Hey everyone,

I’ve been hopping around various distros for side projects over the last few years—testing rolling releases, heavily immutabled setups, and shiny new tech. But time and time again, I find myself coming back to Debian for anything that actually matters.

In an era where operating systems are becoming increasingly bloated with forced telemetry, unrequested AI integrations, and snap/container layers forced down our throats, Debian stands out like a beacon of sanity. It just works, respects user sovereignty, and sticks to its Social Contract.

What’s interesting to me is that "Debian Stable being outdated" feels like a myth of the past now. Between Flatpak/AppImage for user apps, Backports for modern kernels/drivers, and Podman/Docker for dev work, Debian Stable is arguably the most modern, rock-solid base anyone could ask for without the fragility of rolling releases.

My question to the community:

As Linux continues to gain desktop market share (especially with Linux gaming booming), do you think Debian should maintain its conservative, "quiet giant" approach, or is there room for the project to actively market its stability and ethics to refugees from Windows/Ubuntu?

Would love to hear your thoughts on how Debian can keep its core identity while welcoming the new wave of Linux users.

Cheers to all the maintainers and contributors who keep the universal OS rockin'!

Just moved my mum who's 79 from her Windows laptop onto Debian with GNOME de and she loves it, just gave her one of my old Lenovo, i7 6th gen with 16gb laptops. Tbf she only really uses Firefox on it but she was happy that it came with Firefox, she signed into her Mozilla account and away she went, prints first time to her wireless printer too which is all good :)

I have set my battery to charge to 80% using KDE's settings and somehow it keeps getting reset with the original settings after reboot. This worked fine for the last three weeks so maybe it was a package update.

dell xps 15 7590 - Kernel Linux 6.12.113+deb13-amd64 - FW. 1.9.1 - gome48 - wayland

i don't know since when it's the case but i just saw that and didn't know why it was like that.

someone else has the same problem? is it debian or gnome and what can i do to fix it if it is even fixable for non os dev?

Hello all,

I use Debian on a mostly battle-tested Am4 setup, but paired with a 9060 XT. Since the card only came out in 2025 and was like 2 months old when Debian trixie came out, I wonder if I'm missing out on driver improvements using Debian stable. I played around with the testing and unstable branches in the past, but eventually figured I'm happy with stable, so I'd rather keep it that way.

What I've done so far is install the backported kernel with apt install -t trixie-backports linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64. The installed backports (output of dpkg -l | awk '/^ii/ && $3 ~ /bpo[0-9]/ {print $2}') are:

• libdw1t64:amd64
• libelf1t64:amd64
• libelf1t64:i386
• linux-base
• linux-base-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-base-amd64
• linux-binary-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-headers-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-headers-7.2.9+deb13-common
• linux-headers-amd64
• linux-image-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-image-amd64
• linux-kbuild-7.2.9+deb13
• linux-modules-7.2.9+deb13-amd64
• linux-sysctl-defaults

But I guess I should also get backported versions of the userland companions of the driver. I'm not entirely sure what packages make sense to get for that. Also, what implications for updating to forky next year do these backports have? Should I continue getting backports once forky is out or use the occasion to go back to pure stable?

Lately i am facing multiple issues with CI pipelines failing on extrepo for instance:

500 Can't connect to extrepo-team.pages.debian.net:443 at /usr/share/perl5/Debian/ExtRepo/Data.pm line 27.

i am seriously considering dropping the use of extrepo which is a shame because i really liked this tool.

I'm new to inkscape, I didn't think these were quite good enough/fitting enough to submit to the Forky proposals in the end, but I thought I'd upload them here in case they fit someone's KDE theme or something :) Excuse any mistakes!

EDIT: I ended up tossing it in the proposals due to the positive response. Find it under 'Capillary'!

Hi all,

I'm working on a Linux remaster project and would appreciate some guidance on two points.

Context: I need a base that is minimal yet functionally complete — not as stripped as TinyCore (missing packages, limited app support), and not as bare as Arch (where everything must be assembled manually). The project has two phases: (1) environment preparation — debranding, identity renaming, and DE selection; (2) integrating my own custom tooling,tools that integrate with the system. Keeping phase 1 short is important, since the real value of the project is in phase 2.

