Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
An excellent resource for more information on Debian, and therefore Raspbian,
is the Debian administrator's handbook. The handbook is available at
Open source software
The majority of the software that makes up Raspbian on the Raspberry Pi is open
source. Open source software is a software whose source code is available for
modification or enhancement by anyone.
The Linux kernel and most of the other software that makes up Raspbian is licensed
under the GPLv2 License. This means that the software is made available to you at
no cost, and that the source code that makes up the software is available for you to
do what you want to. The GPLV2 license also removes any claim or warranty. The
following extract from the GPLV2 license preamble gives you a good idea of the
spirit of free software:
"The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to
share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended
to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the
software is free for all its users….
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General
Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute
copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive
source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use
pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things."
Raspbian components
There are many components that make up a modern Linux distribution. These
components work together to provide you with all the modern features you
expect in a computer.
There are several key components that Raspbian is built from. These components are:
• The Raspberry Pi bootloader
• The Linux kernel
• Daemons
• The shell
• Shell utilities
