Portal:Tumbleweed

Who should try Tumbleweed?

Any user who wishes to have newer packages than are available in $current release. This includes, but is not limited to an updated Linux kernel, SAMBA, git, desktops, office applications and many other packages. Due to the Linux kernel being updated very frequently, users who rely on proprietary graphic drivers should not use the Tumbleweed repository unless they are familiar with updating these drivers from the source on their own. See articles NVIDIA and ATI, section "The hard way", for details on how to do this if you are interested.

Please note that the additional Packman repositories are available for Tumbleweed!

Should I get Tumbleweed or stay on $current stable release?

At this time there is no guarantee to have all additional modules available in the stable release to run programs like VMWare or Virtualbox. Also, while the Packman Tumbleweed Essential repository attempts to deliver those modules there is still no guarantee they will succeed 100% of the time due to the kernel incompatibilities that can occur while using the quickly advancing Linux Kernel. The problems with proprietary Graphics drivers are similar and as such are also not guaranteed to work 100% of the time. If you don't know how to compile your own kernel modules and you don't wish to learn or if you aren't able/willing to keep a very close eye on what packages are being updated on your system, then Tumbleweed is not right for you and we strongly suggest you not install it on your system. That being said, if you have a true desire and commitment to learn, there are plenty of friendly Tumbleweed community members willing to pass on their knowledge!

How to try Tumbleweed?

• Remove all of the openSUSE version specific repositories. (ie: openSUSE_12.3/repo/oss)
• Either run the one-click-install or execute the following commands as super user inside a terminal window to add the Tumbleweed repositories.
  • A third option would be to use the YaST2 Repository Management Tool to add the repo below:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/openSUSE:/Tumbleweed/standard/

• Add the openSUSE:Current repositories with autorefresh enabled:

• Now perform a repository refresh ('sudo zypper ref' in terminal) and then a distro update from Tumbleweed. ('sudo zypper dup --from Tumbleweed' in terminal) On the first refresh of a newly added repository you will be prompted to accept the GPG keys.

• When prompted allow zypper to perform vendor change from Tumbleweed repository. This has to be done in order to get change your packages over to Tumbleweed versions.

The only supported method of repo use while running Tumbleweed is to have only the main repos (Oss, Non-oss, and Update) and the Tumbleweed repo active. Under that scenario the system will handle all of your package upgrades/downgrades by just simply running "sudo zypper dup" daily.

Despite it being unsupported, if you do choose to have any other repos enabled, this upgrade command is less likely to cause package breaks:

You will need to allow vendor change from Tumbleweed. This is done by creating a file named Tumbleweed.conf in the /etc/zypp/vendors.d/ directory with the following content:

[main]

vendors = suse,opensuse,obs://build.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Tumbleweed

Special Concerns

• Virtual Machines

openSUSE 11.4 supports VirtualBox. Due to it not being in the mainline kernel and Tumbleweed routinely receiving kernel updates, it has been decided not to support VirtualBox in the main Tumbleweed repo.

Tumbleweed does support the vmware and hyper-v virtual machine architectures.

This is because they are in the main upstream kernel and require no significant extra resources to make available with each kernel update.

• Third Party Drivers

If you have 3rd party kernel modules, Greg KH (the primary Tumbleweed maintainer) STRONGLY suggests that you not use Tumbleweed. Seriously, it's not worth the pain and extra work, unless you _really_ want to do it.

And if you do do it, then again, you are on your own, sorry.

How can I contribute?

• You can test the Tumbleweed repository and give a feedback, share experience and report issues to the openSUSE Factory mailing list. If direct access to the list fails, please subscribe using this link. Don't forget to answer on confirmation email that list server will send few minutes after you initial email. This way we prevent that someone else subscribe you to the list.

• If you are a packager, you can submit new packages to the openSUSE:Tumbleweed repository. For now:
  • You can use openSUSE Factory mailing list to offer a package.
  • In general packages that are already accepted in other projects can be accepted in Tumbleweed. The rule here is as with any other repo, the maintainer's decision is final.