# How much does Pi-Hole depend on the Linux version it's used with these days?

**URL:** <https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [October 17, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952 "2026-10-17T13:19:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nero355](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/nero355/32/54774_2.png) [@nero355](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/nero355)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/1 "2026-10-17T13:19:42Z")

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Just noticed this in : [Pi-hole FTL v6.8, Web v6.6.1 and Core v6.5 released](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pi-hole-ftl-v6-8-web-v6-6-1-and-core-v6-5-released/87951):

> [@Pi-hole FTL v6.8, Web v6.6.1 and Core v6.5 released](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pi-hole-ftl-v6-8-web-v6-6-1-and-core-v6-5-released/87951/1):
>
> - Remove Debian 11 from the CI distro matrix.

And I was wondering :

- What does that mean for Debian 11 users ?
- How much does Pi-Hole depend on the Linux version you install it on since the release of Pi-Hole v6 since soo much stuff is now integrated into it like CivetWeb and DNSmasq for example ?

Or perhaps better put :  
How outdated does the distro need to be and which parts of it for Pi-Hole v6.x.x not to work anymore ?

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**Author:** ![darkexplosiveqwx](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/darkexplosiveqwx/32/45118_2.png) [@darkexplosiveqwx](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/darkexplosiveqwx)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/2 "2026-10-17T14:10:36Z")

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Debian 11 is EOL and couldn’t install any packages in CI anymore, it was almost always failing.  
Pi-hole should generally still work on Debian 11 if you have functioning apt repositories to install the meta-package.

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**Author:** ![deHakkelaar](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/dehakkelaar/32/674_2.png) [@deHakkelaar](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/deHakkelaar)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 9:25pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/3 "2026-10-17T21:25:11Z")

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"Pinhole", "Pohole" and now a new one 😉

> [@darkexplosiveqwx](#):
>
> Pi-hope

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![darkexplosiveqwx](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/darkexplosiveqwx/32/45118_2.png) [@darkexplosiveqwx](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/darkexplosiveqwx)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/4 "2026-10-17T21:53:36Z")

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> [@deHakkelaar](#):
>
> "Pinhole", "Pohole" and now a new one
> 
> darkexplosiveqwx:

Gotta love typing on Discourse using my phone 🙃

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nero355](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/nero355/32/54774_2.png) [@nero355](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/nero355)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 4:26pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/5 "2026-10-18T16:26:33Z")

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> [@darkexplosiveqwx](#):
>
> couldn’t install any packages in CI anymore

What does that mean exactly ?  
What is the CI distro matrix ?

And on which components does Pi-Hole mainly depend these days in order for the installation to succeed ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rdwebdesign](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/rdwebdesign/32/51363_2.png) [@rdwebdesign](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/rdwebdesign)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/6 "2026-10-18T17:11:41Z")

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> [@nero355](#):
>
> What is the CI distro matrix ?

It's the list of operating systems used to test Pi-hole.

The Debian 11 images used by GitHub actions can't install the basic packages needed to test Pi-hole anymore, so we can't test Pi-hole on this distro anymore.

If you are interested, this is the output of one of the many failed tests in Debian 11: [Only exit the installer when the meta package is not correclty installed · pi-hole/pi-hole@cf7ad22 · GitHub](https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/actions/runs/37846477690/job/113548682218?pr=6712). Noticed that all other tested operating systems were able to install the packages, but Debian 11 couldn't find some packages in `apt` repositories.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![deHakkelaar](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/dehakkelaar/32/674_2.png) [@deHakkelaar](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/deHakkelaar)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/7 "2026-10-18T19:30:26Z")

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> [@nero355](#):
>
> And on which components does Pi-Hole mainly depend these days in order for the installation to succeed ?

If by components you mean software, I believe below APT packages for a minimal install (plus the kernel oc):

```auto
$ apt list --installed ~prequired
Listing... Done
base-files/oldstable,now 12.4+rpi1+deb12u12 armhf [installed]
base-passwd/oldstable,now 3.6.1 armhf [installed]
bash/oldstable,now 5.2.15-2 armhf [installed]
bsdutils/oldstable,now 1:2.38.1-5+deb12u3 armhf [installed]
coreutils/oldstable,now 9.1-1 armhf [installed]
dash/oldstable,now 0.5.12-2 armhf [installed]
debconf/oldstable,now 1.5.82 all [installed]
debianutils/oldstable,now 5.7-0.5~deb12u1 armhf [installed]
diffutils/oldstable,now 1:3.8-4 armhf [installed]
dpkg/oldstable,now 1.22.6~bpo12+rpt3 armhf [installed]
e2fsprogs/oldstable,now 1.47.0-2 armhf [installed]
findutils/oldstable,now 4.9.0-4 armhf [installed]
gcc-10-base/oldstable,now 10.4.0-7+rpi1 armhf [installed]
gcc-7-base/oldstable,now 7.5.0-6+rpi1+b2 armhf [installed]
gcc-8-base/oldstable,now 8.4.0-7+rpi1 armhf [installed]
gcc-9-base/oldstable,now 9.4.0-2+rpi1 armhf [installed]
grep/oldstable,now 3.8-5 armhf [installed]
gzip/oldstable,now 1.12-1 armhf [installed]
hostname/oldstable,now 3.23+nmu1 armhf [installed]
init-system-helpers/oldstable,now 1.65.2+deb12u1 all [installed]
libc-bin/oldstable,now 2.36-9+rpt2+deb12u13 armhf [installed]
liblocale-gettext-perl/oldstable,now 1.07-5 armhf [installed]
libpam-modules-bin/oldstable,now 1.5.2-6+rpt2+deb12u1 armhf [installed]
libpam-modules/oldstable,now 1.5.2-6+rpt2+deb12u1 armhf [installed]
libpam-runtime/oldstable,oldstable,now 1.5.2-6+rpt2+deb12u1 all [installed]
libtext-charwidth-perl/oldstable,now 0.04-11 armhf [installed]
libtext-iconv-perl/oldstable,now 1.7-8 armhf [installed]
login/oldstable,now 1:4.13+dfsg1-1+deb12u2 armhf [installed]
mawk/oldstable,now 1.3.4.20200120-3.1 armhf [installed]
mount/oldstable,now 2.38.1-5+deb12u3 armhf [installed]
ncurses-base/oldstable,now 6.4-4 all [installed]
ncurses-bin/oldstable,now 6.4-4 armhf [installed]
passwd/oldstable,now 1:4.13+dfsg1-1+deb12u2 armhf [installed]
perl-base/oldstable,now 5.36.0-7+deb12u3 armhf [installed]
sed/oldstable,now 4.9-1 armhf [installed]
sysvinit-utils/oldstable,now 3.06-4 armhf [installed]
tar/oldstable,now 1.34+dfsg-1.2 armhf [installed]
tzdata/oldstable,now 2025b-0+deb12u2 all [installed]
util-linux/oldstable,now 2.38.1-5+deb12u3 armhf [installed]
zlib1g/oldstable,now 1:1.2.13.dfsg-1+rpt1 armhf [installed]

