The Debian System

The Open Source Press book cover

The No Starch Press book cover

The Debian System is a 2005 non-fiction book written by Martin Krafft which deals exclusively with Debian GNU/Linux, detailing its internal workings. The book is mostly for the experienced users seeking in-depth technical knowledge, rather than for beginners.

The author's native language is German but he decided to write it in Debian's de-facto language which is English.

The book was written for publication by Open Source Press and later licenced for co-publication by No Starch Press. The English version is thus released under two different ISBNs:

• ISBN 978-3-937514-07-9, available only in central Europe.
• ISBN 978-1-59327-069-8, available worldwide, notable for its cover featuring a surfing cow.

Due to popular demand, the book was later translated to German, Japanese, and French. A Chinese translation is in the works, and other languages are planned:

• German edition, ISBN 978-3-937514-17-8, translated by Ute Hertzog and Martin Krafft
• Japanese edition, ISBN 978-4-8399-1897-2, translated by Kenshi Muto and Junichi Uekawa.
• French edition, ISBN 978-2-212-11904-6, translated by Raphaël Hertzog and Roland Mas

The book is dedicated to Aline (Krafft's girlfriend at the time), and Peter Gabriel, whose contributions to Genesis accompanied most of the writing process. Krafft has an agreement with his publisher that after 30,000 copies have been sold, the publisher will have to organise a dinner with the musician [pers. comm. 2005]. The publisher sent a book to Peter Gabriel, which got a stock reply that Gabriel was unavailable for contact.

External links

• Official home page
• Open Source Press page of the book
• No Starch Press page of the book