Kali Linux 2.0 Released

An anonymous reader writes: Kali Linux 2.0 has been released, together which an assortment of interesting new features. Most importantly, Kali is now a rolling distribution, using Debian Testing as their upstream source. (Download page.) There are also huge changes to the UI, including a fully fledged, custom GNOME 3 environment, as well as support for myriad other Desktop Environments. The maintainers describe the release this way: "If Kali 1.0 was focused on building a solid infrastructure then Kali 2.0 is focused on overhauling the user experience and maintaining updated packages and tool repositories." I'm enjoying 2.0 so far. What are your thoughts and comments?

Comments

So, what is the point?

[danbob999]

What's the goal of this distribution? Why would anyone choose it over Debian testing?

Re:So, what is the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

From what we see in #debian on IRC, the point of Kali Linux is to create a #kali-linux channel that has half a dozen screaming teenagers with no clue what they are doing and no interest in learning. (This then spills into other channels because they've not managed to get their l33t cracker questions answered in #kali-linux.)

Re:So, what is the point?

[darkain]

Summary sucks, so I went to the article to see what it was about... Basically it is a prebuilt penetration testing system. Now they're using the latest packages instead of older stale packages often associated with Debian, I guess?

Re:So, what is the point?

[Vlijmen Fileer]

+1 For this.
I was one of the first persons to start using Debian, when they were still on a.out... Even at that time already, the "being helpful" and "friendly support" were a sham. People in Debian IRC have always been introvert, rude and aggressive.
Luckily all of that is more than made up for by the fantastic system that Debian is.

Re:So, what is the point?

[fisted]

You do realize that even a chicken can install Debian, so long as you put sufficient grain on the Enter key, right?

Re:So, what is the point?

[bluefoxlucid]

To break your shit. Kali is the goddess of destruction.

Re:So, what is the point?

[morgauxo]

Or.. the manual is 10+ screens worth of mostly obscure options that only one person ever used 20 years ago all listed in alphabetical order with no regards to relevance. Meanwhile all you really need is the syntax of that one really useful option that everyone should know.

That's my experience with RTFM anyway.

I wouldn't say that the answer is to go ask someone though. Ignore the manual AND the IRC. Go straight to Google. Someone else already asked your question. You are not a special and unique snowflake.

My thoughts - wtf is Kali Linux?

[bigdavex]

That was a coy description.

About the Kali Linux Distribution

Kali Linux is an open source project that is maintained and funded by Offensive Security, a provider of world-class information security training and penetration testing services. In addition to Kali Linux, Offensive Security also maintains the Exploit Database and the free online course, Metasploit Unleashed.

Re:My thoughts - wtf is Kali Linux?

[p0p0]

The first 2 lines of your post led me to believe you were either going to write a poem or a rap. I was disappointed.

Re:My thoughts - wtf is Kali Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

To understand Kali, you must back track.

Re:My thoughts - wtf is Kali Linux?

[phantomfive]

Had we but world enough, and time,
This systemd, coder, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To write init scripts our long love's day.

But at my back I always hear
Binary logging hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Security exploits of vast eternity.

And your quaint boxen turn to dust,
And into ashes all my private keys:
The internet's a fine and public place,
But none, I think, should trust there systemds.

systemd is one reason not to use Debian.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you haven't heard, but Debian switched to using systemd a little while ago. The results have been, how should we put it, not so good. Although unwanted by much of the Debian community, systemd was forced into use through political maneuvering. It was then forced through unstable and testing much too soon. Many long-time Debian users suffered from broken installations. Ever since it ended up in Debian 8, a supposed "stable" release, far too many people have experienced problems with it. Many of its problems actually can't be fixed; they're inherently broken by their very nature. Its use of binary logging is a perfect example of this. The only way to fix binary logging is to not use it at all.

Due to how disruptive systemd was to Debian, both politically and technically, the Debian community has been split. There is the small minority who pushed for the inclusion of systemd in the first place. A small number of fanatics went off and tried, unsuccessfully, to fork Debian in to the failed Devuan distro. Many other Debian users have chosen to move to other operating systems that offer greater stability and robustness, including FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OS X, and even Windows.

What was once the most talented and helpful Linux community has been shattered and fragmented. The most awful thing about this whole ordeal is that it wasn't Microsoft, or SCO, or anyone outside of the project that caused so much harm. It was a self-inflicted destruction! The greatest harm to Linux isn't some corporation; it's those within the community who wish to force problematic software like systemd upon all Linux users.

