Leap 15.0 - initial experiences

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#1

So I largely gave 42.3 a miss because it seemed virtually identical to 42.2. As a result, Leap 15.0 (KDE) was installed afresh.

I did like the new DVD menu boot screen. It was encouraging and surprising that the installer loaded without kernel panics without have to resort to fail-safe settings since this has always been the case with previous Leap/openSUSE versions. Since the installation program is based on YaST, the installation dialogue boxes haven’t changed much for the last 100 years, with the usual regional settings, partitioning, and user account setup.

As expected the recommended partitioning' suggestion was ridiculous with a proposal being distributed across two of the five hard drives (the installer didn't see the previous Leap installation). I've noticed the subvolume proposal (BTRFS - sigh...) has been slightly simplified and the details are at first hidden in order not to frighten squeamish GNU/Linux newcomers. And expert partitioning’? Come on - you need to click this button in order install a vaguely sensible partition scheme, so please don’t patronise users and instead call it something sensible such as `custom partitioning’.

Within the partitioning program, I noticed the dialogue box for the mount options have become a lot slicker which is very good. However I find the main partitioning page unintuitive. If you select a hard drive in the listbox on the left, the main-page lists the partitions. However right-clicking on these partitions to edit them is disabled. Instead you have click on corresponding partition within the listbox then click edit. This is a poor design choice, because it means you lose sight of the overall partition organisation whenever you want to make any one change to single partition. A lack of thought gone into this dialogue box can also be seen in the main section because partitions are listed by purely unparsed string order - e.g. /dev/sda1, /dev/sda10, /dev/sda11, /dev/sda12, /dev/sda2, /dev/sda3 etc - which is very dangerous.

Upon reboot, I found the new GRUB theme very attractive compared to the vile green screens of previous openSUSE versions. The new KDE Plasma desktop seems identical to previous version with just aesthetic changes to the loader screen (I like the filament lighting), login screen (with a green theme I liked), and wallpaper (which I did not so I’ve switched to plain black). I was surprised to see gcc not installed by default, and noticed there was also no Konqueror (or Falkon).

I was pleasantly surprised by the limited number of updates from zypper up'. After adding by preferred repos (zypper ar’), I was able to install all programs (`zypper in’) - including ncmpcpp whose build fails in 42.3 - without any problems. As usual texlive installation comes with the usual 1000000 packages which no-one seems willing to group sensibly. I was shocked, in a good way, to see that the default gcc version has leapt from 4.8 to 7.3. This is excellent news. However the default python symlink still points to Python 2 rather than Python 3 which is a shame.

The nvidia blob installation for the driver, CUDA, and cuDNN libraries proceeded smoothly and I nearly have the system to how it was before installing Leap 15.0. It has been one of the most pain-free Leap upgrades I have ever performed and I’m impressed with the work from the openSUSE team. Except for the terrible partitioner, the installation program is fantastic. Drivers and software installed without a hitch, and at last Leap has left gcc 4.8 behind. As a result of these positive experiences, I still maintain that Leap is the best binary GNU/Linux distribution currently available.

#2

There are actually quite a couple of changes/new features compared to 5.8, that are not just aesthetic.
See e.g. the “What’s New Since Plasma 5.8 LTS” part in https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.12.0.php .

and noticed there was also no Konqueror (or Falkon).

The installed web browser is Firefox, and has been since years. It’s even patched in openSUSE for somewhat better KDE/Plasma integration.
How many web browsers (or file managers, for that matter) should be installed by default?

Both Falkon and Konqueror (plus kwebkitpart and webenginepart as web browsing engines) are included in the standard repos though, in a recent version.

However the default python symlink still points to Python 2 rather than Python 3 which is a shame.

That’s intentional, and will likely not be changed in the foreseeable future (if ever), AIUI, for compatibility reasons.
And it’s also the upstream recommendation (for now, at least) that python should point to python2.

See https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1099214 and https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0394/ .
To quote from the latter:

for the time being, all distributions should ensure that python, if installed, refers to the same target as python2, unless the user deliberately overrides this or a virtual environment is active.
…
If the python command is installed, it should invoke the same version of Python as the python2 command…

#3

On 2018-06-27, wolfi323 <wolfi323@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> There are actually quite a lot changes/new features compared to 5.8,
> that are not just aesthetic.
> See e.g. the “What’s New Since Plasma 5.8 LTS” part in
> https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.12.0.php .

Thanks for that. Looking at the list, most of the improvements seem to visual candy however!

> The installed web browser is Firefox, and has been since years. It’s
> even patched in openSUSE for somewhat better KDE/Plasma integration.
> How many web browsers (or file managers, for that matter) should be
> installed by default?

My surprise was merely generated by the change from installing Konqueror by default to not installing it. And I
certainly agree with the policy of installing only one browser by default and that browser in GNU/Linux should be
Firefox. And dolphin makes a very sensible default file browser. One thing I did notice is that kate is installed by
default on Leap 15.0, which I think is an excellent call from the openSUSE team.

