openSUSE developers are preparing to complete the transition from the YaST installer to the all-new Agama installer by year’s end.
YaST has been one of the defining features of SUSE and openSUSE Linux for decades, providing a graphical suite of tools to manage many of the functions that are only accessible via the command line on other distros. As part of its tooling, the initial installer was also built on YaST, providing one of the most powerful installer options in the Linux world, giving users a tremendous amount of fine-tuned control.
In one of the distro’s more controversial moves, openSUSE developers are ditching YaST altogether, in favor of Agama for the installer and Cockpit for YaST’s system admin functions.
According to openSUSE devs, the change to the Agama installer will be by year’s end:
The openSUSE Project’s rolling release Tumbleweed will switch to the Agama installer before the end of the year, according to an announcement on the Factory mailing list.
Agama-based images are expected to replace the legacy YaST installer as the main download on get.opensuse.org within the coming weeks.
The project is asking users to test the new installer now and report any problems before the cutover.
The devs make clear that the final switch date depends on testing:
The switch depends on test results. Release managers will link the new images on get.opensuse.org once openQA testing and the staging workflow show the new installer is as stable as the YaST-based one. Full openQA coverage is still being built, and Agama tests are being added to the staging workflow, where the groundwork exists but the tests don’t yet run.
Less common setups are especially valuable before the cutover. These include RAID and LVM disk layouts, systems with several disks, serial console installs, offline installs and unusual hardware. Any behavior that differs from the YaST installer should be filed as a bug. Documentation is also needed, because profile-based installs and console access are not yet widely covered in guides.
The devs also make clear that there are still trade-offs, in terms of functionality, but that the move was needed because YaST now receives only minimal maintenance:
The most visible change for users is that the installer no longer lets them pick individual packages. Only a curated set of patterns is offered, and not every pattern in the repository appears. The decision is a deliberate choice to simplify installation.
Tumbleweed usually adopts new technology before openSUSE’s other releases, but it held back on the installer on purpose. Leap 16.0 has used Agama since its first release, while Tumbleweed waited until the new installer either matched YaST’s features or dropped them deliberately. The project says the move is now needed because YaST is no longer under active feature development and receives only minimal maintenance. As the software it depends on keeps changing, relying on it carries growing risk. YaST, which stands for Yet another Setup Tool, was first released in April 1995.
The removal of YaST marks the end of an era for openSUSE, and it remains to be seen how the decision will impact the distro. As our own review of openSUSE demonstrated, the distro appeals to different sets of users, including developers, system admins, and users who want arguably the most stable rolling release distro available.
Unfortunately, YaST holds a lot of appeal for those users who represent openSUSE’s core base, and only time will tell if Agama and Cockpit provide the features and fine-tuned control users are accustomed to.
WebProNews is an iEntry Publication