Blog
May 4, 2026 By Sergey

Reducing the Number of Supported Operating Systems — A Practical Decision

Over time, any growing project faces the same issue: the expansion of supported platforms begins to slow down development instead of accelerating adoption.

In Suri Oculus, we reached that point.

We currently build and maintain packages for multiple distributions: RHEL, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, and their variations. At first, this looked like a clear advantage — wider coverage, more flexibility. In practice, it introduced a different reality:

  • longer release cycles
  • increased testing overhead
  • more edge cases and environment-specific bugs
  • higher maintenance cost with limited return

At some stage, this becomes a bottleneck.

What we are changing

We are reducing the number of supported operating systems to a smaller, focused set of actively used and maintained platforms:

  • RHEL 9 / RHEL 10 (and compatible distributions)
  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
  • Debian 12
  • Latest Fedora releases

This is not about limiting availability. It is about improving reliability and development velocity.

Why this matters

Every additional OS version introduces differences in:

  • system libraries and ABI
  • Python and Rust toolchains
  • systemd behavior
  • Suricata integration specifics
  • packaging formats and policies

For a system like Suri Oculus — combining C++, Python, Redis, and Suricata — these differences are not trivial. They multiply quickly and affect stability.

By narrowing the matrix, we gain:

  • faster and more predictable releases
  • cleaner build and CI pipelines
  • better testing coverage per platform
  • fewer platform-specific issues

In short: higher quality with the same development effort.

What about older systems?

If you are running an older distribution, you still have options:

  • stay on your current working version
  • upgrade to a supported platform
  • reach out if there is a strong need for a specific OS

We will monitor demand and adjust if necessary.

What’s next

New versions of all packages are currently being prepared and will be released soon for the updated set of platforms.

This release will include improvements in stability, packaging, and internal consistency — with a more streamlined deployment experience.

Reducing platform coverage is not a step back. It is a step toward a more maintainable, scalable, and reliable product.