> Both Falkon and Konqueror (plus kwebkitpart and webenginepart) are
> included in the standard repos though, in a recent version.

I noticed. I’m excited to try our Falkon.

> And it’s also the upstream recommendation (for now, at least) that
> python should point to python2.
> See https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1099214 and
> https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0394/

Ahh yes, PEP394. But PEP394 hasn’t stopped some distributions (notably Arch and Gentoo) completing the migration step.
PEP394 claims to be a collection of notes regarding various aspects of migrating to Python 3 as the default version of Python for a system'. Therefore it's not a question of if’ but `when’.

According to PEP394, the main barrier to this migration is the potential breakage of private third party scripts
developed by sysadmins and other users. My feeling if such scripts are not being properly maintained to remain
compatible with the latest Python version, then their maintenance is inadequate. As long as GNU/Linux distributions are
continuing to default to Python 2, then they are as much as part of problem rather than the solution since they
encourage script maintainers to languish in obsolesence. The Python Software Foundation has only guaranteed regular
maintenance releases for the Python 2.7 series until 2020, so I really think it’s time for Python scripters to wake up
and smell the coffee.

#4

That’s probably arguable, I suppose.

Btw, openSUSE did backport some of the things to Leap 42.3 already (the global menu e.g.), but not 42.2 IIRC.

> The installed web browser is Firefox, and has been since years. It’s
> even patched in openSUSE for somewhat better KDE/Plasma integration.
> How many web browsers (or file managers, for that matter) should be
> installed by default?

My surprise was merely generated by the change from installing Konqueror by default to not installing it.

That change was done in 42.3 already. (probably because the KF5 Konqueror does have some “regressions”)

And AFAIR it actually was suggested for 42.1 already by users to remove Konqueror from the default patterns.

> And it’s also the upstream recommendation (for now, at least) that
> python should point to python2.
> See https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1099214 and
> https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0394/

Ahh yes, PEP394. But PEP394 hasn’t stopped some distributions (notably Arch and Gentoo) completing the migration step.

Indeed, PEP394 actually mentions that (even as a reason to propose these recommendations).

Still, the (official upstream) recommendation is as it is, and openSUSE does follow that.

I don’t really want to (or actually can) discuss this myself further though, as I actually have no experience with python at all.
I just wanted to show the reasons…

#5

I also have found our install partitioner difficult to use over the years, but powerful enough to get the job done any time I’ve used it. Haven’t used it often enough to really notice changes like if the right click you describe ever existed (I seem to remember noticing that many years ago but just adjusted to using the “edit” as you describe).

The main change in the Installer is that now there is the “Guided” which is default if you choose not to accept the proposed layout and “Expert Partitioner” which has been thus named “since forever” (maybe even the last 100 years as you described).

The “Guided” option has been newly changed probably in response to some discussions in the Forums, although I have mixed feelings the changes aren’t largely for folks like myself who have used the Installer long enough to figure out what is needed. It’s really for people who aren’t familiar with setting up a disk layout and need help, and it’s those people whom we need feedback.

So, the “Guided” today really does guide a relative newcomer to setting up a disk layout. Unlike “Expert Partitioner” the User is presented with a series of pages which ask what the User wants, and I find those choices important and proper… The User is asked whether to base a new proposal on the recommended to start (Highly recommended), whether to change the recommended formatting, if BTRFS is selected for the root partition whether snapshots should be enabled (May not be wanted if the root partition is small, ie less than 100GB), whether to set up /home as a directory or a separate partition (For systems with tiny hard drives, making /home a directory instead of its own partition greatly improves efficient use of disk space), more.

So, IMO the Installer really does hit the important notes for helping a newcomer set up their disk layout properly although explanations for each choice are non-existent.

As for Falcon, I think it’s generally categorized as a web browser and not a file manager which can also be used as a web browser like Konqueror, and is the default web browser in Desktops like LXQt and LXDE, plus other Desktops.

As for gcc, that and other related apps like make, kernel development headers are considered “Development” apps, and have never been installed as part of the base install, and have always had to be added by the User.

I’d be curious if “python” will ever execute anything other than python 2.
You have to specify “python3” to execute python 3.
Don’t know if it’s done differently on any other distro, and I don’t think on openSUSE there is a symlink involved, you’re executing the binary directly.

IMO aplenty,
TSU

#6

You’re absolutely right. It just seens crazy to me to have an installation of GNU/Linux without gcc, which I consider to be the heart of GNU!


sh-4.4$ python                                                                                                                       
Python 3.5.5 (default, Jun  4 2018, 11:28:56)                                                                                        
[GCC 6.4.0] on linux                                                                                                                 
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.                                                               
>>> exit()                                                                                                                           
sh-4.4$ uname -a                                                                                                                     
Linux dhcppc 4.9.95-gentoo #2 SMP Tue Jun 26 13:05:56 BST 2018 x86_64 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2640 v3 @ 2.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
sh-4.4$

Gentoo and Arch are the only ones I know which default to Python 3. I’ve just updated Gentoo and impressed to see openSUSE has overtaken Gentoo on the gcc version!