NeuroDebian [1] is a turnkey software platform for nearly all aspects of the neuroscientific research process. It helps researchers to cope with the increasing complexity of software systems in neuroscience research. Being embedded in the Debian [2] project, it provides a comprehensive suite of readily usable and fully integrated software through a robust deployment infrastructure. Improved system integration and interoperability of research tools frees researchers from the burden of tedious installation or upgrade procedures. That, in turn, positively affects their availability for actual research activities, as well as their motivation to test new analysis tools and stay connected with the latest methodological developments in the field.
Currently, NeuroDebian offers substantial coverage of MRI-related neuroimaging software, and is expanding its support for psychophysics, electrophysiology and computational neuroscience research. In addition to making software available in the Debian archive, NeuroDebian offers a ready-to-use repository with packages tailored and built for several recent Debian and Ubuntu releases. This service is used by hundreds of labs worldwide and serves as the basis of several live-cd and virtual environments, further tailored to various purposes. This presentation introduces the services offered by the NeuroDebian project, such as backport facilities, package snapshots, communication channels, and virtual machine based neuroscience research environments, that help researchers deal with common day-to-day problems, as well as help improving transparency and reproducibility of research. It showcases how NeuroDebian can facilitate neuroscience software development and deployment – offering benefits for users and developers that reach far beyond the Debian operating system.