14 DAY TRIAL // The Debian Project announced over the weekend that it plans to end support for regular security updates for the Debian GNU/Linux 8 "Jessie" operating system series beginning next month.
According to a security advisory posted by developer Moritz Muehlenhoff on the Debian-security-announce mailing list, the Debian GNU/Linux 8 "Jessie" operating system series will no longer receive regular security updates as of June 17, 2018. However, a limited number of packages will still be updated for a while.
"This is an advance notice that regular security support for Debian GNU/Linux 8 (code name "jessie") will be terminated on the 17th of June," said Moritz Muehlenhoff. "As with previous releases additional LTS support will be provided for a reduced set of architectures and packages."
LTS support to be provided until June 6, 2020
After June 17, 2018, the Debian Long Term Support (LTS) project will continue to provide support for various essential packages and architectures for two more years, until June 6, 2020, when the Debian GNU/Linux 8 "Jessie" operating system series will reach end of life and it won't be available to download anymore.
Among the supported hardware architectures, we can mention 32-bit (i386), 64-bit (amd64), Armel, and ARMhf. However, those who still want to use Debian GNU/Linux 8 "Jessie" on their computers should keep in mind that Debian LTS support is provided by a group of volunteers, not by the Debian Security team.
Therefore, it is recommended that you prepare your Debian GNU/Linux 8 "Jessie" systems for migration to the newer Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" operating system series, which will be supported until June 2020, and will receive additional LTS support from Debian LTS for two more years, from June 2020 to June 2022.
Debian GNU/Linux 8 "Jessie" was released three years ago, on April 25, 2015, and it's currently considered as the "oldstable" Debian GNU/Linux branch. It will replace the Debian GNU/Linux 7 "Wheezy" series, whose additional LTS support will end this month. The next major release, Debian GNU/Linux 10 "Buster," is expected to arrive this summer.