Please do not send private copies of list emails - use the "reply to list" feature of your MUA instead of "reply all"! On 07/12/10 00:01, Koushik Kumar Nundy wrote:
I have some views on the openSUSE LTS/openSLES comparisons.
1. I have a feeling the two being analogised to CentOS is a bit unfair. openSUSE's relation with SLE has always been more the Fedora to RHEL kind. We, as a project, form a base, not a copy of SUSE's enterprise offerings, if typically more conservatively than competition.
I think you are confused. The discussion is about a Linux distribution that is non-commercial but supported for much longer than the usual 18 months release cycle of openSUSE (in reality it's more like 12 months because people that see stability as a primary goal wouldn't install a new release in the first couple of weeks anyway). This distribution would bridge the gap between the commercial SLES/SLED and openSUSE. Two ways of achieving this have been proposed: an openSUSE LTS version (which would obviously be an openSUSE but with extended support), or a clone of SLES which is sometimes called openSLES. That's it. It's not as complicated as you would like to make it.
2. openSUSE has the direct primary sponsorship of Novell. CentOS has no official affiliation with RH. An openSLES may antagonise Novell/SUSE/Attachmate's friendly approach.
This problem has already been discussed in the past and in this thread. Please read!
3. Offering of an LTS version alternately with a couple of normal versions has not been discussed. I wonder why.
Not sure what you mean. Of course not every openSUSE release would be an LTS version. As mentioned, I think you are a bit confused.
[...] 5. Nelson Marques has a point. Too many offerings would cause confusion. Normal openSUSE vs openSUSE LTS vs openSUSE Tumbleweed vs openSLES has already confused me to an extent.
Yes, I can see that. Please read my reply to Nelson, previous discussions on the opensuse-project list, and the entire email thread.
6. Someone suggested binary compatibility with SLES would make people recommend SLES for paid-for-support Linux. While I appreciate Novell's roles in what openSUSE is today, I personally feel SLES sales figures are not supposed to be the concern of the openSUSE project. Furthermore, even openSUSE can be paid-for-support Linux, considering people pay for 90 day support or something like that when they buy the box.
The main advantage of binary compatibility would be on the user side because a user could run SLES-certified software on openSLES. If it also led to increased sales of SLES which happens to be offered by one of the main sponsors of the openSUSE project, then it would be a nice side-effect. I don't think increased SLES sales figures are our primary concern at all. If at all, the community seems to be more concerned that openSLES could damage the business of one of its main sponsors. We seem to go round and round and round in circles. I really wish more people would follow the discussions from the beginning and actually read all the emails. A lot of the stuff that has been asked or mentioned here has already been discussed numerous times. Nothing has been decided yet. It's still being discussed what is feasible and what could be achieved with the given resources. openSLES would perhaps be simpler to maintain as it's a clone of an existing Linux distribution. However, this approach has clear advantages as well as clear disadvantages. openSUSE LTS would entirely be a community project - it would probably require more resources but follow the community spirit. Again, it has advantages and disadvantages. In terms of resources, probably only one solution can be implemented, so there needs to be some kind of decision-making process. Requests for a non-commercial SuSE-based Linux distribution have been observed, so there's at least an agreement that such a long-support version (whatever it might be at the end of the day) could come in quite handy in general. Thomas -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org