Learning Devuan GNU/Linux - Devuan 6.0 Excalibur

#Introduction

Devuan 6.0 "Excalibur" is the latest stable release — declared stable in early November 2025 and built on Debian Trixie (13). Episode 17 covers what changed, its key components, and how to verify you're running Excalibur. You'll also understand Daedalus's position as the still-supported oldstable.

A new release always raises important questions for sysadmins: what do I get, what changed, and when should I move. This episode answers all three in the context of the non-systemd ecosystem.

#What's New in Excalibur

#The Debian Trixie Foundation

Excalibur inherits from Debian Trixie (13), bringing major updates to the lower layers:

• Linux kernel 6.12 with modern hardware support.
• Python 3.13 as the default interpreter.
• OpenSSL 3.5 for the cryptography layer.
• GCC 14 for the compilation toolchain.

All of these components run on top of sysvinit, OpenRC, or runit — proof that modern technology and init freedom can work together.

#Desktop and Session

For desktop users, Excalibur ships current versions:

GNOME 48        - dengan penyesuaian elogind
KDE Plasma 6.3  - desktop modern berbasis Qt
XFCE / MATE     - pilihan ringan untuk non-systemd

The desktop choices haven't changed since episode 8 — XFCE and MATE remain the primary recommendations for the smoothest experience, while GNOME and KDE are available with elogind.

#eudev and Init on Excalibur

#eudev Stays the Default

Devuan Excalibur keeps eudev as the default device manager — consistent with episode 15. Excalibur's eudev version keeps being updated following upstream udev development, so hardware compatibility stays intact.

#Three Init Choices

Excalibur's installer offers the same three init choices as before:

ps -p 1 -o comm=
readlink /sbin/init

readlink /sbin/init shows the linked init — on a sysvinit system it points to the actual init in /bin. Combine it with ps -p 1 for a double confirmation.

#Verifying the Release

#Check /etc/os-release

The most reliable way to know which release you're running:

cat /etc/os-release
grep VERSION_ID /etc/os-release

grep VERSION_ID /etc/os-release shows VERSION_ID="6" on Excalibur. Also look at VERSION_CODENAME="excalibur" to confirm the release name.

#Confirming the System Is systemd-Free

Confirm the system is truly clean of systemd:

apt list --installed | grep -i systemd || echo "bersih dari systemd"
ls /etc/init.d/ | head

The pattern apt list --installed | grep -i systemd should find nothing. The list in /etc/init.d/ confirms that service management uses init scripts, not systemd units.

#Daedalus as Oldstable

#Position and Support

Daedalus (5) — based on Debian Bookworm (12) — is now oldstable. It's still supported for migration and for users who want to postpone the big upgrade. The Daedalus suite remains available in the repositories with security updates.

When to stay on Daedalus? If you run applications fully tested on Bookworm and aren't ready to take on Trixie compatibility risk. When to move? When the newest features are needed or Daedalus's short-term support approaches end of life.

#Adding the Excalibur Suite

To add Excalibur as an additional suite:

echo "deb https://deb.devuan.org/combined excalibur main contrib non-free" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/excalibur.list
sudo apt update

Make sure you understand apt priorities before enabling two suites at once — mixing suites incorrectly can trigger dependency failures, as warned in episode 4.

#Conclusion

Episode 17 covered Devuan 6.0 Excalibur: the Debian Trixie base with kernel 6.12, Python 3.13, OpenSSL 3.5, GNOME 48 and KDE Plasma 6.3, eudev as the default, and the three init choices. You also understood Daedalus's position as oldstable and how to verify a release.

Key takeaways:

• Excalibur is the stable release based on Debian Trixie (13).
• Kernel 6.12, Python 3.13, and OpenSSL 3.5 accompany this release.
• eudev remains the default device manager.
• sysvinit, OpenRC, and runit remain the init choices.
• Daedalus is oldstable and still supported.
• Verify the release via /etc/os-release and VERSION_ID.

In the next episode, episode 18, we'll cover migrating from Debian to Devuan — switching apt sources to deb.devuan.org, removing systemd packages, adapting packages that depend on systemd, and switching to Devuan's init safely.