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DistroWatch.com: KISS

KISS

Last Update: 2026-02-08 01:17 UTC

OS Type: Linux
Based on: Independent
Origin: Global
Architecture: x86_64
Desktop: No Desktop
Category: Specialist
Status: Dormant (defined)
Popularity: Not ranked

KISS is a meta-distribution which provides a minimal, command line environment (using BusyBox) and a package manager (called kiss) written in a shell script. The project strives to reduce the size and requirements of packages to provide a lean and more fully understandable operating system.

Average visitor rating: 10.0/10 from 3 review(s).

KISS Summary
Distribution	KISS
Home Page	https://kisslinux.org/
Mailing Lists	--
User Forums	--
Alternative User Forums
Documentation	https://kisslinux.org/install • https://kisslinux.org/wiki
Screenshots	DistroWatch Gallery
Screencasts
Download Mirrors	https://github.com/kisslinux/repo/releases/ • DistroWatch Torrent Archive
Bug Tracker	https://github.com/kisslinux/repo/issues
Related Websites	--
Reviews	1.9.x: DistroWatch
Where To Donate, Buy or Try

Table Notes and Explanations

(Please refer to the table below.)

To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.

Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.

Colour scheme: green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.

TUXEDO
TUXEDO Computers - Linux Hardware in a tailor made suite Choose from a wide range of laptops and PCs in various sizes and shapes at TUXEDOComputers.com. Every machine comes pre-installed and ready-to-run with Linux. Full 24 months of warranty and lifetime support included! Learn more about our full service package and all benefits from buying at TUXEDO.

Star Labs
Star Labs - Laptops built for Linux. View our range including the highly anticipated StarFighter. Available with coreboot open-source firmware and a choice of Ubuntu, elementary, Manjaro and more. Visit Star Labs for information, to buy and get support.

Feature	2021.7	2020.9
Release Date	2021-07-02	2020-09-04
End Of Life
Price (US$)	Free	Free
Image Size (MB)	0-50	0-50
Free Download	Tarball	Tarball
Installation	Text	Text
Default Desktop	--	--
Default Browser
Package Format	kiss	kiss
Package Management
Release Model	Rolling	Rolling
Office Suite	--	--
Processor Architecture	x86_64	aarch64, armv7, i686, x86_64
Init Software	BusyBox	BusyBox
Journaled File Systems	Btrfs, ext3, ext4	Btrfs, ext3, ext4
Multilingual	No	No
Full Package List	2021.7	2020.9

Full Package List: KISS 2020.9
Number of packages: 18 (download as TXT) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- • baselayout 1 6 • binutils 2.35 1 • bison 3.7.1 1 • busybox 1.32.0 3 • bzip2 1.0.8 1 • curl 7.72.0 1 • flex 2.6.4 4 • gcc 10.2.0 1 • git 2.28.0 1 • gzip 1.10 4 • kiss 5.0.6 1 • libressl 3.2.1 1 • linux-headers 5.4.45 1 • m4 1.4.18 2 • make 4.3 1 • musl 1.2.1 1 • xz 5.2.5 1 • zlib 1.2.11 3

Full Package List: KISS 2020.9

Number of packages: 18 (download as TXT)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  •  baselayout 1 6
  •  binutils 2.35 1
  •  bison 3.7.1 1
  •  busybox 1.32.0 3
  •  bzip2 1.0.8 1
  •  curl 7.72.0 1
  •  flex 2.6.4 4
  •  gcc 10.2.0 1
  •  git 2.28.0 1
  •  gzip 1.10 4
  •  kiss 5.0.6 1
  •  libressl 3.2.1 1
  •  linux-headers 5.4.45 1
  •  m4 1.4.18 2
  •  make 4.3 1
  •  musl 1.2.1 1
  •  xz 5.2.5 1
  •  zlib 1.2.11 3

Reader Ratings

Reader supplied reviews for KISS

Average rating
10
from 3 review(s)
Please select a rating in the range of 1-10.
Please write at least a few sentences about the distribution while limiting your review to 4080 characters.

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Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system.
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Version:

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Past reviews - sort by:

Version: 2021.7
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-02-22
Votes: 10

Left Linux because no matter what distro I tried I'd always end up with a broken system after an update. Spent a few years in BSD land and LOVED it but couldnt play many games So I still relied on Linux for that. Then I found KISS and instantly fell in Love, its been a rough journey of learning but I can say that Kiss is my forever distro, the simplicity that I loved from BSD and the powerful Linux kernel that powers the world.

Check the Gentoo wiki often when configuring your kernel, its really the hardest step when installing Kiss.

Come back Dylan Araps the world misses you.

Was this review helpful? Yes No

Version: 2021.7
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-07-23
Votes: 5

KISS is just the best distro I've used. It let you use whatever you want. You can maintain your own repositories if you wanted to. And you only install the packages you really need. No unnecessary packages with increments both security and performance. Such a beautiful distribution that gives you the power to do things on your own way.

Was this review helpful? Yes No

Version: 2021.7
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-07-12
Votes: 4

Best distribution I have ever used. I maintain entirely my own repositories (out of my own volition), and it lets me have complete and utter control over my system while still having a simple and easy to use package manager, init framework, etc.

Was this review helpful? Yes No

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