Vanilla OS

An immutable, Debian-based distribution offering an unmodified, stock GNOME desktop, with its own ABRoot system for atomic updates and dual-root A/B image swapping.

Immutable & Atomicimmutableatomic-updatesDebian-basedvanilla-GNOMEDownload ↗Official site ↗Docs / Wiki ↗

Based on

Debian

First released

2022

Package manager

APT inside per-app containers (ABRoot for the base)

Desktop environments

GNOME (vanilla, unmodified)

Vanilla OS's name is a deliberate statement of intent: unlike Ubuntu or Fedora's own GNOME spins, which both apply their own patches and default-setting changes, Vanilla OS ships GNOME exactly as the GNOME project itself intends it, unmodified. Its own ABRoot tool manages atomic updates through an A/B root-filesystem swap (similar in spirit to how some Android and ChromeOS updates work), so a failed update never leaves a half-applied system, and it provides an integrated way to layer additional system packages or run isolated containers for software that needs deeper access than Flatpak sandboxing allows. It's a newer entrant in the immutable-desktop space compared to Fedora Silverblue, built by an independent team rather than a major distribution vendor.

MirrorNest doesn't mirror distro ISOs — installation media should always come straight from the project's own official download page (linked above), so you get the correct checksum/signature to verify against.