the actual font used in the original logo is proprietary

A side note about typography and freedom. Back in the 2000's it was very very difficult to find free (as in speech) fonts. I found some good free (as in beer) fonts and mirrored in my own website before they gone. Nowadays there are lots of good free (as in speech) fonts. I check regullarly https://www.fontsquirrel.com/ for fun and profit.

I must admit to finding it very amusing that Debian, the original free software zealot OS, did not only use a brush from proprietary software to make its logo, it was the logo. Just great.

When I did the logo for the DUF forum, I had to use a similar font, as recommended in the project's wiki, as the actual font used in the original logo is proprietary: https://www.bertholdtypes.com/font/laud … /standard/

It's quite a disappointment to see such an iconic "branding" reduced to an Adobe brush and a proprietary font.  On the plus side, the red diamond i dot is at least original... maybe...

I would say that Debian ceased to be the "free software zealot OS" quite a number of years ago.  I don't quite get why "DFSG" is given so much importance, but that's another story.

As the Adobe Illustrator brush is used to create the image, with the ragged edges and can reproduce the logo reliably, it simply can't be securely copyrighted.  So just not as defensible as e.g. the Tux, GNU or Beastie logos.

I must admit to finding it very amusing that Debian, the original free software zealot OS, did not only use a brush from proprietary software to make its logo, it was the logo. Just great.

Yes I saw, you're not going to run out any time soon. Thanks for the clarification on that point and the detailed answers to my question.

It was one day later, anyway. Originally it's just given as "a small object in orbit" though one day later it says it's Ceres. I wonder why that happened [and Ceres in particular].

EDIT: now I see why it's Ceres in particular, because it was the orbit of the fifth inner [dwarf] planet, whereas the other four formed the line of the 'D'.

Some of those designs are really, really terrible. And yes, I could have done better [than the terrible ones, anyway]. It was very interesting to see the developing stages of the final logo through.

"Where no toy has gone before"? You should have passed that one to Ann Summers.

OK, so I see one of the devs is an astronomer, is there any other reason? Is it because Devuan is 'out of this world' [or something like that]?

This was discussed extensively on the DNG mail list where many suggestions were offered.  You can find those posts in the archive.  One of the main reasons we use the names of minor planets is that there is a minor planet named Jessie so that made a neat segue into the fork from Debian Jessie to Devuan Jessie.  Many of us are trekkies and we forked around the time of Lenoard Nemoy's death.  We actually used the Vulcan hand gesture on a bright red background for our very first iso splash screen.  There are also a LOT of minor planet names to choose from.

It is the orbit of Ceres.

There was a "contest" which didn't produce a "winner" even though some of the suggestions were quite nice.  But once the planetary theme was chosen, none of those was really relevant.

Then there was work on our gitlab.  The genesis started here then moved to here.

*edit* Just found the Vulcan spash screen tucked away in an old gitlab issue

https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2 … 00015.html

An older reference to a mailing list post, which I remember reading some years ago: https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2 … 00340.html

(also linked from that posting)

Then there is the small matter of the proprietary font.

That's what happens if you don't create original artwork.  As the Adobe Illustrator brush is used to create the image, with the ragged edges and can reproduce the logo reliably, it simply can't be securely copyrighted.  So just not as defensible as e.g. the Tux, GNU or Beastie logos.

Also, the 'D' of Devuan is highly stylised. Does it represent a comet or a planet in orbit?

Debian's logo has caused a lot of speculation over time but now we know more or less what it means and exactly how it was created [if you don't know how, it's hilarious]. It would be good to clear up any confusion about the Devuan logo and thematic. Apologies if I have missed any already-existent information.