Wondering in general for all packages, but particularly interested in kernel. How are patches applied for a given version of OpenSuse Leap (e.g. 15.2)? Will a new version of the kernel be selected and provided or are fixes backported to the same version in inital OS release?
With Leap, the emphasis is on stability. For the kernel, important fixes are backported, but the base kernel version is the same as for the original release.
With other software, it varies. Mostly, fixes are backported. But for some software, the maintainer of that package could decide to go with a newer version.
Thank you nrickert!