```

Plus Pi-hole's direct dependencies:

```auto
$ curl -sSL install.pi-hole.net
[..]
Summary: Pi-hole dependency meta package
Requires: bash-completion,bind-utils,binutils,ca-certificates,chkconfig,cronie,curl,dialog,diffutils,findutils,gawk,git,grep,iproute,jq,libcap,logrotate,lshw,procps-ng,psmisc,sudo,unzip

```

Maybe I'm forgetting something?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![darkexplosiveqwx](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/darkexplosiveqwx/32/45118_2.png) [@darkexplosiveqwx](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/darkexplosiveqwx)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/8 "2026-10-18T20:54:40Z")

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Let me talk about FTL here:

Our pre-built binaries for supported architectures ( `ARMv6`, `ARMv7`, `ARMv8`, `i386`, `x86_64` and `riscv64`) are statically linked to avoid almost all runtime library dependencies.

For those binaries the minimum Linux kernel version required is `3.17` (released in 2014!) for `getrandom(2)`.

When trying to build FTL from source it gets more complicated.  
Required is:

- CMake `3.21` or later
- a C17 capable compiler (at least GCC `8.1.0` or LLVM clang `7.0.0`)
- a lock-free implementation of C11 Atomic bool (dependent on CPU architecture and compiler)
- libc (at least either `glibc` `2.14+` or `musl` `1.1.13+`)
- libraries commonly included with libc: `libmath`, `pthreads`, `librt`
- external libraries: `nettle` `2.0+`, `hogweed`, `gmp`, `idn2`, `libunistring`
- at a minimum Linux kernel version `2.6.28`
- CLI tools: `uname`, `xxd`, `setcap`, `sha256sum`, `cut`, `echo`, `mv`

I restricted the from-source section to **hard** requirements only, many other features fall back gracefully:

- TLS support requires `mbedTLS` `3.5.0+` (or `openSSL` `3.0+` in v7)
- v7's HTTP2 and HTTP3 support requires `nghttp2` and `nghttp3` + `openSSL` `4.0+` respectively
- optional dnsmasq features can be enabled by having `libnetfilter_conntrack`, `libnftables` and D-Bus development files
- `addr2line` for more informative backtraces
- `readline`, `history` and `termcap` for certain lua and sqlite shell features

There may be stuff that I missed, but that's what I could think of and find.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DanSchaper](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/danschaper/32/91_2.png) [@DanSchaper](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/DanSchaper)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 12:06am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/9 "2026-10-19T00:06:39Z")

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The package that broke Debian 11 was `git`. It's just about impossible to `sudo apt install git` on Debian 11, primarily due to security issues on the packages that `git` depends on.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nero355](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/nero355/32/54774_2.png) [@nero355](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/nero355)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:22pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/10 "2026-10-19T17:22:34Z")

</div>

Thank you for explaining and the link to the log! 👍

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nero355](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/nero355/32/54774_2.png) [@nero355](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/nero355)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 5:31pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/how-much-does-pi-hole-depend-on-the-linux-version-its-used-with-these-days/87952/11 "2026-10-19T17:31:21Z")

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> [@darkexplosiveqwx](#):
>
> For those binaries the minimum Linux kernel version required is `3.17` (released in 2014!) for `getrandom(2)`.
> 
> When trying to build FTL from source it gets more complicated.  
> Required is:
> 
> - CMake `3.21` or later
> - a C17 capable compiler (at least GCC `8.1.0` or LLVM clang `7.0.0`)

> [@darkexplosiveqwx](#):
>
> - libc (at least either `glibc` `2.14+` or `musl` `1.1.13+`)

> [@darkexplosiveqwx](#):
>
> - at a minimum Linux kernel version `2.6.28`

I think those details were what I was looking for! Thnx! 👍👍

The other thing that got me thinking about this was a piece of software that was packed into an AppImage and would not work when used with a distro that was too old Kernel/C version-wise some months ago.  
But since I am totally NOT a developer I couldn't remember the stuff that I need to know exactly...

So in case I encounter something like that with Pi-Hole I now know what to look for 😬