KDE Linux

KDE Linux — codenamed "Project Banana"— is a KDE-owned general-purpose Linux®-based operating system revealed at Akademy 2024 (slides, recording), being developed at https://invent.kde.org/kde-linux.

The goal of KDE Linux is to create a bulletproof OS 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 an "immutable base" operating system that does not include a traditional package manager. Apps can be installed from Flatpak or AppImages. There are various other options for getting software from other sources. System updates involve replacing the OS image with an entirely new one.

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.
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 quite easy to hack on, and the developers hang out in the #kde-linux:kde.org Matrix room.

To propose changes, submit a Merge Request in one of the relevant git repositories.
To report issues in the KDE Linux operating system itself (i.e. OS design, integration, system services, etc), use invent.kde.org, and ignore the scary red banner at the top of the page.
To report issues in KDE Plasma or any KDE apps, use bugs.kde.org.
To get help with something that's not necessarily a bug, use discuss.kde.org, and tag your post with "kde-linux".

External Resources

Background information from Lennart Poettering about OS design: https://0pointer.net/blog/fitting-everything-together.html + https://0pointer.net/blog/testing-my-system-code-in-usr-without-modifying-usr.html
Presentation by Harald Sitter at Akademy 2024 (slides, recording).
Presentation by Harald Sitter at Akademy 2025 (slides, recording).
Alpha release announcement

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.