KaOS 2026.02 Debuts Niri Wayland Desktop While Exploring Life Beyond Systemd

KaOS 2026.02 has been released, marking one of the most significant transitions in the distribution’s history.

The biggest surprise in this release is the desktop environment. While KaOS has long been associated with the KDE ecosystem, this ISO does not ship with Plasma or KWin. Instead, it introduces a new desktop stack built around the Niri Wayland compositor and the Noctalia shell.

Moving Away From systemd — But Not Yet

According to the developers, this shift reflects ongoing efforts to reduce reliance on systemd and explore alternatives such as the Dinit service manager.

As KDE Plasma’s dependence on systemd continues to deepen upstream, KaOS contributors are evaluating other desktop environments that allow the distribution to remain focused on Qt without being tied to systemd.

For now, however, the current ISO still uses systemd. The release primarily serves as a testing platform to gather feedback from users about a possible future transition. Plasma 6 also remains available in the repositories for those who prefer the traditional setup.

New Qt-Focused Wayland Desktop Stack

The experimental desktop environment included in KaOS 2026.02 features:

• Niri 25.11
• Noctalia 4.4
• Quickshell 0.2.1

All components are built on Qt 6.10.2, delivering a scrollable tiling Wayland experience while maintaining KaOS’s commitment to a Qt-only, GTK-free system.

Limine Bootloader Replaces systemd-boot

Another notable change is the introduction of Limine as the default bootloader, replacing systemd-boot. This marks the first concrete step in reducing the distribution’s reliance on systemd components.

Other UEFI boot options remain available through the Calamares installer.

Although systemd 254 was the last version fully supporting KaOS’s split /usr setup, the ISO now ships with systemd 255.22. Installed systems are expected to transition to systemd 257.10 once live-ISO generation issues are resolved.

Core System Updates

KaOS 2026.02 ships with a modern software stack, including:

• Linux kernel 6.18 with built-in microcode updates
• GCC 15.2.1, Glibc 2.42, Binutils 2.45
• Mesa 25.3.5, PipeWire 1.4.9, GStreamer 1.28
• ZFS 2.4, CMake 4.2, OpenSSH 10.2
• Bash 5.3, Protobuf 33.5, OpenCV 4.12.0, Poppler 26.02.0

These updates ensure strong hardware support and performance improvements across the system.

Installer and Filesystem Improvements

The installer experience has been refined. Calamares no longer launches a web browser as root on the welcome page, and documentation is now accessible through an integrated QML Drawer interface.

Automatic partitioning supports XFS, EXT4, Btrfs, and ZFS without manual configuration.

XFS remains the default filesystem, with CRC and finobt enabled. However, BIOS installations cannot use XFS due to GRUB compatibility issues with newer XFS implementations. RAID installations are also currently unsupported.

Multimedia and Display Stack Updates

Multimedia handling has also been modernized. Because there is no Qt6 port of VLC, KaOS now defaults to the phonon-mpv backend to maintain a fully Qt6-ready media stack.

The display manager SDDM runs in Wayland mode, reducing reliance on X11. Logging is simplified with Kjournald, a graphical log viewer included by default.

Tools, Artwork, and Known Issues

The Croeso post-install configuration tool remains part of the distribution, allowing users to adjust common settings, install packages, and review system information.

Artwork updates include the Midna icon theme, and the live environment continues to provide an installation guide.

Known issues in this release include:

• RAID installations unsupported
• GRUB failures with XFS on BIOS systems
• VirtualBox requiring 3D acceleration with the VMSVGA adapter for Wayland
• ISO images not compatible with tools like Unetbootin or Rufus

Final Thoughts

KaOS 2026.02 represents a bold experimental step for the distribution. While it does not yet abandon systemd, the introduction of a new desktop stack and bootloader signals that significant architectural changes may lie ahead.

The release announcement contains detailed information about all changes. The ISO image is available on the project’s Download page.