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, Snap, 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, which includes the Testing Edition. Work now focuses on the Beta release.

The Testing Edition provides built-from-git-master versions of Plasma, KWin, and KDE apps. Getting apps from Flathub works. Developing KDE and 3rd-party software works. System Updating using Discover and the command-line works. System rollbacks work. General "daily driving" should be usable for adventurous people.

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

• Secure Boot isn't yet supported.
• Manual partitioning doesn't work right now.
• 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.
• NVIDIA GPUs older than the GTX 1630 require manual work to use.
• Disk monitoring in System Monitor + widgets doesn't work.
• KDE apps in Flatpaks have rough edges.
• Some scanners are not visible from Flatpak apps.
• System updates are huge because we ship a whole new OS image, and delta updates haven't been implemented in Systemd yet. A bespoke delta updating system is in progress.
• 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.

Getting it

Download the latest .raw image from https://files.kde.org/kde-linux/?C=M;O=D.

Verify that it arrived in one piece:

1. Go to https://files.kde.org/kde-linux/?C=M;O=D and click "Details" for the .raw file you downloaded. Copy the long string of nonsense characters next to "SHA256". This is the SHA256 checksum of the .raw file.
2. Once the .raw file has finished downloading, right-click on it, choose "Properties", and then click "Checksums" tab. Ensure the text field at the top is green. If it is, the file on your computer is the same one that you downloaded.

To install on physical hardware, see https://kde.org/linux/install.

To install in a virtual machine, see Installing in a virtual machine.

How to

Life on a cutting-edge immutable distro can be unfamiliar! Here's how to do various things you might be wondering about:

Hardware support

• Enable hardware acceleration for Firefox on NVIDIA GPUs
• Use a pre-Turing (older than GTX 1630) NVIDIA GPU

Basic use

• Install apps and games
• Keep the system up to date

Advanced use

• Install software not available in Discover
• Add or override content in /usr
• Create and use virtual machines

Software development

• Develop KDE software
• Develop or run Python scripts
• Develop or debug the kernel
• Develop other non-KDE software
• Develop KDE Linux locally

Troubleshooting and debugging

• Recover from a failure to start up properly
• Debug crashes in Flatpak apps
• Migrate older installations

Get involved

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".

Further Reading

• KDE_Linux/Obstsalat
• KDE_Linux/RootFSv2
• KDE_Linux/Verity
• KDE_Linux/Delta
• KDE_Linux/Banana_Split
• KDE_Linux/Storage

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.