Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 Reaches End of Life

Francesca Ciceri reminded Debian users that version 5.0 of the multi-purpose operating system has reach the end of its supported life-cycle. One year after the release of Debian 6.0, the plug has finally been pulled on Lenny. Users are urged to upgrade their installs to the fully supported Squeeze.

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 Lenny was released three years ago on February 14, 2009 with Linux 2.6.26, X.Org 7.3, GCC 4.3.2, OpenOffice.org 2.4.1, and desktops such as KDE 3.5.10 and Xfce 4.4.2. The server stack included Apache 2.2.9, MySQL 5.0.51a, and PHP 5.2.6. This release was well received and served the community well. On February 6, 2012 security support has been terminated.

Today 6.0 Squeeze, or the latest incremental update, is recommended. 6.0 was released on February 6, 2011 featuring Linux 2.6.32, GCC 4.4.5, Apache 2.2.16, KDE 4.4.5, and OpenOffice.org 3.2.1. Version 6.04 was just released on January 28 with lots of bugfixes and security updates.

In the same Debian Announce posting Ciceri reassures nervous Webmasters that "Debian GNU/Linux systems can be upgraded painlessly, in place, without any forced downtime" when using Aptitude Package Management. A detailed guide for upgrading from Lenny is located on Debian.org.