Kali Linux 2020.4 Release: ZSH replaced by BASH as default Command-line Shell

Kali Linux 2020.4 has been released by Offensive Security, as the final release of 2020 series, with some exciting new penetration testing improvements and tools.

While the latest release follows after Kali Linux 2020.3, that brough the addition of ZSH shell, as formerly, BASH (Bourne Again Shell) was used by default. It also added updates to its ARM Images for ARM-based devices, such as Raspberry Pi and Pinebook Pro, with the changes including the kali-linux-default metapackages and the size reduction for all new ARM images.

Albeit, Bash remains a default shell for other platform images such as NetHunter, ARM, containers, and WSL, but it is expected to be replaced with ZSH in the upcoming release.

What's New in Kali Linux 2020.4 Release?

Besides the replacement of ZSH shell (or Z Shell) with BASH (Bourne Again Shell) as the default command-line shell in the new Kali Linux 2020.4 for desktop and cloud, Kali Linux 2020.4 also brought uniformity in the cross-shell theme.

As a part of Amazon GovCloud, Kali Linux 2020.4 has a new marketplace entry, with the latest Kali version, users can use the latest instance on their old entry, or switch to a new entry. It has also introduced a new metapackage called kali-linux-headless for AWS Cloud image.

Kali has also officially partnered with byt3bl33d3r, the author of CrackMapExec (CME) tool, which means that Kali Linux users will get access to newest changes in CME even before it is made public as the Kali package of CME will directly pull updates from its private codebase.

Additionally, Kali Linux 2020.4 has its Linux kernel upgraded to the latest stable version 5.9, with GNOME and KDE desktop also upgraded to 3.38, and 5.19 respectively.

How to Upgrade to Kali Linux 2020.4

If you’re an existing Kali Linux user running the previous version, you can upgrade your system by using the following commands:

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgrade

Also, you'll need to set the default shell to ZSH using the following commands:

$ cp -i /etc/skel/.zshrc ~/ $ chsh -s /bin/zsh $ zsh

And for those who are new to Kali Linux and want to give the new release a spin, you can download Kali 2020.4 images available for several platforms from the official page.