#ubuntu2504 — Public Fediverse posts

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS enters Documentation String and Kernel Feature Freeze

As we are only a week away from Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Resolute Raccoon beta version scheduled for the 26th of this month, there are now two freezes to be set in place:

• Documentation String Freeze
• Kernel Feature Freeze

The documentation string freeze causes all strings (that is, text to be displayed on the screen for documentation) to be finalized in preparation for the translation that is set to end on April 9th. However, there are cases where exceptions are made, such as major typos, but the translation team must get the latest strings to avoid inconsistencies.

As for the kernel feature freeze, it’s a deadline for any new-feature-related kernel changes. It’s a point where the kernel for the upcoming version of Ubuntu, such as Ubuntu 26.04 LTS in this case, is feature-complete and is expected to only receive bug fixes.

As an aside, GNOME 50 is expected to land to Ubuntu 26.04 LTS soon, as the stable release of this version of GNOME happened yesterday.

Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin has reached EOL

Last year, Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin was released on April to provide users with the latest improvements at the time. It was one of the short term support releases that usually take 9 months to reach end of life. Ubuntu 25.04 is about to reach its end of life, so the Ubuntu team have reminded all users who are still using this version of Ubuntu to upgrade their systems.

Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin has reach end of life starting from January 15th. This means that important bug fixes and security updates for several programs won’t make it to the Plucky Puffin release.

Security-wise, EOL releases are generally not recommended to be run on systems, because they can induce security risks related to system components and applications, especially when it comes to servers and their daemons.

The supported upgrade path from 25.04 is to Questing Quokka, and instructions as to how to upgrade systems is here.

Our projects will no longer get official support for those who are still running this version of Ubuntu. This means that the official Launchpad PPAs for our applications will no longer be updated for Plucky Puffin. This means that the following versions will be permanently stuck on for Plucky systems:

• Nitrocid 0.1.0.x: 3.0.25.526-0.1.0.66-1 (Nitrocid 0.1.0.66)
• Nitrocid 0.1.1.x: 3.0.26.60-0.1.1.36-1 (Nitrocid 0.1.1.36)
• Nitrocid 0.1.2.x: 3.1.27.56-0.1.2.32-1 (Nitrocid 0.1.2.32)
• Nitrocid 0.2.0.x: 4.0.28.44-0.2.0.0~rc-1 (Nitrocid 0.2.0 Release Candidate)
• BassBoom 0.1.x: 1.0.1.0-0.1.13.0-1 (BassBoom 0.1.13)
• BassBoom 0.2.x: 1.0.2.0-0.2.13.3-1 (BassBoom 0.2.13.3)
• BskyId: 1.0.2-1 (BskyId 1.0.2)

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Resolute Raccoon is currently under development, and is expected to be released on April 23rd, 2026.

#2504 #Linux #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update

Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin will reach EOL on January 15th

Last year, Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin was released on April to provide users with the latest improvements at the time. It was one of the short term support releases that usually take 9 months to reach end of life. Ubuntu 25.04 is about to reach its end of life, so the Ubuntu team have reminded all users who are still using this version of Ubuntu to upgrade their systems.

Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin will reach end of life on January 15th, and people have until that date to upgrade their systems to Ubuntu 25.10 Questing Quokka if they want to continue receiving official support. This means that important bug fixes and security updates for several programs won’t make it to the Plucky Puffin release.

Security-wise, EOL releases are generally not recommended to be run on systems, because they can induce security risks related to system components and applications, especially when it comes to servers and their daemons.

The supported upgrade path from 25.04 is to Questing Quokka, and instructions as to how to upgrade systems is here.

Our projects will no longer get official support for those who are still running this version of Ubuntu. This means that the official Launchpad PPAs for our applications will no longer be updated for Plucky Puffin. This means that the following versions will be permanently stuck on for Plucky systems:

• Nitrocid 0.1.0.x: 3.0.25.526-0.1.0.66-1 (Nitrocid 0.1.0.66)
• Nitrocid 0.1.1.x: 3.0.26.60-0.1.1.36-1 (Nitrocid 0.1.1.36)
• Nitrocid 0.1.2.x: 3.1.27.56-0.1.2.32-1 (Nitrocid 0.1.2.32)
• Nitrocid 0.2.0.x: 4.0.28.44-0.2.0.0~rc-1 (Nitrocid 0.2.0 Release Candidate)
• BassBoom 0.1.x: 1.0.1.0-0.1.13.0-1 (BassBoom 0.1.13)
• BassBoom 0.2.x: 1.0.2.0-0.2.13.2-1 (BassBoom 0.2.13.2)
• BskyId: 1.0.2-1 (BskyId 1.0.2)

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Resolute Raccoon is currently under development, and is expected to be released on April 23rd, 2026.

