RefreshOS 3.1 moves to Debian 13.7 base, launches dedicated APT repository with three channels

RefreshOS 3.1, the Debian-based Linux distribution's latest release under its "Colorful Cosmos" series, updates its foundation from Debian 13.4 to 13.7 and ships with Linux kernel 6.12.113 and KDE Plasma 6.3.6. The most significant structural change is the launch of repo.refreshos.org/v3, an official APT repository that establishes Stable, Testing, and Experimental distribution channels for RefreshOS-specific packages, complete with signed metadata and a dedicated keyring.

The release also adds i386 architecture support to enable 32-bit software installation including Steam dependencies, fixes localization bugs in the Reload Menu for non-English systems, and introduces a refreshos-release package to manage future branding and configuration updates through APT. Additional refinements include updated Calamares installer branding, corrected file permissions, cleanup of obsolete packages and build artifacts from the installation image, and a customized libkf6kiofilewidgets6 package preferred over Debian's upstream version.

Repository infrastructure and packaging changes

• APT repository architecture: The new repo.refreshos.org/v3 provides three channels (Stable, Testing, Experimental) with signed repository metadata and a dedicated APT keyring, establishing independent distribution infrastructure separate from Debian's repositories.
• Package preference system: APT is configured to prioritize RefreshOS-provided packages over Debian equivalents where applicable, including a customized libkf6kiofilewidgets6 package that supersedes the upstream KDE version.
• i386 multiarch support: The distro now supports i386 architecture installation, enabling 32-bit compatibility layers required by Steam and legacy applications on x86_64 systems.
• Kernel update: Linux kernel 6.12.113 replaces the previous release's kernel, incorporated into the Debian 13.7 base update for new installation images.
• Configuration management: The refreshos-release package provides a mechanism for distributing future system branding and configuration changes through the standard APT update path rather than manual intervention.

Why it matters

The dedicated APT repository represents a maturation step for RefreshOS, giving it infrastructure comparable to established Debian derivatives that need to diverge from upstream for desktop integration or hardware support. The i386 addition directly benefits Steam on Linux users, while the signed repository and channel structure provides a foundation for more aggressive testing of RefreshOS-specific packages without destabilizing the Debian base. For distribution maintainers, the refreshos-release package model offers a clean pattern for managing branding drift from upstream through standard package management rather than post-install scripts.