The new version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP5 has been released

The developers who are in charge of the enterprise version of SUSE have announced the release of the new version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP5. In which, as in previous updates to the SUSE 12 branch, the distribution offers the Linux 4.4 kernel, GCC 4.8, the Gnome 3.20 based desktop and earlier versions of system components.

SUSE Linux Enterprise has a support time of 13 years (up to 2024 + 3 years of extended support) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 is 7 years (until 2021). For those who want newer versions, it is recommended to switch to the new SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 branch.

What's new in SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP5?

Changes of this new version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP5 focus primarily on new virtualization and hardware support.

Such is the case that for Intel GPU version 2.2, VAAPI driver updated, added intel-media driver (Intel Media Driver for VAAPI). Besides that gmmlib library included (Intel Graphics Memory Management Library), which provides buffers and devices for Intel Graphics Compute Runtime for OpenCL and Intel Media Driver for VAAPI and also added Intel Media SDK (C API to speed up video encoding and decoding).

Another important change in this new version is the experimental support for Flatpak packages (1.4.x), so for the moment for Flatpak, currently it is possible to install only running applications on the command line.

On the other hand, for those who constantly use virtualization services, they may find that this new version support for IOMMU forwarding is enabled by default, so in the grub configuration you no longer need to specify iommu = pt or iommu.passthrough = on.

Regarding the software, it is mentioned that the different packages that make up the system were updated and that basic support for python 3.6 was also added, although python 3.4.1 remains by default)

For PostgreSQL, some utilities have been added and additions such as postgis, pgloader (database migration tool), pgbadger (a log analyzer for PostgreSQL), orafce, and psqlODBC.

The JeOS images (minimalist builds of SUSE Linux Enterprise for containers, virtualization systems, or standalone application releases) for Hyper-V and VMware now delivered in .vhdx and .vmdk formats and compressed using the LZMA2 algorithm.

OpenSSL adds an implementation of the Chacha20 and Poly1305 algorithms, which use SIMD instructions to speed up, allowing the use of Chacha20 and Poly1305 in TLS 1.3.

For the Raspberry Pi, the cpufreq driver has been added and the ability to output sound through the HDMI port is provided (for Raspberry Pi 3).

The correct output of notification about unmounting a drive has been provided in Nautilus.

Added support for Intel OPA (Omni-Path Architecture) and Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory chips.

Of the other changes that stand out:

• Package included kiwi-templates-SLES12-JeOS, which includes utilities for creating your own JeOS assemblies.
• Updated NVDIMM memory support and improved configuration utilities such as ndctl.
• The restriction on the size of the main files has been removed (in /etc/systemd/system.conf the value is set DefaultLimitCORE = 0).
• The initialization scripts for ebtables are replaced with the Systemd service.
• Systemd includes GDPR compliant stack trace output for problems.
• Quota tools support added for Xfs.
• Added support for Chinese Hygon Dhyana CPUs based on AMD technologies.
• Added ability to enable NVDIMM in memory mode via kernel option page_alloc.shuffle = 1.
• Vsftpd added support for virtual users.
• Added the policycoreutils package with utilities to configure SELinux policies.
• By default, the fs.protected_hardlinks kernel parameter is enabled, which includes additional protection against hard-link attacks.
• Added build for WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) environments.

Download

Finally to get this new version, you should know that the distribution is free to download and use, but access to updates and patches is limited to a 60-day trial period.

The download link is this.