Next Release of Ubuntu LTS Announced

[DC@DR]

(Portland, Oregon) -- In this morning's first keynote of the Ubuntu Live conference here, Canonical Ltd. founder Mark Shuttleworth announced the next Long Term Support release of Ubuntu.
Details here: http://www.linuxtoday.com/it_management/2007072200826NWDBSW
I will definitely wait for it, cheers :-)

[celsofaf]

Next LTS will, for sure, help a lot to establish Ubuntu (and Linux overall) better on the enterprise market. Very good news!

[tbroderick]

I wish LTS was based off Debian Stable branch.

[Adamant1988]

Hopefully it'll be worth downloading and using. :)

[starcraft.man]

That sounds great, too bad that date is soooo far away... *wishes for an open-source time machine*

[DC@DR]

Dapper Drake is stable, so we could presume that Ubuntu 8.04 will be rock-solid too...I hope at that time HP will announce Ubuntu-preinstalled desk/laptop too, that would be ...perfect :-D

[FuturePilot]

W00t!!\\:D/

[AlexenderReez]

hm...i'm waiting it too:)

[happy-and-lost]

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS "Hungry Hungry Hippo" just sounds cool :)

[hanzomon4]

Dapper Drake is stable, so we could presume that Ubuntu 8.04 will be rock-solid too...I hope at that time HP will announce Ubuntu-preinstalled desk/laptop too, that would be ...perfect :-D

Is HP looking at pre-installed linux? I know they sell UNIX pcs....

[DC@DR]

Is HP looking at pre-installed linux? I know they sell UNIX pcs....
Yes, there are rumors around about HP is going to preinstall Ubuntu (http://software.seekingalpha.com/article/39413), and to be honest, Ubuntu is the most popular and the most desktop-ready Linux available on the market nowadays, so if HP follow Dell, it will choose Ubuntu, I'm pretty confident. Let's hope these rumors will come true :-)

[ThrobbingBrain66]

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS "Hungry Hungry Hippo" just sounds cool :)

Alas, 'H" has already been used :(

[cawill]

I thought an Ubuntu LTS was meant to be released every 18 months?

So shouldn't Gutsy be LTS as I heard dapper was delayed by 2 months (so its really 6.04), or am I completely wrong?

[ThrobbingBrain66]

Dapper was the fourth Ubuntu release, so if the same form is followed, then Gutsy+1 will be the next LTS.

[igknighted]

I really wish they had a separate "Enterprise" edition that was based off of Debian Stable or something. The LTS thing really is of little to no value to the average Desktop user, and really just messes stuff up that the rest of us would like *kough*KDE4*kough*.

Also, since Dell sells Ubuntu, it would be nice to see HP pick another distro (like Mandriva or Suse). Ubuntu is a great distro, but there is so much more to linux than Ubuntu or even the "Debian wing". Suse and Mandriva have the most advanced GUI config tools, it would be nice to show that stuff off too. Plus not all linux users like Gnome (in fact less than half use it from all the stats I have seen), so why should gnome be all people see? Lets put KDE on some kovers too so the people have options (and by options, I mean when they look at the computer before they buy it they actually see KDE and not gnome... not "oh there are other desktops you can install later if you want..."

EDIT: None of the above is because Ubuntu is bad, but because I put the well being of linux as a whole far above any loyalty I have to any one distro. So while Ubuntu is a great choice and I hope people consider it, I think there NEEDS to be other options as well.

[Extreme Coder]

I really wish they had a separate "Enterprise" edition that was based off of Debian Stable or something. The LTS thing really is of little to no value to the average Desktop user, and really just messes stuff up that the rest of us would like *kough*KDE4*kough*.

Also, since Dell sells Ubuntu, it would be nice to see HP pick another distro (like Mandriva or Suse). Ubuntu is a great distro, but there is so much more to linux than Ubuntu or even the "Debian wing". Suse and Mandriva have the most advanced GUI config tools, it would be nice to show that stuff off too. Plus not all linux users like Gnome (in fact less than half use it from all the stats I have seen), so why should gnome be all people see? Lets put KDE on some kovers too so the people have options (and by options, I mean when they look at the computer before they buy it they actually see KDE and not gnome... not "oh there are other desktops you can install later if you want..."

EDIT: None of the above is because Ubuntu is bad, but because I put the well being of linux as a whole far above any loyalty I have to any one distro. So while Ubuntu is a great choice and I hope people consider it, I think there NEEDS to be other options as well.
Fully agreed.
Sometimes I feel Ubuntu is covering other distros.

[Hex_Mandos]

Personally, I want Ubuntu to cover other distros. Having one mainstream desktop distro is great for non-technical users. Geeks like us may like to try distros, but my mom would be baffled by the idea of dozens of virtually identical OSes (as for her, the DE is the OS). Ubuntu is by far the best distro for home use, and there are dozens of tutorials out there (which newer distros like PCLOS lack).

However, I'd still celebrate if HP decided to sell laptops with Mandriva or SUSE preloaded. Maybe that wouldn't be too bad... it could help vendors differentiate themselves from each other, a lot like Apple.

[igknighted]

Personally, I want Ubuntu to cover other distros. Having one mainstream desktop distro is great for non-technical users. Geeks like us may like to try distros, but my mom would be baffled by the idea of dozens of virtually identical OSes (as for her, the DE is the OS). Ubuntu is by far the best distro for home use, and there are dozens of tutorials out there (which newer distros like PCLOS lack).

However, I'd still celebrate if HP decided to sell laptops with Mandriva or SUSE preloaded. Maybe that wouldn't be too bad... it could help vendors differentiate themselves from each other, a lot like Apple.

