IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a way to chat with people from all over the world in real time. IRC channels dedicated to Debian can be found on OFTC.
To connect, you need an IRC client. Some of the most popular clients are HexChat, ircII, irssi, epic5 and KVIrc, all of which have been packaged for Debian. OFTC also offers a WebChat web interface which allows you to connect to IRC with a browser without the need to install any local client.
Once you have the client installed, you need to tell it to connect to the server. In most clients, you can do that by typing:
/server irc.debian.org
In some clients (such as irssi) you will need to type this instead:
/connect irc.debian.org# Note to translators: # You might want to insert here a paragraph stating which IRC channel is available # for user support in your language and pointing to the English IRC channel. #
Once you are connected, join channel #debian-foo by typing
/join #debian# for support in your language. #
For support in English, read on
Once you are connected, join channel #debian by typing
/join #debian
Note: clients like HexChat often have a different, graphical user interface for joining servers/channels.
At this point you will find yourself among the friendly crowd of
#debian inhabitants. You're welcome to ask questions about
Debian there. You can find the channel's faq at
There's a number of other IRC networks where you can chat about Debian, too. One of the more prominent ones is the freenode IRC network at chat.freenode.net.
Debian is developed through distributed development all around the world. Therefore e-mail is a preferred way to discuss various items. Much of the conversation between Debian developers and users is managed through several mailing lists.
There are several publicly available mailing lists. For more information, see Debian mailing lists page.
# Note to translators: # You might want to adapt the following paragraph, stating which list # is available for user support in your language instead of English.For user support in English, please contact the debian-user mailing list.
For user support in other languages, please check the mailing lists index for users.
There are of course many other mailing lists, dedicated to some aspect of the vast Linux ecosystem, which are not Debian-specific. Use your favorite search engine to find the most suitable list for your purpose.
A lot of our mailing lists can be browsed as
newsgroups, in the linux.debian.* hierarchy. This can also be
done using a web interface such as
Google Groups.
someforum is a web portal # on which you can use your language to discuss Debian-related topics, # submit questions about Debian, and have them answered by other users.
# #Debian User Forums is a web portal # on which you can use the English language to discuss Debian-related topics, # submit questions about Debian, and have them answered by other users.
Debian User Forums is a web portal on which you can discuss Debian-related topics, submit questions about Debian, and have them answered by other users.
There are two ways of reaching package maintainers. If you need to contact the maintainer because of a bug, simply file a bug report (see the Bug Tracking System section below). The maintainer will get a copy of the bug report.
If you simply want to communicate with the maintainer, then you can use the special mail aliases set up for each package. Any mail sent to <package name>@packages.debian.org will be forwarded to the maintainer responsible for that package.
The Debian distribution has a bug tracking system which details bugs reported by users and developers. Each bug is given a number, and is kept on file until it is marked as having been dealt with.
To report a bug, you can read the bug page below; we recommend the
use of the Debian package reportbug
to automatically file a bug report.
Information on submitting bugs, viewing the currently active bugs, and the bug tracking system in general can be found at the bug tracking system web pages.
Debian is free software and offers free help through mailing lists. Some people either don't have the time or have specialized needs and are willing to hire someone to maintain or add additional functionality to their Debian system. See the consultants page for a list of people/companies.
Limitations and severe problems of the current stable distribution (if any) are described on the release pages.
Pay particular attention to the release notes and the errata.