openSUSE:Packaging for Leap
When can packages be submitted into Leap
In general, packages can only be added to an openSUSE Leap version during its development, not after its release. Any exceptions have to be approved and processed by the Maintenance team.
Packages that are already in openSUSE Factory will not automatically show up in Leap. Acceptance in Factory usually is a precondition though.
How do packages from SUSE Linux Enterprise get to openSUSE Leap?
openSUSE Leap 15.3+ is built on top of binary packages from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 and community packages which are newly maintained as part of openSUSE Backports project. This required quite large effort to unify feature set within SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE Leap. This is being referred to as Closing the Leap Gap (CtLG) effort.
openSUSE Backports project was previously rebuilding sources from openSUSE Leap and providing binary rpms to users of SUSE Linux Enterprise via a Package Hub module. openSUSE Leap 15.3 is bringing Staging projects to openSUSE Backports and utilizes the project for development of its community packages. The very same rpms are then shipped to users of SUSE Linux Enterprise via Package Hub module, and eliminating need to build same sources twice.
Both sources and binaries from all packages in SUSE Linux Enterprise products (including Enterprise Storage, RT etc) are mirrored after build event from OBS to IBS unless they're explicitly Blacklisted from sync.
The source of truth for the Blacklist is maintained internally by SUSE's autobuild team, the wiki page is its manually updated copy. An example of project containing binaries and sources synced from SLE-15-SP3:GA in SUSE's Internal OBS instance (IBS).
How to update a particular package in SUSE Linux Enterprise?
This would be only the case when a package update is blocked on an update of a particular library which is inherited to Leap from SUSE Linux Enterprise. Packages in SUSE Linux Enterprise need to be updated in SUSE Internal instance of OBS reffered to as IBS.
For better coordination, openSUSE Leap users and contributors can request particular package updates in SUSE Linux Enteprise at our public feature tracker . These get review every Monday at a public Feature review meeting.
Packages from SUSE Linux Enterprise can receive contributions from community via submit request mirroring. However, this is bit problematic as we do not support two way synchronization of comments in between IBS and OBS and status updates doesn't work at the moment. So best to communicate in feature tracker or over email.
How to add a new package to an openSUSE Leap release in development
Leap is a stable release built by combining binary packages from SUSE Linux Enterprise and sources from openSUSE Tumbleweed. Packages from openSUSE Tumbleweed (also refereed to as Community packages) are new maintained inside openSUSE Backports project.
For people familiar with the Factory Development Model, Factory serves a purpose for Leap similar to the purpose a devel Project serves for Factory.
By default new packages for Leap must either come from SLE or be accepted in Factory first.
New packages should be preferably introduced on the openSUSE Factory mailing list with a link to the submit request. A good introduction contains information on the state of the upstream project, how maintainable it is and what the purpose of having it in the distribution will be.
Packages can be updated by sending submit request to openSUSE:Leap:15.6, which is then automatically redirected to the proper origin (SLE or Backports). But a new package request has to be explicitly submitted against the intended destination project that will be in 99% openSUSE:Backports:SLE-15-SP6. An example of submitting from the Factory devel project to Leap 15.3+:
osc submitrequest -m 'Submitting Factory version of Salt for openSUSE Leap, see https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2015-07/msg00443.html ' systemsmanagement:saltstack/salt openSUSE:Backports:SLE-15-SP6It's also possible to submit from Factory, but that requires extra hacks:
osc submitrequest -m 'Submitting Salt for openSUSE Leap, see https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2015-07/msg00443.html' openSUSE:Factory/salt openSUSE:Backports:SLE-15-SP6- -branding packages, we have to rebuild these explicitly for Leap;
- If we need to override a package inherited from SUSE Linux Enterprise;
- Non-SLE Kernel Module packages (KMP). The current openSUSE:Backports setup doesn't allow to build KMPs, so they have to be built and maintained inside the openSUSE:Leap:15.6 project.
New packages can be submitted to SUSE Linux Enterprise projects (e.g. SUSE:SLE-15-SP6:GA) only in case of approved feature request. We expect these new SLE package requests to be more likely corner cases, while upgrade requests will be quite common. Perhaps if we agreed with community that the initial effort will be done outside of SUSE, but we have an agreed internal maintainer to take care of future updates.
