New architecture planned for SUSE’s Enterprise Linux

SUSE runs on next generation operating systems under the codename “Adaptable Linux Platform” (ALP). Stefan Behlert, SUSE Product Manager for Enterprise Linux, commented on the plans for the new build on the openSUSE mailing list: It’s been four years since SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 was introduced and work is now underway on a successor that will make the big changes it has become.

ALP will bring “dramatic changes” in technology and design and will not just be SLE 15++. Bahlert confirmed that the ALP will be developed publicly at the openSUSE Buid Service. So, unlike in the past, you won’t put the parts together internally and then give them to the outside world.

React to new requirements

With the details of the planned architecture left Behlert dare something: The intent is to break down a project that was somewhat generic into a smaller hardware-enablement part, some kind of “host OS”, and an application availability and support layer. Applications must be based on containers (and VMs). The current announcement is the first information that everything is currently being prepared, from the project to the feedback channels, from documentation to testing.

The reason given is that many things have changed in the past few years. These include user and customer needs, technologies, and the speed with which new versions of applications, languages, and libraries appear. The communication between openSUSE Leap and SLE has also changed. While the SLE 15 is a great all-purpose operating system, the challenges in some of the use cases where it is used today, and the nature of the demands for improvement suggest that it may be time for a successor.

(avr)