•

• Home Page, Headlines • DW Weekly, Comments • Packages, Package Management • Glossary, FAQ, Mobile Site	• Search, Sitemap • Major Distributions • Submit Distribution • Upcoming Releases	• About DistroWatch • Beginner's Guide • Torrents, Page Hit Ranking • Advertise

DistroWatch.com is sponsored by

News/Opinions/Reviews ▼
Release Announcements News and Headlines DW Weekly DW Weekly / Review Archive News/Article Search Upcoming Releases Opinion Polls Visitor Ratings & Reviews Project Rankings by Ratings Podcasts, Newsletters & Reviews
Packages ▼
Packages We Track Package Management Compare Packages Across Distros Show package versions for all distros
Find/Submit Distro ▼
Search For Distro Search For Distro - Advanced Major Distributions Waiting List Submit Distribution Distributions Origin Discontinued Distributions Random Distribution
Tutorials & Learning ▼
Beginner's Guide Search For An Article Questions and Answers Columns Tips and Tricks Columns Myths And Misunderstandings Columns Glossary Simplified Manual Pages
Related Resources ▼
Other Operating Systems Compatible Hardware Security Advisories Torrents Upload Torrents Distro Verification Keys Visual Distro Family Tree Linux User Groups
DistroWatch.com ▼
About DistroWatch Contact Us Page Hit Ranking Page Hit Trends Advertise Frequently Asked Questions Contributing Donate Our Donations Programme

DistroWatch.com: Devuan GNU+Linux

Devuan GNU+Linux

Last Update: 2026-08-17 02:45 UTC

devuan-5.0.0 (more screenshots in our gallery)

OS Type: Linux
Based on: Debian
Origin: Global
Architecture: aarch64, armel, armhf, i686, x86_64
Desktop: Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, labwc, LXQt, MATE, Wayfire, Xfce
Category: Desktop, Live Medium, Server, Raspberry Pi
Status: Active
Popularity: 43 (290 hits per day)

Devuan GNU+Linux is a Linux distribution forked from Debian in 2015. The project's primary goal is to provide a variant of Debian without the complexities and dependencies of systemd, an init system and services manager originally developed by Red Hat and later adopted by most other Linux distributions. Devuan's initial beta release was made available in April 2016, together with an upgrade path from Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" and a possibility to switch to Devuan from Debian 8.0 "Jessie". The distribution adopted Xfce as its default desktop.

Popularity (hits per day): 12 months: 38 (309), 6 months: 43 (290), 3 months: 52 (221), 4 weeks: 62 (189), 1 week: 71 (176)

Average visitor rating: 9.0/10 from 179 review(s).

Devuan Summary
Distribution	Devuan GNU+Linux
Home Page	https://devuan.org/
Mailing Lists	https://devuan.org/os/community
User Forums	https://dev1galaxy.org/
Alternative User Forums
Documentation	https://devuan.org/os/documentation/
Screenshots	DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors	https://files.devuan.org/ • DistroWatch Torrent Archive
Bug Tracker	https://bugs.devuan.org/
Related Websites
Reviews	4.x: Dedoimedo 3.x: DistroWatch 2.x: DistroWatch 1.x: DistroWatch
Where To Donate, Buy or Try	https://www.devuan.org/os/donate.html •

Recent Related News and Releases

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)

To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.

Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.

Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.

TUXEDO
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included! Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.

NovaCustom
NovaCustom PrivacyGuard Laptops - Escape from Big Tech The NovaCustom PrivacyGuard Laptop is ideal for anyone who prioritizes privacy. Comes with Dasharo coreboot open source firmware and Zorin OS Pro, free from influence of Big Tech.

Star Labs
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux. View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.

