Devuan
Devuan with its default XFCE desktop running on a virtual machine (2023-08)
DeveloperVeteran Unix Admins[1]
OS familyLinux
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen source
Initial releaseMay 3, 2016; 10 years ago (2016-05-03)[2]
Latest release6.1[3] Edit this on Wikidata / 2 January 2026; 9 months ago (2 January 2026)
Repository
Package managerAPT (dpkg)
Supported platformsi386, amd64, ARM, ppc64el
Kernel typeMonolithic (Linux kernel)
UserlandGNU
Default
user interface		Xfce
LicenseVarious open source licenses[note 1]
Official websitewww.devuan.org

Devuan is an open source operating system, based on Debian, it is a Linux distribution that aims to maintain compatibility and usability with other alternative init systems to avoid lock-in by systemd. Devuan offers sysvinit, runit and OpenRC as alternatives to systemd.[4][5][6][7]

Design principles

With the release of Debian 8, some developers and users started feeling alienated due to the project's adoption of systemd and removal of support of other existing init systems.[8] This decision lead to some Debian community members and developers to start a free-to-use fork of Debian without the use of systemd.[9]

Devuan is very similar to Debian, like, it ships with Firefox ESR as the default browser. But they have some differences too, for example, Devuan's default and preferred desktop environment is XFCE.

History

Instead of continuing the Debian practice of using Toy Story character names as release codenames,[10] 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.[11]

The first stable release of Devuan was published on May 25, 2017.[12][13][14]

Devuan 2.0.0 ASCII was released on the 9th of June on 2018, version 2.1 was released on the 21st of November on 2019. This release provideded a choice of five different desktop environments at install time (offering XFCE, Cinnamon, KDE, LXQt, MATE), also having different window managers available in the repositories. It also provides installation options for choosing between sysvinit and OpenRC for the base init system. Also including an option between GRUB and LILO as the boot loader/manager. Devuan maintains a modified version of the Debian expert text installer, which has the ability to install only free software if the user chooses explicitly, while the live desktop image also initiates a customized graphical installer from Refracta (a derivative of Devuan.)[15][16][17]

Devuan 3.0.0 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 system. Eudev and elogind are now used to replace some systemd functionality.[18]

Devuan 4.0 Chimaera was released on October 14, 2021. It is based on Debian Bullseye (11.1) which made the use of the Linux kernel version 5.10[19]

Devuan 5.0 Daedalus was released on August 15, 2023. It is based on Debian Bookworm (12.1) provided with Linux kernel version 6.1, there are a few new changes in Devuan's rootless startx for handling X11 servers, was now making the use of libseat1, this change enhanced user experience and the way for smoother and much more efficient operations, there is now a new Wayland GUI support without requiring the usage of elogind like Sway[20][21][22]

Devuan 6.0 Excalibur was released on November 2, 2025. It is based on Debian Trixie (13) with Linux kernel 6.12.

Packages

Devuan has its own package repository which mirrors upstream Debian,[23] 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.[24] According to Repology[25] the number of packages in Devuan Excalibur/6.1 is less but close to Debian Trixie/13.7; Devuan's unstable repository is almost identical to Debian's unstable in terms of available packages.

Derivatives

In August 2022, Peppermint OS announced the release of Devuan-based ISOs, alongside their Debian-based ISOs.[26]

Exe GNU/Linux is a Devuan derivative (since 2017) featuring the Trinity Desktop Environment and another LXDE version.[27]

Star is another Devuan-based Linux distribution featuring several lightweight window managers, such as Openbox, Fluxbox, JWM, and i3.[28]

Another Devuan (unstable/ceres) based operating system called Spaced Linux[29] is a derivative of Devuan which promises to feel more familiar to use for new users. Offering the MATE desktop environment pre-configured with Compiz.

Version history

See also: Debian release version history
Version Codename Codebase Release date End of support
Unsupported: 1 Jessie Debian 8 "Jessie" May 25, 2017 June 30, 2020
Unsupported: 2 ASCII Debian 9 "Stretch" June 9, 2018 July 1, 2022
Unsupported: 3 Beowulf Debian 10 "Buster" June 3, 2020 June 30, 2024
Supported: 4 Chimaera Debian 11 "Bullseye" October 14, 2021 August 31, 2026
Supported: 5 Daedalus Debian 12 "Bookworm" August 14, 2023 June 30, 2028
Latest version: 6 Excalibur Debian 13 "Trixie" November 2, 2025 TBA
Preview version: 7 Freia Debian 14 "Forky" TBA TBA
Future version: 8 Gryphon Debian 15 "Duke" TBA TBA
unstable Ceres Debian "Sid" Development branch[30]
Legend:
Unsupported
Supported
Latest version
Preview version
Future version

Source:[31]

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. ^ "The Devuan development team". Retrieved June 4, 2020..
  2. ^ Darvell, James (May 3, 2016). "Devuan Beta Release". Linux Journal. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  3. ^ "DEVUAN EXCALIBUR 6.1.0 POINT-RELEASE". January 2, 2026. Retrieved January 2, 2026.
  4. ^ Hoffman, Chris (December 3, 2014). "Meet Devuan, the Debian fork born from a bitter systemd revolt". PCWorld. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  5. ^ Larabel, Michael (November 28, 2014). "Devuan: Debian Without Systemd". Phoronix. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  6. ^ Larabel, Michael (December 23, 2014). "Devuan Is Still Moving Along As A Debian Fork Without Systemd". Phoronix. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Wise, Paul (April 26, 2015). "Debian 8 'Jessie' released". debian-announce (Mailing list). Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  9. ^ Stahie, Silviu (November 28, 2014). "Fork Debian Project Announces the Systemd-less OS Devuan". Softpedia. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ "Devuan GNU+Linux Release Codenames". devuan.org. January 1, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  12. ^ "Devuan Jessie 1.0.0 stable release (LTS)". devuan.org. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  13. ^ Smith, Jesse (June 5, 2017). "Devuan 1.0.0 -- Debian without systemd". distrowatch.com. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  14. ^ Larabel, Michael. "Devuan 1.0 Officially Released – Letting Debian Live Without Systemd". Phoronix. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  15. ^ "Devuan 2.0 ASCII Images Released for VirtualBox and VMware". www.osboxes.org.
  16. ^ "Devuan ASCII 2.0.0 stable release". www.devuan.org.
  17. ^ "Devuan GNU/Linux on X". www.devuan.org.
  18. ^ Kumar, Sarvottam (June 3, 2020). "Devuan Beowulf 3.0.0 Released: A GNU+Linux Debian Without Systemd". fossbytes.com. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  19. ^ "Devuan Chimaera 4.0 stable release". devuan.org. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  20. ^ "Devuan 5.0 Released For Debian 12 Without systemd". www.phoronix.com.
  21. ^ "Devuan 5.0 Daedalus released". www.opensourcefeed.org.
  22. ^ "Devuan Daedalus 5.0 stable release". www.devuan.org.
  23. ^ "Devuan build system overview". devuan.org. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  24. ^ "amprolla3". devuan.org. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  25. ^ "Repository statistics". repology.org. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  26. ^ Dickson, Joseph (August 2, 2022). "Peppermint OS Releases for 08-02-2022 – Peppermint OS". peppermint.os. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  27. ^ "Exe GNU/Linux". distrowatch.com. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  28. ^ "Star". distrowatch.com. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  29. ^ "Spaced Linux – desktop Linux distribution built on Devuan". www.linuxlinks.com.
  30. ^ "Devuan releases". www.wiki.devuan.org.
  31. ^ "Devuan releases". devuan.org. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
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