---
title: "Debian 8 General Guide"
description: "Debian is a free, non-proprietary Linux-based operating system founded by Ian Murdock in 1993. Bundled with a secure, lightweight, but fully featured software suite, Debian is an ideal platform for..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/product-guides/cloud-server/debian-8/
date: 2018-04-13
modified: 2021-08-24
author: "Christopher Maiorana"
categories: ["Cloud Server Hosting"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Debian 8 General Guide

![Debian 8 General Guide](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/canva-debian-8-general-guide-1024x538.jpg)

[**Debian**](https://www.debian.org/) is a free, non-proprietary Linux-based operating system founded by Ian Murdock in 1993. Bundled with a secure, lightweight, but fully featured software suite, Debian is an ideal platform for general purpose computing.

![Debian 8 Logo](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/debian-logo.jpg)

An active development community, along with the general purpose software ecosystem and free license, make Debian a highly popular choice for running a web server.

## Easy Package Management

Debian uses *dpkg* and *APT* for easy package management. The *dpkg* program provides easy-to-use command-line arguments for decompressing and installing Debian (*.deb*) executables. APT augments the package system with the *apt-get* program, which lets you install and uninstall programs from various repositories on the web and also provides some extra usability features. Both of these systems come pre-installed with Debian.

## Pros and Cons of Debian 8

| Pros | Cons |
| --- | --- |
| - Cost: free
- Audience: general purpose
- Community support (forums, mailing lists)
- Pre-packaged dependencies | - Do it yourself architecture (no phone or chat support)
- Some commercial software not supported
- Not all hardware supported |

## Final Thoughts

Debian is a highly popular operating system for web servers. Important software and dependencies come pre-installed. You can request a Debian operating system with your Cloud Server.

Learn more from our [Cloud Server Hosting Product Guide](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/product-guides/cloud-server/).

If you don’t need cPanel, don’t pay for it. Only pay for what you need with our scalable [Cloud VPS Hosting](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/cloud-vps).

![check mark](https://design.inmotionhosting.com/assets/icons/standard/check-blue.svg)CentOS, Debian, or Ubuntu ![check mark](https://design.inmotionhosting.com/assets/icons/standard/check-blue.svg)No Bloatware ![check mark](https://design.inmotionhosting.com/assets/icons/standard/check-blue.svg)SSH and Root Access