openSUSE Leap | What does this Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion do?

openSUSE Leap is a Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion is based on Tum­ble­weed and the SUSE Linux En­ter­prise Server. The operating system is suitable for server en­vi­ron­ments, clouds, or as a desktop. It is reliable thanks to its stability.

openSUSE Leap is an operating system that began as a joint project between the company SUSE Software Solutions GmbH from Nuremberg and a community of de­vel­op­ers, who are still re­spon­si­ble for its continued de­vel­op­ment. Their focus is on creating a user-friendly and stable dis­tri­b­u­tion which can be used by companies and private in­di­vid­u­als for a variety of different projects. Parts of the system, such as in­ter­faces and ap­pli­ca­tions, are based on the rolling release Tum­ble­weed, which was also created by openSUSE.

openSUSE is a community project which has been available since 2005. openSUSE developed Linux server dis­tri­b­u­tions and various other tools which have in­ter­est­ed ad­min­is­tra­tors. A release is published annually along with security updates and small fixes. The releases build on the previous version and are numbered ac­cord­ing­ly, with older versions being preserved through Snapshot. However, this practice was broken in 2015 when a largely in­de­pen­dent system was in­tro­duced. This system was named openSUSE Leap and given the version number 42.1.

openSUSE Leap took the approach of using software from the parent company, SUSE Linux En­ter­prise, and combining it with the ap­pli­ca­tions and in­ter­faces from Tum­ble­weed. The number 42 is taken from the novel series “The Hitch­hik­er’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. The number plays a famous role as the answer to the question “about life, the universe and all the rest”. However, further versions of openSUSE Leap deviated from this numbering and were released as 15.2 and 15.3. openSUSE Leap is being developed in a self-organized project with the company SUSE acting as the main sponsor.

openSUSE Leap is popular in the community and is often used as an al­ter­na­tive for other systems such as Linux, Ubuntu, and CentOS, although these systems do have more users. There are several ad­van­tages which make this project so at­trac­tive to de­vel­op­ers, which we will outline below.

openSUSE Leap it is still in­de­pen­dent despite the fact it is co-developed by SUSE. However, openSUSE Leap has been based on the packages from SUSE Linux En­ter­prise Server (SLES) since version 15.3 in 2021. The code base of both operating systems has been identical since then and the dis­tri­b­u­tions are binary com­pat­i­ble. This is a big advantage for users who are looking for a strong Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion for en­ter­prise purposes. No com­pli­cat­ed changeovers are necessary, as both projects are developed in parallel. The two systems are com­pa­ra­ble, aside from the lack of support for the free dis­tri­b­u­tion.

One of the main reasons why openSUSE Leap has gained worldwide pop­u­lar­i­ty is due to the operating system’s stability. The Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion is con­sid­ered extremely secure, making it suitable for fields that cannot risk errors or problems. While the desktop options are not always up to date, much to the annoyance of some users, the reliable base com­pen­sates for this. The security updates are always reliable, so the system is always protected.

YaST, or “Yet another Setup Tool”, is a tool that makes ad­min­is­tra­tive tasks easier. In­stal­la­tions and con­fig­u­ra­tions, server services, etc., can be done much faster and more clearly with YaST. YaST has been included since the 15.3 version of openSUSE Leap.

openSUSE Leap includes some useful ap­pli­ca­tions which allow users to start working right away. In version 15.3, Chromium 89, Li­bre­Of­fice 7.1.1, Mozilla Firefox 78.7.1, Python 3.6.12, RoundCube 1.3.15, and Thun­der­bird 78.7.1 are included.

The original aim of openSUSE was to create an al­ter­na­tive to SLES which was not aimed at companies, but at private users. However, this is no longer the case since openSUSE Leap was released. It is aimed at the same target group, as the base is aligned with the Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion SLES, and the two systems are binary-com­pat­i­ble. openSUSE Leap is also suitable for companies, but it does not offer support. For customers who do not find this to be a dis­ad­van­tage, openSUSE Leap is a free and equiv­a­lent al­ter­na­tive which guar­an­tees high re­li­a­bil­i­ty.

openSUSE Leap is a good choice for companies looking for a secure and stable operating system for their server en­vi­ron­ment, cloud, or de­ploy­ments. It is com­par­a­tive­ly easy to use, and the community’s con­tri­bu­tion means that the system is well tested which prevents any un­pleas­ant surprises.

openSUSE offers other Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions, some of which are aimed at other target groups or take a slightly different approach.

Closely related to openSUSE Leap is openSUSE Tum­ble­weed, which is the flagship of the project and provides the interface for the business operating system which was presented here. Tum­ble­weed is delivered as a rolling release and is updated con­stant­ly. This means the system is always up to date and new ap­pli­ca­tions are quickly in­te­grat­ed. Since all updates are subjected to thorough testing and are only released if they are suc­cess­ful, the dis­tri­b­u­tion is con­sid­ered very secure and stable despite how up to date it is. openSUSE Tum­ble­weed is mainly popular as a desktop system and acts as the technical basis for MicroOS and Kubic.

With MicroOS, OpenSUSE aims to combine edge computing, modern container concepts, and the classic Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion. The system is kept min­i­mal­is­tic and scalable. As with Tum­ble­weed, the necessary updates are done daily and au­to­mat­i­cal­ly, whereby the system can reset itself to the last intact state if an error occurs during the update. The Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion is therefore space-saving and secure.

openSUSE Kubic is based on MicroOS but it acts as a container-as-a-service platform. The certified Ku­ber­netes dis­tri­b­u­tion enables trans­ac­tion­al updates and uses the RPM format as well as Docker, and some others. The system is also space efficient.

The decision to bring openSUSE Leap and SLES together has worked. openSUSE Leap has become a worth­while and free al­ter­na­tive for companies and is ideal for server use. The operating system manages to impress users from all over the world due to its stability and re­li­a­bil­i­ty.