openSUSE is a distribution and the free project sponsored by SUSE Linux
After a year of development, the release of the new version of the popular Linux distribution was announced. "openSUSE Leap 15.5" which is based on the same set of binary packages with SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP 5 with some custom applications from the openSUSE Tumbleweed repository.
All the updates for the openSUSE Leap 15.5 branch will be released until the end of 2024. Initially, yese expected version 15.5 to be the last from the 15.x series, but developers they decided to form another version 15.6 next year before the planned transition to use the ALP platform (Adaptable Linux Platform) as the basis for openSUSE and SUSE Linux.
The key difference between ALP is the division of the central base of the distribution in two parts: a simplified "host operating system" to run on top of the hardware, and an application support layer focused on running in containers and virtual machines. The formation next year of another feature release in the openSUSE Leap 15 branch will give developers more time to bring the ALP platform to the desired look and feel.
OpenSUSE Leap 15.5 Main New Features
In this new version of openSUSE Leap 15.5, the H.264 codec installation process has been simplified and the repository is enabled by default, where the codec binary is downloaded from the Cisco website.
The openSUSE Developers generate the H.264 codec build, certify it with an official openSUSE digital signature and submit it for distribution to Cisco, that is, the formation of all package padding remains the responsibility of openSUSE and Cisco cannot make changes or replace the package. The download is done from the Cisco website, since the right to use proprietary video compression technologies is transferred only for builds distributed by Cisco, which does not allow packages with OpenH264 to be placed in the openSUSE repository.
Another of the changes that stands out from this release is that added the ability to quickly migrate to a new version from earlier versions and provided a new set of migration tools from openSUSE to SUSE Linux.
For the heart of the system, the kernel has not changed, since it is still in the 5.x branch (5.14.21), but what is included are the fixes from the new kernel branches that have been moved to the kernel package.
Regarding the system package, the new version of KDE Gear 22.12.3 with KDE Plasma 5.27.4, as well as Vim 9, the office suite LibreOffice 7.3.3, Firefox 102.11.0 web browser, and Wine 8.0.
Of the desktop environments, the new versions of these are offered, which are Xfce 4.18, Deepin 20.3 and LxQt 1.2. While the other GNOME environments have not changed, Sway, Enlightenment, MATE, and Cinnamon continue to ship in their same versions as the previous release.
Of the other changes that stand out:
- Updated graphics stack, Qt 6.4/5.15.8, Wayland 1.21 and Mesa 22.3.5.
- The webkit2gtk3 and webkit2gtk4 browser engines have been updated to version 2.38.5.
- Added packages for organizing the work of the client and the Tor anonymous network node (0.4.7.13).
A new Python stack based on the Python 3.11 branch has been provided. - Packages with the new version of Python can be installed alongside the Python system based on the Python 3.6 branch.
- Added the netavark 1.5 utility to configure the container network subsystem.
- Implemented the ability to boot from NVMe-oF (NVM Express over Fabrics) over TCP, which can be used to create diskless clients in SAN environments based on NVMe-oF technology.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it about the changes and news that are presented in this new version of openSUSE Leap 15.5, you can check the details In the following link.
Download openSUSE Leap 15.5
For those who are interested in being able to test this new version of openSUSE Leap 15.5, they will be able to get the system image directly from the official website of the distribution in which you can find a 4 GB universal DVD build (x86_64, aarch64, ppc64les, 390x), simplified image for installation with package network download (200 MB) and live builds with KDE, GNOME and Xfce (~900MB).
The link to get the image is this.
As for those who are still in the previous version and want to update to the new version, they will be able to update their current installation to this new one, they can follow the official instructions.