Fennek OS

A Linux desktop for people who want a familiar, classic desktop. It feels familiar, has no telemetry, comes with strong built-in security, and aims for long battery life. Built as a bootc image on Fedora Kinoite (KDE Plasma).

  

What's in it so far:

• .exe programs: double-click any .exe, which runs it through Proton (umu-launcher).
• Auto-containment: unknown .exe programs run in a sandbox. They see only ~/Sandbox/<program> and never your real home.
• VirusTotal check: right-click any file. Only the file's hash is sent, never the file.
• Download guard: ClamAV scans new files in Downloads, and threats go to quarantine. No always-on scanner daemon.
• Hourly home snapshots: Btrfs and snapper, as an undo for ransomware.
• Atomic updates: updates are staged in the background and applied on the next reboot. They are never forced.
• Familiar: classic taskbar, and dir, cls, ipconfig work in the terminal.

Install

Early test version. Try it on a spare PC or "Try it first" from the USB stick before installing for real.

What you need: a USB stick (8 GB or more, it will be erased), about 30 minutes, and a backup of your files.

1. Back up your files to an external drive or a cloud folder. Installing next to your current system keeps it, but a backup is what makes any mistake harmless. Turn on your browser's sync too: bookmarks and saved passwords can't be read from the old drive later.

2. Your current system's drive encryption: if it uses one, write down its recovery key now, and shrink the drive from inside that system (at least 30 GB free space for Fennek OS): the installer can't shrink a locked drive.

3. Download the installer (.iso): open the latest installer build, pick the newest green run and download fennek-os-iso at the bottom (needs a free GitHub account; a direct download link is coming with the website).

4. Put it on the USB stick with Fedora Media Writer or balenaEtcher: choose the .iso, choose the stick, Write.

5. Start from the stick: hold Shift and click Shut down in your current system (otherwise its drive is left half-asleep and can't be shrunk), then start the PC and press the boot menu key while it starts (often F12, F11, F8 or Esc; the start screen usually says which), then pick the USB stick. If the PC refuses it, turn on the firmware setting that allows third-party UEFI certificates, and leave Secure Boot on.

6. Look around first: choose Try it first. Nothing on your PC changes until you choose to install.

7. Install: click Install Fennek OS on the desktop.

   • Keep your current system (recommended): choose Share disk with other operating systems, then Reclaim space and shrink your current system's partition, freeing at least 30 GB for Fennek OS. Fennek OS goes into the freed space. Fennek OS then starts by default; to use the other system, pick Restart to Windows in Start, or use your PC's boot menu key.
   • Replace it: choose Use entire disk, then Erase data and install. Everything on that drive is gone.

   Encrypt my data starts ticked, so your files stay private if the computer is stolen. You type its password each time the computer starts. If you forget it, nothing can open your files, so make a recovery key when Welcome offers it.

8. Restart, take out the stick, and you are in Fennek OS. Updates arrive by themselves; the previous version always stays in the start menu in case one goes wrong.

Build

Base: Universal Blue's Kinoite, signature-verified and pinned by digest. Build with podman (the base has ~256 layers, more than docker supports):

base=$(bash verify-base.sh)
podman build --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=$base -f Containerfile -t fennek:dev .
podman run --rm -v ./test.sh:/t.sh:ro fennek:dev bash /t.sh

Test VM (Hyper-V):

1. vm-disk.ps1 builds and tests the image, then writes E:\Fennek-build\vm\fennek-next.vhdx.
2. vm.ps1, run as admin, creates the VM and boots it.

Support and links

Free, no ads, no telemetry, no paywalled features, built by one person and a fox. If Fennek OS made leaving your old system a little less scary, you can share some love:

 

Bugs and ideas go in Issues. Questions and general fox business go to Discord.

More from the same den: Leonote (popup notes that keep you focused), Kitsumi (learn Japanese from what you already watch) and Rook Paper Scissors (chess, with a twist).

Contributing, security, license

• Want to help? See CONTRIBUTING.md.
• Found a security problem? Report it privately; see SECURITY.md.
• What Fennek OS connects to, and how to turn it off: PRIVACY.md.
• Fennek OS's own code is licensed under GPL-3.0. Bundled components keep their own licenses.
• The name "Fennek OS" and the fox logo are not covered by the GPL; forks must rename. See TRADEMARKS.md.