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kali-meta

kali-meta is a collection of metapackages for installing Kali Linux desktop environments, core system packages, and categorized security toolsets. These metapackages simplify the installation of complete Kali toolsets and desktop configurations.

Description

kali-meta contains numerous metapackages that serve as convenient entry points for installing various Kali Linux configurations and tool collections. Desktop metapackages like kali-desktop-xfce, kali-desktop-gnome, and kali-desktop-kde install minimalistic desktop environments optimized for Kali. Core metapackages such as kali-linux-core and kali-system-core provide essential security tools and system packages found in default Kali installations.

The collection includes specialized toolset metapackages covering all major cybersecurity domains including information gathering (kali-tools-information-gathering), exploitation (kali-tools-exploitation), forensics (kali-tools-forensics), and more. Comprehensive metapackages like kali-linux-everything install every available Kali tool while kali-linux-default provides the standard toolset from official images.

NetHunter metapackages support mobile deployments while kali-linux-headless provides CLI-only tools. Firmware and system metapackages ensure proper hardware support and system functionality across different Kali deployment scenarios.

How It Works

kali-meta metapackages use Debian's package dependency system to aggregate related packages into logical collections. Each metapackage declares dependencies on multiple target packages, creating a dependency tree that APT resolves during installation. Installing a metapackage pulls in all dependent packages automatically, ensuring complete toolsets or desktop environments are installed with correct configurations. The metapackages have minimal installed size (13-16 KB) as they contain only dependency metadata.

Installation

bash
sudo apt install kali-meta

Examples

Installs dependencies common to all Kali desktop environments
sudo apt install kali-desktop-core
Installs minimalistic Xfce desktop environment optimized for Kali
sudo apt install kali-desktop-xfce
Installs all core security packages found in default Kali offensive systems
sudo apt install kali-linux-core
Installs the complete default toolset from official Kali Linux images
sudo apt install kali-linux-default
Installs every tool available in Kali Linux repositories
sudo apt install kali-linux-everything
Installs Kali's 10 most important security tools
sudo apt install kali-tools-top10
Installs default headless (CLI-only) Kali tools
sudo apt install kali-linux-headless
Installs all OSINT and information gathering tools
sudo apt install kali-tools-information-gathering
Updated 2026-04-16kali.org ↗