Devuan 6.1.0 Excalibur: A Modern, Init‑Freedom GNU+Linux

Devuan GNU+Linux exists for people who want a modern Debian‑style system without adopting systemd, and Excalibur (Devuan 6) is the current stable incarnation of that philosophy. It is a fork of Debian that focuses on “Init Freedom”, giving you a choice of init systems while trying to stay close to the classic Unix design and the Debian ecosystem many administrators already know.

The Excalibur series replaces Daedalus (5.x) as the stable line, with Daedalus moving into oldstable and Chimaera into oldoldstable, so Devuan 6.1.0 is intended as the everyday, production‑ready version for most users who want support and up‑to‑date packages. The project positions Excalibur as a complete, free operating system suitable for desktops, servers and embedded devices, rather than a niche experiment.

Init freedom and design goals

Devuan’s stated purpose is to avoid “unnecessary entanglements” in the base system, which in practice means not tying essential services and interfaces to a single init and service manager. Instead, Devuan emphasises user choice, modularity and the ability of administrators to keep control over how their systems boot and manage services.

With Excalibur, the developers continue a long‑term strategy: track Debian closely where it does not conflict with init freedom, while accepting some divergence where that goal demands it. The decision to follow Debian’s merged /usr layout in newer releases is explicitly described as a pragmatic move to preserve project resources for the core mission rather than fighting that specific upstream change.

Releases, Upgrades and Installation Media

Devuan publishes Excalibur 6 as the stable release line, and 6.1.0 is delivered as a point release in that series, incorporating fixes and updates while preserving the overall ABI and configuration expectations of 6.x. Users of Devuan Daedalus can upgrade in place to Excalibur, and users of Debian Trixie can migrate to Devuan Excalibur, but skipping across intermediate Devuan releases is explicitly unsupported.

The project stresses that upgrades should be done stepwise: for example, Daedalus to Excalibur rather than older versions attempting to jump directly, and administrators are urged to read the documentation in full before upgrading. The upgrade path also reflects broader policy decisions like usrmerge adoption, meaning that systems moving onto Excalibur are expected to follow the merged /usr file structure used by Debian as well.

Supported architectures and images

Excalibur is available across a range of architectures, with amd64 given the most prominent emphasis in the install guide as the supported architecture for the standard CD/DVD images. Installation media for architectures including amd64, arm64, armel, armhf and ppc64el are provided in the project’s installer images and netboot directories, reflecting Devuan’s interest in both mainstream and alternative platforms.

The project offers several types of installation ISO for Excalibur so that users can choose an approach matching their experience level and connectivity:

A netinstall image, around 680 MB, which installs a minimal base system and then downloads additional packages from Devuan repositories during the install, making it ideal for flexible, bandwidth‑friendly and up‑to‑date deployments.
A server CD1 image, about 650 MB, which is the first of a five‑disc set; it supports a complete offline server or minimal system installation, while CDs 2–5 add extra server packages, a basic desktop with Openbox, and desktop environments such as MATE, Xfce, LXDE and LXQt.
A desktop DVD image, around 4.2 GB, which contains several desktop environments and additional software to allow full offline installations where no network is available, with desktop choices including KDE and Cinnamon specifically called out as only offline‑installable from the DVD.

All Devuan ISO images are hybrid, meaning they can be written either to optical media or directly to USB flash drives using tools like wodim for CDs/DVDs and dd for USB devices. The project notes that these images are signed with the keys of the responsible developers and that all developers’ keys are listed on the Devuan team page, encouraging users to verify images before installation.

Mirrors, torrents and distribution

To distribute Excalibur 6.1.0 efficiently, Devuan uses a global network of mirrors offering HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and rsync access, and provides torrent and magnet links that bundle all files for a given release. The documentation suggests using mirrors or torrents where possible, both to reduce load on the central infrastructure and to improve download speed by choosing a closer site.

The torrent for a full release is described as containing all image types so that users can selectively download only what they need when bandwidth or storage are limited, with a request to seed where possible because the full torrent footprint is about 16 GB. For netboot and specialised installs, installer images and PXE boot files are made available under a predictable directory structure on pkgmaster.devuan.org and its mirrors, separated by architecture.

Installing and Running Devuan 6.1.0

The Excalibur installer is console‑based, with a framebuffer dialog interface, and the documentation highlights that there is no longer a GUI installer available because of size constraints. The project reassures new users that this text‑driven interface is approachable and provides a step‑by‑step guide, even though it is less visually elaborate than some graphical installers.

The general advice is to back up all data before beginning, reflecting a conservative, administrator‑friendly attitude: installation and partitioning steps can erase data, and the documentation repeatedly emphasises that this cannot be undone if you choose to use the entire disk. Before writing any image to a removable device, the documentation recommends verifying its integrity using SHA256 checksums and validating the signature with Devuan developers’ GPG keys, in order to detect corruption or tampering.

Installation workflow

The Excalibur install guide describes a clear sequence for a typical install:

Boot from the chosen CD, DVD or USB medium and select the Install option from the menu.

