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Introduction

Debian is under continual development. The latest release is Debian 12.1. It is also (currently) known as stable or by its codename "Bookworm".

Each version also corresponds to a set of named software repositories (at least one per CPU architecture).

At any given time, there is one stable release of Debian, which has the support of the Debian security team. When a new stable version is released, the security team will usually cover the previous version for a year or so, while they also cover the new/current version. Only stable is recommended for production use.

There are also two main development repositories unstable and testing which are continually updated during the development of the next stable release. The latest packages arrive in unstable (which always has the codename "Sid"). Packages are automatically copied from unstable to testing when they meet criteria such as lack of release-critical bugs, and dependencies being satisfied by other packages in testing.

Choosing

End users should generally choose to run either stable or testing. Stable is recommended for applications requiring production-level stability and security (servers, firewalls etc) and is also recommended for those who are new to Linux. Testing is recommended for advanced users who want new software on their desktops and who are capable of reporting and fixing bugs to help Debian.

Choosing a debian distribution discusses the pros and cons of choosing one Debian distribution over another. And the overview of software for Debian Stable describes common ways Debian stable is enhanced with newer software or otherwise given extended capabilities.

The Debian FTP archives chapter of the Debian FAQ has even more information.

Current Releases/Repositories

• oldstable - The previous stable release (Bullseye).

• stable - The current stable release (Bookworm).

• testing - The next generation release (Trixie).

• unstable - The unstable development release (Sid), where new or updated packages are introduced.

Also:

• experimental - Not really a release (RC-Buggy), but a repository where packages are tested (experimented) if they are not suited for unstable.

• backport - Not a release, but a repository for updated packages for stable.

Production Releases

please use ISO 8601 dates to make the column align better and ease comparisons. use a tilde sign for approximate dates, with the first day of the month if unknown. for example, "may 2010" is ~2010-05-01 and "around 2010" is "~2010"

Reminder: the EOL date for the stable release is the date of the next stable release plus one year. For example, Debian bullseye ("buster +1") was released on 2021-08-14 so Debian buster's EOL is around 2022-08.

Note: the point releases (like 7.1 and 7.2) are detailed in each distribution's page.

Release statistics

In the above array, data closely following "current" releasing tendencies have been highlighted in green. What can be deduced from those data is that the "most-typical" Debian release:

• endures a freeze cycle of 7 +/- 1 months before getting released.

• is released about 2 years after the previous one (the often cited example of Debian Sarge being quite an exceptional event in Debian history).

• leaves users about 1 year to upgrade to the next one once this latter itself gets released.

• has (from release to the end of security updates) a total lifetime of about 3 years.

http://debian.semistable.com/releases.gif

Workflow

Here's a diagram describing how packages flow between archives:

See also the various software powering that archive.

Codenames

Releases of the Debian distribution have both traditional version numbers and codenames based on characters from the Pixar/Disney movie "Toy Story" (1995). Sid, as you may recall, was the evil neighbor kid who broke all the toys. Additionally, the codename for the Experimental repository, RC-Buggy, was Andy's toy car, and is a pun on 'Release Critical' and 'Remote Control.'

See also

• DebianStability - Changing from one release version to another.

• Debian version history - Wikipedia

Wiki pages

All wiki pages about Debian releases:

CategoryRelease