KDE Linux

KDE Linux — codenamed "Project Banana"— is a KDE-owned general-purpose Linux®-based operating system.

The goal of KDE Linux is to create a bulletproof OS suitable for normal people, showcasing the best of KDE that we can proudly recommend to users and OEMs, with a coherent "here's how you get it" story.

KDE Linux is developed at https://invent.kde.org/kde-linux. Download it here!

History and design

Work on KDE Linux began in 2023, and its working prototype was revealed by Harald Sitter at Akademy 2024 (slides, recording). An alpha release followed at Akademy 2025 (slides, recording).

KDE Linux is an "immutable base" operating system that does not include a traditional package manager, but apps can be installed from Flatpak or AppImages, with various other advanced options for getting software from other sources. System updates involve replacing the OS image with an entirely new one, with old images preserved to facilitate system rollbacks.

Technically, the project focuses on modern infrastructure and is heavily inspired by Lennart Poettering's thoughts on OS design.

For more information, see Background information.

Current state

KDE Linux has completed its Alpha release. This comprises the Testing Edition which provides built-from-git-master versions of Plasma, KWin, and KDE apps. General "daily driving" should be usable for adventurous people.

Some things don't work well yet. Notable examples include:

The QA & testing infrastructure needs more thoroughness and automation. Until then, expect some bad builds from time to time that you'll need to roll back.
Anything currently pre-installed may be removed before the beta release. Don't build mission-critical workflows around any of it.
Secure Boot isn't yet supported.
Manual partitioning doesn't completely work.
Java software doesn't run without manually installing Java somehow.
Add-ons that require deep system integration (like not-included-by-default VPNs) will require technical work to get running, if it's possible at all
NVIDIA GPUs older than the GTX 1630 require manual work to use.
Delta updates have some known issues (visit link to see workarounds).
KDE apps in Flatpaks have rough edges.
Using Discover to update the system and install large Flatpaks has rough edges.
The developer story for working on frameworks and libraries used in Flatpak apps is somewhere between "painful" and "non-existent".
Thus far, only a handful of KDE contributors have been using and testing KDE Linux, so there may be other significant issues.

Work now focuses on the Beta release, comprising the Stable Edition and Enthusiast Edition, and fixing as many of the above-mentioned issues as possible.

Getting it

To install on physical hardware, see https://kde.org/linux/docs/install.
To install in a virtual machine, see https://kde.org/linux/docs/install-vm.

Using it

Life on a cutting-edge immutable OS can be unfamiliar! Read the official documentation to learn how to perform various tasks.

Helping out

The KDE Linux team is super excited to receive new contributors! The OS is easy to hack on, and the developers hang out in the #kde-linux:kde.org Matrix room. See https://kde.org/linux/docs/kde-linux-dev for details.

Linux®

The registered trademark Linux® is used pursuant to a sublicense from the Linux Foundation, the exclusive licensee of Linus Torvalds, owner of the mark on a worldwide basis.