#2504 #Linux #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update

Where is Ubuntu 25.04 RC?

The release candidate of the upcoming version of Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin was supposed to be released on April 10th, and we were excited to see the Ubuntu release team make the RC version of Ubuntu 25.04 go live. We haven’t seen any RC release or any official release notification in any of the official announcement channels, so the question is…

Where is Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin Release Candidate?

This release candidate didn’t make it to the official release server, so we are wondering why. The official release schedule for Plucky Puffin stated that the release candidate was supposed to be released on April 10th, and that the full freeze, as well as the language packs translation deadline, was supposed to happen. However, we didn’t have any news about the Plucky Puffin release, so the question is…

What’s going on with Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin?

We are asking you for your patience as the Ubuntu team is working on ensuring that the release candidate is released within this week.

#2504 #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update

Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin will enter Release Candidate on April 10th!

According to the Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin release schedule, this version should enter the release candidate stage. This means that, starting from tomorrow (April 10th), all images produced from that day to the final release date (April 17th) will be under the release candidate stage.

According to the official Ubuntu wiki, the release candidate is considered to be a stage that lasts one week that leads up to the final release, assuming that no release critical bugs are discovered before the final release. Such bugs in this stage, if discovered, may cause a delay in the release. The Ubuntu developers will use this week to shake out any critical bugs that may or may not exist.

In the same day as the release candidate starts getting rolled out, the final freeze starts, which is the most intensive freeze out of all the freezes that will cause all packages to go into a state where only the bug fixes are accepted prior to the release, which results in the final release being more stable than the release candidate. The exceptions are only applied when there are either security or release critical bugs, or under exceptional circumstances.

The language packs will also be finalized in the same day as the release candidate, which means that the text displayed in every application will be delivered as is. The finalized language packs will be released in the same day to ensure that users will be able to use this version of Ubuntu in their own native language.

Get ready for the release candidate of Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin!

#2504 #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update

JPEG-XL meets Ubuntu 25.04!

Ubuntu 25.04 now supports JPEG-XL after Ubuntu 24.04 LTS refused to support this image format. It was supposed to land to the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS version, but there were setbacks that led to Ubuntu not adding support for this image format, but, today, this version of Ubuntu supports this image format.

The JPEG-XL image format support has earned an exception from the feature freeze set to stabilize the final release. Your Ubuntu installation now supports JPEG-XL natively to enable high quality images in smaller sizes, because of the much better compression algorithm than other competitors, such as AVIF and WebP.

Before, you had to install the jpeg-xl package manually if you wanted to get support for the same image format in systems older than Ubuntu 25.04. Now, you don’t need to do this automatically.

The Desktop Team Integration Squad update thread has been updated to include a post summarizing how the JPEG-XL support was added after both the MIR and the Release teams had approved this support.

Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin is set to release on April 17th, unless delays occur.

#2504 #JPEGXL #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update

Ubuntu 25.04 enters Documentation String and Kernel Feature Freeze

As we are only a week away from Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin beta version scheduled for the 27th of this month, there are now two freezes to be set in place:

• Documentation String Freeze
• Kernel Feature Freeze

The documentation string freeze causes all strings (that is, text to be displayed on the screen for documentation) to be finalized in preparation for the translation that is set to end on April 10th. However, there are cases where exceptions are made, such as major typos, but the translation team must get the latest strings to avoid inconsistencies.

As for the kernel feature freeze, it’s a deadline for any new-feature-related kernel changes. It’s a point where the kernel for the upcoming version of Ubuntu, such as Ubuntu 25.04 in this case, is feature-complete and is expected to only receive bug fixes.

As an aside, GNOME 48 is expected to land to Ubuntu 25.04 today.

