Ian Jackson is a longtime

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 ...

author and

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 ...

developer. Jackson wrote

dpkg dpkg is the software at the base of the package management system in the free operating system Debian and its numerous derivatives. dpkg is used to install, remove, and provide information about .deb packages. dpkg (Debian Package) itself is a ...

(replacing a more primitive Perl tool with the same name), SAUCE (Software Against Unsolicited Commercial Email), userv and

debbugs Debbugs is the software powering the Debian project's issue tracking system. Uniquely it doesn't have any form of web-interface to edit bug reports all modification is done through email. Debbugs was mainly written by Ian Jackson, former Debian p ...

. He used to maintain the

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

FAQ. He run
chiark.greenend.org.uk
a Linux system which is home to

PuTTY Putty is a material with high plasticity, similar in texture to clay or dough, typically used in domestic construction and repair as a sealant or filler. Although some types of putty (typically those using linseed oil) slowly polymerise and be ...

among other things. Jackson has a PhD in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. As of October 2021, he works for the Tor Project. He has previously worked for

Citrix Citrix Systems, Inc. is an American multinational cloud computing and virtualization technology company that provides server, application and desktop virtualization, networking, software as a service (SaaS), and cloud computing technologies. C ...

for

Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. is a UK-based privately held computer software company founded and funded by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth to market commercial support and related services for Ubuntu and related projects. Canonical employs staff ...

and nCipher Corporation. Jackson became

Debian Project Leader This is a chronological list of Debian project leaders. Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open-source software primarily under the GNU General Public License, developed by a group of individual ...

in January 1998, before 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 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. Its main aim is to unify service configuration and behavior across Linux distributions; Its primary component is a "system and service manager ...

in Debian.

Additional works

authbind authbind is an open-source system utility written by Ian Jackson and is distributed under the GNU General Public License. The authbind software allows a program that would normally require superuser privileges to access privileged network s ...

(1998), an

Open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

system utility

References

External links

Ian's home page
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Computer programmers Debian Project leaders GNU people {{compu-bio-stub