Agama 18 Installer Published For Use In SUSE And OpenSUSE

The developers of the openSUSE project presented the Agama 18 installer, notable for the separation of the user interface from the internal components of YaST. Agama supports the use of various frontends, for example, a frontend for managing the installation via a web interface. Agama replaces the classic installation interface in the releases of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16 and openSUSE Leap 16. The installer component code is licensed under the GPLv2 license and written in Ruby, Rust and JavaScript/TypeScript.

To evaluate the new installer live builds for x86_64, ppc64le, s390x and ARM64 architectures have been generated. The builds available for installation include openSUSE Leap 16, continuously updated openSUSE Tumbleweed and openSUSE Slowroll builds, as well as MicroOS and openSUSE Leap Micro editions.

Agama development goals: eliminating existing GUI limitations; expanding the ability to use YaST functionality in other applications; avoiding being tied to one programming language; encouraging the creation of alternative settings by community members. The installer provides functions such as selecting an initial set of applications, setting up a network connection, language, keyboard, time zone and localization settings, preparing a storage device and partitioning, adding users to the system.

To install packages, check equipment, partition disks and other functions necessary for installation, Agama continues to use YaST libraries, on top of which layer services are implemented that abstract access to libraries via a unified communication protocol based on HTTP. The installer uses a multi-process architecture, thanks to which the user interface is not blocked while other work is being performed.

The basic interface for managing the installation is built using web technologies. The web interface is written in JavaScript using the React framework and PatternFly components. The messaging service, as well as the built-in http server, are written in Ruby. The interface is displayed in a browser that runs in a graphical environment based on Wayland (a stripped-down environment is created based on the composite manager Mutter and Firefox).

In the new version:

• Redesigned drive configuration page. The developers tried to combine in one interface clarity for beginners with the ability for experienced users to access advanced settings.
  
• Improved