#2504 #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update

Ubuntu 25.04 official wallpaper revealed

The wallpaper competition has recently ended with two winners for six categories, which are:

• Mascot Theme – Artwork that prominently features the mascot for this release. For 25.04 that’s the Plucky Puffin.
• Digital / Abstract – Artwork created using digital creative tools e.g. Blender, GIMP, Inkscape, Aesprite, etc.
• Photography – High resolution image taken from a conventional or digital camera.

The below wallpapers were selected as winners:

Now, the official Ubuntu 25.04 wallpaper has been made ahead of the final release according to this blog post. You can see the colored, the dark, the dimmed, and the light versions of the official Ubuntu mascot wallpaper below.

The official version of Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin will be released on April 17th, with the expected beta release on March 27th for users to test the version before production.

#2504 #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update #wallpaper

Ubuntu will improve ARM64 support

Ubuntu had conducted a very interesting test for the ARM64 processor architecture support on a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite machine during the development of Ubuntu 24.10. It was a huge success, seeing as the ARM64 laptops and desktops are being more popular in today’s computer stores, alongside the existing ARM64 machines.

As Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin gets closer to the stable release, the Ubuntu team is considering improving support for the ARM64 machines, especially those that use the Snapdragon X Elite processors. The ubuntu-x1e-settings meta-package, which is necessary for such computers, has been promoted to the main repository. At the same time, the qcom-firmware-extract package, which is necessary for Qualcomm machines and is a script that provides a way to extract Qualcomm firmware files from the Windows partition and to create a Debian package for a specific machine, has been uploaded to the universe repository. The script currently provides support for the following Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite machines, with more machines to be added to the list:

• Acer Swift 14 AI (SF14-11)
• ASUS Vivobook S 15
• Dell XPS 13 9345
• HP Omnibook X 14
• Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6
• Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x
• Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 (13.8 inch)
• Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge

The Linux kernel package and the Ubuntu installer will be updated to support such machines to make sure that they run Ubuntu without any problems. This is going to be done starting from 25.04 to make sure that the next LTS, which will be released in the next April, runs flawlessly on such machines.

Alongside that, the Ubuntu team plans to improve support for all ARM64 machines by distributing a single working Ubuntu ISO file for ARM64 systems and by eliminating device-specific installers to make installing Ubuntu on such systems easier than never before. This will be a single official Ubuntu image that works on all the platforms, be it an Ampere powered workstation, a Snapdragon X Elite laptop, an ARM64 server, or in a virtual machine on your Apple Silicon Mac.

The Raspberry Pi machines will also experience improved system compatibility by changing the camera stack to work with such machines. The new PiSP driver has been added to the camera stack to make sure that the Raspberry Pi machines be able to use the camera on Ubuntu, in addition to the rpicam-apps (userspace apps), picamera2 (Python API for camera), and their dependencies. This allows for a smooth migration from the original OS, which is Raspberry Pi OS.

However, the AI features for the official AI camera that uses the Sony IMX500 imaging sensor are not available in this version of Ubuntu due to licensing concerns, but the Ubuntu team will be working on it to resolve the licensing issues so that Raspberry Pi machines will be able to use the AI features for such cameras outside the original OS.

https://audiomack.com/aptivi/song/ubuntu-will-improve-arm64-support

#2504 #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Qualcomm #QualcommSnapdragon #QualcommSnapdragonX #QualcommSnapdragonXElite #Snapdragon #SnapdragonX #SnapdragonXElite #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update #X #XElite

Ubuntu will most likely revert the -O3 optimizations

The Ubuntu team was contemplating enabling the -O3 compiler optimization level for all packages on Ubuntu as a default optimization level. It was said to improve the performance of all the packages. It was one of the most significant changes that Ubuntu had witnessed in the early cycle of development of the Plucky Puffin version around October. The mailing list entry said:

* dpkg-buildflags defaults to -O3 instead of -O2. This might require changes in package builds. Please be aware that we already build with -O3 on ppc64el, so look for possible packaging adjustments.

We told you earlier in the article that the binary size for the packages would be bigger, and that there were some uncertainty about whether all packages would benefit from this level of optimization.

Benchmarking results for the packages that were built with the -O3 optimization level were kind of disappointing, because the Ubuntu team had discovered that:

• overall system performance slightly declined, and
• binary sizes increased.

However, they had seen that some workloads saw improvements when enabling this optimization level. Given the uncertainty that was posted in the same plan laid out in the mailing list, the Ubuntu team will give a detailed posting about the benchmarking results in the next few weeks.

