Debian 13 “Trixie” is set to launch in the middle of the year, just a few months from now, and it’s one of the most highly anticipated releases in the open-source community. It’s expected to be a major milestone for Linux in 2025, making every update about it exciting news. And this one is sure to get users even more hyped.
As you know, Debian isn’t just a highly reliable server OS—it also shines on the desktop, offering a rock-solid environment for countless users. That’s why the choice of desktop environment versions in each new Debian stable release always sparks plenty of interest and speculation. After all, users will be sticking with them for the next two years.
Now, regarding GNOME, we can say with a high degree of certainty that “Trixie” will include version 48. But what about KDE, the other major desktop environment? Well, we’ve got an answer to that, too. According to recently updated information on Debian’s website, the plan for “Trixie” is to offer KDE Plasma 6.3.5.
Interestingly, the Trixie release is set to feature both Qt 6 (6.8.2) and a maintained Qt 5 stack (5.15.15). While Qt 5 has entered a deep maintenance mode, Debian’s developers plan to include just enough Qt 5, KDE Frameworks 5 and selected Gear apps for backward compatibility.
However, to keep the system as lean and future-proof as possible, the project has confirmed that it will not ship dual Qt5/Qt6 builds of libraries outside of KDE Frameworks. The KDE Gear 24.12.3 apps collection is expected to land, too, although parts of KDE Gear 25.04.x may be postponed due to the timing of release freezes and any potential library transitions required.
Furthermore, the transition schedules reveal a series of targeted uploads before the distribution freeze, covering everything from Qt 6.8.2 to multiple Plasma 6.3.x releases. Notably, the KDE team’s plan includes uploading Plasma 6.3.3, 6.3.4, and 6.3.5, all before the hard freeze, to guarantee a stable integration of Plasma’s latest features.
It’s interesting to note that Plasma 6.3.5 (which will be the last in the 6.3.x series before 6.4) is set to be released on May 6, while the hard freeze (when only targeted bug fixes or very small changes get through) for Debian 13 begins on May 15. That means developers will have just nine days to get the new release into the packages with which “Trixie” will launch.
One thing’s for sure: Since the current Debian 12 “Bookworm” release comes with the now slightly outdated Plasma 5.27 desktop, moving to version 6.3 in Debian 13 “Trixie” will be a game-changer for KDE users. So, start counting down the days—this upgrade will be worth the wait.
