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Debian future release strategy proposal Rev2 #2519
Description
- Follows on from Debian future release strategy proposal #2398
- Relates to Add OS maintenance strategy to documentation #2397
Current situation
According to the settings in versions.json Node.js 22 & 24 are set to use Debian 12 (bookworm/oldstable) as default, Node.js 26 sets Debian 13 (trixie/stable) as default.
Images are built for each of the Debian major versions: 11 (bullseye/oldoldstable), 12 (bookworm/oldstable) & 13 (trixie/stable) (see Debian Releases).
| Node.js | 11 (bullseye) | 12 (bookworm) | 13 (trixie) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | used | default | used |
| 24 | used | default | used |
| 26 | used | used | default |
Debian releases transition through milestones:
- Release
- End of Life (EOL) after 3 years
- End of LTS after another 2 years, 5 years in total
When Debian transitions from EOL to LTS, the LTS support team typically define and publish LTS support architectures that are a subset of the architectures supported during the original release phase.
Docker Engine typically removes a Debian release from their required version list when that version transitions to End of LTS.
Current release line suggestions
For existing release lines Node.js 22, 24 & 26, retain Debian version support as long as covered by upstream Debian & Docker support.
Transitions
From Debian releases in the year 2026:
| Debian | Transition | Date | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 (bookworm) | End of Life (EOL) | 2026-06-10 | review supported architecture and drop if needed |
| 11 (bullseye) | End of LTS | 2026-08-31 | drop from distribution |
Current bookworm / bookworm-slim architectures
From versions.json
| Node.js | 12 (bookworm) |
|---|---|
| 22 | amd64, arm32v7, arm64v8, ppc64le, s390x |
| 24 | amd64, arm64v8, ppc64le, s390x |
| 26 | amd64, arm64v8, ppc64le, s390x |
Future release line suggestions
For the future Node.js 27, Alpha Oct 2026, followed by Node.js 27.0.0 in April 2027, consider restricting to support Debian stable and oldstable (2 versions) only. This would require changes in update scripts.
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