Debian 12 to Ship with KDE Plasma 5.27
The Debian development team has shifted to the latest version of KDE for their testing branch.
In a break from tradition, Debian is opting to go with the newest version of the KDE Plasma desktop for the testing branch. This goes against their previous method of exhaustive testing before a piece of software is released with a distribution.
Debian is well known for shipping applications that seem to be out of date. The reason behind this is the focus of the "mother of all" distributions is primarily on stability. To that end, the developers have always ensured each release includes only software that can be trusted to run without problems.
For those who prefer to use more up-to-date software, you can always install it manually but in some instances – such as with a desktop environment – that can get a bit tricky.
So, if you prefer Debian with an up-to-date KDE Plasma desktop environment, you'll be able to enjoy that very thing by using the Debian testing branch.
That version is Debian 12 (Bookworm). And given that Bookworm is already in a soft freeze state, it's pretty certain KDE Plasma 5.27 will wind up being the official release once Bookworm is out of testing.
KDE Plasma 5.27 includes the new tiling window manager, a much-improved Discover app store, tons of bug fixes, and top to bottom refinements of the desktop. This release also ships with KDE Frameworks 5.103 and KDE Gear 22.12.3.
To find out more about the Debian 12 release, read the official release plan. Bookworm will hit the hard freeze state this month (around March 12). The full freeze and release dates have yet to be announced.
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