                  Introduction to the Debian mailing lists
                  ========================================

  Most of the the conversation between Debian developers and users is
  managed through several mailing lists.  Debian GNU/Linux is
  developed through distributed development all around the world.
  Therefore email is the preferred way to discuss various items.

  There are several world-open mailing lists while there are also some
  lists which are only open to active developers.  Please don't
  interpret this as closed development, everyone is encouraged to help
  development of debian and to spread the word of free software.
  On the other hand it doesn't make much sense discussing internal
  topics with non-developers.

  All original Debian mailing lists run on a special server with a
  mail transport agent that is optimized for lists.  This host is
  called lists.debian.org.  All submission, subscription and
  unsubscription messages have to go to this host.

  The language used on all lists is English unless stated otherwise.
  There are some user lists for other languages available.

Subscription / Unsubscription
-----------------------------

  Our lists are served by Smartlist.  This results in a comfortable
  way to manage them.  If the subscription policy for a
  particular list is `open' anyone is able to subscribe/unsubscribe
  on their own.

  *NO* subscription or unsubscription messages should be sent to the
  lists address, but to a special control address which is
  slightly different from the lists address.  To subscribe or
  unsubscribe to such a list, please send mail to

  <listname>-REQUEST@lists.debian.org

  with the word `subscribe' or `unsubscribe' as subject.

  Please remember the -REQUEST inside of the name.

  If you need to contact a human listmaster, direct your mail to
  listmaster@debian.org or listmaster@va.debian.org .  These are two
  different machines in case one is offline.  To find out who
  is responsible for the lists, take a look at
  http://www.debian.org/devel/maintainer_contacts.html .

User lists

  There are several user based mailing lists where developers and
  users can get in contact to discuss and solve problems. 

  debian-user@lists.debian.org

      Description : This is the main mailing list for all users and
                    developers of Debian GNU/Linux systems.  Many
                    developers also follow the threads and step in
                    to help every now and then.
      Digest      : debian-user-digest@lists.debian.org
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-isp@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list discusses issues and problems specific to
                    Internet Service Providers (ISP for short).
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-mirrors@lists.debian.org

      Description : Important changes of the ftp archive are announced
                    here to give archive maintainers a chance to take
                    care of their archives.
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

  debian-announce@lists.debian.org

      Description : News and important changes in the project are announced
                    here.
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

  debian-security-announce@lists.debian.org

      Description : The security team informs the users about security problems here.
                    Mainly security advisories covering fixed packages are released.
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

  debian-news@lists.debian.org

      Description : General news about the distribution and the project.
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

  debian-changes@lists.debian.org

      Description : Changes to the releases are announced here.  This
                    includes security upgrades as well as important
                    bugfixes.
      Digest      : debian-changes-digest@lists.debian.org
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

Development lists

  There are several lists on which developers and experienced
  users discuss more technical issues.  In addition, there are some
  announcement lists to help experienced users keep track of
  development.

  debian-testing@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list finds problems with the next Debian
                    release.  This includes: trying the installation,
                    trying the upgrade, and testing individual packages.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-consultants@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is intended to help Debian GNU/Linux
                    consultants communicate with each other.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: closed

  debian-legal@lists.debian.org

      Description : Subject of this list are discussions about legality
                    issues such as copyrights.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-pilot@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is not for people who drive airplanes,
                    but for the 3COM Pilot palmtop.  GPL works for it
                    and there is some significant free software that
                    can work with Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-mentors@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is for newbie maintainers who seek help
                    with initial packaging and other developer-related
                    issues.  Those who prefer one-on-one help should
                    also post to the list, and an experienced developer
                    will volunteer.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-devel-announce@lists.debian.org

      Description : Announcements of development issues like policy
                    changes, important release issues &c.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-vote@lists.debian.org

      Description : Proposals, discussions and announcements related to
                    Official Debian Votes.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-snapshots@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is for developers who are interested in
                    building an automated system for generating "snapshot"
                    Debian packages on a regular basis from upstream
                    snapshots or CVS sources.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-cd@lists.debian.org

      Description : Creating Debian CDs is subject of this list.
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

  debian-admin@lists.debian.org

      Description : This is our internal list used for administering the
                    Debian machine park.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: closed

  deity@lists.debian.org

      Description : Debian GNU/Linux will get a new, friendly frontend to
                    its package maintenance system.  Its codename is deity
                    (now known as APT) and its development is discussed here.
                    The -digest is open to everyone.
      Digest      : deity-digest@lists.debian.org
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: deity-developers only

  debian-devel@lists.debian.org

      Description : This is the main discussion list for development
                    topics.  All developers should be subscribed to this
                    list.  As it is open to the public anyone can join
                    the discussion.
      Digest      : debian-devel-digest@lists.debian.org
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-devel-changes@lists.debian.org

      Description : Postings about new uploads, processed packages &c.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-ctte-private@lists.debian.org

