KaOS 2026.06 RC: The Independent Distro Drops systemd for Dinit and Niri

KaOS Takes a Radical Turn

In the world of Linux distributions, dropping systemd is a rare and bold step. But KaOS, the independent Qt-focused distribution, has decided to take this step. On June 7, 2026, the KaOS team released the 2026.06 Release Candidate, the first version to fully rely on Dinit as its init and service manager.

This release is not just a technical update. It is the culmination of months of work and planning. It follows earlier decisions that included dropping KDE Plasma as the default desktop in February 2026 and moving toward an alternative init kernel.

🔗 Official Website: kaosx.us 🔗 Release Announcement: kaosx.us/news/2026/kaosdinit/

Why Drop systemd?

KaOS’s decision to drop systemd was not sudden. It resulted from technical challenges that accumulated over years. The main reason was the discontinuation of support for the split /usr filesystem that KaOS uses. Starting with systemd version 254 in July 2023, support for this system, which is a core part of KaOS’s identity, became threatened.

Additionally, support for the AUFS filesystem was dropped in newer systemd versions. KaOS uses this system for its overlay mounting. The increasing reliance of the KDE Plasma desktop environment on systemd also made it difficult for the distribution to continue in this way.

According to the developers, if KaOS were to follow only systemd’s dictates, there would be no reason for its existence as an independent distribution.

What Is New in KaOS Dinit 2026.06 RC?

The Move to Dinit, Turnstile, and seatd

The heart of this release is the replacement of systemd as the init and service manager with Dinit. Dinit works alongside Turnstile for session tracking and login, and seatd for seat and device management to form an alternative init system. This does not mean the system is completely free of systemd. systemd-udev and systemd-tmpfiles are still in use, and elogind is present to enable Polkit functionality.

Dropping KDE Plasma and SDDM

With this release, the system image no longer includes KDE Plasma or KWin as the default desktop. Instead, the system uses Niri, a Wayland compositor, and Noctalia, a Qt-based graphical shell. The login manager SDDM has been replaced with greetd and tuigreet, a text-based login interface. Users can still install KDE Plasma from the repositories, but it is no longer the default option.

Bootloader and Installer Changes

Limine has become the default bootloader, replacing systemd-boot. The Calamares installer has been updated to run fully on a Wayland session, with fixes to QML modules requiring text input.

Core Package Updates

The release includes a large number of package updates, including:

Linux kernel 7.0.11
Mesa 26.1.2
GStreamer 1.28
Pipewire 1.6.6
Bash 5.3
Coreutils 9.11
Dinit 022.0
ZFS 2.4.2

New Tools and Services

New packages have been added, such as starship as a replacement for powerline and croeso, a welcome tool that helps with system configuration. The sound backend has been switched from VLC to phonon-mpv.

A Release Candidate with Known Limitations

It is important to remember that this is a Release Candidate and not a final stable version. There are some known limitations:

Installing on RAID is not currently possible.
The XFS filesystem is not supported for installation on BIOS systems due to an issue with GRUB.
For use on VirtualBox, 3D Acceleration must be enabled with VMSVGA because VirtualBox does not fully support Wayland.
Some Polkit privilege escalation options are not yet fully supported with Turnstile.

Summary

The KaOS 2026.06 RC release is a realization of the distribution’s independent vision. It is a bold departure from the mainstream, driven by real technical problems. The distribution, which was known for its focus on KDE Plasma, is now moving toward a different future with Wayland, Dinit, and Niri. This release is intended for testers and advanced users who want to explore these radical changes.