Is the Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" Release Upon Us?

The long anticipated and oft delayed Debian Squeeze just might be ready for release. Last year those in the know predicted that Squeeze could be ready by Christmas 2010. Well, that time period recently passed, but eagle eye Sid users have just seen another clue that Debian developers might be preparing for release.

Release critical bugs concerning the next release have been markedly decreasing in recent weeks with those of major concern dropping to its lowest numbers this release cycle. The total number of all bugs remains relatively high at 1555 (down from over 2600 this time last year), the real number of bugs affecting this release is down to just 84. This number reflects all bugs minus ignored bugs, bugs in packages not in testing, and bugs whose tags indicate not in testing. This number has been very low and decreasing since the beginning of the new year.

But for those who like more tangible proof, there is little from actual developers at this moment, but there are little clues. One to surface early this morning was mentioned on the Debian Forum by Sid user Revenger. He noticed during updates this morning that the latest base-files package changes the codename from "Debian GNU Linux squeeze/sid" to "Debian GNU/Linux 6.0."

Image courtesy of Debian user Bolle1961

Again, there is no announcement confirming an imminent release, but for those who look for any sign might be encouraged by this latest change. Others have reported image changes and clean-ups occurring in recent days as well.

Discussions concerning the contents of CD #1 were of particular interest to those who follow the mailing list last month. Seems there wasn't enough room to include GNOME and all its accompanying depends and recommends. Some package shuffling and reclassification occurred to make room for the popular desktop, but many packages will have to be put in other images or installed via package manager after system install.

As an aside, discussions emerged as to whether full-length CD images were even still needed at all. The argument was that a Net install or minimal image would be sufficient considering all the different ways and the varying number of devices on which Debian is being installed these days. Examples were USB sticks, X-less servers, netbooks, and all the different preferred desktops. The discussion did not result in a major change of image availability at this time, but look for this topic to be brought up again next release.