Leapp Open Source Project Provides In-Place Upgrades for OpenELA-Compatible Systems

Leapp Open Source Project Provides In-Place Upgrades for OpenELA-Compatible Systems

Facilitates upgrades and portability for operating systems in the Enterprise Linux ecosystem

RENO, Nev., AUSTIN, Texas, and LUXEMBOURG—April 10, 2025— OpenELA today announced a branch of the Leapp open source project which provides upgrade tooling for all Enterprise Linux variants. Leapp is an existing open source project that aims to serve as an expert advisor for moving operating systems (OS) workloads to newer Enterprise Linux OS versions by generating suggested actions, identifying risks, producing checklists, and automating steps for users.

In addition to unifying and streamlining collaboration across the OpenELA community for the Leapp project, OpenELA is also announcing several key updates to Leapp. This includes enhancements such as verifying kernel compatibility for enabled features, providing additional logic to detect additional unsupported configurations, and identifying extra mandatory and suggested pre- and post-upgrade steps. These updates will also provide mission-critical features for enterprise users, including built-in SELinux support, support for upgrades with FIPS mode enabled, enhanced support for configurations with network storage, and support for upgrades via kexec fast reboots – instead of requiring a full system reboot with hardware reinitialization.

“OpenELA aims to help enterprise customers navigate the challenges of upgrading their operating systems to modern versions,” said Greg Marsden, senior vice president of Linux development, Oracle. “Changes to core underlying frameworks like SELinux and systemd can impact upgrades, so it is important for customers to be able to upgrade their operating systems safely between major versions. Previously these capabilities were only available for Oracle Linux customers, and I’m pleased that Oracle is contributing these features – and several new enhancements – to the broader OpenELA community.”

“Leapp has been an essential tool for system administrators handling system upgrades and migrations to other Enterprise Linux variants,” said Gregory Kurtzer, CEO and founder of CIQ, and creator of Rocky Linux. “At OpenELA, we are all committed to vendor-neutral open-source collaboration. CIQ is excited to support this initiative and looks forward to contributing to its success.”

“For SUSE customers in highly regulated environments, the ability to migrate from an older major version of Linux to a newer one is of great importance and crucial for business continuity,” said Brent Schroeder, head of the office of the CTO, SUSE. “These customers often face strict compliance requirements and need to maintain updated systems without disrupting their operations. The ability to perform seamless migrations allows them to stay compliant, minimize downtime, and avoid costly interruptions, ensuring their business can operate smoothly and efficiently. At SUSE we see the collaboration at OpenELA as an opportunity to efficiently address customers’ needs.”

These enhancements help meet upgrade needs of all Enterprise Linux compatible users, expanding on the upstream version which only supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) systems. OpenELA will continue to explore additional use cases and enhancements for the manageability of OpenELA-compatible distributions.

About OpenELA

OpenELA exists to deliver open source code, tools and systems for the community. Core tenets include full compliance with the Enterprise Linux standard, swift updates and secure fixes, transparency, community, and ensuring that these resources remain free and redistributable for all. OpenELA welcomes all organizations focused on delivering reliable and secure access to Enterprise Linux packages and build systems. OpenELA seeks to build robust, community-driven standards that ensure impartiality and equilibrium in the broad EL ecosystem. For more information about getting involved with OpenELA, please visit www.OpenELA.org/join.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Cristin Connelly
Cathey.co for CIQ
cristin@cathey.co
+1 (404) 931-6752

Oracle
Drew Smith
drew.j.smith@oracle.com
1-415-336-1103

SUSE
Rachel Romoff
rachel.romoff@suse.com
1-210-241-8284