(open)SUSE Announces D-Installer: Working On A Web-Based Distro Installer

In addition to the Fedora / Red Hat Anaconda installer working on a web-based implementation, openSUSE/SUSE is also exploring a web-based installation front-end built atop their existing YaST. They are developing this new web front-end as the "D-Installer" project.

With Red Hat's recently announced web-based UI they are looking to shift Anaconda from its existing GTK-based interface and rewriting it to be web-based while leveraging Cockpit. This new Anaconda installer web interface would work both locally or remotely.

The current plan with (open)SUSE's D-Installer is to not replace YaST's existing installer front-ends whether it be the Qt or CLI versions but to be complementary to these existing front-ends.

D-Installer will fully leverage YaST's existing code-base while interfacing via D-Bus with the new service. Ultimately D-Installer should result in a better UI, increased reusability, better integration, and more.

SUSE is building a new web-based installer interface atop YaST for use by (open)SUSE as a new option in the future.

Early experiments have happened so far around this web-based installer for YaST but there is no timeline yet when it will be ready for production use. SUSE develoeprs do acknowledge the work being done by Fedora as similar. They may even end up using Cockpit. In their Q&A when asked about using Cockpit, they note, "We do not know yet, but... why not? Cockpit is a really nice project and we have already released a module for Wicked. So perhaps we could seek some collaboration."

More details on D-Installer via yast.opensuse.org.