Last 12 months (2019/2020 & Looking forwards (2021).

As approaches (some might say not fast enough), we wanted to briefly review our roadmap for 2019/2020.

The Kali Linux 12 month history (and not just the regular release items, e.g.) is a high-level snapshot. Kali Linux has seen many updates, switchovers and new features.

Looking a little deeper:

• A lot of visual & graphical changes have been made (e.g. Refreshes on desktop environments and shells
• A few core system modifications are possible (e.g. Switching to default and non-root shells
• A few enhancements to the end-user experience (e.g. New system images and message for login
• Also, we have been tweaking and modifying the backend infrastructure (but not talking about it in public release notes).
• Additionally, we have introduced various new features (e.g. Kali-undercover and Win-KeX).
• Support for new platform and improved existing ones (e.g. Vagrant and AWS are now available.
• Although we understand that not everybody liked the Python 2 removal tool, it was essential and helped Kali to be future-proofed. This is not an easy process. Deep change is always painful. It will get easier with time and new tools.

The feature, which highlights in each Kali release when broken down by release per Kali, breaks it down:

• November 2019

  • Switching to Xfce as the default desktop environment
  • Xfce desktop environment refresh
  • Git-powered Kali-docs
  • Introducing Kali-Undercover + NetHunter-KeX

• February 2020

  • Change to a non-root user
  • Gnome desktop environment refresh
  • Change to a single-set image
  • Remove Python 2 tools
  • NetHunter Rootless Edition

• May 2020

  • KDE Plasma desktop environment refresh
  • Introduction LXC/LXD Images
  • NetHunter WiFi improvements (in-built monitoring and injection)
  • Introducing NetHunter USB Arsenal
  • Introducing NetHunter Kernel-Builder

• August 2020

  • ZSH Shell Refresh
  • Introducing Win-KeX
  • Improved HiDPI Support
  • Kali icon refresh
  • Kali Setup Improvements
  • Introducing NetHunter Bluetooth Arsenal

• November 2020

  • Switching to ZSH for default shell
  • Bash shell refresh
  • Login Messages
  • Kali AWS Image Refresh
  • VMware Vagrant Support
  • Win-KeX Support on ARM
  • Python 2 Tools removed
  • NetHunter Settings Menu (Backup/restore + Boot menu).

We have released 120 new tools and updated many existing tools over the past year. We added support for . We now have 3 , and 1 . Kali NetHunter has:

This is looking at 2019 and 2020. What does 2021 look like?

• The interface of Kali was the focus for 2019/20. 2020 will be more focused on tools
• We didn’t get kali.org/tools/ over to markdown, but that’s on the cards.
• Websites aside, our goal is to give our site a makeover
• We are pleased to announce the release of Kaboxer, a project that we worked on over 18 months.
• An online event is planned for August. More information can be found in Kali2021.2
• Community support forums and chat are being upgraded.
• Improve the bug tracker

As we hope to reach as many as possible, we also have a few more things in the works. All that said, we will see you soon for Kali2021.1. We plan on releasing slightly later next year . This date is currently penciled for Tuesday, February 20, 2021.