Getting Started With Debian LTS

This page explains how to get started with Debian LTS, including installation, usage, important differences from “regular” security support of Debian releases, and how to get help with Debian LTS.

Installing LTS

Installing Debian LTS is no different than simply installing Debian itself. Any Debian release which is still supported can be installed according to the installation manual and release notes pertaining to that release. Users are recommended to always install the latest stable release of Debian, though there are circumstances which may require installing an older release.

Installing the current Debian stable release can be accomplished by visiting the current stable release page and then reading and following the instructions in the installation manual and release notes linked from that page.

Installing an older release of Debian can be accomplished by visiting the Debian Releases page, selecting a supported release from the Index of releases, and following the instructions in the installation manual and release notes linked from the page pertaining to the release you would like to install. Make sure to note that during the LTS phase of a Debian release’s lifecycle, a reduced range of hardware architectures are supported (currently amd64, i386, arm64, armel, and armhf). This and other important differences are discussed in a later section.

Of special note, it is particularly important to install the debian-security-support package so that you are made aware of changes to the security support status of packages installed on your system.

Using LTS

Once a Debian system is installed, there is essentially no difference between using that release one month following its initial release date and 59 months following its initial release date. That is to say, as a user, the transition from “regular” security support to LTS should pass essentially unnoticed. Regardless of which team is providing the updates, your system should continue to function in the same way.

That said, it is prudent to be aware of the increased likelihood of a package being removed from security support as the end of a release’s lifecycle approaches. As software ages it can become more difficult to support, sometimes reaching the point where it can no longer be supported in an effective way. When this happens, a decision is made to either reduce the scope of support for the package or to drop support for it altogether. These changes are communicated via updates to the debian-security-support package. If you have debian-security-support installed on a system, then whenever updates are applied the check-support-status script is executed and the administrator is notified of any installed packages which appear in either the list of packages with reduced support or the list of packages whose support has ended altogether.

The check-support-status script can also be executed manually at any time to ascertain the current state of packages with reduced or terminated security support.

Additionally, if you are subscribed to the Debian security announcement mailing list or if you monitor the publication of new advisories via one of the other available information sources, then take note that advisories during the LTS phase of the release lifecycle are published to different locations. The next section, Dealing with differences, will give guidance on how to deal with this and other important differences.

Dealing with differences

While the goal of the Debian LTS Team is to minimize the differences between “regular” security support and LTS from a user perspective, there are some differences which cannot be eliminated. For guidance on understanding and dealing with these differences, see Understanding and Dealing With LTS Differences.

Getting help with Debian LTS

Although everything may run smoothly for a long time, eventually you may encounter a problem and find that you need some sort of help or assistance. For details on seeking assistance, see Getting Help With Debian LTS.