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The Debian Social Contract is a document which frames the moral agenda of the Debian project. The values outlined in the Social Contract provide the basic principles for the rules set forth in the Debian Free Software Guidelines. Those guidelines serve as the basis for the Open Source Definition.

A user sacrifices a degree of control when selecting an operating system for their computer. Debian believes that the makers of a free software operating system should provide certain guarantees when a user entrusts them with control of a computer. These guarantees include:

• Ensuring that the operating system remains open and Free.
• Giving back improvements to the community that made the operating system possible.
• Not hiding problems with the software or organization.
• Staying focused on the users and the software that started the phenomena.
• Making it possible for the software to be used for real-world problems, even when that means working with non-free software.

[edit] External links

• Debian Social Contract and the Free Software Guidelines