Debian Long Term Support
Traditionally, Debian manages security support of a given stable release until the next stable release plus one year. Roughly, this amounts to 3 years which is not enough for many organizations and does not allow to deploy version N+2 once N is no longer supported. The Debian LTS team wants to fix this by extending the security support of Debian releases to at least 5 years:
To achieve this goal, and properly cover all Debian packages, Freexian organizes a corporate sponsorship campaign with the goal of funding the equivalent of 1.5 full time position that will in fact be split over multiple Debian contributors who are established as independent workers. Here is a (manually updated) progress bar showing the current funding level (it is a number of hours per month, with an hourly rate of 85 EUR/hour):
100%
33% (0.5 person/month)
66% (1 person/month)
81.62% (215.47 h)
If you are not yet convinced, here are seven reasons why you should help fund the Debian Long Term Support initiative (LTS):
- Ensure that the packages that you rely on get priority in terms of security support;
- Ensure that security updates will not generate regressions in your production infrastructure by providing functional tests to run before release;
- Be able to get extended security support past the 5 initial years of security support;
- Benefit from direct contact to the LTS staff in case of specific queries and requests;
- Influence future developments made by the sponsored developers so that Debian continues to fit your needs;
- Generate goodwill among the free software community thanks to your appearance in the list of sponsors;
- Benefit from the experience of people from other Debian-using companies thanks to a private mailing list.
Join the initiative now!
It's easy: pick a funding level in the table below, download the subscription form, fill it and send it back to deblts@freexian.com.
| Funding level (time per month) | 15 min. | 30 min. | 1 h. | 2 h. | 3 h. | 4 h. | 6 h. | 1 day | 2 days | 3 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benefits (details) | ||||||||||
| Packages to prioritize | Weighted on the amount sponsored | |||||||||
| Thanked as sponsor: | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Platinum | ||||||
| Private mailing list | ||||||||||
| Direct contact to LTS staff | ||||||||||
| Can join Extended LTS | ||||||||||
| Submit your own test cases | ||||||||||
| Prices | ||||||||||
| Monthly payment | N/A | €255 $300 |
€340 $400 | €510 $600 | €680 $800 |
€1360 $1600 | €2040 $2400 |
|||
| Quarterly payment | N/A | €255 $300 |
€510 $600 | €765 $900 | €1020 $1200 |
€1530 $1800 | €2040 $2400 |
€4080 $4800 | €6120 $7200 |
|
| Biyearly payment | N/A | €255 $300 |
€510 $600 | €1020 $1200 | €1530 $1800 |
€2040 $2400 | €3060 $3600 | €4080 $4800 |
€8160 $9600 | €12240 $14400 |
| Yearly payment | €255 $300 | €510 $600 |
€1020 $1200 | €2040 $2400 | €3060 $3600 |
€4080 $4800 | €6120 $7200 | €8160 $9600 |
€16320 $19200 | €24480 $28800 |
Once you have submitted your subscription form, Freexian will prepare an invoice and send it to you for immediate payment.
Payment methods
You can opt for any of the following payment methods. They are listed by order of preference (preferred first):
- SEPA Direct Debit (EUR only). For companies in SEPA countries, we can automatically debit your bank account. You have to fill the SEPA mandate in the subscription form.
- Credit/Debit Card (EUR/USD). Click here to access an online payment form letting you pay with a credit card. You can automate payments over a year.
- Manual wire transfer (EUR only). When you get the invoice, you manually initiate a wire transfer on our bank account (IBAN+BIC are on the invoice). For SEPA countries, this is called SEPA Credit Transfer.
- PayPal (EUR/USD). Click here to access PayPal payment forms letting you either setup a recurring payment or complete a single payment.
More details please
If you want to know more about this initiative, check out this page. It gives the context on the Debian side as well as supplementary information about the benefits. The FAQ will also try to clear up any doubt that you might have.
Progress reports
Even though the target has not yet been reached, the project is underway. Freexian is paying Debian contributors to work on Debian LTS and they are doing their best to keep the packages used by sponsors of this initiative as secure as possible. Checkout Freexian's monthly reports on Raphaël Hertzog's blog.
Contributing companies and organizations
We would like to thank all entities that contribute towards Long Term Support of Debian 7 “Wheezy” and future releases.Platinum level
TOSHIBA
(for 38 months)
GitHub
(for 29 months)
Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP)
(for 6 months)
Gold level
The Positive Internet
(for 54 months)
Blablacar
(for 53 months)
Linode
(for 43 months)
Babiel GmbH
(for 32 months)
Plat'Home
(for 32 months)
Silver level
Domeneshop AS
(for 53 months)
Nantes Métropole
(for 47 months)
Dalenys
(for 44 months)
Univention GmbH
(for 39 months)
Université Jean Monnet de St Etienne
(for 39 months)
Ribbon Communications, Inc.
(for 33 months)
maxcluster GmbH
(for 27 months)
Exonet B.V.
(for 23 months)
Leibniz Rechenzentrum
(for 17 months)
Vente-privee.com
(for 14 months)
CINECA
(for 6 months)
MEAE
Bronze level
Disclaimer
Although the aim of those contracts is to fund work time to Debian developers, those contracts are managed by Freexian and not by Software in the Public Interest (the legal entity representing the Debian project).