X Linux

X Linux

Arch-based, snapshot-first Linux with a script-driven installer and its own package tooling — docs and downloads in one place.

Download ISORead the docsGitHub

Downloads

Download ISOx-2026.10.27-x86_64.iso · 2.00 GBDownload for WSLx-wsl-rootfs.tar.gz

SHA-256 a6c424c935f9227d… SHA256SUMS · .sig

A look at X

Real screens from an X install — desktop, tools, boot and installer.

X Linux desktop (light theme)

01 / 11Hyprland desktop (equisdots) — light and dark themes.

Isometric illustration of the six X Linux layers: Arch base, X system, generations, desktop choices, shell and apps, and signed delivery.

Foundation

Arch, without the mystery

A familiar base, extended with intent.

Kernel, systemd and pacman stay where you expect them. X adds the text installer, btrfs generations, signed packages and a desktop layer you can replace.

See the project layout
01 / Kernel
linux · linux-lts · linux-zen
02 / Init
systemd · journald · logind
03 / Packages
pacman · [x] · keyring
04 / Filesystem
btrfs · subvolumes · snapshots

Anatomy

Built-in desktops

One system, four ways to land.

Hyprland and niri ship the equisdots stack; KDE Plasma gets X Dark branding. They all sit on the same Arch base, generations, signed packages and X tooling.

Choose the desktop in the text installer. The rest of the system stays the same.

See the desktop guide

Hyprland

equisdots · Lua · light/dark

niri

equisdots · scrollable tiling

KDE Plasma

X Dark · Plasma 6

Console

no desktop · minimal

The X layer stack — the desktop is a choice at install time, not a fork.

Generations

Rollback is a layer

Every transaction leaves a bootable snapshot.

x gen records packages, services, the kernel and /etc as a generation. Boot it, diff it, pin it or restore a single path.

Read the generations

0001

first install

0002

pre-update

0003

kernel change

0004

desktop layer

0005

current

Why X

What you get on top of a stock Arch base.

Bootable generations

01

Every package transaction is captured as a btrfs snapshot with its own boot entry. Roll back, diff, verify, pin or export signed and encrypted bundles.

Script-driven installer

02

BIOS or UEFI, GRUB or systemd-boot, LUKS, dualboot, core or full profiles, and Hyprland, niri or KDE Plasma as the desktop — all in the terminal.

Multi-kernel

03

Choose linux, linux-lts or linux-zen at install time or later with x kernel install and remove, protected by guard rails.

Native tooling

04

xpm (package manager) and xpkg (builder) drive the signed [x] repository through a native .xp endpoint — built in Rust.

Runs on WSL

05

An importable rootfs plus a friendly first-run setup for terminal-only use on Windows.

Signed end to end

06

The ISO, checksums and [x] packages are signed; the installed system trusts the embedded keyring.

06

system layers

04

desktop choices

02

boot modes

01

signed repository

Install in four steps

From ISO to the first bootable generation — the installer runs in the terminal.

1 · Download the ISO

Get the latest signed ISO from SourceForge — the stable link always points to the current release.

Download ISO

2 · Flash a USB drive

Replace /dev/sdX with your device:

sudo dd if=x-<version>-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=8M conv=fsync status=progress

3 · Boot and follow the installer

Pick disk layout, kernel, desktop and profile; the first generation is created for you.

Read the install guide

4 · Boot generation 0001

Reboot into the first btrfs snapshot. Roll back, diff or pin it whenever you need.

/@ · btrfs · 0001

Repositories

Every component of the X Linux project lives in the equislinux organization.

equislinux/x

Arch-based distro: archiso profile, text installer and ISO build.

equislinux/x-arm

aarch64 overlay build: live ISO, [x]/aarch64 repository and VM images.

equislinux/wsl

X Linux for WSL: importable rootfs and WSL configuration.

equislinux/wsl-scripts

Friendly WSL user setup and provisioning.

equislinux/scripts

Provisioning payload and CLI (x): phases, dotfiles, themes, migrations.

equislinux/xpm

Rust package manager for x repositories (ALPM format).

equislinux/xpkg

Rust package builder: XBUILD recipes to ALPM-compatible archives.

equislinux/x-repo

Binary package repository ([x]) and package portal.

equislinux/utils

Operator utilities: workspace discovery, clone, sudo rules and signing keys.

equislinux/wiki

Documentation sources for every repository (English/Spanish).

equislinux/web

This documentation portal: landing and browsable docs.

Two packaging paths

X uses Arch-compatible packages for pacman and its own native format for xpm.

signed
x86_64
[x]pacman

pacman · [x] repository

Arch-compatible .pkg.tar.zst packages served from x-repo. Add the [x] repository to pacman.conf and install with pacman -S.

[x]
Server = https://equislinux.github.io/x-repo/repo/x86_64
native
x86_64
.xpxpm

xpm · native .xp

Native packages built by xpkg from XBUILD recipes and installed with xpm. The endpoint lives under x-repo/x/x86_64.

[[repo]]
server = ["https://equislinux.github.io/x-repo/x/$arch"]

Documentation

Guides for the distro, WSL, provisioning, packaging and the package repository — in English and Spanish.

Browse documentation