Dead Linux is a lightweight operating system based on Debian that aims to be as fast and efficient as possible and easily customizable while still maintaining a simple codebase.

Dead Linux Desktop v0.1 ("Shade")

Download

You can download Dead Linux here which also includes prebuilt ISO images if you use git. Alternatively, visit the project repository on Codeberg at https://codeberg.org/ericabirch/deadlinux.

Features

- Debian based
- Aims to be as minimal as possible with package selection
- Easily create custom images
- Non-persistent OS ("live boot")
- Automatically mounts all partitions on first login
- Runs any .deadinit scripts found on partitions on first login
- Runs any .deadlogin scripts found on partitions on every login

Building from source

The following packages are required to build Dead Linux:
- debootstrap
- dpkg
- isolinux
- squashfs-tools

Run sudo ./build.sh in the main directory to build all ISO images, to build a specific flavor run sudo ./build.sh .

Creating a flavor

Creating a customized flavor is very simple.
- Create a folder in the flavors folder
- Add packages by creating empty files with the filename being the name of the package
- Create a folder in the pkg folder named deadlinux-yourflavor
- Add any files you want to be included and create a DEBIAN/control file with the following metadata:

Package: deadlinux-yourflavor
Version: 1.0
Maintainer: Your name <Your email>
Homepage: Your website
Architecture: all
Description: An interesting description
Priority: required
Essential: yes
Urgency: critical
Depends: deadlinux-base

- Build the ISO

Reporting bugs

If you encounter a bug and wish to report it or have feature suggestions and other topics, please open an issue.

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Erica Birch

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.