openSUSE 12.1 to get a beta

The openSUSE project has announced that the upcoming sixth milestone release of version 12.1 of the openSUSE operating system will be reclassified as a beta. Jos Poortvliet, the openSUSE community manager for SUSE Linux, says that the change "reflects the state of this milestone, being ready for more extensive testing".

When the beta is released, Poortvliet asks the community to "give it a good workout", suggesting that they organise Beta Pizza parties all around the world. According to release team coordinator Stephan "Coolo" Kulow, "the sixth milestone has sometimes gotten less testing than it deserved. We want to ensure the quality and stability of openSUSE and give users the best experience as possible.”

The openSUSE 12.1 beta is scheduled to arrive on Thursday, 22 September, and will be followed by two release candidates (RC); the final version is to be released on 11 November 2011. Developers, testers and early adopters who plan to test the upcoming beta are asked to report any bugs that they find so that they can be fixed before the final release.

The most recent stable release of the distribution is version 11.4 from March of this year.

See also:

• Upgrading openSUSE to Linux 3.0, a feature from The H.
• openSUSE 12.1 Milestone 5 released, a report from The H.
• openSUSE Conference 2011 keynote speakers announced, a report from The H.

(crve)