Re:systemd is one reason not to use Debian.

[Martin Blank]

It does now, as of Kali 2.0, which is based on Debian 8. Its presence can be verified by running dpkg -l | grep systemd to find the installed packages, ps aux | grep systemd to find the processes, and trying to start a service that won't start for some reason to get the notes about running systemctl status something.service to find out what happened.

Most of the services themselves seem to show up in /etc/init.d, though, so there's still lots of init script use.

Neither of these points bother me, though I'm going to have to get used to a few new commands.

Re:systemd is one reason not to use Debian.

[Anonymous Coward]

Linus Torvalds likes systemd, and he's OK with it, I'm OK with it. So shut up troll.

I don't use Linux, but it appears to me that you're the actual troll. The poster was making a well-reasoned argument related to the fact that Kali Linux (like Devuan) does not include systemd in its default installation. But instead in engaging in a discussion about his argument, you make an appeal to authority (Linus Torvalds) then command the poster to "shut up". That's the very definition of a troll--you're derailing the logical argument are replacing it with emotional vitriol.

Re:systemd is one reason not to use Debian.

[Pulzar]

The poster was making a well-reasoned argument related to the fact that Kali Linux (like Devuan) does not include systemd in its default installation.

The poster's argument was quite irrelevant and off-topic, because Kali 2.0 does actually use systemd.

Re: systemd is one reason not to use Debian.

[keneng]

I use Debian unstable. It's wonderful with gnome and where necessary lxde is good too. Kali 2.0 on USB 3.0 boots up fast on 2 laptops, a server and desktop I tried. Intel and and CPUs. Systemd is looking good IMHO. The only problems I have are building Kali images for amd64 and armhf myself. It didn't build successfully for me. This points to some rough spots live-build. I'm also experiencing live-build pain directly on two boards armhf with ROCKCHIP. More docs and support from Rockchip directly would be nice.

Please stop seeding!

[Bengie]

Holy crap bufferbloat! 20% packetloss. No, not my connection, everyone else. Egress on my LAN is only 80Mb/s, but ingress on my WAN is over 100Mb/s and maxing my connection. Trace route some of those peers that I was downloading from. Low pings all the way into their ISP, then 1-2 hops before hitting the peer, pings skyrocket into the thousands.

Why am I seeing a 20Mb/s difference between WAN ingress and LAN egress? Those are all retransmit packets that my stateful firewall is filtering out.

If your connection has massive amounts of bufferbloat, please don't seed. You're DOS'n my connection.

Whatever you do...

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

...whatever you do, don't give us any fucking clues as to what the features of interest might be or why we might be interested in this particular distro.

Re:Whatever you do...

[Gadget_Guy]

...whatever you do, don't give us any fucking clues as to what the features of interest might be or why we might be interested in this particular distro.

They told you in the summary what was important; that it had rolling updates.

But seriously, that it absolutely true. I used to hate companies that insisted on having a mission statement on their websites, but it is something that is essential for the myriad of Linux distros and other open source projects that waste the front page of their websites with the change log. "Great, I know what has changed, now what is the program about?"

In this case, their front page does give a simple explanation of the purpose of the distro; that it is a "penetration testing platform". I guess if you don't know what that means that the product isn't meant for you. But how useful would it have been to have those three words in the /. summary?

They also have a fairly simple features page.

Re:Whatever you do...

[hink]

I think perhaps your definition of "just another OLD guy" might not match that of people who are, in fact, old guys. I really can't imagine someone with a 7 digit Slashdot number thinking they are "old".

True, it wouldn't have cost the editors anything to include a simple parenthetical mention - something like "Kali Linux (the security and penetration testing distro)".

HOWEVER, it isn't completely unreasonable thing for a Slashdot editor to assume someone who has read Slashdot for a while (say, maybe 10 years) might have heard of Kali (and its predecessor Backtrack). Kali is rather well known to anyone who has anything to do with computer and network security. Which, is a rather large swath of the Slashdot community.

Right or wrong, the Slashdot editors have always tended to editing for non-casual readers. If you truly had been reading Slashdot for 10 years, you might have seen the three other articles that included it since it launched in 2013. Or the eight articles that mentioned Backtrack Linux since 2010. Or the four articles that occurred since 2005.

Irony

[jurgen]

For a distribution presumably targeted at security professionals it is rather ironic that when I try to look a their homepage I get the following:
      Javascript is required. Please enable javascript before you are allowed to see this page.
I have to make myself vulnerable before I am "allowed" to see their homepage? Heh. Nice try.