With only a week to go until the release of Debian 12 (Bookworm), scheduled for June 10, the Open Source community has its eyes set on it as one of the year’s most anticipated and exciting releases.
But the good news for this edition does not end there. As we informed you in early March, it will feature the latest major Plasma 5.27 desktop environment version. However, recently it has become clear that it will be in its most up-to-date version, namely KDE Plasma 5.27.5.
Facts in brief. Almost two months ago, Plasma 5.27 was moved from the unstable Debian branch to the test one in preparation for inclusion in the upcoming 12 (Bookworm). The version available until a week ago, when the release entered its full freeze phase, was Plasma 5.27.2.
Fortunately, these days, Debian developers have just moved the Plasma 5.27.5 packages to the testing repository, which is used for a final stability test of the software before it is included in the distribution’s main stable release.
In other words, this means it can be transitioned to the stable branch within ten days, which coincides precisely with the release of Debian 12.
Furthermore, using the latest RC4 installer, the recommended way to get a preview of the upcoming Debian 12, installs Plasma 5.27.5 on your system, which gives every reason to believe that this is the version users will receive in the final Bookworm release.
In addition to the Plasma 5.27.5 desktop, the current Debian 12 testing branch also includes KDE Frameworks 5.103, Qt 5.15.8, and KDE Gear 22.12 โ a collection of software maintained by the KDE community.
Finally, KDE Plasma 5.27 is an LTS (Long Term Support) release and the last one in the Plasma 5 series. Therefore, it will be supported with updates and bug fixes until the next LTS (Plasma 6) rolls around in 2024.
