December 20, 2025
New chips, same chaos
Debian adds LoongArch as officially supported architecture
Debian just made LoongArch official — now everyone wants the chips
TLDR: Debian officially adds LoongArch support, with hundreds of packages already building for Debian 14. The comments swing between chip-buying FOMO, regional availability questions, and link-sharing nerds, making this a big moment for CPU diversity—even if getting the hardware is the next hurdle.
Debian just crowned LoongArch — the Chinese-designed CPU family behind Loongson — as an official platform, meaning “loong64” will ship in the next Debian 14 release. Developer Adrian says one build server already cranked out 300 packages overnight, with more spinning up as the week-long bootstrap continues. The community? Absolutely buzzing.
One commenter got nostalgic about the elusive “Godson” days, confessing they wanted one for curiosity but couldn’t get it in the US, now asking if Taiwan or Korea might be a workaround. Another cut straight to the chase with pure hardware thirst: “I want one of these chips.” Meanwhile, the documentation dumpers emerged, dropping LoongArch manuals and Linux kernel docs like party favors.
The vibe is split: the “take my money” crowd vs. the “show me the PDFs” crew. A low-key debate brewed over whether this matters if you can’t easily buy the hardware yet — but fans argue it’s a big deal for CPU diversity and a hedge against a one‑chip world. Memes flew about Debian “collecting CPUs like Pokémon” and the “Forbidden CPU Club” for those who can’t travel to mainland China. The mood: curious, slightly chaotic, and very, very hungry for silicon.
Key Points
- •Debian’s loong64 architecture is now officially supported and targeted for Debian 14 (“forky”).
- •An initial set of 112 packages was manually built and imported from Debian Ports to enable bootstrap.
- •A first buildd instance was set up, producing 300 new packages overnight.
- •The initial bootstrap is expected to take about a week, with speed depending on adding more buildd instances.
- •Build progress and prior announcement are referenced via Debian’s official links to Ports and buildd status.