Respond to prompts for language, location and keyboard layout, allowing the installer to adapt regional settings.

Allow network configuration to proceed automatically for wired connections, while wireless users enter SSID and passphrase; then assign the system a hostname without spaces or special characters.

After basic networking and naming, the installer asks for an optional domain name, which can be left blank for simple home or standalone systems. Security is addressed early: the guide recommends setting a root password, emphasising the use of a strong password and repeating entries to avoid typing errors, followed by creating a non‑root user account for day‑to‑day work with its own password.

Time configuration uses NTP to set the system clock, after which the user chooses a time zone to complete regional time settings. Before installing packages, the installer walks through disk partitioning, recommending using “largest continuous free space” if there is free space and the user wants to preserve existing partitions; otherwise, it warns that using the entire disk will erase all data.

For newcomers, the guide suggests placing all files in a single partition, leaving more complex manual partitioning as an advanced topic that lies beyond the scope of the standard documentation. Once partitioning choices are reviewed, the user explicitly confirms writing changes to disk, with the text making it clear that this is the last opportunity to cancel before partitions are created and formatted.

Package selection, mirrors and init choice

After partitions are created, the installer installs the base system, a process that may take some time depending on hardware.

For installations without network access or for those deliberately avoiding online mirrors, scanning additional CDs is recommended to gain access to a broader package set beyond the base system.

When using a full CD/DVD image, the installer offers to enable a network mirror, with deb.devuan.org recommended as a sensible default choice if a local mirror is not known to be faster. The documentation notes that using a mirror when possible ensures access to the latest package versions, while offline installations proceed without a mirror at the cost of fewer immediately available updates.

Installer - Configuring the package manager (1)

Installer - Configuring the package manager (2)

Installer - Configuring the package manager (3)

Installer - Configuring the package manager (4)

Installer - Configuring the package manager (5)

Installer - Configuring the package manager (6)

During package configuration, users may opt into Devuan’s popularity contest (popcon), a programme that collects anonymous statistics about which packages are used most, but this is explicitly opt-in and limited to packages installed from that point onwards.

Installer: Devuan’s popularity contest (popcon)

For desktop systems, the defaults are designed to provide a working Xfce desktop environment without needing to select Xfce explicitly, though users can choose another desktop environment according to their preferences.

The guide notes that offline installations may require retrying the software selection step, but reassures that repeating this should allow the process to continue. Once package installations are completed, the installer asks the user to choose a preferred init system; Devuan’s default is sysvinit, reflecting its aim to avoid a systemd‑centric design, while still allowing alternatives.

Boot loader and first boot

The final stages involve installing the GRUB bootloader so that Devuan Excalibur can boot after installation. For most setups, installing GRUB to the MBR of the main disk (such as /dev/sda) is presented as the sensible default, and the documentation cautions against installing the bootloader into a partition rather than the disk’s MBR.

Once GRUB is installed and configured, the installer completes without further mandatory configuration in typical cases.

The system then reboots into the new Devuan installation after the user removes the installation media, at which point the graphical environment becomes available for desktop systems or the login prompt for server builds.

Verification and image writing details

Devuan’s documentation devotes specific attention to image verification, particularly for administrators and security‑conscious users deploying Excalibur 6.1.0. The recommended steps include downloading the SHA256SUMS.txt file from the release archive, running sha256sum with the ignore‑missing option to check the downloaded images, and then verifying the signed checksum file with gpg using the imported Devuan developers’ keyring.

If gpg reports a good signature for SHA256SUMS.txt.asc, users are told that the images can be treated as both intact and authentic, which reduces the risk of installation problems or malicious tampering. Writing images to CDs or DVDs can be done with wodim by specifying the device and ISO filename, while writing to USB drives uses dd with an appropriate block size and a final sync to flush data to the device.

Conclusion

Devuan 6.1.0 Excalibur presents itself as a stable, general‑purpose GNU+Linux distribution that respects administrators’ need for control over the init system while remaining aligned with the broader Debian ecosystem. Through a deliberately conservative installer, a range of installation media for different connectivity and hardware scenarios, and clear guidance on verification and deployment, it offers a robust platform for desktops, servers and embedded use where init freedom and openness are priorities.

Devuan and Devuan GNU+Linux are trade names of the Devuan project, and Debian is a registered trademark of Software in the Public Interest, Inc.; other names may be trade names or trademarks of their respective holders. Every effort is made here to reflect the official Devuan documentation and announcements accurately, yet readers should always consult the project’s own materials for definitive guidance and are encouraged to use free and open‑source software responsibly, lawfully and in accordance with local regulations.

References

Devuan main site – https://www.devuan.org/
Devuan Excalibur install guide – https://www.devuan.org/os/documentation/install-guides/excalibur/install-devuan
Devuan download and mirrors – https://www.devuan.org/get-devuan
Devuan Excalibur 6.1.0 point‑release announcement – https://www.devuan.org/os/announce/excalibur-point-release-announce-2026-01-01.html

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