- openSUSE Project has announced the release of openSUSE Leap 15.5 Beta, which is a maintenance update for the 15 series.
- The new version comes with the same kernel version as openSUSE Leap 15.4, but it will update the default desktop environment to KDE Plasma 5.27.
- openSUSE Project states that this will be the latest release in the openSUSE Leap 15 series, which was first released in 2018.
The development cycle of the openSUSE Leap release is going on as expected. Last year, openSUSE Project released the beta version of openSUSE Leap 15.4 at the beginning of March, then released the final version in June. This year’s release, openSUSE Leap 15.5, follows almost the same road. The beta of openSUSE Leap 15.5 is now available, and the final version is expected in June 2023.
Not a feature release
15.5 Beta is not stated as a “feature” release, which means it mostly receives package updates, bug fixes, etc. However, the kernel version remains the same as 15.4; it will be shipped with Linux kernel 5.14.21. The desktop environment, on the other hand, will be the brand-new KDE Plasma 5.27, which was released a couple of days ago. However, the current beta version comes with 5.24 installed.
The Mesa package is updated, and the OpenH264 repository is now enabled by default. The migration to newer versions process is now more simplified that enables users to migrate their systems with a single click. Phyton 3.10 and its modules are now available for users as an alternative to the 3.6 version.
According to the announcement, openSUSE Project expects 15.5 to be the last version in the openSUSE Leap 15 series. openSUSE Leap is around since May 2018.
You can download the ISO and try the beta version of the upcoming openSUSE Leap 15.5. Since this is a beta release, we strongly recommend avoiding installing this version on a mission-critical system.