Debian GNU/Linux 12.0, also known as “Bookworm,” has been released after almost two years of development. The new version is available for download and supports nine officially supported architectures, including Intel IA-32/X86 (i686), AMD64/X86-64, ARM EABI (ARMEL), ARM64, ARMV7 (ARMHF), MIPSEL, MIPS64L, PowerPC 64 (PPC64el), and IBM System Z (S390x). Debian 12 will continue to get updates for the next five years.
Users can download installation images for Debian 12.0 from the Debian website through http, jigdo, or bittorrent. For those using the AMD64 and i386 architectures, liveUsb is available with GNOME, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, Cinnamon, and Mate. Additionally, a multi-architectural DVD is now available that combines packages for the AMD64 platform with additional packages for I386 architecture.
Users looking to migrate from Debian 11 “Bullseye” should refer to this document beforehand to familiarize themselves with the process. The distribution currently includes 64,419 binary packages, which is 4,868 more than in Debian 11. Out of these packages, 11,089 are new, while 6,296 have been removed. The rest, meaning 43,254 packages (67%), have been updated. The initial texts for the entire distribution add up to a total size of 1,341,564,204 lines of code, while the total size of all packages is 365 GB. For 96.3% (up from 95.7% in the previous branch) of packages, repeated assemblies ensure that executable files are assembled from the declared starting texts without extraneous changes.
Debian 12.0 has introduced two significant changes. Firstly, in addition to free firmware from the Main repository, proprietary firmware previously available through the Non-Free repository is now included in official installation images. Proprietary firmware required for specific equipment is automatically loaded by default, but users who prefer only free software can opt-out during the loading stage. Secondly, the Non-Free-Firmware repository has been created, with the Non-Free repository transferred with firmware packages. The installer allows dynamic requests for firmware packages from the new repository, allowing access to firmware without including it in the general Non-Free repository.
The Debian Wiki provides a list of key changes in Debian 12.0. Users looking for Debian 12 installation images for various architectures can find them on the Debian website.