In Memoriam: Ian Murdock

It is with great sadness that we inform you that Ian Murdock passed away on Monday night. This is a tragic loss for his family, for the Docker community, and the broader open source world; we all mourn his passing. To Ian’s children, family and loved ones, we offer our full support and deepest sympathies.

Ian was perhaps best known professionally as the founder of the Debian project, which he created while still a student at Purdue University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science in 1996. Debian was one of the first Linux distros to be forged, and it is widely regarded as a one of the most successful open-source projects ever launched. Ian helped pioneer the notion of a truly open project and community, embracing open design and open contribution; in fact the formative document of the open source movement itself (the Open Source Definition) was originally a Debian position statement. It is a testament to Ian’s commitment to openness and community that there are now more than 1,000 people currently involved in Debian development.

In the past decade, Ian’s contributions to the tech community continued, as CTO of the Linux Foundation, as a senior leader at Sun Microsystems (including serving as Chief architect of Project Indiana); and most recently as Vice President of Platforms at Indianapolis-based ExactTarget, which became part of Salesforce in 2012.

We consider ourselves lucky to have known Ian and worked with him. He amazed everyone whom he worked with for the depth of his thinking, passion and experience. He was truly brilliant and an inspiration to many of us; his death is a loss to all whom he has known and touched.

If you would like to share your thoughts or condolences, Ian’s family and the Docker family appreciate you sharing them by posting a comment on this page. Additionally, Ian’s family has requested that well-wishers and press respect their privacy and direct all inquiries through Docker.

The Debian community has also posted a remembrance of Ian available here.

In Memoriam: Ian Murdock

Ben Golub is the CEO of Docker, a role he has held since April of 2013. Prior to Docker, Golub was CEO of Gluster, the open source, scale out storage company, which was successfully acquired by Red Hat in 2011. Before joining Gluster, Golub was CEO of social media pioneer Plaxo, which was acquired by Comcast in 2008. Golub also spent eight years at VeriSign, Inc., serving as Chief Marketing Officer, as Senior Vice President of the security and payments business, and as General Manager of VeriSign's managed security services business.
Ben tweets at @golubbe.

briceb8e

What would my world be if I had never been introduced to Debian? Not sure. One thing is certain though, I am convinced your creation has inspired countless people to join the open-source community as well as more broadly, the free as in speech movement. I would know, I am one of those people you have inspired.

florida

“A Beautiful Mind,” is hard to come by… Like a Rose flower just starting to plead its petals, dew-wet glittering in sunrise… pluck it, and you’ll never witness it bloom in full… so sad! To his bereaved family, in your affliction may the knowledge that your friends share your sorrow be a solace to you…

Tom

This hurts…in every aspect you can see this. Not only that he is the founder of Debian, but the story behind his death. I hope he did found somehow his peace, but i’m afraid this was a moment of blindness. I hope it is not.

Peter Petroff

The man who made the distribution that spearheaded stability, simplicity, standards, freedom.

Computers themselves are already revolutionary devices; not even for their daily practical purposes, but as a way of thinking about data, thinking about thinking, the nature of information theory and physics beyond atoms,

And this man put together and fought for a good, reliable, powerful, working system to let people do absolutely whatever they wanted on a computer; more, he enabled others to build on that. Ian Murdock was a giant standing on the shoulders of other giants.

Carl

I’m just an average guy who uses stuff that’s directly based on Debian. It’s shocking how you can suddenly realize that someone you have never known has played such an important role in some part of your life.
Ian has changed the world. Forever and for the better. I hope his friends and family find comfort in how he has safeguarded his own immortality. I wish them strength and comfort to deal with this loss.

Henk

Osiworx

Ian you made me love linux, you made me love open systems. Thank you very much for this. I will never forget what you did for my personal life even I think first time about you when I read you die.
Rest in peace.

