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Kubuntu LTS and KDE4
Ubuntu and its siblings are preparing for the next Long Term Support (LTS) release, v8.04 (April 2008) - the Hardy Heron. Ubuntu's first release was announced in September 2004, with a (then) brand new GNOME 2.8 desktop. Since then Ubuntu releases have been tied pretty closely to GNOME releases.Now, of course, we have Kubuntu for KDE fans, and Xubuntu for Xfce fans. That's great, but Ubuntu releases aren't timed for new versions of those desktops. And that's why it seems that Kubuntu 8.04 will not be a LTS release after all.
The final release of KDE 4.0 will be out in January and a Kubuntu 7.10
live CD with KDE 4 RC2 is getting plenty of downloads. Interest in KDE 4.0
is high. Jonathan Riddell, Kubuntu project lead, writes: "Since KDE 4 is a major change
to the platform, it is not currently at one of these natural rest points so
would not be suitable for long term support. Instead, due to the very high
interest, development efforts will be directed towards KDE 4 and releasing
Kubuntu 8.04 with the option of using either KDE 3.5 or KDE 4.
"
Basically, it seems that Canonical, Kubuntu's parent company, thinks that KDE 3.5 is stable enough for a LTS release, but upstream support will be dropping off before the full three-year period promised for a LTS release. KDE 4.0 is currently popular, and will be supported upstream, but its not quite stable enough for a LTS release.
Richard A. Johnson presents
his viewpoint. "Kubuntu 8.04 will not be LTS, unless after all
of this hoopla something changes. Honestly, I do not see why the KDE 3.5
release can't be LTS, but as Jonathan said, that is Canonical's
calling.
" He continues, "If we were to continue to redirect
100% of our efforts to KDE 3.5, come this time next year, we will be so far
behind the rest of the distributions pushing KDE 4. We, Kubuntu Development
Team, do not have the resources to do both a KDE 3.5 LTS release as well as
a KDE 4 release at the same time. We cannot afford to neglect KDE 4 as a
distribution. If we were to neglect it now, we could never catch up to
distributions such as Fedora, openSUSE, and others who are just swarming
with developers.
"
Kubuntu is sometimes seen a "second class citizen" compared to Ubuntu and if Kubuntu does not release a LTS version that perception will only be strengthened. But the developer pool is small and Canonical must decide what they can realistically support for a 3 year time period, as opposed to the usual 18 month period for most releases.
In another post,
Richard A. Johnson writes: "Don't get me wrong, I am torn between
LTS and non-LTS for a multitude of reasons. I know people want LTS and just
as many, if not more, want KDE 4. I am afraid that if we do the LTS way, we
will miss out on KDE 4 and the hype behind it. At the same time I worry
about those who were looking forward to an LTS release. At the same time, I
also realize we do 6 month releases, and majority of our users follow our
releases and typically upgrade on release day, the amount of noise created
in the past about dist-upgrade breakage supports this.
"
Krzysztof Lichota comments:
I think putting much effort on KDE 4 i shooting yourself in the foot. It is very new code (it isn't released even yet!) and it will contain lots of bugs and cause a lot of problems. It also misses some features from KDE 3. IMO 8.04 should be LTS release with mainly 3.5 support and with option to try out KDE 4.
Others agree that focusing on KDE 3.5 for a LTS release is the way to go. Unsupported live CDs with KDE 4 could be made available. And six months after the Hardy release comes Kubuntu 8.10, which will certainly feature KDE 4.
Scott James Remnant notes:
"The community's input was actually sought on several points, and
many members of the Kubuntu community provided answers and insight that
contributed to the decision. It is difficult for this decision to be
made by the community because the community's stake in Kubuntu is one of
personal achievement and pride, whereas Canonical's is financial and of
commercial commitments. Had Canonical simply asked the community
"should Kubuntu 8.04 be an LTS?", the answer would not be based on the
same terms: instead more direct questions were asked such as "how long
will upstream work on KDE 3.5?"
"
Version 8.04 is only the second LTS release (the first being 6.06, aka Dapper Drake), so this situation really hasn't come up before. It is bound to come up again though. There may be other times in the future when not all the Ubuntu siblings will have the same support cycle. It doesn't necessarily make them second class, it just makes them more supportable.
New Releases
Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 updated
The Debian project has announced the second update of its stable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codename etch). This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustments to serious problems.Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 updated
The Debian project has announced the seventh update of its old stable distribution Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 (codename `sarge'). This is the first sarge update since etch was released. This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the old stable release, along with a few adjustments to serious problems.Unofficial Debian+XFCE build
An unofficial build of Debian "etch" with Xfce4 is available for the OLPC XO system. "It includes Firefox, Thunderbird, a suite of development tools (python, git, gcc, gdb, flex, bison, automake, autoconf, libtool), a music player (XMMS), IRC client (irssi) and a graphical wireless AP selector. The entire build takes up 250MB of flash. I optimized the Firefox window layout to give you maximum screen estate, and configured a number of keyboard shortcuts. Feedback welcome. Standard disclaimer applies."
