Ian Murdock
Ian Murdock | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 April 1973 Konstanz, West Germany |
| Died | 28 December 2015 (aged 42) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Software engineer |
| Known for | Founder of the Debian project; founder of Progeny Linux Systems |
| Notable work | Debian Manifesto |
Ian Ashley Murdock (April 28, 1973 – December 28, 2015) was an American software engineer known for founding the Debian project as well as the commercial Linux enterprise Progeny Linux Systems.
Life and career
Murdock was born in Konstanz, West Germany, during the time his father was engaged in postdoctoral studies. After his family moved back to the United States in 1975, he was raised in Lafayette, Indiana. He completed his secondary education at Harrison High School in 1991 and later obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science from Purdue University in 1996.
During his university years, Murdock launched Debian in August 1993 and penned the influential Debian Manifesto in 1994. Debian was created as an open Linux distribution emphasizing community collaboration. The project's name is a blend of his then-partner (and later spouse) Debra Lynn Roundy and his own first name. Together, they had three children before their divorce in 2008.
In January 2006, Murdock assumed the role of Chief Technology Officer at the Free Standards Group and led the Linux Standard Base workgroup. He maintained his CTO position following the merger that formed the Linux Foundation from Open Source Development Labs.
Murdock joined Sun Microsystems in March 2007 to spearhead Project Indiana, which aimed to develop a comprehensive OpenSolaris distribution integrating GNU utilities alongside network-oriented package management. He held the title of Vice President of Emerging Platforms until Sun's acquisition by Oracle in 2010, after which he stepped down.
Between 2011 and 2015, he served as Vice President of Platform and Developer Community at Salesforce Marketing Cloud based in Indianapolis. In November 2015, Murdock became part of Docker, Inc., where he remained until his passing.
Death
Ian Murdock passed away on December 28, 2015, in San Francisco. Although no immediate cause was disclosed, it was revealed in July 2016 that his death had been ruled a suicide. Authorities confirmed that asphyxiation by hanging with an electrical cord from a vacuum cleaner was the cause.
His final tweets initially indicated an intention to end his life but were later retracted. He mentioned allegations of assaulting a police officer following an incident where he claimed to have been assaulted and demeaned by law enforcement, expressing a resolve to combat police misconduct. His Twitter account was deactivated shortly thereafter.
San Francisco police reported detaining him after he matched the description related to an attempted break-in report and appeared intoxicated at that time. They stated that he exhibited violent behavior leading to arrest on suspicion of four misdemeanors; however, he did not show signs of suicidal tendencies and was medically cleared prior to release. Subsequent police responses addressed reports of a possible suicide attempt; ultimately, the city medical examiner confirmed Murdock’s death.
The autopsy documented significant bruising and noted a medical background including alcohol dependency, mental health conditions, and Asperger syndrome.
See also
External links
- Short description with empty Wikidata description
- Articles without Wikidata item
- 1973 births
- 2015 deaths
- American computer programmers
- Debian Project leaders
- Free software programmers
- Open source people
- People from Indianapolis
- People from Konstanz
- Purdue University alumni
- Suicides by hanging in California
- Sun Microsystems people
- People with Asperger syndrome