My condolences to family and friends, Debian was the first distro I used, without it more than halves of the derivatives, including * Ubuntu (which is my favorite) would not exist! Children are the closest we can achieve immortality, the knowledge and principles he transmitted to us can touch us, we must consider ourselves as blessed! Rest in peace 😉

Sander

This news came as a great shock to me. I’ve never met Ian, but I am big fan of his work especially Debian.
I’ve did meet other Debian developers. They’re very passionate about this great project.
I wish his friends and family strength in this sad time.
In memory of this giant on which shoulders many stand fighting the good fight.
May freedom be with you all.

Tomas Karlsson

My greatest condolances to family and friends! A great man has left us but he did left us a good lifes work with a bog “footprint” around the globe.
In my line of work i have installed and maintained many servers running Debian. Acctually it was debian that opened my eyes to the linux world!
Rest in peace, Ian!

Jaime Posada

As Debian user for over 15 years, it is for me a great sadness to hear this. Thanks Ian for having left this important legacy that has positioned itself as one of the first GNU/Linux distribution based on free software and have defined this important social contract of the organization which is an example of transparency and reliability, and it has been since 1993.

His work and vision changed the lives of many people, not only in terms of their daily work but also the quality of life of many if we think about how Debian helps people with different abilities, innovative projects and any other projects having established their basis in Debian (such as Ubuntu). My deepest condolences to his family, friends, coworkers and developers.

Ricardo M.A.

I do not care if you believe in God or not.
I pray merciful God take his soul with Him.
Prayers will be offered for his soul and his living family.
A sad day, specially if you know Debian.
Thanks for your work.

M

Aario

I remember when I first time found Debian, I said “Debian is Jupiter of Linux distros. A giant distro.” I can’t even imagine that founder of such a huge movement was a human being like us and is now passed away. So I say we were so lucky people to live in the same age with this genius mind. Rest in peace Ian.

Richard

diss identity

Some of my heroes are nameless, some so far away. Now one of them is gone forever before I could thank him.
We take people for granted and delay our gratitude. It feels terrible.
Here’s to you Ian. I owe you so much directly and indirectly. RIP

Debian was the second distro I used, way back in 2002. There are so many projects that flourished from Debian. Look at Ubuntu and Mint, look at Alpine, look at the lasting changes we have from having a ‘real’ package manager in dpkg and apt. Let’s not forget his work at Sun, too; opening up Solaris is still benefiting FreeBSD and Apple’s OS X.

He had a wide, global impact, and while it’s way too soon to lose him, I hope that his family and friends know that he will be forever remembered for impacting pretty much every single computing platform there is. I hope he has found peace.

Alfonso Correa

Christophe

Debian, back in the days of “Woody”, was pretty much my first real contact with a Linux distribution during my teenage years. The work of everyone involved, specially Ian as an iconic figure have influenced me profoundly, both as a person in the spirit of open source, as well as professionally. May he and his family find peace and closure.

R

We all know great people never dies. They live forever through the marks made by them which changes the world. And these marks always will be the inspiration to us make our own marks to make a world a better place. Thank you for all.

Nelson Suniaga

This is really shocking. Ian is a truly hero in the FOSS community. Debian GNU/Linux has my prefer OS since “Potato”, not only at home but in every professional project I’ve been involved. Among all the Linux distros, Debian is the best of the best. Thanks Ian (and thanks everybody in the Debian Project who thinks like you).

Suresh Rajashekara

Lucas

If there is something I can say that influenced me to start to think about be an IT guy, I’d say that thing was the Debian Sarge. I can easily remember, as it was yesterday… fighting against Xorg.conf to set up my nvidia gboard or with lilo.conf 🙁
Today is a pretty sad day!
My condolences to the family.

Adham Zahran

Ian,
I’m a young man that you don’t know. I’ve always told your story about how you’re the ian in debian and how your ex-wife debra is the deb in debian.
You have inspired me and I always wanted to be like you.
I will be one more reason why your name will be remembered.

