內容目錄
在 Wiki 上還有和這個議題的更多資訊。
這個發行版新增了對於 ARM EABI (armel) 的官方支援。
以下是 Debian GNU/Linux lenny 官方所支援的硬體平台：
Intel x86 ('i386')
Alpha ('alpha')
SPARC ('sparc')
PowerPC ('powerpc')
ARM ('arm')
MIPS ('mips' (big endian) 及 'mipsel' (little endian))
Intel Itanium ('ia64')
HP PA-RISC ('hppa')
S/390 ('s390')
AMD64 ('amd64')
ARM EABI ('armel')
您可以在 Debian 硬體架構網頁 中取得更多關於各個平台移植的情況，以及針對移植至您的硬體平台的相關資訊。
比起之前的 etch，新的 Debian 發行版再度收集了更多的軟體；在這次的發行版本裡包含了超過 7700 個新套件，總數則超過了 23200 個套件。大部份的軟體都被更新了：超過 13400 個套件（大約佔了 etch 的套件數量的 72%）。當然囉，因為種種的原因，也有不少的軟體（超過 3100 個，大約佔了 etch 的套件數量的 17%）在這次的發行版本裡被移除掉了。您會發覺到這些套件的版本已不再更新，並且在套件的管理介面裡它們會被標記為 '廢棄(obsolete)' 套件。
隨著這個發行版，Debian GNU/Linux 由 X.Org 7.1 升級為 X.Org 7.3。
Debian GNU/Linux 再度搭載了為數眾多的桌面應用軟體及桌面環境。其中，像是包含了桌面環境GNOME 2.22[1], KDE 3.5.10, Xfce 4.4.2, and LXDE 0.3.2.1+svn20080509. Productivity applications have also been upgraded, including the office suites OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 and KOffice 1.6.3 as well as GNUcash 2.2.6, GNUmeric 1.8.3 and Abiword 2.6.4.
其它的桌面應用程式也被更新了，包含了更新為
Evolution 2.22.3 及
Pidgin 2.4.3（舊名為
Gaim)。Mozilla
家族也被更新了：iceweasel（3.0.6 版）是無商標的
Firefox
網頁瀏覽器，icedove（2.0.0.19 版）則為無商標的
Thunderbird
郵件用戶程式。
除此之外，在此發行版中也包含了以下的軟體更新：
The official Debian GNU/Linux distribution now ships on 4 to 5 binary
DVDs or 28
to 32 binary CDs
(depending on the architecture)
and 4 source DVDs or 28 source
CDs. Additionally, there is a
multi-arch DVD, with a subset of the
release for the amd64 and i386
architectures, along with the source code. For the first time, Debian GNU/Linux is
also released as Blu-ray
images, also for the amd64 and i386
architectures, along with the source code.
Debian now supports Linux Standards Base (LSB) version 3.2. Debian 4.0 did support version 3.1.
The preferred program for package management from the command line is
aptitude, which can perform the same package management
functions as apt-get and has proven to be better at
dependency resolution. If you are still using dselect,
you should switch to aptitude as the
official front-end for package management.
在 lenny 裡，已在 aptitude 裡實作了更為強大的衝突解決機制，它會在套件間因相依性的改變而產生衝突之時試圖尋找最佳的解決方案。
All changes to the released stable distribution (and to oldstable) go
through an extended testing period before they are accepted into the
archives. Each such update of the stable (or oldstable) release is called
a point release. Preparation of point releases is done through the
proposed-updates mechanism.
