OpenStreetmap recently announced the transfer of servers in its infrastructure to Debian GNU/Linux, marking a significant shift from the Ubuntu distribution that had been used for the past 18 years. The migration process began in August and involved replacing the existing Ubuntu installations 04.20 and 22.04 with Debian 12. This transition also enabled the upgrade of the Ruby programming language from version 3.0 to version 3.1, as well as the utilization of the new release of Ruby On Rails Frevir, resulting in a faster WWW service at openstreetmap.org.
Various reasons prompted the migration to Debian, including problems with maintaining certain packages imported from Debian on the Ubuntu platform. For instance, Apache2 required a new version to address issues in the MPM-Module (Multi-Processing Modules) Event. Additionally, the use of SNAP format for some Ubuntu packages caused complications. Debian’s five-year maintenance cycle and comprehensive support for a wide range of packages were also key factors in the decision to switch. The ability to utilize backports for new versions of the Linux kernel in Debian proved beneficial in resolving performance issues related to input/output on systems with NVMe drives. Furthermore, the desire to align closely with the Debian community, which includes key tools like OSM2PGSQL and OSMIUM-TOOL used in the OpenStreetMap project, played a significant role in the transition.