Devuan

Last updated

Devuan
Devuan-logo.svg
Devuan 5 Xfce LiveDVD uname+issue.png
Devuan with its default XFCE desktop running on a virtual machine (2023-08)
Developer Veteran Unix Admins
OS family Linux (Unix-like)
Working stateCurrent
Source model Open source
Initial releaseMay 3, 2016;9 years ago (2016-05-03) [1]
Latest release 6.0.0 [2]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 2 November 2025;2 days ago (2 November 2025)
Repository
Package manager APT (dpkg)
Supported platforms i386, amd64, ARM, ppc64el
Kernel type Monolithic (Linux kernel)
Userland GNU
Default
user interface 		Xfce
License Various open source licenses [note 1]
Official website www.devuan.org

Devuan is an open source, Debian-based Linux distribution that aims to maintain compatibility with other init systems and avoid lock-in by systemd. Devuan offers sysvinit, runit or OpenRC as alternatives to systemd. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

History

With the release of Debian 8, some developers and users felt alienated due to the project's adoption of systemd and subsequent removal of support for other existing init systems. [7] This decision prompted some Debian community members to start a fork of Debian without systemd. [8]

Instead of continuing the Debian practice of using Toy Story character names as release codenames, [9] Devuan aliases its releases using minor planet names. The first stable release shared the Debian 8 codename Jessie . However, the Devuan release was named for minor planet 10464. [10]

The first stable release of Devuan was published on May 25, 2017. [11] [12] [13]

Devuan 2.0.0 ASCII was released on June 9, 2018, and 2.1 ASCII was released on November 21, 2019. ASCII provides a choice of five different desktop environments at install time (XFCE, Cinnamon, KDE, LXQt, MATE), while many other window managers are available from the repositories. It also provides installation options for choosing between sysvinit and OpenRC for init, and between GRUB and LILO for the boot loader. Devuan maintains a modified version of the Debian expert text installer, which has the ability to install only free software if the user chooses, while the live desktop image also uses a custom graphical installer from Refracta, a derivative of Devuan. [14]

Devuan 3.0 Beowulf was released on June 3, 2020, based on Debian 10.4. Ppc64el has been added to the list of supported architectures. Runit is now available as an alternative init. Eudev and elogind are now used to replace some Systemd functionality. [15]

Devuan 4.0 Chimaera was released on October 14, 2021. It is based on Debian Bullseye (11.1) with Linux kernel 5.10.

Devuan 5.0 Daedalus was released on August 15, 2023. It is based on Debian Bookworm (12.1) with Linux kernel 6.1.

The current testing suite with code name Excalibur is planned for 2025+. It is based on Debian Trixie (13) with Linux kernel 6.12.

Packages

Devuan has its own package repository which mirrors upstream Debian, [16] with local modifications made only when needed to allow for init systems other than systemd. Devuan does not provide systemd in its repositories but still retains libsystemd0 until it has removed all dependencies.

Amprolla is the program used to merge Debian packages with Devuan packages. It downloads packages from Debian and merges changes to packages that Devuan overrides. [17] According to Repology [18] the number of packages in Devuan 4.0 is less but close to Debian Stable (13); the Devuan unstable is almost identical to Debian unstable in terms of the number of packages.

Derivatives

In August 2022, Peppermint OS announced the release of Devuan-based ISOs, alongside their Debian-based ISOs. [19]

Exe GNU/Linux is a Devuan derivative (since 2017) featuring the Trinity Desktop Environment and another LXDE version. [20]

Star is another Devuan-based Linux distribution featuring several lightweight window managers, such as Openbox, Fluxbox, JWM, and i3. [21]

Version history

VersionCodenameCodebaseRelease dateEnd of support
Unsupported: 1 Jessie Debian 8 "Jessie"May 25, 2017June 30, 2020
Unsupported: 2 ASCII Debian 9 "Stretch"June 9, 2018July 1, 2022
Unsupported: 3 Beowulf Debian 10 "Buster"June 3, 2020June 30, 2024
Supported: 4 Chimaera Debian 11 "Bullseye"October 14, 2021August 31, 2026
Latest version:5 Daedalus Debian 12 "Bookworm"August 14, 2023June 30, 2028
Preview version: 6 Excalibur Debian 13 "Trixie"November 2, 2025TBA
Future version: 7 Freia Debian 14 "Forky"TBATBA
Future version: 8 Gryphon Debian 15 "Duke"TBATBA
unstable Ceres Debian "Sid"Rolling release
Legend:
Unsupported
Supported
Latest version
Preview version
Future version

Source: [22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Due to Devuan being based on Debian, most (if not all) Open Source software is probably available under DFSG compatible licenses.

References

  1. ↑ Darvell, James (May 3, 2016). "Devuan Beta Release". Linux Journal. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  2. ↑ "Devuan Excalibur 6 stable release". November 2, 2025. Retrieved November 3, 2025.
  3. ↑ Hoffman, Chris (December 3, 2014). "Meet Devuan, the Debian fork born from a bitter systemd revolt". PCWorld. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  4. ↑ Larabel, Michael (November 28, 2014). "Devuan: Debian Without Systemd". Phoronix. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  5. ↑ Larabel, Michael (December 23, 2014). "Devuan Is Still Moving Along As A Debian Fork Without Systemd". Phoronix. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  6. ↑ Sharwood, Simon (December 1, 2014). "systemd row ends with Debian getting forked". The Register. Archived from the original on December 1, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  7. ↑ Wise, Paul (April 26, 2015). "Debian 8 'Jessie' released". debian-announce (Mailing list). Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  8. ↑ Stahie, Silviu (November 28, 2014). "Fork Debian Project Announces the Systemd-less OS Devuan". Softpedia. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  9. ↑ Debian FAQ Authors (May 1, 2015). "What are all those names like etch, lenny, etc.?". The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Devuan GNU+Linux Release Codenames". devuan.org. January 1, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Devuan Jessie 1.0.0 stable release (LTS)". devuan.org. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  12. ↑ Smith, Jesse (June 5, 2017). "Devuan 1.0.0 -- Debian without systemd". distrowatch.com. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  13. ↑ Larabel, Michael. "Devuan 1.0 Officially Released – Letting Debian Live Without Systemd". Phoronix. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Devuan Chimaera 4.0 stable release". devuan.org. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  15. ↑ Kumar, Sarvottam (June 3, 2020). "Devuan Beowulf 3.0.0 Released: A GNU+Linux Debian Without Systemd". fossbytes.com. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Devuan build system overview". devuan.org. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  17. ↑ "amprolla3". git.devuan.org. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Repository statistics". repology.org. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  19. ↑ Dickson, Joseph (August 2, 2022). "Peppermint OS Releases for 08-02-2022 – Peppermint OS". peppermint.os. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Exe GNU/Linux". distrowatch.com. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Star". distrowatch.com. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Devuan releases". devuan.org. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
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