Novell Says It Has Improved Driver Support in SUSE Linux

Published: May 23, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

If there is one thing that enterprises do not like, it is messing around with operating systems that are running mission-critical applications. The hesitance of commercial customers to stay on the bleeding edge is why Red Hat, Novell, and other Linux distributors have much longer release cycles for their Linux server editions compared to their development editions (which are updated every few weeks) and their desktop editions (which are updated a few times a year).

However, this long release cycle on server versions of Linux often means that customers who want to install new kinds of gadgets cannot get officially supported drivers for them for 18 to 24 months. This is obviously not acceptable, either. So Novell is revamping the way it delivers drivers. The new driver process is going to be a key feature in the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 releases due later this summer, but it is being back cast (in a limited way) into SLES 9 Service Pack 3 and Novell Linux Desktop 9 because people can't wait that long for this new way of doing things.

In short, the new driver process means that customers do not have to wait for new kernel builds from Novell to get an updated driver; the hardware providers can compile the driver against the new kernel and provide it through Novell, even if it has not been released as part of the next version of SUSE Linux or a service pack for it. Novell's Yast package management tool knows how to find drivers for hardware out on the Internet or on local media.

The intent of breaking driver patches from SUSE releases and service packs is meant to allow enterprise customers to move to the newest hardware without getting cut on the bleeding edge of software.

"The new process is simply another way for us to help customers run their businesses reliably and cost effectively," explained Kurt Garloff, head Linux architect at Novell. "Working with the open source community and our hardware and software partners, and welcoming the participation of other Linux distributors, we are allowing customers to efficiently obtain needed drivers independent of our SUSE Linux Enterprise release cycles. We will continue to support third parties delivering open source drivers to kernel.org for release directly with our Linux products, but this new process fills the driver gap between releases that can be critical to customer and partner success."

You can read all about the new Partner Linux Driver Process at this page on Novell's site.