this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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It depends on several things. Debian 13 is only a few months away, so 12 will already be a version behind. However, 12 will still receive security updates until mid-2028, so if it's just a stopgap, it shouldn't be too much trouble to install those security updates - they're specifically designed and tested not to break anything.
If you upgrade to a newer version, it will definitely be more than 300 packages, but they also try to be careful (no guarantees, though) to make sure an update from the immediately previous version doesn't bork everything. Thus, updates should still be pretty easy for a few years afterwards.
I could be completely out of my element here, but I almost wonder if an immutable distro would be a better idea in this case. If I'm getting this right, updating the base image under the root overlay a few years later shouldn't mess up too much. I could be completely wrong, as I don't use immutable distros; this is just my impression of how they work.