After a year of development, the openSUSE Leap 15.5 distribution has been released. This release is based on the same set of binary packages as SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP 5, with some user applications from the openSUSE Tumbleweed repository. The use of the same binary packages in SUSE and openSUSE simplifies transitions between distributions, saves resources on package builds, facilitates the distribution of updates and testing, unifies differences in spec files, and allows for easier diagnosis of different package builds when analyzing error messages. A universal DVD image is available for download, sized at 4 GB (x86_64, aarch64, ppc64les, 390x), a minimal image for network installation (200 MB), and Live images with KDE, GNOME, and Xfce (~900 MB).
Updates for the openSUSE Leap 15.5 branch will be released until the end of 2024. Initially, it was expected that version 15.5 would be the last in the 15.x series, but the developers decided to produce another 15.6 release next year before transitioning to the Adaptable Linux Platform (ALP) as the foundation for openSUSE and SUSE Linux. The key feature of ALP is the separation of the distribution's base into two parts: a minimal 'host OS' for running on hardware and an application support layer designed for running in containers. virtual machines. The formation of another functional release in the openSUSE Leap 15 branch next year will give developers additional time to refine the ALP platform to their desired specifications.
Key innovations:
- User environments have been updated: KDE Plasma 5.27.4 (previously 5.24.4), Xfce 4.18 (previously 4.16), Deepin 20.3, and LxQt 1.2. The graphics stack has been updated to Qt 6.4/5.15.8, Wayland 1.21, and Mesa 22.3.5 (previously Mesa 21.2.4). The webkit2gtk3 and webkit2gtk4 browser engines have been updated to version 2.38.5. GNOME version remains unchanged, still offering GNOME 41 as in the previous release. Versions of Sway 1.6.1, Enlightenment 0.25.3, MATE 1.26, and Cinnamon 4.6.7 have also not changed.
- The installation process for the H.264 codec has been simplified and the repository from which the binary build of the codec is downloaded from Cisco's website is enabled by default. The H.264 codec build is created by openSUSE developers, is signed with an official openSUSE digital signature, and is distributed by Cisco. Thus, the responsibility for the entire package remains with openSUSE, and Cisco cannot make changes or replace the package. The download is carried out from Cisco's website as the rights to use patented video compression technologies are only transferred for builds that are distributed by Cisco, preventing the placement of OpenH264 packages in the openSUSE repository.
- The ability to quickly migrate to a new version from previous releases has been added, along with new tools for migration from openSUSE to SUSE Linux.
- User applications updated include Vim 9, KDE Gear 22.12.3 (previously version 21.12.2.1), LibreOffice 7.3.3, VLC 3.0.18, Firefox 102.11.0, Thunderbird 102.11.0, and Wine 8.0.
- Packages updated include pipewire 0.3.49, AppArmor 3.0.4, mdadm 4.2, Flatpaks 1.14.4, fwupd 1.8.6, Ugrep 3.11.0, NetworkManager 1.38.6, podman 4.4.4, CRI-O 1.22.0, containerd 1.6.19, Grafana 8.5.22, ONNX (Open Neural Network Exchange) 1.6, Prometheus 2.2.3, dpdk 19.11.10, Pagure 5.13.3, systemd 249.12, BlueZ 5.62, samba 4.15.8, QEMU 7.1, Xen 4.17, MariaDB 10.6, PostgreSQL 15, and Rust 1.69.
- The package includes components for setting up the client and node of the Tor anonymous network (0.4.7.13).
- The version of the Linux kernel has not changed (5.14.21), but fixes from newer kernel branches have been backported into the kernel package.
- A new Python stack based on Python 3.11 has been provided. Packages with the new version of Python can be installed alongside the system Python based on Python 3.6.
- The netavark 1.5 utility has been added for configuring the container network subsystem.
- The ability to boot from NVMe-oF (NVM Express over Fabrics) over TCP has been implemented, which can be used to create diskless clients in SAN environments based on NVMe-oF technology.
Source: opennet.ru
