After more than a year of development, the release of the new version of openSUSE Leap 15.2 was announced, in which this version is formed using the basic set of packages of the distribution SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP2 under development, in addition to which new versions of user applications are delivered from the openSUSE Tumbleweed repository.
Among the main changes that stand out from the new version the update of the components is mentioned system, since as in SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP2, the basic Linux kernel prepared is version 5.3.18 (kernel 4.12 was used in the previous version) which continues to be supplied.
OpenSUSE Leap 15.2 Main New Features
As we mentioned of the main novelties we can find the same Linux kernel currently used in SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Service Pack 2 and is maintained by SUSE.
Of the changes, compatibility with AMD Navi GPUs and Intel Speed Select Technology support used on Intel Xeon CPU-based servers, plus a real-time patched kernel option is provided for real-time systems. As in the two previous versions, version 234 of systemd is supplied.
From the user applications we can find the new packages of Xfce 4.14, GNOME 3.34, KDE Plasma 5.18, LXQt 0.14.1, Cinnamon 4.4, Sway 1.4, LibreOffice 6.4, Qt 5.12, Mesa 19.3, xorg Server 1.20.3, Wayland 1.18, VLC 3.0.7, GNU Health 3.6.4, OnionShare 2.2 and Syncthing 1.3.4.
Another change that we can find is that it differs from the previous version, Network Manager is now included by default. In server assemblies, use of Wicked continues by default.
In addition, Snapper utility update highlighted which is responsible for creating Btrfs and LVM snapshots with file system state sections and rollback changes (for example, you can return an accidentally overwritten file or restore system state after installing packages).
Snapper has the ability to generate a new format, optimized for machine analysis and simplifying use in scripts. Plugin for libzypp has been redesigned, which is freed from binding to the Python language and can be used in environments with a reduced set of packages.
Moreover, installer now has a simpler dialog to choose a system role, as well as an improved display of installation progress information.
As for the YaST, in this new version the separation of system configuration between directories / usr / etc and / etc.
Another important change is the improved YaST Firstboot compatibility with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) in Windows, the network configuration module has been redesigned. Disk partition partition usability has been improved and the ability to create and manage Btrfs partitions spanning multiple drives has been added.
Finally, the improved storage when installed on Raspberry Pi boards, as it provides a more precise definition of Windows partitions encrypted with BitLocker.
Have been added additional configurations to the mass installation system Automated AutoYaST and reports of potential errors in installation profiles have been improved.
Of the other changes:
- Added Grafana and Prometheus packages, allowing you to organize visual monitoring and analysis of changes in metrics on charts.
- Officially supported packages are provided to implement container isolation infrastructure based on the Kubernetes platform.
- Helm package manager added for installing Kubernetes components.
- Packages added with CRI-O runtime (a lightweight alternative to Docker) that comply with the Open Container Initiative (OCI) Container Runtime Interface (CRI) specification.
- To organize a secure network interaction between containers, a package has been added with the Cilium network subsystem.
- Provides support for the Server and Transactional Server system functions.
Download and get openSUSE Leap 15.2
For those who are interested in being able to obtain this new version, they should know that ISO image can be downloaded from the official website of the distribution.