Installation
Installing Debian
We currently don’t provide any installer images with Fast Forward Packages.
Therefore you need to install Debian first, see the installation guide for more information.
It’s required that you have a correct configuration of the Debian repositories (of course, contrib, non-free and non-free-firmware are optional):
sudo sh -c 'cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources << EOF # /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources Types: deb URIs: https://deb.debian.org/debian Suites: trixie trixie-updates Components: main contrib non-free non-free-firmware PDiffs: no Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/debian-archive-keyring.gpg Types: deb URIs: https://deb.debian.org/debian-security Suites: trixie-security Components: main contrib non-free non-free-firmware PDiffs: no Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/debian-archive-keyring.gpg EOF'
If you don’t use any other repositories, you can remove your old sources.list
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list~ sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
Choose your Upgrade Method
Debian systems can be upgraded with Fast Forward Packages by any of these recommended methods:
Method 1: Feeling lucky using the yolo.sh script.
Method 2: Doing everything automatically using the debian-fastforward package.
Method 3: Doing everything manually.
It does not matter which method you choose as all instructions below result in the same configuration.
Method 1: YOLO Install (for Vibe System Engineering 🤙)
Shortest version (without checking cryptographic signature)
wget -q https://deb.fastforward.debian.net/debian-fastforward/project/install/yolo.sh -O - | /bin/sh -
Longer version (with checking cryptographic signature)
wget https://deb.fastforward.debian.net/debian-fastforward/project/install/yolo.sh wget https://deb.fastforward.debian.net/debian-fastforward/project/install/yolo.sh.sig
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends --update --yes gnupg debian-keyring gpg --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/debian-keyring.gpg --verify yolo.sh.sig
./yolo.sh
rm -f yolo.sh rm -f yolo.sh.sig
Method 2: Automatic Upgrade (recommended)
Debian 13 (trixie)
Systems installed with Debian 13 (trixie) are upgradeable with Fast Forward Packages.
wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debian-fastforward/debian-fastforward_20260224-2_all.deb wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debian-fastforward/debian-fastforward-pgp-keys_20260224-2_all.deb wget https://deb.debian.org/debian/pool/main/d/debian-fastforward/debian-fastforward-ssh-keys_20260224-2_all.deb
sudo dpkg --install debian-fastforward_20260224-2_all.deb debian-fastforward-pgp-keys_20260224-2_all.deb debian-fastforward-ssh-keys_20260224-2_all.deb
rm -f debian-fastforward_20260224-2_all.deb rm -f debian-fastforward-pgp-keys_20260224-2_all.deb rm -f debian-fastforward-ssh-keys_20260224-2_all.deb
Debian 14 (forky) or newer
Systems installed with Debian 14 (forky) or newer are directly upgradeable with Fast Forward Packages.
sudo apt install --update --yes debian-fastforward
If you don’t see any Debconf configuration dialogs, you may have a too high Debconf priority configured. In this case run a package reconfigure.
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow debian-fastforward
After enabling the repositories, upgrade your system…
sudo apt full-upgrade --update --yes
…and optionally remove unneeded packages.
sudo apt autopurge --yes
Finally, rebooting the system is recommended.
sudo reboot
Method 3: Manual Upgrade
If you prefer doing everything manually, here’s an example on how to manually upgrade a Debian 13 (trixie) system with Fast Forward Packages.
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends --update --yes ca-certificates gnupg debian-keyring wget
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys sudo wget https://deb.fastforward.debian.net/debian-fastforward/project/pgp/fastforward-debian-13-trixie-signing-key.pub -O /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys/deb.fastforward.debian.net.gpg sudo wget https://deb.fastforward.debian.net/debian-fastforward/project/pgp/fastforward-debian-13-trixie-signing-key.pub.sig -O /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys/deb.fastforward.debian.net.gpg.sig gpg --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/debian-keyring.gpg --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/debian-maintainers.gpg --verify /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys/deb.fastforward.debian.net.gpg.sig sudo rm -f /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys/deb.fastforward.debian.net.gpg.sig sudo gpg --import /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys/deb.fastforward.debian.net.gpg sudo rm -f /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys/deb.fastforward.debian.net.gpg sudo gpg -o /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys/deb.fastforward.debian.net.gpg --export 2BDDB08FA13971B749E4A221F93CF7F4CEBEC933
sudo sh -c 'cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-fastforward.sources << EOF # /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-fastforward.sources Types: deb URIs: https://deb.fastforward.debian.net/debian-fastforward Suites: trixie-fastforward trixie-fastforward-security trixie-fastforward-updates trixie-fastforward-backports Components: main contrib non-free non-free-firmware PDiffs: no Signed-By: /usr/share/debian-fastforward/pgp-keys/deb.fastforward.debian.net.gpg EOF'
sudo sh -c 'cat > /etc/apt/preferences.d/debian-fastforward.pref << EOF # /etc/apt/preferences.d/debian-fastforward.pref Package: * Pin: release n=trixie-fastforward Pin-Priority: 990 Package: * Pin: release n=trixie-fastforward-security Pin-Priority: 990 Package: * Pin: release n=trixie-fastforward-updates Pin-Priority: 990 Package: * Pin: release n=trixie-fastforward-backports Pin-Priority: 990 EOF'
sudo apt full-upgrade --update --yes
sudo apt autopurge --yes
sudo reboot