Part II System #

openSUSE® Leap is available for 64-bit platforms. The developers have not ported all 32-bit applications to 64-bit systems. This chapter offers a brief overview of 32-bit support implementation on 64-bit openSUSE Leap platforms.

Booting a Linux system involves different components and tasks. After a firmware and hardware initialization process, which depends on the machine's architecture, the kernel is started by means of the boot loader GRUB 2. After this point, the boot process is completely controlled by the operating system and handled by systemd. systemd provides a set of “targets” that boot configurations for everyday usage, maintenance or emergencies.

systemd is responsible for initializing the system, and it has the process ID 1. systemd is started directly by the kernel and resists signal 9, which normally terminates processes. All other programs are either started directly by systemd or by one of its child processes. systemd is a replacement f…

systemd features its own logging system called journal. There is no need to run a syslog-based service, as all system events are written to the journal.

This chapter describes how to configure GRUB 2, the boot loader used in openSUSE® Leap. A YaST module is available for configuring the most important settings. The boot procedure as a whole is outlined in Chapter 9, Introduction to the boot process. For details on Secure Boot support for UEFI machines, see Chapter 14, UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface).

Linux offers the necessary networking tools and features for integration into all types of network structures. Network access using a network card can be configured with YaST. Manual configuration is also possible. In this chapter, only the fundamental mechanisms and the relevant network configuration files are covered.

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is the interface between the firmware that comes with the system hardware, all the hardware components of the system, and the operating system.

This chapter starts with information about various software packages, the virtual consoles and the keyboard layout. We talk about software components like bash, cron and logrotate, because they were changed or enhanced during the last release cycles. Even if they are small or considered of minor importance, users should change their default behavior, because these components are often closely coupled with the system. The chapter concludes with a section about language and country-specific settings (I18N and L10N).

The kernel can add or remove almost any device in a running system. Changes in the device state (whether a device is plugged in or removed) need to be propagated to user space. Devices need to be configured when they are plugged in and recognized. Users of a certain device need to be informed about …