Marcos

This is a tragic loss for his family, for the Docker community, and the broader open source world; we all mourn his passing. To Ian’s children, family and loved ones, we offer our full support and deepest sympathies.

Mikes

Ntao

Joseph

An extremely sad event. Ian’s brilliance was a gift to humanity. God bless his soul. It is also so sad to see police brutality reaching such new peaks in events leading to Ian’s passing. How many more people must lose their lives before we wake up and hold our police accountable?

English: Mr Ian Murdock, like Dr. Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie, UNIX creator and Free Software Foundation people had taught to us that it’s possible an open and free informatic world. My condolences to his family, relatives and friends from Maracay, Venezuela.

Mett

You saved me from the task manager as well. All my first steps in Linux have been through the Debian How-tos on the net. Debian has brought free knowledge and tools to the masses. A revolutionary concept indeed. RIP IAN. Your legacy will never die.

My deepest condonlences to Ian’s family. Our many thanks for the great contributions he made to the open source world. You were a true pioneer! We will continue to run with the torch you lit. Rest in peace brother.

Michael Sanchez

Otroariel

Shiwang Kalkhanda

R.I.P Ian ..
You are among those few, who have done so much for the computer science world. Your contribution to Debian and other Open Source Project will always be their with ur name.
Condolences for your family..!

Rafael Grisotto

Rest in peace Ian.
Thank you for your legacy that you are leaving to us.
To the family: be proud of this amazing person. He definitely was one of the most important contributors of IT Industry around all the world. I wish peace to all of you during this sad moment of loss.

Pastor Góngora

Dear Ian:
I can’t believe. I teach debian in my university, and our platforms are supported by debian. I am so sad for your death. Thanks Ian. You are more than debian. A hold and prayer to you anf your family and friends.

greenLED

Hisashi Todd Fujinaka

I worked with Ian on the Linux Standard Base project about ten years ago. He was always friendly and ready to help the community move forward. One of my biggest brags was that I had Ian’s phone number in my cell phone.

I always liked seeing Ian’s progress and am sorry that I won’t see it go any further. R.I.P. Ian.

Thanks Ian,
Debian was my first GNU/Linux distro some years ago and is still my choice over any SO.
I’m so grateful to Ian’s contributions, I have learned so much using Debian that saying thanks is not enough, I owe you one Ian, rest in peace!

Jaime

Debian GNU/Linux has given the best moments since I do use free software. Thanks a lot Ian. I wish he were in this world yet. Many people are working and learning about free software, because Ian worked so hard for sharing this great GNU/Linux distribution.

t.hac

Thank you Mr Murdock. You taught many of us the importance of collaboration and sharing. This ethos and Debian as a whole have helped to bring entire communities together, be it the Tor Project, or the countless non-profits which rely on Debian. May you rest in peace.

Nam Pham

Robert

Debian was the first Linux distro that I was able to find that was easy enough for me to use without feeling like I was a total idiot, for that I wish to thank you for allowing an old Amiga user to periodically escape from Windows. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. Rest In Peace Ian.

Muchtar SP

Ian. I do really feel that Debian is the most nice, simple, fast and free Linux OS I have met in my life. Thanks for your work, and your great contribute to the linux community and the free software world.

Me:(

Txus Ordorika

The world needs people like Ian.The kind of people that sees the world with other eyes, and from their principles create projects that change the world and have influence in how our world works. The kind of people that lead a project, and maintains attached to its principles.

Francisco

Phil

Ian I didn’t know you but from what I gather on the internet you have advanced the world of technology through the world of free open-source Linux (Debian). My deepest condolences go out to his his family and friends. Suicide is never the answer guys, Ian had so much going for him.

Oropesa

Yves Quemener

Debian is, without exaggeration, one of the most important projects of the modern world, on par with the more visible Wikipedia. Without Debian, internet as we know it would have been very different. It is thanks to this kind of efforts that we have avoided the dystopian IT societies that Sci-Fi authors warned us about. Condolences from a French man living in Japan, one of the myriad of developers who wish to one day be honoured to put one brick over the solid foundations that Ian laid.