Advertisement

Feature	unstable ceres	testing freia	6.1.1 excalibur	5.0.1 daedalus	4.0.0 chimaera	3.1.0 beowulf	2.1 ascii	1.0.0 jessie	Feature
Release Date	2026-08-17	2026-08-17	2026-04-25	2023-09-14	2021-10-14	2021-02-15	2019-11-25	2017-05-25	Release Date
End Of Life								2020-06	End Of Life
Price (US$)	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	Price (US$)
Image Size (MB)			500-4500	400-3900	300-3700	300-3700	200-4500		Image Size (MB)
Free Download	deb	deb	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	ISO	Free Download
Installation	--	--	Debian Installer	Debian Installer	Graphical	Graphical	Graphical	Graphical	Installation
Default Desktop	Cinnamon, LXQt, KDE Plasma, MATE, Xfce	Xfce	Xfce	Xfce	Xfce	Xfce	Xfce	Xfce	Default Desktop
Default Browser			Chromium, Firefox ESR	Chromium, Firefox ESR					Default Browser
Package Format	deb	deb	deb	deb	deb	deb	deb	deb	Package Format
Package Management	apt	apt	apt	apt	apt	apt	apt	apt	Package Management
Release Model	Rolling	Semi-Rolling	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Fixed	Release Model
Office Suite	GOffice, LibreOffice	GOffice, LibreOffice	LibreOffice	LibreOffice	LibreOffice	LibreOffice	LibreOffice	GOffice, LibreOffice	Office Suite
Processor Architecture	x86_64	x86_64	x86_64	i586, x86_64	arm64, armel, armhf, i386, ppc64el, x86_64	arm64, armel, armhf, i386, ppc64el, x86_64	armhf, i386, x86_64	armhf, i386, x86_64	Processor Architecture
Init Software	OpenRC, runit, SysV	OpenRC, runit, SysV	OpenRC, runit, SysV	OpenRC, runit, SysV	OpenRC, runit, SysV	OpenRC, runit, SysV	SysV	SysV	Init Software
Journaled File Systems	Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS	Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS	Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS	Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS	Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS	Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS	ext4	Btrfs, ext4, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS	Journaled File Systems
Multilingual	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Multilingual
Full Package List	unstable	testing	6.1.1	5.0.1	4.0.0	3.1.0	2.1	1.0.0	Full Package List
Package	unstable ceres	testing freia	6.1.1 excalibur	5.0.1 daedalus	4.0.0 chimaera	3.1.0 beowulf	2.1 ascii	1.0.0 jessie	Package
alsa-lib (1.2.16.1)	1.2.16.1	1.2.16.1	1.2.14	1.2.8	1.2.4	1.1.8	1.1.3	1.0.28	alsa-lib (1.2.16.1)
amdgpu (25.0.0)	25.0.0	25.0.0	23.0.0	23.0.0	19.1.0	18.1.99	--	--	amdgpu (25.0.0)
apparmor (5.0.2)	4.1.7	4.1.7	4.1.0	3.0.8	2.13.6	2.13.2	--	--	apparmor (5.0.2)
apt (3.3.3)	3.3.1	3.3.1	3.0.3	2.6.1	2.2.4	1.8.2.2	1.4.9	1.0.9.8.4	apt (3.3.3)
bash (5.3)	5.3	5.3	5.2.37	5.2.15	5.1	5.0	4.4	4.3	bash (5.3)
bind (9.20.26)	9.20.26	9.20.26	9.20.18	9.18.16	9.16.15	9.11.5	9.10.3-P4	9.9.5	bind (9.20.26)
chromium (151.0.7922.137)	151.0.7922.137	150.0.7871.181	145.0.7632.159	114.0.5735.198	90.0.4430.212	88.0.4324.146	70.0.3538.110	57.0.2987.98	chromium (151.0.7922.137)
cinnamon (6.6.9)	6.6.9	6.6.9	6.4.10	5.6.8	4.8.6	3.8.8	3.2.7	--	cinnamon (6.6.9)
cups (2.4.19)	2.4.18	2.4.18	2.4.10	2.4.2	2.3.3	2.2.10	2.2.1	1.7.5	cups (2.4.19)
e2fsprogs (1.47.4)	1.47.4	1.47.4	1.47.2	1.47.0	1.46.2	1.44.5	1.43.4	1.42.12	e2fsprogs (1.47.4)
ffmpeg (9.0.1)	8.1.2	8.1.2	7.1.3	5.1.3	4.3.2	4.1.6	3.2.14	--	ffmpeg (9.0.1)
firefox (154.0)	153.0.4	140.13.0	140.8.0	102.13.0	78.14.0	78.7.0	60.7.1	45.9.0	firefox (154.0)
