Raspberry Pi OS Gets Its Last Debian Bookworm Refresh, Boasts Improved Local Security and More

Raspberry Pi has announced a new version of its Debian-derived Linux distribution tailored specifically for its popular single-board computer and computer-on-module families, Raspberry Pi OS — and it's likely to be the last Debian Bookworm release before a move to Debian Trixie.

"As many of you already know, Debian Linux works on a two-year release cycle — every odd-numbered year a new major version is released, and it being 2025 there will be one in the next few months," explains Raspberry Pi's Simon Long of the company's plans for the next operating system refresh. "So this is probably the final release of Raspberry Pi OS which is based on Debian 'Bookworm,' before Debian 'Trixie' is released this summer."

Raspberry Pi moved its in-house operating system from Debian Bullseye to Debian Bookworm back in October 2023, and it brought a big change along with it: a move away from the traditional X Window System to the newer Wayland, via the Wayfire display management system. While there were some hiccups along the way, the move appears to have gone smoothly — and is certainly in no risk of being reversed in the new release, even if users are given the option of manually switching back to the old way of doing things.

The biggest user-facing changes in the new Raspberry Pi OS are related to local security: Long and colleagues have been working on a version of the "swaylock" screen locker, allowing the device to be locked with a password required to unlock — and featuring rather more explanation than the stark white emptiness of the stock application. The ability to have a device automatically log in without a password has also been tweaked, with the option now specified separately for console and desktop sessions — preventing someone bypassing swaylock by simply switching to an automatically-logged-in console.

Other changes include a new tool for adding and managing printers, ported from the GNOME desktop environment, improved touchscreen handling with the ability to easily switch between native touch and mouse emulation modes, improvements for virtual keyboard operation on multiple-monitor systems, boot-up time improvements, a shift from "zenity" for dialog prompts to what Long calls "a more efficient tool of our own" dubbed "zenoty," and the uBlock Origin adblocker being removed from the Chromium browser in favor of uBlock Origin Lite — required by Google's recent removal of Manifest V2 support for plugins.

The new version of Raspberry Pi OS is now available to download from the official website, and is active in both the Raspberry Pi Imager tool and the network installer on compatible Raspberry Pi devices; those currently running a Bookworm-based Raspberry Pi OS can receive the same updates in-place by running sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade, possible followed by sudo apt install rpinters to switch to the new printer management utility if it hasn't been installed automatically.