OpenSuse is already by itself a well rounded distro. It supports multiple desktops out-of-the-box, is highly customizable so it doesn't really need forks.
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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Yeah, the distro installer even allows you to fully customize which packages should be installed, if you fancy that.
Maybe no one can improve on OpenSuse. It's also one of the lesser known distributions and wasn't much talked for long time. Maybe there is not much to fork on, because OpenSuse basically does everything and satisfies most people.
Debian in example its hard to get into and make changes, and did not accept lot of packages in example. That means lot of people wanted to have an alternative. Debian is also opinionated and slow on updates, so there is lot of things people want to have it differently. And on Archlinux, its basically barebones distribution where lot of manual work is required to set it up. Its basically the perfect base distribution to fork on or derive from.
There are actually a few: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg
- Gecko Linux
- EasyNAS
- Rockstor
Gecko is basically just a different installer for openSUSE and some different default settings.
OpenSuse needs no fork for it has no flaw. If you ever imagine that it can be improved, you should probably reconsider.
*openSUSE
I guess it's more niche.
Sure SUSE may not "need" a fork, but most forks of Debian and Ubuntu aren't changing much beyond a few superficial settings - If you need your "own" distro you're more likely to pick the bigger distros to fork and slap your own badge on á la TuxedoOS, PopOS, GnomeOS, KDE-Neon, etc.
https://distrowatch.com/search-mobile.php?ostype=All&category=All&origin=All&basedon=openSUSE¬basedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&package=All&rolling=All&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=All&status=Active#simpleresults
SUSE Linux Enterprise isn't really a fork. OpenSuse Leap is to SLE a bit like Fedora is to Red Hat i.e. the community version which is then frozen at some point to build SLE.
SLE is a fork of factory. Leap is based on SLES with community additions, it's why SUSE changing to ALP and dropping desktop support in the new version was such a big thing for the future of Leap.
I stand corrected. I use Tumbleweed so have not kept up to date on that front.
I totally agree with you. openSUSE Tumbleweed is IMHO the most stable rolling release distro out there.
Arch and some of its derivatives are also nice but still not as stable or polished as Tumbleweed.