Sara

Ian’s work has directly influenced my path in life. Without him my road to knowledge would have been much more difficult. It is with a heavy heart that I type these words. A legend has passed away, but he will live on in each of us who uses his work.

Anonymous

Sorry to see you go at such an young age Mr. Murdock. It is because of people like you that there is so much advancement in the field of technology, otherwise corporations and human greed will never let quick progress of technology and the society.
printf(“Goodbye, cruel world”);
I don’t believe a person of such calibre was not evenly treated by the society and has became the cause of his death. Shame on such a society.

Ricardo Santos

I can’t wax poetic that I knew much of anything about the man that helped me improve my life over the years. But, he did. And my hope is that I am part of the outpouring of condolences and well wishing that helps those he left behind– because my ignorance does not discount the profound impact this one man had on much of my life. I am a better man for the life Ian Murdock led.

Chetan

Keith Felgemacher

Never really used pure Debian before. I use Linux Mint Debian all the time and if it wasn’t for this brilliant individual, where would we be with the Linux desktop today? Thank you Ian for bettering my life and my family and friends lives with this great programming code that I have been able to introduce them to. I feel a deep sadness for you and your family. Your family can always be proud of the accomplishment you made to the open source computer world.

Mariano Volker

Alex Hivento

I wouldn’t have learned Linux as early as I have without the people working on Debian, thank you, and although our time here is ephemeral, rest assured you have left us with something positively lasting.

Kurt

Bob Bennett

It is through his work that I was able to get myself involved in open source projects and got the interest to relearn computer programming. In his few years he has had a significant impact on the old and young as well as on technology and the future of the world.

L Peter Deutsch

What a loss to the community. As a Linux user, I have admired Debian’s uncompromising dedication to quality for many years. I also served briefly on the Open Source Initiative Board with Ian. I can only hope that others with Ian’s devotion to principle will continue to shepherd Debian development and distribution.

I am very touched for this sad news, I hope his family find the serenity and peace to bear with this GREAT lost, for those who believe, there is hope for a better future, in Ian´s case he will never be forgotten, he touched so much people around the world RIP

SergioSB

I started using Debian in 1997 when I decided to change from Slackware which had a main problem – it was a one man project and accidentally I fall on Debian and today where I am known it is a Debian user and a Debian marketing person. Some people come up to the mistake to think that I am vendor of Debian.

I am a mathematician and almost everything I have learned from 1997 up to today was based and strongly supported by my Debian/Gnu/Linux box where I have absolutely everything a I need to do Mathematics and write Mathematics to other people, text editors, programming languages, math directed software, like Maxima which is also the product of idealist, “dedicated to the memory of William Schelter” as it is stated in its opening shell. Well, I have thousands of software installed in my Debian/Gnu/Linux box which make the core of my work. I really do not know where possibly I could have reach if did not have Debian when a I started using as usually we say “using Linux”.
Thanks to Ian Murdock which was able to build up a strong community which lives independent from him and will certainly live for many years though Murdock is dead. Others should learn from him his capability of leadership which is not ownership and that’s why Debian exists.
Tarcisio Praciano-Pereira, from Brazil

Carlos Andres Hernandez

I am shocked and saddened. I write this comment from a Debian computer, and I met Ian at a Linux conference while he was representing Open Solaris. He was a fantastic guy, with respect for the old UNIX community and an undying excitement for the future of technology. This is profoundly sad news, but I am so grateful for everything that he has left us.

Elppans Dark Elven

Condolences to the family of Ian Murdock …
Ian, thank you for leaving his legacy to the Free Software world and the angels and God bless you and give you plenty of lighting.
Thank you so much for everything!

Such a tragic loss of a gifted individual, Ian Murdoch only (42) will always be remembered through his fine works, Debian is just an awesome OS and apt-get makes life easy, condolences to his family and close friends.

