The values outlined in the Social Contract provide the basic principles for the Debian Free Software Guidelines that serve as the basis of the Open Source Definition.
Debian believes the makers of a free software operating system should provide guarantees when a user entrusts them with control of a computer.
These guarantees include: The idea of the DSC was first proposed by Ean Schuessler after a conversation with Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat[when?].
Schuessler said Red Hat should issue a set of guidelines that would guarantee to the community as the company expanded it would always be committed to the ideals of Free Software.
Bruce Perens later led the effort from June 1997[1] to coordinate the creation of the DSC using the Free Software Definition as its basis.