Because of bugs in OBS, ~/.oscrc must have submitrequest_on_accept_action unset, and there must be no --cleanup nor --no-cleanup specified on the osc command line. Otherwise, OBS would return a permission error.
If a package for Leap for whatever reason cannot be taken from either SLE or Factory the reason for that should be explained in the submit request.
How to upgrade a package in an openSUSE Leap release in development
All upgrade / updates requests should be sent against openSUSE:Leap:X.Y (e.g. openSUSE:Leap:15.6) project. Submit request redirection will automatically send the request to the origin project of the package (openSUSE:Backports*, SUSE:SLE*, or in very few cases openSUSE:Leap:15.3+).
In general, version updates of packages are possible in minor Leap version upgrades. The packager should carefully consider the pros and cons of such upgrades for the users, though. Within a major version Leap is considered stable, so overly disruptive and incompatible changes are to be avoided. After careful consideration of the pros and cons the same process as with new packages applies. I.e. packages must be accepted in Factory first.
All changes to packages from SUSE Linux Enterprise will require an issue reference. See openSUSE:Suse_sle_review_team.
How to add a new package to a released openSUSE Leap version
See Maintenance Portal and Maintenance submission.
Please be aware that packages which are inherited from SUSE Linux Enterprise will require to follow standard process for late/maintenance feature requests. You will need JIRA feature request and an additional ECO approval. This approval will be requested by TAM / Release manager for openSUSE and linked as blocking the underlying feature request.
Agreed differences from Factory
In some cases, we really want to maintain a separate code-stream of application in Leap and SUSE Linux Enterprise e.g. staying with particular version of library or application, while Factory has already way newer version. Another case could be to keep a specific patch. Such cases should be tracked in this table. Ideally this table should be filled as part of agreement to have a divergence e.g. in SLE or Leap Feature requests.
| Package name | Difference | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Example | Example | Example |
| Example | Example | Example |
| Example | Example | Example |
Development Information
Project Layout
openSUSE:Backports:SLE-15-SP6: all community maintained packages with free license for openSUSE Leap and Package Hub module for SLE in this project.
openSUSE:Backports:SLE-15-SP6:Update: updates for all community maintained packages with free license for openSUSE Leap and Package Hub module for SLE in this project.
openSUSE:Leap:15.6: Leap Branding packages, kernel modules and SLE packages that were agreed to be rebuilt for Leap
openSUSE:Leap:15.6:NonFree: packages with non free licenses
openSUSE:Leap:15.6:Update: Updates to Leap Branding packages, kernel modules and SLE packages that were agreed to be rebuilt for Leap
openSUSE:Leap:15.6:NonFree:Update: updates for packages with non free licenses
openSUSE:Step:15-SP6: Armv7 enablement [1]
openSUSE Leap consumes SLE binary packages and sources from following project structure. Individual Service Packs inherit packages from older Service Packs. Unless certain package was not updated since the original release of SLE-15 you would inherit it from SLE-15:GA. If there was an update in Service Pack 3, we would inherit it from SLE-15-SP3:GA. Or even SLE-15-SP3:Update, if it was a maintenance update post SLE 15 SP3 GA and so on.
What's important is that updates to these packages must end in their respective project. To figure out origin of the package, you can use:
osc meta pkg $prj $pkgIf the package comes from already unsupported Service Pack, then the update should be sent against the oldest supported one (SLE-15-SP2:Update) or to the currently developed Service Pack (SLE-15-SP4:GA) in case that the change is intrusive or doesn't generally make sense for older service packs. In such case you will want to specify the project in osc submitreq manually and not rely on SR redirection. As another way to find out where a given package is being currently maintained, you can use:
osc maintained $pkgSee details about SLES 15 lifecycle.
