Agama, the new installer of the SUSE project
The developers of the openSUSE project unveiled a few days ago information on the roadmap for the development of its new installer called Agama (formerly D-Installer).
The post mentions that This new installer is being created to replace the installation interface classic of SUSE and openSUSE and one of the notable features of Agama is its separation between the user interface and the internals of YaST.
About Agama
The new installer openSUSE is working on aims to use various interfaces, including one interface to manageinstallation via a web interfaceb, other objectives of the development of Agama mentioned are: the elimination of existing limitations of the graphical interface, the expansion of the ability to use YaST functionality in other applications and the release of ties to a programming language (the D-Bus API will allow the creation of plugins in different languages) and encourage the creation of alternative environments by community members.
The basic Agama interface to manage the installation is built using web technologies and includes a driver that provides access to D-Bus calls over HTTP, as well as the web interface itself. This web interface is written in JavaScript using the React framework and PatternFly components. The service for binding the interface to D-Bus, as well as the integrated HTTP server, are written in Ruby.
The team has outlined a strategy for this year and despite the fluidity of its development, the team is committed to a consistent release schedule for Agama with two major milestones. The first is scheduled for mid-April and the other towards mid-July.
The April milestone will revolutionize Agama architecture. It will move away from its reliance on Cockpit towards a more autonomous framework that is combined with a refined user interface that aims to optimize storage configurations.
The goal of the second milestone is to improve Agama's flexibility and capabilities for unattended installations, seeking to position Agama as a formidable alternative to AutoYaST.
At the current stage of development, the new installer already provides the capabilities necessary to solve tasks such as:
- Select an initial set of applications
- Ability to configure a network connection language, keyboard, time zone and location settings
- Prepare a storage device and partition it
- Add users to the system.
To install packages, verify computers, partition disks, and perform other functions necessary for installation, Agama continues to use the YaST libraries. On top of these libraries, layer services are implemented that abstract access to them through a unified D-Bus interface. The installer uses a multithreaded architecture that allows the user interface to not hang while other tasks are carried out.
It is mentioned that Two major updates to Agama are scheduled for this year. The first is scheduled for mid- April and the second for mid-July. The July update will focus on increasing the flexibility and functionality associated with automated and unattended installations. The April update is notable for discontinuing the use of ready-made modules developed by the Cockpit project, in favor of using a more independent framework and a modernized user interface.
Letting go of Cockpit will remove additional external dependencies and remove restrictions that have prevented some ideas from being implemented. For example, Cockpit contains Python and C language components as dependencies, while Agama uses Ruby and Rust languages. Removing Cockpit will also free developers from the limitations they encountered when trying to implement an automatic installation mode and redesigning the storage configuration interface to achieve the optimal balance between simplicity for beginners and functionality for advanced users.
For interested in trying the new installer Agama, live builds are being created for x86_64 and ARM64 architectures. These builds support the installation of a continuously updated version of openSUSE Tumbleweed, as well as editions of SUSE ALP, openSUSE MicroOS, and openSUSE MicroOS Desktop, built in isolated containers.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it, you can check the details In the following link.