openSUSE

Last reviewed on 2026-10-04 Reference
Quick facts
  • Type: community distribution sponsored by SUSE, in a rolling edition (Tumbleweed) and a fixed edition (Leap).
  • Package manager: zypper on .rpm packages; Myrlyn as a graphical front-end on Leap 16.
  • Default filesystem: Btrfs with Snapper snapshots, so a bad update can be rolled back from the boot menu.
  • Current Leap: 16.0 (October 2025), supported until October 2027.

Tumbleweed and Leap

Tumbleweed is a rolling release: packages are updated continuously, but every snapshot passes automated testing with openQA before it is published. That makes it one of the more dependable ways to run current software. You update it with zypper dup (distribution upgrade), not zypper update.

Leap is the fixed-release edition, built from the same sources as SUSE Linux Enterprise. Leap 16.0, released on 1 October 2025 and based on SUSE Linux Enterprise 16, was a big change from the 15.x series:

  • The new Agama installer replaces the YaST-based one.
  • SELinux is the default security module instead of AppArmor (AppArmor can still be set up after installation).
  • The traditional YaST software-management stack is gone; Myrlyn is the graphical package manager.
  • It requires an x86-64-v2 CPU (roughly anything from 2008 onwards), and 32-bit compatibility libraries are off by default.
  • Each yearly minor release gets 24 months of support; minor releases are planned until 2031.

Leap 15.6 reached end of life on 30 April 2026. Leap 15 systems can move to 16 with the openSUSE migration tool; read the release notes first, because of the SELinux and installer changes.

There is also Slowroll, a rolling variant that receives bigger updates in batches, and atomic (immutable) variants built on the same base, such as Leap Micro and the Aeon (GNOME) and Kalpa (KDE) desktops.

Who openSUSE suits

  • Users who want rolling-release software but with automated testing and easy rollback (Tumbleweed).
  • Workstations and servers that need a stable base close to an enterprise distribution, with two-year support per release (Leap).
  • KDE Plasma users: openSUSE has long had a strong KDE package set, though GNOME and Xfce are equally available.

Day-to-day reference

# Refresh repositories
sudo zypper refresh

# Update: Tumbleweed / Slowroll
sudo zypper dup

# Update: Leap
sudo zypper update

# Install, remove, search
sudo zypper install htop
sudo zypper remove htop
zypper search htop

# Which package provides a file?
zypper search --provides /usr/bin/dig

Rolling back with Snapper

With the default Btrfs root, zypper takes a "pre" and "post" snapshot around every transaction:

sudo snapper list                 # show snapshots
sudo snapper status 41..42        # what changed between two snapshots

If an update leaves the system unbootable, pick an older snapshot under "Start bootloader from a read-only snapshot" in the boot menu, check that it works, then make it permanent with sudo snapper rollback and reboot.

Codecs and extra software

openSUSE ships only free software by default. Patent-encumbered codecs come from the community Packman repository, and many desktop applications are available from Flathub. The openSUSE wiki documents the current recommended way to add them.

Official resources

Going deeper

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