Debian 8.0 Is Codenamed "Jessie"

Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" will be succeeded by Debian 8.0, which is going to be developed under the codename of "Jessie" as revealed in a mailing list message.

On Friday there was an email from the Debian Release Team to provide a status update on the Debian Wheezy bugs and other issues. Ending the email though was a surprise and that was the codename announcement for Wheezy's successor.

It's become a tradition that the reward for reading all the way through our first post-freeze mail is to be one of the first few to know the name of the next release. Continuing in that vein, we are happy to announce that Debian 8.0 will be known as "Jessie".

As usual, the codename originates from a character name within the Toy Story movies. According to Wikipedia, "Jessie, the Yodeling Cowgirl is a fictional character who is the main tritagonist of the films Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. At Christmas in 1999, the Wall Street Journal called Jessie toys among the hottest of the season. In the movie, she is a very rare toy modeled after a character on the fictional television show Woody's Roundup, where the characters included Sheriff Woody, Jessie, Stinky Pete the Prospector and Bullseye, Woody's horse. Her hair is formed in a ponytail braid tied with a bow. Jessie the doll has a character very similar to the one portrayed on the television show. She is excitable, brave and very athletic. The doll, however, carries a great deal of sadness, as she was abandoned by her original owner, which left her somewhat distrustful. Years of being in storage have made her somewhat withdrawn, and noticeably afraid of the dark, to the extent of hyperventilating whenever she is inside dark enclosed spaces, or even at just the thought of being abandoned."

The Jessie codename comes somewhat as an upset as earlier this month Debian Zurg or Debian Shark were the likely contenders as the release to succeed "Wheezy" in a few years time. As far as what Debian 8.0 Jessie will offer, some details were shared earlier this month in my notes from DebConf 12 Managua.

Debian 7.0 Wheezy is scheduled for release in early 2013. Debian 8.0 Jessie should be out around 2015.