Debian 12 Released, Maybe It Is The Best Linux Distribution
Tags: linux, opensource
Published: 2023-06-27 02:39:27

Debian 12 was released on June 10, 2023. It may be the best Linux distribution version and definitely worth your attention and understanding.

![Debian 12](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/eiwxy8l78pajoa3d8xn8.png)


## The Outstanding Linux Distribution

Most programmers may be more familiar with CentOS or Ubuntu, and they rarely use the Debian distribution. Some people may not have even heard of Debian.

However, Debian is an outstanding Linux distribution for several reasons:

- It is a purely community-managed open-source and free distribution without any influence from commercial companies or commercial interests.
- Debian is the ancestor of the three major Linux distribution families (Debian, Red Hat, and Arch). Many famous Linux distributions like Ubuntu are built on Debian.
- Linux is known for its stability, and among all Linux distributions, Debian is recognized as the most stable and reliable one.

Therefore, Debian is an excellent and reliable choice for Linux servers. It is also my default choice for Linux servers.

## Debian 12 Release

After nearly two years of development, Debian 12 has been released with the codename “bookworm”.

Before introducing the new features of Debian 12, let’s first understand the release mechanism of Debian.

### Release Mechanism

Each Linux distribution has its own release mechanism. For example, Ubuntu releases a version every six months and a Long Term Support (LTS) version every two years. Each LTS version is supported for five years, extendable to ten years with Ubuntu Pro services, while non-LTS versions are supported for only nine months.

In contrast, the release mechanism of Debian is as follows:

- Simultaneous release of “Stable,” “Testing,” and “Unstable” versions. Of course, for server selection, “Stable” is the best choice.
- Approximately every two years, a “Stable” version is released (not as strict and fixed as Ubuntu; it is released when development is completed). Each “Stable” version is supported for five years. There is no commercial support service (there is no commercial company behind it).

### Changes in Debian 12

A brief description of the changes in Debian 12:

> _Kernel Upgrade, Linux kernel 6.1_

Although there are numerous Linux distributions that seem to offer many choices, the essence of all Linux systems is based on the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel is the fundamental and most important core support for Linux systems.

Debian 12 has been upgraded to Linux kernel 6.1, which is a long-term support (LTS) version of the kernel and will be supported until 2026.

> _Numerous software upgrades to new versions_

In general, one of the most important aspects of any major distribution release is the upgrade of the default-supported software. Debian 12 is no exception, as a large number of software packages in its repositories have been updated to new versions.

Let’s take some examples familiar to programmers:

- Nginx 1.22
- OpenJDK 17
- PHP 8.2
- MariaDB 10.11
- PostgreSQL 15
- Python 3.11.2
- Vim 9.0

Debian has also upgraded its support for various desktop tools to new versions:

- Gnome 43
- KDE Plasma 5.27
- LXDE 11
- LXQt 1.2.0
- MATE 1.26
- Xfce 4.18

> _Brand new non-free-firmware mechanism_

In general, communities that embrace the principles of open source and freedom tend to have reservations about proprietary software.

Debian, being built on the principles of “open source and freedom,” has never been particularly friendly to “non-free” firmware or software.

This unfriendliness is reflected in the fact that Debian’s distribution build products do not include or install certain “non-free” software by default. Before Debian 12, you had to add a “non-free” repository source yourself and manually install some “non-free” software.

Well, for server systems, this is not a significant problem. However, for desktop Linux, this is extremely unfriendly. Most hardware drivers are not open source, which means that installing a desktop system based on Debian can be very troublesome. You have to handle various hardware drivers by yourself. In contrast, Ubuntu doesn’t care about these issues at all and automatically finds and installs the necessary drivers for you. This is one of the reasons why Ubuntu is very user-friendly.

However, starting from Debian 12, a “non-free-firmware” repository source has been included and added by default. During installation, necessary firmware software or drivers will be loaded and installed as needed, which significantly improves user-friendliness.

However, it should be noted that Debian 12 still does not include the “non-free” repository by default. The “non-free” repository includes some non-open source and non-free software that is not required during system installation.

> The Universal Operating System

Debian 12 has added support for Secure Boot on ARM64 architecture hardware.

Debian claims to be “The Universal Operating System,” and this is true. The reason is that Debian supports a wide range of CPU architectures, including:

- 32-bit PC (i386) and 64-bit PC (amd64)
- 64-bit ARM (arm64)
- ARM EABI (armel)
- ARMv7 (EABI hard-float ABI, armhf)
- Little-endian MIPS (mipsel)
- 64-bit little-endian MIPS (mips64el)
- 64-bit little-endian PowerPC (ppc64el)
- IBM System z (s390x)

Basically, few Linux distributions can support such a wide range of architectures.

## Is Debian 12 for You?

For those who are still using Debian 11, it is generally not recommended to upgrade immediately considering the stability requirements of server systems. It is more prudent to wait until version 12.1 before considering an upgrade.

If it is a new Linux system, choosing Debian 12 is completely feasible.