Loic

Manu&Jef

Ian, though I never met you, my life and the lives of countless others have been profoundly lifted by your work. Hopefully, one day (soon) your legacy will be understood by those outside the world of free software. Thank you for all you have done. I wish you were still here with us but since you couldn’t stay, all I can say is thank you and I hope that you found a peace that could not be found on earth.

To Ian’s family, please accept my sincere condolences in this time of hardship, a hardship that I can only imagine. Though Ian is gone, you can rest assured that he will never ever be forgotten. I hope that you will find comfort in the legacy that he has left, and in the fact that his work and contributions have made the world a better place.

CHERRIER Sylvain

jmoraf

Kiran

I use Kubuntu, a debian derivative. I did not know Ian Murdock was the founder until 2 days ago. I read about him, the part that he played on shaping the lives of people, the changes he has brought onto the world with debian and a lot of his open source work. Its an irreplaceable loss. My condolences to his family. RIP Ian Murdock your legacy will live on.

Manuel Figueredo Flores

tmash

Masoud Amiri

Dear Ian, there’s nothing worse than starting a new year without people who made the world a better place, Thanks for the Debian stuff, It was a very valuable effort. My sincere condolence to your family, RIP

Paul

Sad news. He didn’t just contribute to open source ethics and technology, he provided a delightful example of humilty and uxoriousness in putting his wife’s name first when he named Debian (yes, it’s more euphonious that way but I am sure he liked the order anyway, and rightly).

I don’t use Debian, but it has made the world a better place (not just the world; I think versions of it have left the earth) and has enabled many derivatives, such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint which I use.

Cosimo

If you stop for a second and think how wrong things would be without instruments as apt-get and the contribution that Debian community made in the past… you can just start to realize the importance of this amazing man… R.I.P. Ian and fly to the Infinity and beyond…

Manuel Ignacio López Quintero

Unleashed Code

Such a large contribution to our world and a solid grounding for how a distro should be done especially in a time where Linux needed a push for a solid stable and reliable platform. A terrible loss to the Linux and IT field.

onofre

Archlinux is my bleeding-edge distro, but Debian is my rock-solid, impregnable fortress. Thank you Ian Murdock for giving us one of the, if not the best, Linux distribution the world has ever had. We, and the rest of the Linux community will never forget you. I will always remember you Sir. Thank you, and may you rest in peace.

onofre

Salamat for giving us Debian. I only have two Linux distros on my PC. Arch and Debian. Debian is my bomb-shelter. At times when I break things on Arch, I always boot back to Debian. I’m just one from among the many fan of yours here in the Philippines but I would like to say thank you for your life. Salamat po Sir. I would have left Linux a long time ago if it werent for your work. Condolences to your loved ones. May you, sir, rest in peace. Maraming salamat po Sir Ian.

Ulrich Hansen

My deepest condolences. Like many others I am still in shock and can’t really believe what happened. I use Debian GNU/Linux since 2003.

Ian Murdock created a community full of idealism, people who cared about freedom, about helping each other, people who want to make the world a better place by making the best operating system possible – for free.

He passed away, with apparently no one by his side to help him when he was in despair. It’s incredibly sad.

Like probably many others around the world I’d like to know what happened. Brilliant people like him are rare, so this is a big loss even in other parts of the world.

Jose Luis

I’d been using Linux since more than 5 years ago, and I began with a Debian based distro, And I found Debian very easy to use, nothing from the other world, so thank you for bring me an approach to the open source software, that I certainly I couldn’t do it if it wasn’t by your hard work in some begining.

Yuriy Syrovatko

Martin

Ian, I never met you in person. But on all my computers something you started
is running. I deeply appreciate your contribution to make this world a better
place! And I found my ways to contribute to it here and there.

May you rest in peace.

From what I can see Ian lived fully. I do believe his soul is inmortal. And
the magnum opus he started, Debian, will continue to strive.