Fedora Unity announces Fedora 8 Re-Spin
The Fedora Unity Project has announced the release of new ISO Re-Spins (DVD and CD Sets) of Fedora 8. These Re-Spin ISOs are based on the officially released Fedora 8 installation media and include all updates released as of December 18th, 2007. The ISO images are available for i386 and x86_64 architectures via jigdo.Stable LFS LiveCD 6.3-r2160 released
Linux From Scratch has released an updated live CD with version 6.3 of the LFS book. Click below to see the changes since the initial 6.3 release.Announcing NetBSD 4.0
The NetBSD Project has announced the release of v4.0 of the NetBSD operating system. "Major achievements in NetBSD 4.0 include support for version 3 of the Xen virtual machine monitor, Bluetooth, many new device drivers and embedded platforms based on ARM, PowerPC and MIPS CPUs. New network services include iSCSI target (server) code and an implementation of the Common Address Redundancy Protocol. Also, system security was further enhanced with restrictions of mprotect(2) to enforce W^X policies, the Kernel Authorization framework, and improvements of the Veriexec file integrity subsystem, which can be used to harden the system against trojan horses and virus attacks."
openSUSE Build Service Version 0.5 Release
The openSUSE project has released version 0.5 of the openSUSE Build Service. This code provides the functionality as provided on https://build.opensuse.org/ for the first time as an official tar ball release. Pointsettia provides the complete infrastructure to build single hardware architecture distributions. System images can be created via KIWI.SimplyMEPIS 7.0 released
MEPIS has announced the release of SimplyMEPIS 7.0. "Some of the important packages included with the 7.0 release are: an updated and security patched 2.6.22.14 kernel, Xorg 7.1.0, KDE 3.5.8, OpenOffice 2.3.0, Firefox 2.0.0.11, Thunderbird 2.0.0.6, Digikam 0.9.2, Sun Java 6.00, Amarok 1.4.7, mplayer 1.0.rc1, fuse driver 2.7.0, ntfs-3g 1.710, madwifi-ng Atheros driver 0.9.3.2, wpa-supplicant 0.6.0, ALSA sound drivers 1.0.15, libglib2.0 2.14.0, libgtk2.0 2.10.13, and QT 4.3.1-1."
Hardy Alpha 2 released
The second alpha of Ubuntu's Hardy Heron, v8.04, is available for testing. "This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs. For a list of known bugs (that you don't need to report if you encounter), please see: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha2"
VectorLinux v5.9 GOLD
VectorLinux has announced the release of VectorLinux v5.9 standard GOLD. "This release follows our legendary tradition of stability (inherited from SlackWare-12), blazing speed on even modest hardware and simplicity of design and function. The release features fully working browser plugins including Flash, java, mp3, real media, Windows media, pdf and Quick time. Additional features include: X.org 7.3, Linux kernel 2.6.22.14, fully customized Xfce 4.4.2, Fluxbox, Jwm, SeaMonkey Internet Suite 1.1.7, Firefox 2.0.0.11 and Opera 9.5.0 beta1 (so you'll be sure to have your favorite browser!). Abiword and Gnumeric for your office tasks."
Distribution News
Debian GNU/Linux
Status of GCC 4.3 on Alpha (Debian)
Martin Michlmayr has been compiling the Debian archive on Alpha with GCC 4.3. There are a few issues still, but overall the status is good.Debian 2007 timeline
Romain Francoise has started a Debian 2007 timeline to track the significant events of the year in the Debian Project.
Slackware Linux
SUSE Linux and openSUSE
SUSE Linux Desktop 1.0 has reached End of Life
The last maintenance update for SUSE Linux Desktop 1.0 has been released. "SUSE Linux Desktop 1.0 is now at its End Of Life, support is discontinued, and no more updates will be published."
Other distributions
Welcome New OpenPKG Year 2008!
OpenPKG wants to wish everyone a happy new year and let you know about some adjustments. "Following our good tradition, the turn of the year is the prominent point in time where we adjust the official OpenPKG world order to the current organizational and technological circumstances." Click below to find out more about the current adjustments.
Source Mage 2008 Project Lead Nominations
Nominations are open for the position of Source Mage project leader. See the Voting Policy for more information. Nominations are open until January 9, 2008.
Distribution Newsletters
Foresight Newsletter Issue 9
The December 2007 edition of the Foresight Newsletter is out. "This month we take a look at the initial launch of the GNOME Developer Kit based on Foresight Linux, a look back at the year in review in the world of Foresight, an update on the next alpha version of the 2.0 release, updates to developer documentation, and news from Foresight's marketing and infrastructure teams."
Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #71
The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for December 29, 2007 is out. "In this issue: Dell adds DVD playback, Ubuntu Live Conference proposals, Hardy Alpha 2, Ubuntu Desktop training course, a community approach to commercial training, Kubuntu 8.04 LTS status, Full Circle Magazine Issue #8, new Kubuntu members, IRSeek, a new Official Ubuntu Book, and much, much more!!"
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol
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