| Devuan | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Devuan with its default XFCE desktop running on a virtual machine (2023-08) | |
| Developer | Veteran Unix Admins |
| OS family | Linux (Unix-like) |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source |
| Initial release | May 3, 2016; 9 years ago (2016-05-03)[1] |
| Latest release | 6.1[2]  / 2 January 2026; 45 days ago (2 January 2026) |
| Repository | |
| Package manager | APT (dpkg) |
| Supported platforms | i386,amd64,ARM,ppc64el |
| Kernel type | Monolithic(Linux kernel) |
| Userland | GNU |
| Default user interface | Xfce |
| License | Variousopen source licenses[note 1] |
| Official website | www |
Devuan is anopen source,Debian-basedLinux distribution that aims to maintain compatibility with otherinit systems and avoidlock-in bysystemd. Devuan offerssysvinit,runit orOpenRC as alternatives to systemd.[3][4][5][6]
With the release ofDebian 8, some developers and users felt alienated due to the project's adoption ofsystemd and subsequent removal of support for other existing init systems.[7] This decision prompted some Debian community members to start afork of Debian without systemd.[8]
Instead of continuing the Debian practice of usingToy Story character names as release codenames,[9] Devuan aliases its releases using minor planet names. The first stable release shared the Debian 8 codenameJessie. However, the Devuan release was named forminor planet 10464.[10]
The first stable release of Devuan was published on May 25, 2017.[11][12][13]
Devuan 2.0.0ASCII was released on June 9, 2018, and 2.1ASCII was released on November 21, 2019. ASCII provides a choice of five differentdesktop 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 betweensysvinit andOpenRC forinit, and betweenGRUB andLILO for theboot loader. Devuan maintains a modified version of the Debian expert text installer, which has the ability to install onlyfree software if the user chooses, while thelive 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 someSystemd 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.
Devuan 6.0 Excalibur was released on November 2, 2025. It is based on Debian Trixie (13) with Linux kernel 6.12.
Devuan has its ownpackage repository which mirrorsupstream Debian,[16] with local modifications made only when needed to allow forinit 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.
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 theTrinity Desktop Environment and anotherLXDE version.[20]
Star is another Devuan-based Linux distribution featuring several lightweight window managers, such asOpenbox,Fluxbox, JWM, andi3.[21]
| 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" | Rolling release | |
Source:[22]
| General |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People | |||||
| Derivatives |
| ||||
| Software | |||||
| Others | |||||