Amy

Bad news from the star… Your work was so necessary. I also always have been touched by grace discovering that the name of the distribution was in homage of your wife, such a poetry act. I don’t know your life, but I imagine you like a poet, with tenderness and compassion… I hope you will be free know…
Librement,
Condoléances

Juan Carlos

Dear Larry and Susie
It is with great sadness that I have learnt of your loss. While I never met Ian, I know Larry, you spoke with great pride of Ian’s achievements and how he formed Debian. My deepest condolences to you all. May his soul rest in peace.

Jimmi

My first Linux distro was Debian 2.2 (Potato), it was love at first sight. Today, Debian is still my favoured distro. Thank you for everything! All my thoughts goes to his family and loved ones, you will be missed.

Tal Schechter

My best wishes to your family and all who hold you dear. Yours is a tremendous loss for F/LOSS. Your absence will be felt in so many ways, in so many areas. It is truly incredible how far your touch reached.

Valeriano Cossu

Peter Bloom

Vincent Dupont

I’m very sorry to hear this. Debian is always my first choice Linux Distribution and the reason I went full Linux in my home and work. Losing his Father is a great loss for the community. RIP Ian Murdock

Thank you very much Mr. Murdock, I am a new user of Linux and I am glad to have such an enjoyable experience with it, and will have many more such great experience with the days to come. Rest in peace.

Bernard Pack

My deepest condolences. The death of this genius of a man is a massive loss not only to the world of free software but to every freedom loving individual in the world at large. Ian will be remembered long after the rag tag and bobtail mediocrities who made their millions from copyrights and patents are forgotten. In the long run the Debian distribution of gnu/linux and the philosophy behind it will do more for Africa than any multi-millionaire foundation.
I hope his family can take some small consolation from this thought.

tousands of small companies live from your work and your genious products.
we are very sad about your hard decision. What ever it brought you to this, let us hold your effort and your ideals in best memoria and continue in your sense.
Andrea

Pablo

macleouc

Fabián

Thank you for your vision and commitment to freedom and for making the world a better place. Debian and your memory will always be with us. I hope your legacy and ideals will be continued for the good of humanity. You will be dearly missed.

While I first started using Unix on around 1983 (via VM/UTS on an IBM mainframe), it was a long time before I could finally run Unix-like software on my own personal hardware — between the cost of the hardware and the cost or difficulty of the software. The Debian project was what made using a GNU/Linux Unix-like system practical for me on the desktop about twenty years later.

Ian’s Debian project, including the Debian manifesto, has also provided an inspiring example for me and many other people in several ways, especially to show the power of collaboration to help everyone do great things either as individuals, teams, or communities. I’m glad we are seeing similar ideas now take root with sharing designs for open manufacturing — inspired in part by Debian’s success.

Thanks, Ian! Whatever anomaly happened at the end of your time with us for whatever reasons, thanks for doing so much for the world for so long.

The last blog posts on Ian’s blog like “How I came to find Linux” and “Any interest in a FOSS History Project?” are well-worth reading for anyone interested in technology and society.

Ian wrote there: “Maybe it’s just because I recently reread Stephen Levy’s Hackers for the nth time, I’m thinking our generation’s story needs to be told. It really was a different time then vs. now — compute and storage were scarce, not abundant; connectivity was rare, not ubiquitous; and the idea of the world’s information being organized and universally accessible was science fiction.”

I hope that story gets told, including in memory of Ian.

We have not yet fully adjusted to that change from scarcity to abundance as a globally networked society — to see that change reflected in assumptions made by every social institution and underlying every social policy whether relating to policing, health care, or economics. As I say myself, the biggest challenge of the twenty-first century is the technologies of abundance (like computing, robots, biotechnology, nanotech, nuclear, big data, networking, and even bureaucracy) in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.

Torin

mosabkm

even i know debian from short time it really hurted me when i knew about his loss that way.
one more thing i dont believe half of that stories .
and i know if someone did well he still alive with his works.