The upcoming Deepin 23 will not be based on Debian at its core.
Deepin 23 becomes independent
A few days back, the Deepin team gave a preview of the upcoming Deepin 23 release with new feature updates and additional details. However, in a recent post in the official subreddit of Deepin, the team announced that Deepin 23 would not be based on Debian anymore.
Instead, it will be an independent distribution with Linux Kernel at its core with additional open-source components.
“In 2022, a new version – deepin 23 Preview will be officially released. It is expected to be built from the Linux kernel and other open-source components without relying on the communities of upstream distributions, and to provide basic services and the foundation for the establishment of an independent upstream.”
Deepin
When the Deepin project started, it was based on Ubuntu, and in 2015 it changed its base to Debian stable branch. Since then, it has continued its journey with a monetary contribution to several Debian conferences as sponsors. And now, it seems to move away from the core derivatives that emerged from the West.
New Packaging format Linglong
Moreover, in the initial post announcement of Deepin 23, the team also introduces a new package format, Linglong, similar to Flatpak, Snap or Appimage. The new Linglong package format would be the base for Deepin 23.
That means it is evident that Deepin 23 may move away from the APT packaging system, which will fuel its “Independent Distro” vision.
There might be another angle at play here. Once Deepin 23 is released and adopted across the “Republic”, it might be easier to push some pre-load packages and applications for “greater tracking and control”, – which might not be possible with the open nature of Debian or Ubuntu.
Keeping the politics aside, the “justification” for creating a new package format is existing “flaws” in Flatpak and Snap formats today. Hence, the new format is Linglong. I believe it’s a loose argument.
Package management is a complex product, and it continues to evolve. If there are some flaws, then the team would have to contribute to improving them upstream. Why reinvent the wheel by fragmenting the Linux desktop further?
However, the entire direction seems to have more control over the operating system that is popular and used by many in a specific country.
More detail about Deepin 23 will be available in the coming days and stay tuned here for all the development.
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