How to install Anaconda on SUSE Linux

Data science workstations on openSUSE or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server often need a separate Python stack from the system Python that zypper manages. Installing Anaconda Distribution in the user's home directory keeps Conda environments, packages, and notebooks away from operating-system packages while still making the conda command available in a normal shell.

Anaconda publishes Linux shell installers rather than native SUSE RPM packages. The installer filename must match the CPU architecture, and the archive page provides the SHA-256 hash used to check the downloaded file before installation.

Minimal SUSE hosts may need curl, ca-certificates, and bzip2 before the installer can download and unpack. Commercial or managed environments should confirm Anaconda licensing and software-delivery policy before installing manually, and default-channel package operations require accepting the channel Terms of Service before conda create or conda install can use those channels.

1. Open a terminal with sudo privileges.
2. Refresh the SUSE package repositories.

   $ sudo zypper refresh
   All repositories have been refreshed.

3. Install the download and extraction prerequisites.

   $ sudo zypper install --no-confirm curl ca-certificates bzip2
   Loading repository data...
   Reading installed packages...
   'curl' is already installed.
   'ca-certificates' is already installed.
   The following NEW package is going to be installed:
     bzip2
   ##### snipped #####
   (1/1) Installing: bzip2-1.0.8-150400.1.122.x86_64 [..done]

   --no-confirm is a zypper alias for non-interactive confirmation. It keeps prerequisite installation from stopping at the package transaction prompt.

4. Check the CPU architecture.

   $ uname -m
   x86_64

   Use the Linux-x86_64 installer when this command returns x86_64. Use the Linux-aarch64 installer on compatible ARM64 servers; Anaconda notes that the ARM64 build targets server-class ARM systems and may not fit every Raspberry Pi setup.

5. Download the Anaconda Distribution Linux installer.

   $ curl -O https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-x86_64.sh

   For aarch64 systems, download https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-aarch64.sh instead.

6. Verify the installer checksum.

   $ sha256sum Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-x86_64.sh
   57b2b48cc5b8665e25fce7011f0389d47c1288288007844b3b1ba482d4f39029  Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-x86_64.sh

   Compare the hash with the SHA-256 value shown beside the same installer filename at https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/ before running it.

7. Run the installer in silent mode.

   $ bash ./Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-x86_64.sh -b -p "$HOME/anaconda3"
   PREFIX=/home/user/anaconda3
   Unpacking bootstrapper...
   Unpacking payload...
   Installing base environment...
   installation finished.

   The -b flag runs without prompts, and -p sets the install directory. Replace the installer filename with the ARM64 filename when the earlier architecture check returned aarch64.

8. Activate Conda in the current terminal.

   $ source "$HOME/anaconda3/bin/activate"

9. Initialize Conda for Bash.

   $ conda init bash
   no change     /home/user/anaconda3/condabin/conda
   no change     /home/user/anaconda3/bin/conda
   no change     /home/user/anaconda3/bin/activate
   ##### snipped #####
   modified      /home/user/.bashrc
   
   ==> For changes to take effect, close and re-open your current shell. <==

   This command edits the current user's ~/.bashrc file. Preview with conda init bash --dry-run first when a managed shell profile needs review.

   Related: How to initialize Conda for a shell

10. Reload the Bash startup file.

    $ source ~/.bashrc

11. Confirm the Conda base environment.

    $ conda info
    
         active environment : base
        active env location : /home/user/anaconda3
              conda version : 25.11.1
             python version : 3.13.9.final.0
                     solver : libmamba (default)
                   platform : linux-64
    ##### snipped #####

12. Accept the Anaconda default-channel Terms of Service.

    $ conda tos accept
    accepted Terms of Service for https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
    accepted Terms of Service for https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r

    Channel Terms of Service acceptance is separate from running the installer. Without it, commands that solve packages from the default channels can stop for an interactive acceptance prompt.

13. Run a package-resolution smoke test.

    $ conda create --name sg-suse-check python=3.12 --dry-run --yes
    2 channel Terms of Service accepted
    Channels:
     - defaults
    Platform: linux-64
    Solving environment: done
    
    DryRunExit: Dry run. Exiting.
    
    ## Package Plan ##
    
      environment location: /home/user/anaconda3/envs/sg-suse-check
    
      added / updated specs:
        - python=3.12
    
    ##### snipped #####

    The dry run proves Conda can reach the default channels and solve a small environment without creating it. Remove --dry-run when an actual test environment should be created.

14. Remove the downloaded installer.

    $ rm Anaconda3-2025.12-2-Linux-x86_64.sh