I’ve been using OpenSUSE Leap (with KDE) since 15.0, and I’m happy with it. It’s running on all my machines, and also on about 50 installations I’m handling (local school, etc.) I’m currently thinking about moving to Tumbleweed, but before doing that I’d like to ask the proficient users here. Is Tumbleweed reliably running in a production environment ? Have those of you running it for a long time now run into any showstopping bugs or crashes ? I’d like to add that I know my way around Linux, been using it exclusively since Slackware 7.1.
Here’s the idea behind it. I’m putting together my post-installation configuration script for every Leap release. Here’s the one for 15.3 for example:
Hi
I would be cautious and only deploy to experienced users…
How are you deploying updates at the moment to the machines? If not running a RMT server then consider this to deploy updates, likewise a test/staging machine to deploy to first and test.
For avoiding upgrade every year you may buy SLE subscription. TW upgrades to a new release with every “zypper dup”.
It is possible to use Leap with the newest kernel, applications, Mesa 3D, etc., with Experimental repos.
TW is not for ordinary unexperienced users: https://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Tumbleweed
Try to use TW as a main OS during 1 year before beginning torturing users.
I subscribe to what @malcolmlewis is writing. I have been using TW for extended periods on my personal machines, but I would be extremely cautious about deploying to such environments like a local school (trust me, already been there etc.).
TW is just about reliable these days, show stoppers are rare but snags that require admin intervention happen from time to time, especially when a kernel is updated (every few weeks) and some driver (Nvidia? Radeon?) or application (VirtualBox?) fail to keep up.
Not to mention relatively frequent updates to daily applications like LibreOffice or Firefox that just change one option or menu and cause the admin phone to become hot answering to those 50 inexperienced users that just loved “the old way”…
All in all, I don’t see major technical reasons to avoid TW in a non-critical production system that is under the direct control of an experienced user, but supporting a network of “noobs” is likely to turn quickly into a nightmare.
When I am not playing the role as system manager/administrator, I am just such an end-user. I am reluctant o any change in my daily working habits. What I call “stable” is no changes to my user interface with the tool I call “my computer”. And it is the main reason I prefer Leap above Tumbleweed.
Thus to the OP: try to think about this in the way your users will experience this and would think about this.