🪨 Terra Philosophy

Terra provides a minimal Debian LTS foundation enhanced by AetherOS signing, repo integration, and unified tooling—while preserving Debian’s stability guarantees and long-term lifecycle.

Why Terra exists

Debian LTS is reliable, but default installs are broad and accumulate unnecessary packages. Terra offers:

• minimal base images
• predictable foundation
• secure, reproducible defaults
• consistent optional AetherOS packages

This allows users to build systems intentionally instead of removing defaults they didn’t ask for.

Core guarantees

Terra provides:

• Minimal Debian LTS root filesystem
• Stable packages aligned with upstream lifecycle
• Familiar apt-based workflows
• AetherOS repository for shared tooling
• Rolling image regeneration tracking Debian LTS security updates

Terra remains Debian-compatible at all times.

What Terra does not do

Terra does not:

• fork Debian packages
• override upstream policies
• replace or modify apt repositories
• invent a Debian alternative release model

AetherOS supplements Debian; it does not weaken Debian’s conservatism.

Repo Policy

• Debian repos remain authoritative
• AetherOS repo overlays optional software
• Packages published to Terra must meet AetherOS validation criteria

Order of trust remains explicit.

Long-term vision

Terra becomes the predictable LTS base for:

• servers and appliances
• long-lived workstations
• mission-critical systems

Users who value stability above everything else start here.