Release announcement 16.0
Next Chapter Opens with Leap 16 Release
Members of openSUSE Project are thrilled to announce the release of openSUSE Leap 16.
This major version update of our fixed-release community-Linux distribution has a fresh software stack and introduces an unmatched maintenance- and security-support cycle, a new installer and simplified migration options.
"Vendors and developers should give Leap and Leap Micro a serious look and consider it as the target platform for their solutions," said release manager Lubos Kocman. "You get 24 months of free maintenance and security updates. No other community distro offers that at no cost."
Leap 16 as a community-supported platform will shape open-source development breakthroughs and real-world solutions in the years ahead. The release is 2038 safe and comes with 32-bit (ia32) support disabled by default. It gives users the option to enable it manually and enjoy gaming with Steam, which still relies on 32-bit libraries. The hardware requirements have changed. Leap 16 now requires x86-64-v2 as a minimum CPU architecture level, which generally means CPUs bought in 2008 or later. Users with older hardware can migrate to Slowroll or Tumbleweed.
Leap 16 channels community and enterprise distribution code by building on the foundation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), bringing source and binary identicality with it. Users have the option to seamlessly migrate from openSUSE Leap 16 to SLES 16. Developers can use openSUSE Leap to create, test and run workloads for later deployment on SLES.
Leap 16 ships with the new Agama installer, which offers a more modern setup experience over the deprecated YaST-based installer. Leap 16 further supports parallel downloads in the package manager Zypper to speed up software installations and updates.
Migration also gets easier with this major version update. The new openSUSE Migration tool allows users to seamlessly upgrade from Leap 15 to Leap 16 as well as to migrate to Slowroll, Tumbleweed or SLES.
Leap 16 marks the start of a new lifecycle plan. Unless the project makes strategic changes, annual minor releases are expected to continue until 2031 with the release of Leap 16.6. A sucessor to Leap 16 is expected in 2032. Leap Micro, the project’s immutable server distribution, is adopting the same schedule.
The release comes with SELinux as the Linux Security Module (LSM) . AppArmor remains an option that can be selected post installation. Changes in Leap related to AppArmor and 32-bit support offer a transition period for users.
More advancements will come as Leap 16 evolves toward its final release next decade as automation, containerization, system tooling and hardware encryption mature.
Those who which to develop for Leap 16 are encouranged to participate in the weekly feature review meeting on Mondays.