套件有 2 種方式可以進入 proposed-updates。第一個，因為有安全更新而被加到
security.debian.org 裡的套件會被同時自動加入 proposed-updates
裡。而第二種方式是，Debian GNU/Linux 開發者可能將新的套件直接加入 proposed-updates
中。目前這些套件的列表可於 http://ftp-master.debian.org/proposed-updates.html
取得。
如果在這些套件正式加入小改版之前您想要幫忙測試這些更新的話，您可以將 proposed-updates
區段加入您的 sources.list裡：
deb http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian lenny-proposed-updates main contrib deb-src http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian lenny-proposed-updates main contrib
那麼下次您執行 aptitude update 時，系統會知道在
proposed-updates 區段中包含了哪些套件，並會在尋找升級套件時將其列入考慮。
這嚴格來說並不是 Debian 的新功能，只是之前不太為人所知罷了。
全新安裝的 lenny 將會受益於在本發行版中的諸多改變，但這些改變可能無法自動套用至由 etch 升級上來的系統。這一小節會針對這些相關改變進行簡易介紹。
The packages needed for SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) support have been promoted to priority standard. This means that they will be installed by default during new installations. For existing systems you can install SELinux using:
# aptitude install selinux-basics
請注意到，在預設上並不會啟用對於 SELinux 的支援。有關設定及啟用 SELinux 的資訊可於 Debian Wiki 上取得。
The package rsyslog takes over as
default system and kernel logging daemon for Debian 5.0, replacing
syslogd and klogd. With stock logging
rules, it can be used as a drop-in replacement; if you have custom rules,
you should migrate them to the new configuration file,
/etc/rsyslog.conf.
從 etch 升級上來的使用者必須手動安裝 rsyslog 並移除 sysklogd。在升級到 lenny
的過程中並不會自動把預設的系統日誌服務程式給替換掉。
為數眾多的應用程式將會被設定為預設即使用 UTF-8，或是對於 UTF-8 有著更佳的支援。請查看 http://wiki.debian.org/UTF8BrokenApps 來得知還有哪些應用程式對於 UTF-8 仍適應不良。
Starting from Lenny, /etc/debian_version will indicate
the revision number of the debian release (5.0, then 5.0.1, etc.)
This also means that you should not expect this file to be constant throught the release lifetime.
在 Debian Wiki 上有著 etch 和 lenny 之間的差異之更詳盡資訊。
隨著 lenny，Debian 有了針對 amd64 及 i386 平台的官方的 Live 系統。
A Debian Live system is a Debian system that can be booted directly from
removable media (CD-ROMs, DVDs, USB keys) or from another computer over the
network without the need of installation. The images are produced by a tool
named live-helper, which can easily
be used to create custom live images. More information about the Debian Live
project can be found at http://debian-live.alioth.debian.org/.
在所有平台上，Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 搭載的皆是 kernel 2.6.26 版。
There have been major changes both in the kernel itself and in the packaging of the kernel for Debian. Some of these changes complicate the upgrade procedure and can potentially result in problems while rebooting the system after the upgrade to lenny. This section gives an overview of the most important changes; information on how to work around potential issues is included in later chapters.
Some drivers load binary firmware into the device they are supporting at run time. While this firmware was included in the stock kernel in previous releases, it has now be separately packaged in the non-free section. If you want to continue to use these devices after reboot, make sure the required firmware is present on the installed system. See section 6.4 of the Installation Manual for details.
Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 provides pre-built kernel images for OpenVZ, a second virtualization solution to go alongside the Linux-VServer support included in etch. Advantages of OpenVZ include support for live migration, at the expense of a slightly higher overhead.
In previous releases there was a special -k7 kernel
flavor for 32-bit AMD Athlon/Duron/Sempron processors. This variant has been
dropped; the single single flavor -686 now handles all
AMD/Intel/VIA 686 class processors.
如果可以，將會替已廢棄套件提供相依於新套件的替代 (dummy) 轉換套件。
Lenny 現在包含了 Emdebian 的開發工具，它可以讓 Debian 原始碼套件能夠進行 cross-built 並壓實以適用於嵌入式 ARM 系統。
Emdebian 1.0 發行版包含了預先編譯好、足以建立 root 檔案系統的 ARM 套件，可用來訂製以適於特定機器及其衍生機型。但 Kernel 及 Kernel 模組則必須自行設法。對於 armel 及 i386 的支援則仍在開發中。請參閱 Emdebian 網頁 以取得更多資訊。
Netbooks, such as the Eee PC by Asus, are now supported by Debian. For the
Eee PC, have a look at the eeepc-acpi-scripts. Also, Debian features a new
Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment, lxde, which is beneficial for netbooks or other
computers with relatively low performance.