Introduction
Debian previously released its most stable product, version 10 known as Debian Buster. The most current stable release of the Debian operating system, version 10 (Buster), was released on July 6, 2019, and it will be maintained until 2022. Through 2024, long-term support may be offered as part of the Debian LTS project.
This article provides an overview of Debian's new features and significant changes from the previous version. It is mainly concerned with changes that may impact users using Debian on a typical server. It compiles the Debian 10 release notes, the Debian 10 release blog post, and other sources.
Debian 10 was the outcome of the Debian development and support team and their 25 months of effort and commitment. It is intended to survive at least five years after its release. This article will cover Debian 10 or Debian Buster, its features, and its applications.
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Desktop Applications
Debian 10 has a large number of desktop apps. It now supports desktop environments in the same way that other companies do:
- LXDE 0.99.2
- LXQt 0.14
- MATE 1.20
- Xfce 4.12.Cinnamon 3.8
- GNOME 3.30
- KDE Plasma 5.14
AppArmor, a required access management system for managing application functionality in Debian 10, is installed and activated by default for individuals working in security-sensitive environments. Additionally, any APT-supported techniques may utilize seccomp-BPF sandboxing (except Cdrom, gpgv, and rsh). The HTTP method of APT is included in the apt kit and does not require to be installed individually.
By default, network filtering in Debian 10 Buster is based on the nftables system. The binary kit includes:
- Iptables-nft and iptables-legacy.
- Two distinct variants of the Iptables command-line interface.
- Starting with iptables v1.8.2.
The nftables-based version makes use of the nftables subsystem in the Linux kernel. It is possible to select between the variations using the other approach.
The support for the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) was initially included in Debian 7, codenamed Wheezy, and significantly enhanced in this release. For the amd64, i386, and arm64 platforms, Safe Boot support is provided. The release is compatible with the vast majority of Secure Boot-enabled computers out of the box. This indicates that consumers should no longer need to deactivate Stable Boot support in the firmware settings.
The cups and cups-filters packages are included by default in Debian 10 Buster, which fully provides users with everything they need to use driverless printing capabilities.
Software packages modified in Debian 10 Buster
There are several updated software packages included within the Debian 10 Buster, including the following:
- The Rustc 1.34 Package
- The Samba 4.9 Package
- systemd 241
- Thunderbird 60.7.2
- The Vim 8.1Package
- Emacs 26.1
- Firefox 60.7 (in the firefox-esr package)
- GIMP 2.10.8
- Golang 1.11
- The PostgreSQL 11 Package
- Inkscape 0.92.4
- LibreOffice 6.1
- Linux 4.19 series
- Python 3 3.7.2 Package Release
- Perl 5.28
- The Ruby 2.5.1 Package
- The PHP 7.3 Package
- MariaDB 10.3
- OpenJDK 11
With this wide variety of packages and its usual broad architectural support, Debian once again lives up to its goal of becoming the global operating system. Debian is well-suited for various use cases: desktop computers and netbooks, cluster systems and production servers, and database, network, and storage servers.
Simultaneously, other quality assurance activities, including automatic installation and update checks, guarantee that Buster fulfills the specific requirements of Debian users.
Improvements
The following sections detail some of Debian 10's most significant changes:
Linux Kernel version 4.19
Linux kernel version 4.19 has been released. Its kernel with long-term support was published on October 22, 2018, and it was maintained until December 2020. You can see the Linux kernel's official release and support schedule for additional information on the various kinds of Linux kernel releases.
Several new features and upgrades were introduced between kernel versions 4.9 and 4.19, including the following:
- Virtual GPU capability allows GPU hardware to be shared across many virtual machines rather than being given directly to one.
- Increased performance for large-scale SSD-based swap.
- Enhanced TLS acceleration inside the kernel.
- Ext4 filesystem enhancements support billions of directory entries and increased attributes up to 64k in length.
- Support for physical memory of up to 4 petabytes, up from 64 terabytes (4.14).
- Updates for the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities, as well as additional CPU vulnerability fixes (4.15).
- Support for setting I/O latency goals for block devices through cgroups.
Default AppArmor Enabled
AppArmor is an access control solution that focuses on restricting an application's resource consumption. It is intended to be used in conjunction with more conventional user-based access control methods. AppArmor works by loading application profiles into the kernel and then enforcing restrictions on capabilities such as file reads and writes, networking access, mounts, and raw socket access using those profiles.
AppArmor is enabled by default in Debian 10, as well as by several default profiles for popular programs such as Apache, Bash, Python, and PHP. Additional profiles are available via the AppArmor-profiles-extra package. For additional information, including instructions on how to build your AppArmor application profiles, you can see the AppArmor documentation.
In Debian Buster, the iptables subsystem is deprecated in favor of nftables, a more modern packet filtering system with improved syntax, simplified IPv4/IPv6 compatibility, and built-in support for datasets such as dictionaries and maps. The iptables-nft command ensures compatibility with current iptables scripts. Additionally, the nftables wiki has information on migrating from iptables to nftables.
Security-related Apt updates
Apt by default supports HTTPS repositories in Debian 10. Users no longer need to install extra packages to access HTTPS-based package repositories. Additionally, unattended upgrades—the mechanism used by Debian to automate security repository updates—allows automating point-release upgrades from any repository. Typically, these updates include just minor bug fixes and security patches.
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The adaptability of the Debian installation
Yes, Debian has an exciting feature that allows it to be utilized without installing it. This is accomplished via the use of a live image of the operating system. You may utilize the live image file directly to load and execute the complete operating system using only your machine’s RAM, but it will be in a read-only mode.
Additionally, multi-architecture CDs are available that enable installation from a single disc architectural range. Alternatively, we can continually create a bootable USB drive. Additionally, it offers access to cloud-based services provided by a variety of cloud service providers. As a result, Debian 10 has become more adaptable and straightforward to use.
Official Debian images are readily accessible through each image marketplace. Debian also offers pre-built packages for its installation, available on its website in 64x- and 86x-bit versions. You can install Debian in 76 languages, the majority of which are accessible through both text-based and graphical user interfaces.
Debian 10 Buster is also available physically on DVDs, CD-ROMs, and Blu-ray Discs from various vendors, where it may be purchased and used.
Conclusion
This article summarizes the new features and significant changes in Debian from the previous release. It is mainly concerned with changes that may affect users running Debian on a standard server. It compiles the Debian 10 release notes, as well as the Debian 10 release blog post.
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This allows users to quickly, reliably, and securely configure and upgrade computers without requiring them to own any of the infrastructures usually needed.
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