Debian is a free and open-source Linux-based operating system that exists because of millions of volunteers that collaborate via the internet and commit to providing a free and best operating system to Linux users. Debian 12 code name Bookworm is a new, stable, and updated version of the Debian project which is presented after 21 months of constant development. The security team and the long-term support team of Debian have collaborated and combined their task force which ensures 5-year support to this project and maintenance for the users.

Supported Environments

Debian 12 has been made adaptable to a variety of desktop environments and it ships along with the LXDE, MATE, Xfce, LXQT, Gnome, and KDE plasma. It has a total of 64419 packages of which 11089 packages are added new, 43254 packages have been updated and 6296 packages were removed since they were obsolete. 365 GB is the total disk capacity required for the project and the total line of code used to develop this is 1341564204. Debian 12 offers the availability of man-pages in a variety of languages enabling users to access the pages in their preferred language such as Finnish, Danish, French, Czech, Russian, Macedonian, Swedish, Serbian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Norwegian, Greek, because of its amazing team of translators.

Linux Kernel

Debian 12 also features Linux mainline kernel 6.1, providing its users with the latest, greatest, and most stablest hardware support. This kernel provides its users with initial Rust framework support, performance improvements of btrfs, updates to intel, and AMD’s upcoming CPU lineups.

Free and Non-Free packages

Debian has always provided its users with free and non-free packages, but this time a critical change arrives regarding ISO files. Separate ISO files now include the proprietary non-free packages. This means that users are empowered to download separate ISO files for their systems according to their special needs. However, selecting the right ISO file has been a challenge for the end users. To relieve the users of this misery, the Debian team launched voting for its users to select the best possible option to handle the non-free packages. As a result of this voting, both free and non-free packages were included in the primary ISO files.

Debian Med Blend

Bookworm also has added new packages that would aid in the field of health and life sciences. A new package is introduced which is a shiny server that simplifies the scientific web application. Also, the team has ensured continuous integrated support for the packages maintained previously. The Debian Med Team appreciated the feedback from users in the form of backports from new packages, the higher version in testing, and requests for packaging of not yet-packaged free software.

Debian Astro Blend

Professional astronomers, hobbyists, and enthusiasts are taken good care of by Debian Astro Blend by providing a comprehensive solution and updates for all versions of software packages. Apart from upgradation, a lot of new software packages have also been included. Image assembly and astrometry resolution are improved with the aid of a planetary system and ASTAP. It now also includes Openvlbi which is an open-source platform that would be a treat for the Radio astronomers. Debian 12 has also included a wide range of libraries and drivers that support the INDI protocol. New software packages are also added that are affiliated with Astropy, including python3-extinction, Python3-synphot, Python3-specreduce, and Python3-sncosmo. Another change is the extended Python support for the ASDF file format. Another function is the secure boot support for ARM64 that enables users to enjoy the security mode to the fullest.

Updated Packages

Debian 12 has also included the updated files of almost 67% of the previously released software packages such as Apache, Emacs, Exim, Dovecot MTA, Inkscape, GIMP, GNU compiler collection, Nginx, OpenJDK, OpenLDAP, MariaDB, OpenJDK, OpenSSH, PHP, Perl, Cryptsetup, GnuPG, The GNU C Library, LibreOffice, Linux kernel 6.1, OpenLDAP, OpenSSH, Perl, PHP, Postfix MTA, LLVM/Clang toolchain, PostgreSQL, Python, Rustc, Samba, Systemd, Vim. It is quite evident with this architecture support and wide selection of updates that Debian stands out to be a Universal Operating System. Also, Debian 12 has fulfilled the high expectations of the users by ensuring additional quality assurance efforts like upgradation tests and automatic installation. It is easily adaptable to different use cases like desktops, netbooks, databases, web, storage servers, development servers, and cluster systems.

Architecture Support

Bookworm supports a total of 9 architectures including a 64-bit PowerPC with ppc64el processor, a 32-bit PC with i386 processor, a 64-bit ARM with arm64 processor, ARMv7 with EABI hard-float ABI, an Armhf, MIPS with Mipsel processor, ARM EABI with armel processor, and IBM System z with s390x processor. Several cloud computing services are also included by the Debian Cloud team including Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, OpenStack, GenericCloud, and NoCloud.

Wallpaper and theme

Debian has a history of introducing artwork with every release, and this time default artwork theme is ‘Emerald. The default theme is exhibited in the installers, wallpaper, and animated Plymouth.

Miscellaneous Updates

Apart from all these amazing features, Debian 12 has the capability of detecting Windows 11 by using a dual-boot setup. For the Cinnamon desktop, default screen reader support is enabled. It automatically launches speech synthesis after 30 seconds of timeout. Easily detects multipath devices and supports multiple Initrd paths. It supports RISC-V and ARM devices. It has now dropped the support for experimental DMRAID.

Closing Remarks

It is safe to say that this new release has provided Linux users with magnificent features and powerful tools. From updated packages to the new kernel, it is an impressive release that has a lot to offer for new and seasoned Linux users. If you are searching for a definitive, comprehensive, and versatile Linux-based option for your operating system, then Debian is the best choice with its safe, secure, stable, and open-source principles.

To install Debian 12 on your system, read our article.