OpenSUSE and rolling updates

I somehow missed this when it first came out, but there is a move a-foot to create a rolling-update version of OpenSUSE. The announcement is here:

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-project/2010-11/msg00206.html

In the last couple of days the repo has been created and opensuse-factory has been awash in requests to add packages to it.

What IS this thing, anyway?

It's like Factory, but with the stable branches of the packages in use. For instance if OpenSUSE 11.4 releases and a month later Gnome 3.0 drops, 11.4 will still be on whatever version it shipped with but OpenSUSE Tumbelweed (the name of this new rolling-updates version) will get it. The same applies to kernel versions. 11.4 will likely have 2.6.37 in it, but 2.6.38 will drop pretty soon after 11.4 releases.

Is this suitable for production?

Depends on how much testing you want in your packages. The order of tested-stable of SUSE versions from least to most is:

  1. Factory (breaks regularly!)
  2. Factory-Tested
  3. Tumbleweed
  4. OpenSUSE releases
  5. SLES releases (long term support contracts available)
Factory-Tested is also pretty new. It's a version of Factory that passes certain very specific tests, so you're much less likely to brick your system by using it over Factory itself. It will have bugs though, just not as many blockers.

There are some usages where I'd be leery of OpenSUSE releases just from code quality and support considerations, and Tumbleweed would be nearly certain to be rejected. And yet, if your use-case needs cutting edge (not bleeding edge) packages, Tumbleweed is the version for you.

Right now it looks like determining which packages get updated in Tumbleweed will be determined by the project maintainers. For the Gnome example, they have a Devel and Stable branch in their repo and it will be the Stable repo that gets included in Tumbleweed. Find a bug? It'll get reported to the repo-maintainer for that package. It may get fixed quicker there, or not. Tumbleweed users will help the OpenSUSE releases be more stable by providing testing.

Personally, I'll be sticking with the Releases version on my work desktop, since I need to maintain some stability there. I just might go Tumbleweed on my home laptop, though.