- Package:
- base-files
- Source:
- base-files
- Description:
- Debian base system miscellaneous files
- Submitter:
- Jelle van der Waa
- Date:
- 2025-09-03 17:55:02 UTC
- Severity:
- normal
In version 252 of systemd the os-release specification now includes a new field SUPPORT_END which contains the date when the OS goes out of support. [1] In Cockpit we are considering showing a warning when the system is about to reach end of support so it would be beneficial for us that Debian's os-release file also includes SUPPORT_END. [2] [1] https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/latest/os-release.html#SUPPORT_END= [2] https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/issues/20958
The proposed field would probably fit in a corporate world, where there is only one vendor for the software. But Debian is free software and there is not a single entity providing support. Therefore, there is not a single value for the field which would make everybody happy, and several people might have different views about what date would be the right one. So, no, for Debian I think it's much better that this information is distributed elsewhere, not in /etc/os-release. Thanks.