On the DVD

Article from Issue 262/2022

Author(s): Bruce Byfield

openSUSE Leap 15.4 and MX Linux 21.1

openSUSE Leap 15.4

64-bit

Leap 15.4 is the latest stable release of openSUSE, the popular and well-established community-based distribution. Leap 15.5 is not scheduled to replace it until June 2023.

Because the 15.4 release is built upon a mature platform, most of its features are updates, and often behind the scenes. Several changes are enhancements and improvements to sudo and visudo, and backports and bug fixes to systemd. In addition, the release has major updates to AppArmor, as well as to productivity tools such as Firefox and LibreOffice.

Perhaps the most noticeable change is the introduction of DNF, the package manager which has largely replaced Yum in other RPM distros such as Fedora. While Yum remains in openSUSE, the 15.4 release can be configured to use DNF. In addition, the 15.4 release also introduces Microdnf, a subset of DNF that can be used to speed up package installation when the whole of DNF is not required.

Like all openSUSE releases, Leap 15.4 is a general-purpose release, suitable for all levels of users.