      Description : Private communication between tech committee members.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: Debian Technical Committee only

  debian-private@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list covers developer-to-developer
                    issues.  It is the main communication media for all
                    developers.  It's only supposed to be used for
                    politically or technically sensitive discussions.
                    Anything sent there should be treated as sensitive
                    and not to be spread to other lists; thus
                    cross-posting between it and an open list
                    defeats the purpose of the list.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: developers only

  debian-www-cvs@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list only distributes CSV commit logs for the Debian web
                    pages which are CVS controlled.  This list allows people who
                    are interested in the logs to get the notifications.
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

  debian-glibc@lists.debian.org

      Description : The C library, or libc is the most important
                    library on a UNIX-like system. This list is for
                    discussion of matters related to the Debian
                    packaging of GNU libc.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-www@lists.debian.org

      Description : The design, structure and translation of our
                    webpages are discussed here.  If important changes
                    are in progress they're discussed on this list first
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-admintool@lists.debian.org

      Description : The topic for this list is an administration tool for
                    Debian.  This tool should be able to maintain most
                    of the configuration files that come with the
                    packages.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-hams@lists.debian.org

      Description : Support for HAMRadio within Debian GNU/Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-policy@lists.debian.org

      Description : Debian Policy is the topic of this list.  Changes
                    are discussed here before they are implemented.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-qa@lists.debian.org

      Description : Quality assurance is important for a distribution.
                    This list addresses this quality.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-publicity@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list prepares press releases and discusses
                    them before they get released and translated.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-firewall@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is for discussion of implementation and
                    maintenance of firewalls using Debian.  Both basic
                    issues and new more exotic developments are discussed here.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-freshmeat@lists.debian.org

      Description : This is a list for discussion of the Deb Freshmeat
                    Repository (DFMR) and announcement of new .debs
                    that have been uploaded to the DFMR.  The DFMR
                    team is a group of Debian developers that package
                    applications (or upload existing ones) in
                    Freshmeat's appendix for the Freshmeat repository.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-python@lists.debian.org

      Description : Discussion of issues related to Python on Debian
                    systems with an stress on packaging standards.
                    Therefore relevant for maintainers of Python related
                    packages.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-dpkg@lists.debian.org

      Description : The program dpkg is the main tool for package
                    maintenance within the distribution.  This list
                    contains discussions about it, especially on
                    technical matters.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-email@lists.debian.org

      Description : The intention of this list is to act as a grab-bag for
                    Debian related correspondence such as contacting
                    upstream authors about licenses, bugs etc. or
                    discussing the project with others where it might
                    be useful to have the discussion archived
                    somewhere.

                    This is archived on the development machine and
                    only developers have access to it.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: developers only

  debian-autobuild@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is used for discussions on auto-compile
                    tools and systems that will build the
                    distribution.  Autobuild routines help in porting the
                    distribution to other architectures.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-ctte@lists.debian.org

      Description : Public meeting, business and announcements of the
                    Debian Technical Committee
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

  debian-doc@lists.debian.org

      Description : Documentation of different parts of the system
                    addressed on this list.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-faq@lists.debian.org

      Description : Various topics concerning the FAQ are discussed on
                    this list.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

Internationalization and Translations

  These lists cover user and i18n concerns in non-english languages.

  debian-l10n-spanish@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is used to discuss localization issues,
                    mainly about translating Debian docs and programs
                    to Spanish.
      Language    : Spanish
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-i18n@lists.debian.org

      Description : Internationalization (i18n) of the distribution is
                    discussed here.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-user-spanish@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is used to provide support for Spanish
                    speaking users of Debian GNU/Linux.
      Language    : Spanish
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-user-portugese@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is used to give Portuguese-speaking users
                    of Debian sub-projects (not only GNU/Linux) a forum to
                    to some work together, ranging from internationalization
                    to advocacy (ala debian-publicity) to translation of the
                    website to user support (ala debian-user) and even the
                    occasional project-internal flamewar (ala debian-devel).
      Language    : Portuguese (both European and Brazilian, and other dialects are welcome)
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-french@lists.debian.org

      Description : Native French speaking users of Debian GNU/Linux
                    discuss various topics on this list.
      Language    : French
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-italian@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list supports native Italian speaking users of
                    Debian GNU/Linux.
      Language    : Italian
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-user-de@jfl.de

      Description : This mailing list is the main mailing list for
                    German speaking users.  To subscribe to the list
                    send "subscribe debian-user-de" to majordomo@jfl.de
                    To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe debian-user-de"
                    to the same address.
      Language    : german
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

Ports to non-i386 architectures

  Debian GNU/Linux is ported to several other systems.

  debian-mips@lists.debian.org

      Description : Discussions on the MIPS port of Debian GNU/Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-68k@lists.debian.org

      Description : Discussions on the m68k port of Debian GNU/Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-hurd@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is for discussion of the port of Debian
                    to the Hurd (GNU) operating system.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-ultralinux@lists.debian.org

      Description : Discussion on the Sparc64 (known as ultrasparc) port
                    for Debian GNU/Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-sparc@lists.debian.org

      Description : Discussions on the SPARC port of Debian GNU/Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-arm@lists.debian.org

      Description : Discussion on the ARM (esp. Corel Netwinder) port
                    for Debian GNU/Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-powerpc@lists.debian.org