- SUSE:SLE-15:GA
- Binary Packages and sources inherited from the very first release of SLE 15 SUSE:SLE-15:GA
SUSE:SLE-15:Update
SUSE:SLE-15-SP1:GA
SUSE:SLE-15-SP1:Update
SUSE:SLE-15-SP2:GA
SUSE:SLE-15-SP2:Update LTSS ends at 31 Dec 2024
SUSE:SLE-15-SP3:GA
SUSE:SLE-15-SP3:Update
SUSE:SLE-15-SP4:GA
SUSE:SLE-15-SP4:Update
SUSE:SLE-15-SP5GA
SUSE:SLE-15-SP5:Update
SUSE:SLE-15-SP
6:GA Currently developed
Upstream Projects
Many packages in openSUSE Leap 15.5 come from other projects, namely SUSE:SLE* and openSUSE:Backports. During the development phase, release engineers may pull package updates from those. To query for the origin of a package use:
osc meta pkg openSUSE:Leap:15.5 $pkg- SUSE:SLE-15-*
- SUSE Linux Enterprise sources and binaries: pulled automatically via source and binary sync from SUSE Internal OBS instance (IBS).
- openSUSE:Factory
- Factory package updates: pulled automatically until package freeze.
RPM Distro Version Macros
- Use suse_version 1315 to refer to the full life time of SLE12 and openSUSE:Leap:42.x;
- Use suse_version 1500 to refer to the full life time of SLE15 and openSUSE:Leap:15.x;
- Additionally, use is_opensuse 1 for openSUSE:Leap:* to mark agreed differences. See SLE Feature identicality page.
| SLE 15 | SLE15:GA | SLE15:SP1 | SLE15:SP2 | SLE15:SP3 | SLE15:SP4 | SLE15:SP5 | SLE15:SP6 | Backports:SLE-15 |
| suse_version | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | |
| sle_version | 150000 | 150100 | 150200 | 150300 | 150400 | 150500 | 150000³ | |
| is_opensuse | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1 | |
| is_backports | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1⁴ |
| Leap 15 and TW | Leap 15.0 | Leap 15.1 | Leap 15.2 | Leap 15.3 | Leap 15.4 | Leap 15.5 | Leap 15.6 | Tumbleweed |
| suse_version | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1500 | 1699¹ |
| sle_version | 150000 | 150100 | 150200 | 150300 | 150400 | 150500 | 150600 | n/a |
| is_opensuse | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| is_backports | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| SLE 12 | SLE12:GA | SLE12:SP1 | SLE12:SP2 | SLE12:SP3 | SLE12:SP4 | SLE12:SP5 | Backports:SLE-12 |
| suse_version | 1315 | 1315 | 1315 | 1315 | 1315 | 1315 | 1315 |
| sle_version | 120000 | 120100 | 120200 | 120300 | 120400 | 120000³ | 120100 |
| is_opensuse | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1 |
| leap_version² | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| is_backports | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1⁴ | n/a |
| Leap 42 | Leap 42.1 | Leap 42.2 | Leap 42.3 |
| suse_version | 1315 | 1315 | 1315 |
| sle_version | 120100 | 120200 | 120300 |
| is_opensuse | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| leap_version² | n/a | ||
| is_backports | n/a | n/a | n/a |
- Never rely on this version, it may change
- leap_version is deprecated, use is_opensuse and sle_version instead
- Backports:* projects inherit the %sle_version macro from the corresponding SLE release now
- is_backports is set on all openSUSE:Backports:SLE-*-* projects
For cross distribution have a look here: openSUSE:Build_Service_cross_distribution_howto
Tips and Tricks
Package not checked in for weeks
Build failure in Staging:adi
All package submissions are built isolated in openSUSE:Leap:15.6:Staging:adi:<number> to make sure the submission is complete. Sometimes that fails due to different configurations in the devel project for example. Sometimes other packages need to be grouped into the same project. Talk to the release team if a package needs manual help there.
Factory review
The 15.6 submissions wait for the submission to Factory in order to pass reviews there. Sometimes leaf packages have to wait a long time due to low priority. If a Factory submission is stuck e.g. in legal review for too long and it affects 15.6 talk to the release team so they can adjust priorities.
suse-sle-review
openSUSE Leap 15.3+ is based on binary rpms from SUSE Linux Enteprise 15. Contribution to these packages requires additional review from openSUSE:Suse_sle_review_team.
All submissions should reference either SUSE's Jira feature reference jsc#OPENSUSE-123 or a bug reference boo#123456 or bsc#123456.
Community feature request process for SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE Leap is documented here =
Maintainer review
Packages submitted by someone other than the Factory package maintainer(s) have a review set to the devel project/package to ask for permission by the Factory package maintainer. If there's no reply for too long, try adding a comment in the request to get some attention or talk to the project maintainers directly.