Believe it or not, an unexpected conflict has arisen in the openSUSE community with its long-time supporter and namesake, the SUSE company.
At the heart of this tension lies a quiet request that has stirred not-so-quiet ripples across the open source landscape: SUSE has formally asked openSUSE to discontinue using its brand name.
Richard Brown, a key figure within the openSUSE project, shared insights into the discussions that have unfolded behind closed doors.
Despite SUSE’s request’s calm and respectful tone, the implications of not meeting it could be far-reaching, threatening the symbiotic relationship that has benefited both entities over the years.
Let’s face it: SUSE has been more than just a namesake for openSUSE; it has actively provided resources and support far beyond what it would ordinarily need for its business operations.
This generosity has fostered a thriving openSUSE project that has excelled under SUSE’s goodwill and informal support, including contributions made by SUSE employees on company time.
However, the recent request for a branding separation has overshadowed this partnership. If openSUSE does not handle this request with the sensitivity and cooperation it demands, the project risks not just a reduction in support from SUSE but a potential shift in priorities away from it.
The “Factory first” policy, a cornerstone of the engineering synergy between SUSE and openSUSE, could also be scrutinized, emphasizing the gravity of the current situation.
Furthermore, at the openSUSE Conference, discussions about governance within the openSUSE project were brought into the spotlight.
In light of this, senior managers and budget holders from SUSE openly expressed concerns, signaling that changes are necessary to address underlying issues with project governance.
This public stand by SUSE’s management highlights a willingness to support openSUSE, but also a readiness to realign their focus if the community fails to act on these governance concerns.
The message is clear: openSUSE must align more closely with SUSE’s strategic interests or risk shifting focus towards other projects like Uyuni and Rancher, which are perceived to be more in line with SUSE’s business objectives.
In other words, openSUSE is at a crossroads. The project can either adapt to the evolving landscape by embracing change and addressing its internal challenges, or it can continue on a path that might lead to its obsolescence.
In recent years, openSUSE has gained a lot of momentum, rapidly increasing its user base. In addition, what used to be known as Leap and Tumbleweed has expanded into new names like Krypton, MicroOS, Aeon, Kalpa, Argon, and Leap Micro.
A whole new openSUSE ecosystem, where frankly, even the most die-hard chameleon supporters have a hard time figuring out what exactly is what and what its purpose is. Let’s not forget ALP, of course. All of this is largely thanks to the support of SUSE.
For that, we don’t have to be fortune tellers to say that if SUSE withdrew its support, it would mean a drastic reduction in current openSUSE variants, rethinking priorities and options, and a likely going back down for the project.
After all, what we know today as openSUSE is largely due to the code contributed by SUSE’s developers and, of course, the huge underlying infrastructure provided by the company on which openSUSE developed its distro.
Therefore, it can be confidently said that SUSE’s polite request will be granted, and the project will start the procedure of changing its name and searching for a new logo. Yes, that’s right, the beloved cute chameleon is part of the rebranding.
In any case, we will monitor the situation closely and, as always, update you as it develops. For more information, visit the openSUSE mailing list message on the subject. The subsequent rather interesting discussion is available here.
This whole post is simply untrue. The idea that SUSE is forcing a name change was some hypothetical floated by a community member upset that SUSE even suggested a name change. There were no demands made, and no suggestions about SUSE pulling any funding. Period.
The problem is simply name confusion. Many users don’t realize that SUSE != openSUSE. Which lead to the suggestion that maybe we shouldn’t share such a similar name. For example, Fedora isn’t called fedoraREDHAT for a reason. Everyone knows that Fedora is a Redhat project, but they don’t share the same name.
I’ve always called it Siouxsie Sioux Linux. I’ve never cared much for the diktat that I must pronounce it Soozer. Now’s the time for them to change the name to openSiouxsie!
ever since the ssh incident with malware i’ve been staying away from bleeding edge distros.
Sounds like a rerun of the IBM-Red Hat and Red Hat-CentOS corporate control fiascos when corporations purposely ruin or just about ruin perfectly good distros. Whatever happened to the freedom of “OPEN SOURCE”?
Please SUSE.
Remember on board that openSUSE is propably the best linux distro especially on the rolling model.
Also it is an European choise, which is very important these days.
Please SUSE, keep openSUSE going!
if they change there name they should use openSissy with a chicken as there new mascot
agreed I was on forum and they talk like they do not have the contributers they need and the whole project is a mess. I think it would be easier to for them to just base there os off another project and make some adjustments and add whatever then continue doing what they are doing since other projects they could base there distro on are way more mature with resources and they should also just keep there name since changing it could be there downfall since thats what people know them as.
openSUSE is barely in the top ten of distros. It’s unsupported by ninety percent of the lesser third party software authors; you have to hope there’s a flatpak or an AppImage, otherwise it’s likely any third party software not directly supported by the openSUSE contributors will break during an update.
Frankly, if your distro is not Debian, a Debian derivative, or Red Hat, it’s hard to get software support if you use a lot of third party software. For most people who just use standard apps, this is not a big deal. But if you’re someone who uses a lot of different software, it is a problem.
I’ve stuck with it for over ten years, but I have to say I’ve started considering alternatives. My next box will probably run a hypervisor like Proxmox which will allow me to have multiple distros installed, so any software will run on something, and probably in a container or VM.
SUSE and openSUSE is RPM.
How software are not supported then? Maybe the largest repos in the world!
And hay. Suse has got Yast amogst Zypper. Absolutely the best system configuration toolset on any distro by far!
Who is using Flatpak (or Snap)? Those who want world to be slow again?
they are only slow if your pc is ancient even a intel n100 can run them without any slowdown. not sure what people are using when they think they are slow maybe a old cpu with a sd card as a hard drive? with a intel n100 and cheap nvme the cpu looks like its almost doing nothing. snaps and flatpaks are the future since they just work and do not care what distro you are on or if your going to upgrade the os since theres nothing to do in order to make them work with a upgrade on any distro after they are installed.
Well. I am running AMD Ryzen 12 core with 32 ram and nvme storages.
It is very slow to start Flat/Snap software.
Remember those days when you started computer and then went to make some cofee.. I do not want that feeling anymore.
thats odd i have a n100 with 16gb ram and a 1tb nvme in a fanless mini pc everything is running fast and cpu looks likes it hardley doing anything for stuff i use it for so i do not know how your system would not run better. forever ago i had a laptop with nvidia and amd that had issues with linux no matter what distro i used but i think things have changed since then with support but i do however still perfer intel systems ever since then but i’m guessing it does not make much differnce anymore and may try amd again sooner or later.
Quite stupid response. Not officially supported does not equate unsupported. Stuff works and it’s not like you have to have multiple distros just to run some software that ships in .deb, then another to run .rpm… but you do you.
Daily driving openSUSE for more than 15 years and have to say quite the opposite. Most of the 3rd party software I came across had suse repos (some of them were not advertised right away but findable), those who didn't have had at least rpm for RHEL derivatives that most of the times worked just fine (or needed some tiny config tweak) and the rest was Ubuntu only or not linux compatible at all and I would say that nowadays with a lot of 3rd party sw being stand alone binaries executable on any linux distro this is less and less issue for me.
Not using appimage or flatpack at all.
i only use snaps and flatpaks since they just work and are always up to date.