Debian はあらゆる種類の既存環境とうまく融合し、他のオペレーティングシステムとうまく協調して動くように設計されています。市場圧力がソフトウェア出版元に対して規格に従ったプログラムの開発を要求することで、このような完璧に近い調和が生まれます。規格に準拠しているため、管理者はプログラムを入れ替えることができます: クライアントでもサーバでも、そしてフリーであるか否かに依存しません。
3.1.2. Integration with Mac OS machines
Mac OS machines provide, and are able to use, network services such as file servers and printer sharing. These services are published on the local network, which allows other machines to discover them and make use of them without any manual configuration, using the Bonjour implementation of the Zeroconf protocol suite. Debian includes another implementation, called Avahi, which provides the same functionality.
In the other direction, the Netatalk daemon can be used to provide file servers to Mac OSX machines on the network. It implements the AFP (AppleShare) protocol as well as the required notifications so that the servers can be autodiscovered by the Mac OSX clients.
Older Mac OS networks (before Mac OSX) used a different protocol called AppleTalk. For environments involving machines using this protocol, Netatalk also provides the AppleTalk protocol (in fact, it started as a reimplementation of that protocol). It ensures the operation of the file server and print queues, as well as time server (clock synchronization). Its router function allows interconnection with AppleTalk networks.