In summary YaST provides the following features, some of them
having already been mentioned above:
System access
YaST provides thorough probing of the system hardware and
presents the information gathered thereby via the SCR-API. The
SCR is also the means for reading and writing configuration
files.
Reasonable Suggestions
Based on the system analysis and predefined configuration data,
YaST is able to provide reasonable suggestions for almost any
configuration task.
Workflows
Management of particular configuration categories is usually realized in form of workflows that split up the whole task into small steps.
Modules and YCP
The steps constituting a workflow are usually realized as
YaST-modules that are written in the YaST Control
Language (YCP)
User interface
The user interface of YaST is realized by means of a specific
API from within the YCP-modules. This API supports a text-based
console-mode as well as a graphical X11-mode.
Internationalization
YaST provides support for various languages.
Multi-platform support
YaST provides support for various platforms like
Intel™ (x86), Apple™,
IBM™ (s390) etc.