flatpak (1.18.1)	1.18.1	1.18.1	1.16.3	1.14.4	1.10.3	1.2.5	--	--	flatpak (1.18.1)
freetype (2.14.3)	2.14.3	2.14.3	2.13.3	2.12.1	2.10.4	2.9.1	2.6.3	2.5.2	freetype (2.14.3)
gcc (16.2.0)	16.2.0	16.2.0	14.2.0	12.2.0	10.2.1	8.3.0	6.3.0	4.9.2	gcc (16.2.0)
gimp (3.2.4)	3.2.4	3.2.4	3.0.4	2.10.34	2.10.22	2.10.8	2.8.18	2.8.14	gimp (3.2.4)
git (2.55.0)	2.55.0	2.53.0	2.47.3	2.39.2	2.30.2	2.20.1	2.11.0	2.1.4	git (2.55.0)
glibc (2.44)	2.43	2.43	2.41	2.36	2.31	2.28	2.24	2.19	glibc (2.44)
gnome-shell (50.4)	50.3	50.3	48.7	43.6	3.38.6	3.30.2	3.22.3	--	gnome-shell (50.4)
grub (2.14)	2.14	2.14	2.12	2.06	2.04	2.02	2.02beta3	2.02beta2	grub (2.14)
gtk (4.22.4)	3.24.52	3.24.52	4.18.6	4.8.3	3.24.24	3.24.5	3.22.11	2.24.25	gtk (4.22.4)
httpd (2.4.68)	2.4.68	2.4.68	2.4.66	2.4.57	2.4.48	2.4.38	2.4.25	2.4.10	httpd (2.4.68)
hyprland (0.56.2)	0.56.2	0.56.2	--	--	--	--	--	--	hyprland (0.56.2)
inkscape (1.4.4)	1.4.3	1.4.3	--	--	1.0.2	0.92.4	0.92.1	0.48.5	inkscape (1.4.4)
kmod (34.2)	34.2	34.2	34.2	30	28	26	23	18	kmod (34.2)
krita (6.0.3)	5.3.3	5.3.3	--	--	--	--	--	--	krita (6.0.3)
Package	unstable ceres	testing freia	6.1.1 excalibur	5.0.1 daedalus	4.0.0 chimaera	3.1.0 beowulf	2.1 ascii	1.0.0 jessie	Package
LibreOffice (26.2.5)	26.2.5	26.2.5	25.2.3	7.4.7	7.0.4	6.1.5	5.2.7	4.3.3	LibreOffice (26.2.5)
libselinux (3.11)	3.11	3.11	3.8.1	3.4	3.1	2.8	2.6	2.3	libselinux (3.11)
linux (7.2)	7.1.8	7.1.8	6.12.73	6.1.38	5.10.70	4.19.160	4.9.189	3.16.43	linux (7.2)
mariadb (12.3.2)	11.8.8	11.8.8	11.8.6	10.11.3	10.5.12	10.1.26	10.1.26	--	mariadb (12.3.2)
mate-desktop (1.28.2)	1.28.2	1.28.2	1.26.2	1.26.0	1.24.1	1.20.4	1.16.2	--	mate-desktop (1.28.2)
mesa (26.2.0)	26.1.6	26.1.5	25.0.7	22.3.6	20.3.5	18.3.6	13.0.6	10.3.2	mesa (26.2.0)
nautilus (50.2.2)	50.2.2	50.2.2	48.3	43.2	3.38.2	3.30.5	3.22.3	3.14.1	nautilus (50.2.2)
NVIDIA (610.57.04)	610.57.04	610.57.04	570.133.07	525.125.06	--	418.74	--	--	NVIDIA (610.57.04)
openjdk (26.0.2)	28~11ea	27~24ea	21.0.10	17.0.7	11.0.12	11.0.9	8u222	7u111	openjdk (26.0.2)
openssh (10.5p1)	10.4p1	10.4p1	10.0p1	9.2p1	8.4p1	7.9p1	7.4p1	6.7p1	openssh (10.5p1)
openssl (4.0.1)	3.6.3	3.6.3	3.5.5	3.0.9	1.1.1k	1.1.1d	1.1.0k	1.0.1t	openssl (4.0.1)
perl (5.44.0)	5.42.2	5.42.2	5.40.1	5.36.0	5.32.1	5.28.1	5.24.1	5.20.2	perl (5.44.0)
php (8.5.9)	8.4.24	8.4.24	8.4.11	8.2.7	7.4.21	7.3.19	7.0.33	5.6.30	php (8.5.9)
plasma-desktop (6.7.4)	6.7.4	6.7.2	6.3.6	5.27.5	5.20.5	5.14.5.1	5.8.6	4.11.13	plasma-desktop (6.7.4)
postfix (3.11.6)	3.11.6	3.11.5	3.10.5	3.7.6	3.5.6	3.4.14	3.1.12	2.11.3	postfix (3.11.6)
postgresql (18.6)	18.6	18.4	17.9	15.3	13.4	11.10	9.6.15	9.4.11	postgresql (18.6)
Python (3.14.7)	3.15.0~rc1	3.15.0~rc1	3.13.5	3.11.2	3.9.2	3.7.3	3.5.3	2.7.9	Python (3.14.7)
qt (6.11.1)	6.10.2	6.10.2	6.8.2	6.4.2	5.15.2	5.11.3	5.7.1	4.8.6	qt (6.11.1)
samba (4.24.6)	4.24.6	4.24.5	4.22.8	4.17.9	4.13.5	4.9.5	4.5.16	4.2.14	samba (4.24.6)
systemd (261.2)	261.2	261.2	--	--	--	--	--	--	systemd (261.2)
thunderbird (153.0.3)	140.13.0	140.13.0	140.8.0	102.13.0	78.14.0	78.7.0	60.8.0	45.8.0	thunderbird (153.0.3)
vim (9.2)	9.2	9.2	9.1	9.0	8.2	8.1	8.0	7.4	vim (9.2)
vlc (3.0.23)	3.0.23	3.0.23	3.0.23	3.0.18	3.0.16	3.0.12	3.0.8	2.2.5	vlc (3.0.23)
wayland (1.26.0)	1.26.0	1.26.0	1.23.1	1.21.0	1.18.0	1.16.0	1.12.0	1.6.0	wayland (1.26.0)
xfdesktop (4.20.2)	4.20.2	4.20.2	4.20.1	4.18.1	4.16.0	4.12.5	4.12.3	4.10.2	xfdesktop (4.20.2)
xorg-server (21.1.24)	21.1.24	21.1.23	21.1.16	21.1.7	1.20.11	1.20.4	1.19.2	1.16.4	xorg-server (21.1.24)

