The beta testing of the openSUSE Leap 16 distribution has started, built on the technologies of the next significant branch of the commercial distribution SLES 16, transitioning to the new SLFO (SUSE Linux Framework One) platform, previously known as ALP (Adaptable Linux Platform). openSUSE Leap 16 will retain the features of a classic distribution using traditional packages, while those needing an atomically updatable system with a read-only base should use the openSUSE Leap Micro edition. Builds are available for the x86_64, ARM64, s390x, and PowerPC architectures. The release is scheduled for October 2025.
Key features of openSUSE Leap 16:
- A new installer Agama is implemented, notable for separating the user interface from the internal components of YaST and providing a frontend for installation management via a web interface.
- Instead of the traditional YaST stack for system management, the Cockpit package is used, and Myrlyn is offered instead of the YaST Software GUI.
- By default, the SELinux mandatory access control system is enabled. AppArmor support is retained as an option.
- It has been decided to deliver only graphical sessions based on Wayland (some X.org components remain available).
- Support for the SysV initialization system has been discontinued. Only systemd can be used.
- Support for the x86-64-v1 architecture has been discontinued. Operation is only possible on x86 systems with x86_64-v2 architecture, which has been supported by processors since around 2009 (starting with Intel Nehalem) and is characterized by the presence of extensions such as SSE3, SSE4_2, SSSE3, POPCNT, LAHF-SAHF, and CMPXCHG16B.
- Updated versions: Linux kernel 6.12, GNOME 48, KDE Plasma 6.3.4, AppArmor 4.1, GIMP 3.0, Cockpit 334.1.
- A service based on the RIS (Repository Index Service) protocol is used to manage repositories. To reduce metadata size, repositories are split for each supported architecture. Experimental support for parallel package downloads has been added.
Source: opennet.ru
