across Linux distributions. Its primary component is a "system and service manage ...
in Debian.
Additional works
*
authbind (1998), an
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
system utility
References
External links
Ian Jackson's home page
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge
Computer programmers
Debian Project leaders
GNU people
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