BorealOS is a Debian based (debian 13, trixie) linux distro for desktops. It gives an optimized debian experience without SystemD (using OpenRC instead).

Concept

Area	Plans
Base	Debian based
Architecture	x86_64 (for now)
Target Users	Intermediate users
Init System	OpenRC
Shells	sh & fish
Kernel Versions	7.0 Current, 6.18 LTS

Key Features

• Debian based desktop operating system
• Community driven development
• Pre-customized desktop environments and window managers
• Safety warnings before running risky commands

Supported Desktops

BorealOS plans to offer a choice of four graphical interfaces during setup:

• KDE Plasma
• XFCE
• Niri
• TaigaWM

Shells

• The sh shell is set as the default shell
• The fish shell is available as an option during setup

Kernels

BorealOS comes with 2 linux kernels, which are:

• 7.0 Current. (Modern, new)
• 6.18 LTS. (Long-lasting, stable)

Planned documentation

• Installation guide
• Man pages
• Init system usage
• Desktop environment / Window manager customization
• Troubleshooting

Development Status & Milestones

• BorealOS is currently in the early repository structuring and planning phase
• The first technical milestone is a minimal debian based ISO that successfully boots in a virtual machine using OpenRC as PID 1

Licence

• BorealOS is a free and open source licensed under GNU General Public License v3 [GPL-3.0]
• This software is free to use, to modify, and to redistribute provided that all of the derived works must be entirely open source under this licence

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