As of Wednesday, August 16, 2017, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has released new installation images of its Debian-based Raspbian Linux operating system rebased on Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" series.

About two months ago, Raspberry Pi Foundation's Simon Long reported on a new stable update of the Raspbian operating system for both Raspberry Pi and x86 computers. Those appeared to be the last images based on Debian GNU/Linux 8 "Jessie" as the company announced plans to rebased Raspbian on the latest Stretch series.

Released on June 17, 2017, Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" is Debian Project's latest and most advanced stable operating system, and now, both Desktop and Lite (Minimal) images of Raspbian Linux OS, dated 2017-08-16, are based on Debian Stretch, running the Linux 4.9 kernel.

What's new in Raspbian 2017-08-16

The rebasing of the entire OS to Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" means that many packages and core components have been updated to new versions, and it looks like Raspbian 2017-08-16 comes with Chromium 60 as default web browser, as well as NodeRED 0.17.4, RealVNC 6.1.1, and Sonic Pi 3.0.1.

Among other improvements, we can mention that the Bluetooth audio support in Raspbian has been routed through the ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) sound system instead of PulseAudio, the mouse speed settings were simplified, and the Scratch 2.0 editor now comes with the SenseHAT extension.

The Debian Stretch-based Raspbian 2017-08-16 images also come with updated wireless firmware for both Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspberry Pi Zero W single-board computers patching the well-known Broadpwn exploit. Also, PIXEL desktop's LXPanel plugins were moved into separate packages.

"A couple of months ago, a vulnerability was discovered in the firmware of the BCM43xx wireless chipset which is used on Pi 3 and Pi Zero W; this potentially allows an attacker to take over the chip and execute code on it," said Simon Long. "The Stretch release includes a patch that addresses this vulnerability."

Other than that, various desktop apps were altered to prompt users for sudo password when required. Of course, there should be other small tweaks and theme modifications included in the Raspbian 2017-08-16 update, which is available for download as we speak from Raspberry Pi Foundation's website or via our web portal.

Existing Raspbian Linux users can upgrade to Debian Stretch-based Raspbian today using the instruction provided by the Raspberry Pi Foundation on their blog announcement. Meanwhile, the Raspbian x86 image for PCs remains based on Debian GNU/Linux 8 "Jessie."

Goodbye, Jessie. You'll never be forgotten (or dumped by the road) Who's already upgraded to Raspbian Stretch?https://t.co/VFYhBB7qgT — Raspberry Pi (@Raspberry_Pi) August 17, 2017