docs: deprecate bullseye (end of 5 year lifecycle on 2026-08-31)

[MikeMcC399]

Description

Add note to README > node:bullseye that Debian bullseye reaches the end of its 5-year lifecycle on Aug 31, 2026.

Motivation and Context

Users should plan to migrate before Debian bullseye is no longer supported.

A follow-on change after end of Aug 2026 will be needed to remove bullseye from the configuration and this documentation change advises users in advance.

Testing Details

N/A

Types of changes

• Documentation
• Version change (Update, remove or add more Node.js versions)
• Variant change (Update, remove or add more variants, or versions of variants)
• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)
• Other (none of the above)

Checklist

• My code follows the code style of this project.
• My change requires a change to the documentation.
• I have updated the documentation accordingly.
• I have read the CONTRIBUTING.md document.
• All new and existing tests passed.

[MikeMcC399]

Preview

https://github.com/MikeMcC399/docker-node/tree/deprecate-bullseye#nodebullseye

[MikeMcC399]

bullseye EOL on Aug 31, 2026 is also announced in https://www.debian.org/News/2026/20260712

[MikeMcC399]

@nodejs/corepack

Please review this documentation addition which pre-warns node:bullseye image users about the end-of-life of Debian 11 (bullseye).

If the PR is not merged into the documentation, then these users may be surprised in September 2026 when new Node.js releases no longer appear for Debian 11 (bullseye).

If they are using a floating tag, such as node:24-bullseye, they won't get any notification, but they will just be stuck on whatever version of Node.js 24 was latest on Aug 31, 2026. Existing tags don't get deleted (compare for instance node:20-buster published 2 years ago), they are just cut off from further updates.

[nschonni]

I kind of feel like if someone has chosen a named tag, they're up enough on the lifecylce of Debian. And if they're not, they're likely not going to catch anything that is just a note on our README/DockerHub page

[MikeMcC399]

@nschonni

I kind of feel like if someone has chosen a named tag, they're up enough on the lifecylce of Debian. And if they're not, they're likely not going to catch anything that is just a note on our README/DockerHub page

That does make sense, so I'll close it unmerged. Thanks for your feedback!

As I noted after I submitted this PR, Debian itself is informing users and there are details on https://www.debian.org/News/ about how to subscribe to their mailing lists.