As a result, the team has decided to revert the -O3 compiler optimization level for all the packages and revert to what was previously working, which was -O2. They are likely to revert the change soon to prevent problems when this version of Ubuntu gets released in April.

#O3 #2504 #news #Optimization #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #update

Ubuntu 25.10 will use Dracut

While Ubuntu 25.04 is still ongoing development, there has been progress in switching from initramfs-tools to Dracut. Those tools both handle initrd generation for booting into the Linux kernel in preparation for the full system boot. The Ubuntu engineers are working hard to migrate such tool to Dracut to ensure better bootstrapping by reducing hard-coded logic as much as possible.

Initially, Ubuntu 25.04 would have used Dracut as the initrd generator, but the work wasn’t complete yet, so the Ubuntu engineers have delayed the migration to after Ubuntu 25.04 gets released so that the next version of Ubuntu uses Dracut completely.

However, you have an opportunity to try out Dracut in Ubuntu 25.04 when it gets released. This is so that you can provide feedback to the Ubuntu team about your experience with the Dracut integration.

Ubuntu 25.04 will be the last version that uses initramfs-tools as the default initrd generator, with the October release of Ubuntu being the first version that uses Dracut. This is going to be exciting news for the next year’s Ubuntu LTS release that will be out in the next April.

https://audiomack.com/aptivi/song/ubuntu-2510-will-use-dracut

#2504 #2510 #Dracut #Initramfs #InitramfsTools #Initrd #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2510 #update

Ubuntu 25.10 will use Dracut

While Ubuntu 25.04 is still ongoing development, there has been progress in switching from initramfs-tools to Dracut. Those tools both handle initrd generation for booting into the Linux kernel in preparation for the full system boot. The Ubuntu engineers are working hard to migrate such tool to Dracut to ensure better bootstrapping by reducing hard-coded logic as much as possible.

Initially, Ubuntu 25.04 would have used Dracut as the initrd generator, but the work wasn’t complete yet, so the Ubuntu engineers have delayed the migration to after Ubuntu 25.04 gets released so that the next version of Ubuntu uses Dracut completely.

However, you have an opportunity to try out Dracut in Ubuntu 25.04 when it gets released. This is so that you can provide feedback to the Ubuntu team about your experience with the Dracut integration.

Ubuntu 25.04 will be the last version that uses initramfs-tools as the default initrd generator, with the October release of Ubuntu being the first version that uses Dracut. This is going to be exciting news for the next year’s Ubuntu LTS release that will be out in the next April.

#2504 #2510 #Dracut #Initramfs #InitramfsTools #Initrd #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2510 #update

Ubuntu 25.10 will use Dracut

While Ubuntu 25.04 is still ongoing development, there has been progress in switching from initramfs-tools to Dracut. Those tools both handle initrd generation for booting into the Linux kernel in preparation for the full system boot. The Ubuntu engineers are working hard to migrate such tool to Dracut to ensure better bootstrapping by reducing hard-coded logic as much as possible.

Initially, Ubuntu 25.04 would have used Dracut as the initrd generator, but the work wasn’t complete yet, so the Ubuntu engineers have delayed the migration to after Ubuntu 25.04 gets released so that the next version of Ubuntu uses Dracut completely.

However, you have an opportunity to try out Dracut in Ubuntu 25.04 when it gets released. This is so that you can provide feedback to the Ubuntu team about your experience with the Dracut integration.

Ubuntu 25.04 will be the last version that uses initramfs-tools as the default initrd generator, with the October release of Ubuntu being the first version that uses Dracut. This is going to be exciting news for the next year’s Ubuntu LTS release that will be out in the next April.

https://audiomack.com/aptivi/song/ubuntu-2510-will-use-dracut

#2504 #2510 #Dracut #Initramfs #InitramfsTools #Initrd #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2510 #update

Ubuntu 25.10 will use Dracut

While Ubuntu 25.04 is still ongoing development, there has been progress in switching from initramfs-tools to Dracut. Those tools both handle initrd generation for booting into the Linux kernel in preparation for the full system boot. The Ubuntu engineers are working hard to migrate such tool to Dracut to ensure better bootstrapping by reducing hard-coded logic as much as possible.