Reader Ratings

Reader supplied reviews for Devuan GNU+Linux

Average rating
9.0
from 179 review(s)

What are your thoughts on Devuan GNU+Linux?
Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system.
Our FAQ page has tips on writing a good mini-review.

Version:

Rating: out of 10

Your review (minimum 250 words):

Past reviews - sort by:

Version: testing
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-07-20
Country: Switzerland
Votes: 29

Installed on a Toshiba Satellite U200 (~2005) with a Core Duo T5600 processor with 4GB Ram and an SSD in place of the HDD. I found a replacement battery without problem.

Tipps
1. Use the *_netinstall.iso in order to automatically get the right drivers for you old hardware during the installation process, no need for AI and forum search. Tried with success on others machines like an Miix520 (~2018)
2. Choose the Mate desktop instead of the standard Xfce
3. Use an adblocker in you browser

Results (with Mate Desktop)
Ram : 591Mb of 3.1GB ( shared with the video - 4GB was the max with XP)
Swap : 0 of 3.2GB

This machine is perfectly usable even today, the original XP never worked as smooth and fast

Was this review helpful? Yes No

Version: 6.1.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2026-06-30
Country: United Kingdom
Votes: 30

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to share a win for this lightweight Linux OS . I have an old, banged-up Toshiba Satellite A300-1BZ from 2008. On any modern OS, this thing is a paperweight. Laptop was unusable with Windows and Ubuntu was quite draining.
I threw Devuan on it, and the resource management is flipping amazing.
Right now, I am actively multitasking with: Firefox, Filen Sync, Streaming music to bluetooth speaker and using LibreOffice

Memory stats:
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 3.8Gi 2.1Gi 998Mi 49Mi 1.1Gi 1.8Gi
Swap: 4.0Gi 0B 4.0Gi

Zero swap usage and nearly 2 GB of RAM still free. If you have an old laptop gathering dust, don't throw it away. Give Devuan a shot!

Installing takes a bit of perseverance but with a bit of AI and forum help it can be done.

Was this review helpful? Yes No

Version: unstable
Rating: 9
Date: 2026-06-27
Country: United States
Votes: 8

I've been using Devuan Ceres on mhy Dell latitude 7480, with XLibre and SonicDE (which is a fork of KDE Plasma) in anticipation of KDE's plan to go Wayland-only as of Plasma 6.8. So far I see not much difference between this setup and my other laptop (another Latitude 7480 with Debian Sid/Forky and KDE Plasma). So far this is the biggest pro: the fact that there doesn't seem to be a big difference between this distro and the one that it's forked from.

Also, get used to init scripts (since you won't be dealing with systemd). Upon installation you get a choice between init systems to use (I prefer OpenRC myself). You're also not really stuck with XFCE, either; you also have the option of using LXQT. Adding repos should be pretty straightforward since this is just Debian without systemd; Debian repos and packages seem to work just fine. In fact, if you're coming over from Debian/Ubuntu, you're probably going to find yourself in very familiar territory.

Was this review helpful? Yes No

See all 179 reader reviews of Devuan GNU+Linux...

Copyright © 2001 - 2026 Atea Ataroa Limited. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Privacy policy. Change privacy settings.

Contact, corrections and suggestions: Jesse Smith

Tips: Bitcoin

bc1qxes3k2wq3uqzr074tkwwjmwfe63z70gwzfu4lx
Bitcoin Lightning

lnurl1dp68gurn8ghj7ampd3kx2ar0veekzar0wd5xjtnrdakj7tnhv4kxctttdehhwm30d3h82unvwqhhxarpw3jkc7tzw4ex6cfexyfua2nr
Monero

86fA3qPTeQtNb2k1vLwEQaAp3XxkvvvXt69gSG5LGunXXikK9koPWZaRQgfFPBPWhMgXjPjccy9LA9xRFchPWQAnPvxh5Le
PayPal.me/distrow • Patreon.com/distrowatch