There are a lot of distributions which consists only of less than a handful voluntary maintainers. They depend as exemple on donations from users to pay for server and build infrastructure. And also other distributions suffer from the lack of helpers/maintainers/experts…
1 Like
@C7NhtpnK openSUSE is a do-ocrity, so I contribute and maintain things that I use on a daily basis as well as test. I might create the occasional package on request and submit if I feel I can maintain.
Just because package XYZ is not in the release, if there is no contributor/maintainer willing to submit/maintain (well for Leap that is many years…). There also seems to be some misconceptions about version releases in Leap, just because the version doesn’t change doesn’t mean fixes are not backported, just won’t get feature releases…
For example inxi was patched so it couldn’t update, I removed that and now users can run inxi -U to update to the latest version on any openSUSE product, then I don’t have to rush around updating/backporting 
Likewise if users do want package ZXY in Leap, as long as it’s in Tumbleweed (Factory first), then they can submit to the likes of Leap releases, then it’s up to the maintainer to decide if they wish to support or not. That also applies to packages not in a development repository, it can be submitted there as well.
So the tools are there, users need to use them…
2 Likes
It’s wide spread, Fedora f.e. would be nowhere without RedHat’s support, Ubuntu was built with Mark’s money, and they do pay some people. + what @hui says.
1 Like
How can I contribute if I have NO coding skills? What possibilities are there?
Translations, documentation, beta testing, bug reports and attending the release meetings etc
1 Like
There are a lot of possibilities:
- 1st place to look: contribute.opensuse.org
- There are public Community meetings: calendar.opensuse.org
- Translation work is on: /l10n.opensuse.org/ ( same creds as here
Oh, and you already are contributing by helping othes here 
3 Likes
ACK!
What about Debian (to my understanding the(!) community distribution), Arch or maybe CachyOS (recently hyped very much)?
Debian don’t have YaST
Realistically, Cockpit is the way forward. It is actively developed and designed to be extended. If there’s a capability you genuinely think is missing, file a feature request or, even better, contribute if you are able. That’s how open source moves forward.
As one example, I made a request (September 2025) for a Cockpit GRUB2 Editor Module (graphical equivalent to update-bootloader) with rollback functionality. The idea was taken up soon after, and today that module exists. Constructive feedback and contributions are far more likely to improve the platform than simply lamenting what’s gone.
2 Likes
Somehow funny, yes.
But, seriously? (I really wanted to know…)
Webmin provides a far more comprehensive Apache management module than YaST ever did. Many administrators also manage Apache directly via its configuration files, which remains the upstream-recommended approach.
FWIW, a related topic about the deprecated YaST module.
1 Like
Or they manage it using a configuration management system, like Ansible/Puppet/Chef/Salt/etc.
That’s the way most professionals who manage systems handle this sort of thing. Not with hands-on configuration, but with tools like these that allow for faster re-deployment/recovery, managed through a change management system just like a code repository (ie, ‘configuration as code’).
2 Likes
For sure. They are better tools for managing enterprise environments (especially at scale).
The old YaST Windows and Session Manager modules have been obsolete for years. Modern desktop environments and display managers handle those responsibilities themselves. Display managers such as SDDM or GDM handle graphical logins, allowing users to select their desired desktop session, while the respective desktop environment manages its own settings.
The same goes for /etc/sysconfig. It is still around for some components, but much of its former role has been replaced by upstream configuration mechanisms, systemd drop ins, and native service configuration.
2 Likes
Eh, admitted that UI wise YaST HTTP server wasn’t really the most intuitive, once you got the hang of it, you could do everything (and more at the time) that Webmin could do. Anyting that Apache supported could be managed. I’ve done pretty complex stuff with it, to be honest. And then nginx came … and YaST could by no means handle that.
Debian is a good distro. They have a well-organized good community working on their distro. Any package have its own mantainer, there is a lot of teams for a lot of aspects of the project.
As a good distro, they have a suitable installer and a good package manager.
They don’t have YAST or similar tools. Most of the system configuration depends on Debconf. You install the package, and Debconf asks about the initial setting in a Terminal User Interface.
They don’t have an equivalent to YAST Partitioner or YAST Boot Manager (or similar names, I use the galician version 
). They don’t had anything as SaX (when it worked).
I.e. Btrfs is the result of the collaboration between openSUSE and Fedora. SUSE and Red Hat are big contributors to the Linux kernel. You even can think that Debian uses somehow the Red Hat/SUSE works as much as openSUSE or Fedora do
Leap 16.0 has some disruptive decisions, but must of them comes from the SUSE SLE project. They think:
- we must address the 2038 problem now (Leap 16 series comes with support until 2031, so I think SLE 16 will last until 2038 or beyond in their extended support).
- we neet to move for Cockpit from YAST (SUSE brings official support to Red Hat products, especially CentOS).
Some util apps will have a replacement. For example, now we have Cockpit bootloader. Other apps will need a lot of work (for example, cockpit storage). That is similar to Agama installer: you can compare the Leap 16.0 installer with the new releases.
1 Like
Do they have lots of people, i.e. more than others, especially volunteers (not paid staff)?
openSUSE has a few https://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Teams
You might wish to join the Matrix or IRC channels and see how busy some areas are…
2 Likes
All distros suffer from lack of contributors. The new generations live way more superfluous, i.e. consumerish. If something does not work, why report a bug, hopping to the next distro takes way less effort. Why would you contribute when others can do it for you? And that is not just the distros, it’s the whole perception of the concept of being a member of a community that thrives on the input of its members. When I came to live in my current place in an appartment building I joined a group of 6-7 volunteers that organized activities, served drinks and snacks. Then COVID came, the lockdowns, 3 of them died, one of them got Alzheimers and despite all efforts to get new volunteers people rather went to the low life local bar to complain there that there were no more activities. It’s really everywhere: schoolcamps no longer happen, because there are no parents voluntering to help by sleeping in a tent for 2 nights, by cooking, guarding 40 kids on bikes to the camp site, no theater visits anymore since there are not enough people to accompany 30 kids, no schoolswimming. And so on.
Another aspect is the economical changes. In 2006 it was dead easy to find a place to have a local event, the public library, schools, the university, they all gladly helped out for free. That changed ~2009. Suddenly they would charge € 250 - € 500 for an afternoon room for < 30 people + an amount for a member of personel.
Mind, I am by no means pessimistic, if you might have that impression from the above. I rather spend time with others to see how we can create more awareness that f.e. openSUSE is something we do together. That it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. That the things we do can be fun if you do them together. IMO that message is what we have to get across.
Some literature: Über die Dörfer - Peter Handke
8 Likes
Docs, translation, people skills (rare in these parts lol, we’re all savages)