Initially, Ubuntu 25.04 would have used Dracut as the initrd generator, but the work wasn’t complete yet, so the Ubuntu engineers have delayed the migration to after Ubuntu 25.04 gets released so that the next version of Ubuntu uses Dracut completely.

However, you have an opportunity to try out Dracut in Ubuntu 25.04 when it gets released. This is so that you can provide feedback to the Ubuntu team about your experience with the Dracut integration.

Ubuntu 25.04 will be the last version that uses initramfs-tools as the default initrd generator, with the October release of Ubuntu being the first version that uses Dracut. This is going to be exciting news for the next year’s Ubuntu LTS release that will be out in the next April.

#2504 #2510 #Dracut #Initramfs #InitramfsTools #Initrd #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2510 #update

Ubuntu 25.10 will use Dracut

While Ubuntu 25.04 is still ongoing development, there has been progress in switching from initramfs-tools to Dracut. Those tools both handle initrd generation for booting into the Linux kernel in preparation for the full system boot. The Ubuntu engineers are working hard to migrate such tool to Dracut to ensure better bootstrapping by reducing hard-coded logic as much as possible.

Initially, Ubuntu 25.04 would have used Dracut as the initrd generator, but the work wasn’t complete yet, so the Ubuntu engineers have delayed the migration to after Ubuntu 25.04 gets released so that the next version of Ubuntu uses Dracut completely.

However, you have an opportunity to try out Dracut in Ubuntu 25.04 when it gets released. This is so that you can provide feedback to the Ubuntu team about your experience with the Dracut integration.

Ubuntu 25.04 will be the last version that uses initramfs-tools as the default initrd generator, with the October release of Ubuntu being the first version that uses Dracut. This is going to be exciting news for the next year’s Ubuntu LTS release that will be out in the next April.

https://audiomack.com/aptivi/song/ubuntu-2510-will-use-dracut

#2504 #2510 #Dracut #Initramfs #InitramfsTools #Initrd #news #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #Puffin #Tech #Technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2510 #update

This version of Ubuntu started the development with one of the most significant changes ever done. This time, it’s about compiler optimization level used on Ubuntu packages by default. When this version of Ubuntu had started its development, the mailing list entry said the following:

* perl 5.40 and haskell / ghc 9.6.6 already migrated to the releasepocket, to avoid entanglement with other transitions.* dpkg-buildflags defaults to -O3 instead of -O2. This might require changes in package builds. Please be aware that we already build with -O3 on ppc64el, so look for possible packaging adjustments.

While the Perl one is irrelevant in this blog post, the second entry in the toolchain changes is interesting. The default build flags for all Ubuntu packages that are determined by dpkg-buildflags have been changed so that -O3 is being used as a default instead of -O2.

This means that all future builds for all Plucky Puffin packages will be more optimized. Because of this, the build times will increase, but that doesn’t affect the end user. As a result, the packages that are built with the third optimization level will be faster than before, which means that your computer will be faster the second you upgrade to 25.04.

However, the binary size for the packages will be bigger, and there is uncertainty whether all packages benefit from this level of optimization that will be applied to all the packages. Furthermore, all builds and tests will be run, so expect delays. After that, when you test 25.04 during the development cycle, you should experience performance improvements.

On a side note, Perl 5.40 was released to Ubuntu 25.04, which brings several new features, new analyzers, and breaking changes, such as the :reader attribute for field variables, the breaking changes related to use VERSION declarations, the Infinity (inf) and Not-a-Number (nan) constants in builtin static class (module), the medium-precedence Logical XOR ^^ operator, the try...catch...finally block being a stable Perl feature, and stable support for multiple value iterations for the for loop.

Let’s see what Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin will offer as the next LTS, 26.04 RR, gets closer to the development period.

https://officialaptivi.wordpress.com/2024/11/04/ubuntu-25-04-plucky-puffins-packages-are-more-optimized/

#O2 #O3 #2504 #Acceleration #C #C_ #Computer #computers #GCC #GCCCompiler #improvements #Linux #LinuxUbuntu #news #Optimization #performance #Plucky #PluckyPuffin #speed #Tech #technology #Ubuntu #Ubuntu2504 #Ubuntu2504Plucky #Ubuntu2504PluckyPuffin #Ubuntu2504Puffin #UbuntuLinux #ubuntulinux #update