      Description : Discussion on the PowerPC port of Debian GNU/Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  win32@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is about porting the Debian distribution
                    to Win32 systems... (hence Debian GNU/Win32)
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-alpha@lists.debian.org

      Description : Discussion on the Alpha port of Debian GNU/Linux.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

The Bugtracking System

  The bugtracking system for Debian GNU/Linux is open to the public.  It
  produces a lot of mail that might be of general interest for some
  users and developers.  Therefore some forwarding lists were created
  to distribute mail from the bugtracking system.

  debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org

      Description : All submitted bug reports as well as further
                    information on them are distributed here.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-bugs-reports@lists.debian.org

      Description : This lists distribute the weekly bugs reports
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-bugs-closed@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list notifies its subscribers when bugs are closed.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  debian-bugs-forwarded@lists.debian.org

      Description : The mail that forwards bugs to their upstream
                    author is distributed via this list.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

Lists hosted for other projects

  Our listserver provides listserver facilities for other free
  projects as well.

  mptools-devel@lists.debian.org

      Description : Developer list for the mpTOOLS project,
                    multi-platform tools in Java.  See
                    http://members.tripod.com/~mpTOOLS/dev.html
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  zinc-devel@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is used to discuss development of the game Zinc.  See
                    http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~olet/zinc.html if you want more info
                    on Zinc. This list will probably be useful only for the Zinc-team.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  berlin-reports@lists.debian.org

      Description : This list is a bag for automatic generated mails from the
                    Berlin development tools: CVS and Bugs
      Moderated   : yes
      Subscription: open

  lsb-spec@lists.debian.org

      Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) written standard list.

                    While this is an open list, non-committee members
                    are encouraged to lurk quietly.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  other-gnomehack@lists.debian.org

      Description : GNOMEhack is a GNOME graphical front-end to Nethack.  This list is
                    used to discuss development of it.  See
                    http://www.inconnect.com/~andersen/erik/gnomehack/gnomehack.html if
                    you want more information.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  lcs-eng@lists.debian.org

      Description : List used by the "Linux Compatibility Standard"
                    committee to discuss issues relating to defining
                    this standard.

                    While this is an open list, non-committee members
                    are encouraged to lurk quietly.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  lsb-discuss@lists.debian.org

      Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) general discussion.

                    While this is an open list, non-committee members
                    are encouraged to lurk quietly.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  lsb-test@lists.debian.org

      Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) test suite list.

                    While this is an open list, non-committee members
                    are encouraged to lurk quietly.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  other-vgui-discuss@lists.debian.org

      Description : The V C++ GUI Framework - an object-oriented GUI library for X,
                    Win32 and OS/2.  V is licensed under the GNU LGPL.
                    The web page is at http://www.objectcentral.com/ .
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  berlin-design@lists.debian.org

      Description : Developer list for the Berlin Consortium.
                    See also http://www.berlin-consortium.org/
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  other-sart@lists.debian.org

      Description : SART is a free raytracer that uses Guile extension language and is
                    distributed under GPL. This list is intended to discuss anything
                    related to SART, as well as to post announcements. The SART website
                    is at http://petra.zesoi.fer.hr/~silovic/sart/ .
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  lsb-impl@lists.debian.org

      Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) sample implementation list.

                    While this is an open list, non-committee members
                    are encouraged to lurk quietly.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: open

  spi-email@lists.debian.org

      Description : The intention of this list is to act as a bag for
                    SPI-related correspondence such as contacting
                    vendors etc. or discussing the project with others
                    where it might be useful to have the discussion
                    archived somewhere.

                    This is being archived on the development site and
                    only SPI members have access to it.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: developers only

  lsb-vendor@lists.debian.org

      Description : LSB vendor forum.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: closed

  lsb-eng@lists.debian.org

      Description : Linux Standard Base (LSB) uses it to discuss issues relating to
                    defining this standard.
      Moderated   : no
      Subscription: closed


Mailing list advertising policy
-------------------------------

  This policy is intended to fight mailing-list "spamming".

  The Debian Linux mailing lists accept commercial advertising for
  payment.  We offer a fee waiver if you can show us the canceled
  check for a $1000 (U.S.) or more donation to "Software in the Public
  Interest" (SPI).  One donation per advertisement, please.  If you
  don't wish to donate, simply post your advertisement to the list,
  and the operator of the mailing lists will bill you $1999 (U.S).  The
  list operator will donate this amount, minus the expense of
  collecting it, to SPI.  Please note that the lists are distributed
  automatically - messages are generally not read or checked in any way
  before they are distributed.

  By the act of posting your advertisement you agree to accept
  responsibility for the fee, you agree to indemnify the mailing-list
  operator against any legal claims from you or others in connection
  with your advertisement, and you agree to pay any legal and business
  expenses incurred in collecting late payment. Our liability to you
  is limited to a good-faith effort to deliver your message.

  Reduced rates and/or waiver of fee are available for Debian-related
  advertisements. You must consult the mailing-list operator in
  advance of posting for any reduction or fee waiver.
