Devuan has launched version 6 of its Linux distribution, codenamed Excalibur, based on Debian 13 Trixie without systemd. The release caters to users preferring traditional init systems and includes the latest LTS kernel. It defaults to the Xfce desktop and supports various architectures, though without RISC-V or 32-bit x86 options.
Devuan 6 Excalibur arrived this week as the project's take on Debian 13 Trixie, stripping out systemd and dependent packages. As the release notes state: "Devuan 6 Excalibur is based on Debian 13 Trixie. Much of the information in Debian's Release Notes is relevant and useful. They should be consulted alongside this document."
The distribution uses Linux kernel 6.12, the current long-term support version, and PipeWire for audio. Installation media includes proprietary firmware, primarily for Wi-Fi controllers, which users can remove after setup. It defaults to the Xfce desktop environment on X11 with the Slim display manager and lacks GNOME, which has growing systemd dependencies.
Unlike previous versions, Devuan 6 drops the x86-32 edition, focusing on x86-64 (amd64) for primary downloads. It supports Arm variants—armel for low-end 32-bit, armhf for 32-bit with hardware floating point like older Raspberry Pi, and arm64 (aarch64)—plus ppc64el for 64-bit PowerPC in little-endian mode. However, these architectures offer only mini.iso files for network installation, not full CD or DVD images. There is no RISC-V port.
The live media uses the Refracta installer, which encountered issues like failing to install the GRUB bootloader in testing, requiring manual intervention. Initial installation takes 4.6 GB of disk space and under 500 MB of RAM; after updates and VirtualBox additions, it uses 4.9 GB and 684 MB. Upgrades from Devuan 5 Daedalus are supported but require a merged /usr hierarchy, achieved by installing a specific package.
Excalibur defaults to sysvinit but allows choices like OpenRC, runit, or GNU Shepherd. It employs eudev for dynamic /dev management. Download options include a desktop-live ISO with Xfce 4.20, multi-CD sets for offline installs offering desktops like MATE, LXDE, and KDE Plasma 6.3.6 on DVD, plus netinstall and minimal-live images.