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Debian Developer's Reference
Chapter 1 - Scope of This Document

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the recommended procedures and the available resources for Debian developers.

The procedures discussed within include how to become a maintainer (Applying to Become a Maintainer, Chapter 2); how to upload new packages (Package uploads, Chapter 6); how and when to do ports and interim releases of other maintainers' packages (Non-Maintainer Uploads (NMUs), Chapter 7); how to move, remove, or orphan packages (Moving, Removing, Renaming, Adopting, and Orphaning Packages, Chapter 9); and how to handle bug reports (Handling Bugs, Chapter 10).

The resources discussed in this reference include the mailing lists and servers (Mailing Lists, Servers, and Other Machines, Chapter 4); a discussion of the structure of the Debian archive (The Debian Archive, Chapter 5); explanation of the different servers which accept package uploads (Uploading to ftp-master, Section 6.5.1); and a discussion of resources which can help maintainers with the quality of their packages (Overview of Debian Maintainer Tools, Chapter 12).

It should be clear that this reference does not discuss the technical details of the Debian package nor how to generate Debian packages. Nor does this reference detail the standards to which Debian software must comply. All of such information can be found in the Debian Policy Manual.

Furthermore, this document is not an expression of formal policy. It contains documentation for the Debian system and generally agreed-upon best practices. Thus, it is what is called a ``normative'' document.

Debian Developer's Reference