Question 1 Base selection:
Is Debian netinst a good fit for this? I understand that netinst is an installer medium rather than a minimal system by itself, and that the resulting system is a fully modifiable Debian install. My question is whether netinst + selective tasksel (no DE, standard utilities only) is a practical starting point for a remaster, or whether starting from debootstrap directly gives a cleaner/smaller rootfs that is worth the extra manual work. Any guidance on package selection to stay lean without leaving the system incomplete would also help.

Question 2 Tooling:

• What tool would you recommend for building/exporting the system as an ISO? I'm considering live-build — are there better-suited alternatives for a custom remaster?
• After producing the ISO, what's the recommended path to a reliable bootable image (hybrid ISO, El Torito, UEFI + BIOS)? Is xorriso/isohybrid sufficient, or is an additional layer needed?

Thanks , any help is appreciated

I just read this article/talk from 10/19/26, by Gordon Messmer, and wondered what more knowledgeable Debian users thought.

Is it common knowledge already? Fiction? It depends? It specifically mentions Debian, being a slow release cycle and all. As a Trixie user myself, I'm interested.

To summarize, it basically says that especially for typical workstation and desktop deployments, distributions releasing on shorter cadences (e.g., every 6 months) generally keep users closer to upstream maintenance and provide better real-world security coverage than frozen LTS baselines.

Basically the older the package, the more vulnerabilities there are, and desktop users should prefer faster cadences.

https://gordonmessmer.codeberg.page/dev-blog/2026/10/19/security-showdown.html

Is this one of those moments where something only applies to professional deployments of tens or hundreds and not meant for muggles like me?

I'm just a dumb casual desktop user, but if I was playing devil's advocate, I would say couldn't you mitigate this by using officially supported flatpaks (or official repos), especially for your web browser but really any user app. I think running steam games are sandboxed too usually. They'd be both up to date and sandboxed. And you can backport the kernel/graphics.

This would mean pretty much all the risky points for a desktop user are mitigated about as much as can be, while also avoiding potential supply chain attacks and new bugs in fast moving releases?

thunderbird 1:153.5.1esr-1~deb13u1 release notes:

Debian follows the Thunderbird upstream releases. Support for the 140.x series has ended, so starting with this update we're now following the 153.x series.

I was updating several Debian cloud servers this weekend to get PHP to a patched version. I had some on Stretch, Buster, and Bullseye (I admit, these should have been updated awhile back). On all but two of the servers, stepping through the versions and running full-upgrade worked (mostly) without issue and got me to Bookworm. On two of the servers, I now realize that GRUB is still on the Debian 10 version, while everything else on the systems seem to have been stably updated to Debian 12. What is my best option to get GRUB updated? I presume updating from the 10 to 12 version could be risky. Should I add the Bullseye repos back to update it to Debian 11, and then afterwards update to the Debian 12 version? Things seem stable now, is there a major issue with keeping GRUB on this version? I'd prefer to update it, but don't want to risk boot stability. Thank you in advance!

Does anyone know which kernel will Debian Fork(y) release ship with?

Context: I just installed Debian-13 but run into some bluetooth and graphics issues, which are resolved with using backported kernel.

I followed this guide https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

When I try to log in to my laptop, it just freezes

Hey guys,

Trying to install Linux on my old T430 and I'm completely stuck. Any USB I boot just gives me a black screen. No GRUB, no cursor, no Ventoy menu, nothing. Screen stays black forever.

What I've tried:

• Rufus, Balena Etcher, and Ventoy. Same result with all three.
• F12 boot menu → select "USB HDD: Generic Storage Device" → instant black screen.
• BIOS (F1): UEFI/Legacy Boot = UEFI Only, CSM Support disabled, Secure Boot off, SATA = AHCI, OS Optimized Defaults disabled.
• Tried a USB 2.0 port instead of the blue USB 3.0 one.
• Full shutdown with Shift before booting.
• Windows 11 is still on the internal SSD, if that matters.
• T430 has Intel HD 4000 graphics only, no Nvidia.

Since even the Ventoy menu doesn't show up, I'm guessing it's failing before Linux/GRUB even loads. So kernel params like nomodeset are useless here because I never see a boot menu.

Has anyone actually fixed this exact "black screen, no GRUB, no Ventoy" thing on a T430? Did I miss a BIOS setting? Is there a way to force USB boot or inject kernel params without seeing GRUB? Any help would be appreciated. This laptop is too nice to give up on lol.

