A new update, Debian Libre 13.3, has been released by Simon Josefsson, who maintains 170 packages in Debian. This version introduces variants of Debian 13.3 boot images that exclude proprietary components such as firmware blobs. The project aims to provide users with an alternative option that does not include any proprietary software.
Following a decision made in 2022, the official Debian iso images now include both free firmware from the main repository and proprietary firmware distributed through the non-free-firmware repository. Debian Libre, on the other hand, offers editions of official live images for the x86_64 and ARM64 architecture that allow users to run or install Debian 13 without using any proprietary components.
The live builds for GNOME, KDE, and Xfce come with a Calamares installer. In addition to these, there is a “standard” build without a graphical environment, which is 1.9GB in size, and a stripped-down “slim” build, which is only 750MB in size. The assemblies for ARM64 systems claim to support various hardware including ADLINK Ampere Altra and MSI Z790-P WIFI PRO i9-14900K Dasharo PCs, Framework 13 AMD AI 9 HX 370b Lenovo X201 i7-620M, and NovaCustom NV56 Intel Ultra 7 155H i915 Dasharo laptops, Dell PowerEdge R630 servers 2xE2680v4, Protectli VP2440, and Supermicro MegaDC ARS-110M-NR Ampere Altra Max.