Debian

Community-run • Stable releases • Multiple architectures

Debian is one of the oldest and most influential Linux distributions, known for its stability, strong free software principles, and careful engineering. Maintained by a large volunteer community, Debian prioritizes reliability and security through extensive testing and conservative updates, which is why it’s widely used on servers and infrastructure systems. Debian also supports many CPU architectures, making it a versatile choice beyond typical desktop hardware. While Debian Stable may not include the newest versions of every application, its predictable behavior and long-term maintainability are a major advantage for production environments. Debian’s ecosystem is also foundational: many popular distributions, including Ubuntu, are derived from Debian and inherit its packaging and infrastructure work.