Debian Stable is the only distribution for which I don’t feel the need for snapshot tools like Timeshift or Snapper. I only back up my personal files; otherwise, I trust in Debian’s stability.

Hi there!

i've realized that all my other machines are on Debian now and thinking about moving from Arch to Debian on my iMac late 2013 (GeForce 750M graphics). Has anyone had any experience using it or similar with Debian, i worry about NVIDIA drivers (i'm on 470xx) and broadcom wifi?

This is a long shot, but I’m hoping someone here might have experience with this kind of setup.

I’m running Debian testing with Btrfs, Snapper, systemd-boot, and initramfs-tools. I’ve been working on getting the ability to boot directly into a Snapper snapshot from the systemd-boot menu, with changes made during that session discarded when I reboot.

I came across an older project called uszie/systemd-boot-snapshots, which appears to have been taken down or is no longer available at its original location. I also found a fork maintained by LazyWare, although that version is primarily geared toward Arch Linux and its initramfs tooling. LazyWare’s repo has a copy of the original upstream repository geared towards Debian and Ubuntu before it disappeared.

The original project aims to protect the snapshots by making them read-only with OverlayFS.

The good news is that I can boot into my Snapper snapshots, and everything seems to work normally. However, I noticed the following message in dmesg when booting into a snapshot:

overlayfs: upperdir is in-use as upperdir/workdir of another mount, accessing files from both mounts will result in undefined behavior.

I also encountered this message:

mount: /: fsconfig() failed: overlay: No changes allowed in reconfigure.

I’m not entirely sure whether these messages are related, or whether the second one is a consequence of the first. The system appears to boot and function normally despite them, but I’d like to understand what’s happening rather than assume the warnings are harmless. It should also be noted that I do not get these warnings when booting normally.

Has anyone implemented something similar on Debian, particularly using initramfs-tools rather than mkinitcpio or dracut? I’m especially interested in whether these messages suggest an issue with how the OverlayFS layers are mounted or reconfigured during the early boot process.

Is this something I even need to worry about? I’m hoping not to have to boot into a snapshot very often.

Hey everyone!

Been on Debian + KDE for about a month now and honestly? It feels way more stable than Windows so far. Not trying to start a war or anything, just curious what everyone else thinks after using both for a while.

Some stuff I keep wondering about:

+ Crashes and freezes, how often do they happen on each one? I never get them on Debian tbh

+ Updates, does Debian's stable branch really feel safer than Windows updates that sometimes break stuff?

+ Drivers, I had wifi issues at first (fixed it with a newer kernel from backports) so idk how common that is on Windows vs Debian

+ Software, is there anything you had to give up on Linux that was rock solid on Windows?

For context, i3 10100F, RX 6500 XT, and I play Steam (Dota 2 runs fine lol).

If you've used both for a while, which one felt more stable to you and why?

Thanks!

A friend sold me a Ryzen 2700 computer at a bargain price, and it’s been 7.5 months since I installed Sid on it. Since I’m the kind of person who likes to try out new desktops and software features, so I choice Bratty Kid.

I haven’t noticed any major broken dependencies with the software from the apt repositories(Some third-party software stopped working due to the expiration of library support).

Was it unstable in the past or something like that? or Is it because of the environment I set up?

Has anyone actually experienced instability with Sid?

I was noticing today, as I was cleaning up on machine that there was bunch of repo’s that are sid/main and sid as apposed to stable, trixie, trixie-updates. Does this mean I’m running sid not stable, and how do I change it without messing everything up
I know this sounds stupid, and maybe my old brain has done it again, could it have happened when I converted to the new repo sources from the old repo list format?

does nvidia prime profiles run on debian like ubuntu?

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/Themes/Evolution

I designed this theme with glass, lighting, refraction, shadows and 3D spaces in mind, it pivots from flat designs and align more with liquid glass and frosted glass software designs that are becoming the norm across the industry.

As the next release of Debian is codenamed Forky, and Debian is the 'mother distro', I've incorporated the code fork symbol and its geometry to give this theme character and meaning. Where Debian glows as the heart of most Linux distros.

I chose a corporate/business color blue because this color conveys stability and trust, which suits Debian perfectly. As a Debian and Tumbleweed user, I do appreciate the fresh new colorful wallpapers that a new version of Plasma gives you every few months, however I see Debian as a trusted partner that just consistently works as expected, and I believe the theme would convey this feeling.