Debian 12 (Bookworm) Enters Long Term Support: Timeline, Architecture Coverage, and Upgrade Guidance

On 12 July 2026, three years after its initial release, the regular security and release support for Debian 12 (code‑named Bookworm) officially ended. The Debian Long Term Support (LTS) team has taken over, extending security updates for another two years, until 30 June 2028.

Supported architectures under Bookworm LTS

The LTS phase expands the architecture list to include ppc64el (64‑bit Little Endian PowerPC) for the first time. The full set of architectures receiving LTS updates are:

  • amd64
  • i386
  • arm64
  • armhf
  • ppc64el

Upgrade recommendation

While Bookworm LTS will keep the system secure until mid‑2028, Debian recommends users upgrade to the current stable release, Debian 13 (Trixie), when possible. This ensures access to newer features and a longer support horizon.

Identifying packages not covered by LTS

Some packages are excluded from LTS coverage. Install the debian-security-support package to scan the system for such packages. If a critical, unsupported package is found, users should contact the LTS team at debian-lts@lists.debian.org.

Other Debian LTS timelines

Debian 11 (Bullseye) entered its LTS phase earlier and will reach the end of support on 31 August 2026. Users of Bullseye are strongly encouraged to move to Bookworm first, then to Trixie.

Staying informed

Bookworm LTS users can subscribe to the announcement mailing list or follow the LTS Security Information webpage for the latest advisories.