PLEASE, reread your post. You just committed the cardinal sin that we despise amongst windows trolls. You have taken your personal experience of Ubuntu working best for you and translated that into it being the best for everyone. Why is Ubuntu the best? Have you tried to configure Samba in Ubuntu? What about update a bootloader entry? What about... see, there are certainly how-tos on these things, But in Mandriva the Drakconf control panel makes connecting to Samba shares way easier than even windows does.

Ubuntu is a great OS. But to set it above the other distro's is simply wrong. It has its strong points and its weak points like any other distro. By "covering" the other distros, all that can happen is resentment amongst the community.

I do see the merits of an all-encompassing linux distro, but this is a community. It needs to be done on a volunteer basis, not a "who has a larger market share" basis, because theres a certain other OS that does that and that is a prime reason I don't want to use it.

The answer, rather than ubuntu drowning out other distro's, is more work on standardization through the LSB. They are (theoretically) adding things like a universal package format that will greatly improve cross-distro compatibility. Hopefully we can see more work on unifying the structure of linux underneath so hw vendors can support us better, but the distros can still keep their own unique flair.

[smartboyathome]

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS "Hungry Hungry Hippo" just sounds cool :)


Alas, 'H" has already been used :(

How about Ubuntu 8.04 LTS "Zippy Zebras"? Takes care of the Z's, and is a very cool name! :KS

[Hex_Mandos]

PLEASE, reread your post. You just committed the cardinal sin that we despise amongst windows trolls. You have taken your personal experience of Ubuntu working best for you and translated that into it being the best for everyone. Why is Ubuntu the best? Have you tried to configure Samba in Ubuntu? What about update a bootloader entry? What about... see, there are certainly how-tos on these things, But in Mandriva the Drakconf control panel makes connecting to Samba shares way easier than even windows does.

Ubuntu is a great OS. But to set it above the other distro's is simply wrong. It has its strong points and its weak points like any other distro. By "covering" the other distros, all that can happen is resentment amongst the community.

I do see the merits of an all-encompassing linux distro, but this is a community. It needs to be done on a volunteer basis, not a "who has a larger market share" basis, because theres a certain other OS that does that and that is a prime reason I don't want to use it.

The answer, rather than ubuntu drowning out other distro's, is more work on standardization through the LSB. They are (theoretically) adding things like a universal package format that will greatly improve cross-distro compatibility. Hopefully we can see more work on unifying the structure of linux underneath so hw vendors can support us better, but the distros can still keep their own unique flair.

You're right, there are some aspects where Ubuntu is lacking. However, I wouldn't choose other distro over Ubuntu for home users (I'm dual-booting with PCLOS, and I'd take Ubuntu any day). Most home users don't really need configuring Samba or Grub.

Of course, in some situations Ubuntu loses by a fair bit. For example, I wouldn't install Ubuntu if I weren't planning to upgrade my system every 6 months.

The reason why I'd like to see it covering the other distros is mainly that it has the most momentum right now. If Suse (for example) were in the same situation, I'd want them to capitalize on it. Of course, LSB standards would be far better, but I'll take a de facto standard over no standard (if there isn't a viable de iure standard, of course).

BTW, by "covering" the other distros I don't mean taking users from THEM, but growing faster than they do. Geeks may love Slackware or Gentoo, but the average user is never going to use them. They're not going to lose user share to Ubuntu. I don't want others to fail, I just want Ubuntu to spearhead mainstream desktop Linux adoption.

As for next release's codename, I'd bet on an H name. Gutsy uses a G despite the existance of "Grumpy Groundhog", so Gutsy+1 will probably use an H anyway.

[Extreme Coder]

You're right, there are some aspects where Ubuntu is lacking. However, I wouldn't choose other distro over Ubuntu for home users (I'm dual-booting with PCLOS, and I'd take Ubuntu any day). Most home users don't really need configuring Samba or Grub.

Of course, in some situations Ubuntu loses by a fair bit. For example, I wouldn't install Ubuntu if I weren't planning to upgrade my system every 6 months.

The reason why I'd like to see it covering the other distros is mainly that it has the most momentum right now. If Suse (for example) were in the same situation, I'd want them to capitalize on it. Of course, LSB standards would be far better, but I'll take a de facto standard over no standard (if there isn't a viable de iure standard, of course).

BTW, by "covering" the other distros I don't mean taking users from THEM, but growing faster than they do. Geeks may love Slackware or Gentoo, but the average user is never going to use them. They're not going to lose user share to Ubuntu. I don't want others to fail, I just want Ubuntu to spearhead mainstream desktop Linux adoption.

As for next release's codename, I'd bet on an H name. Gutsy uses a G despite the existance of "Grumpy Groundhog", so Gutsy+1 will probably use an H anyway.
YOU may see Ubuntu as the best distro for the desktop user.
I may see Mandriva in that role.
The guy next to me thinks OpenSUSE is the best desktop distro.
And it goes on.
Nobody said that they want Gentoo/Slackware to be the Linux distributions for the average desktop user.

[Hex_Mandos]

Actually, I've seen people recommend Slackware and Gentoo for newbies proclaiming that they make users understand what they're doing (which is true, but Windows users for the most part aren't interested in that).

And I'm not bashing other distros which could be suitable for desktop use like Suse and Mandriva. I'm not saying Mandriva users should drop their distro and follow my one true way. I'm just saying that it'd actually be helpful if one distro got enough critical mass to be recognized as "Home user's desktop Linux". Ubuntu is already heading in that direction and has far more press than comparable distros (for example, right now it's on par with OS X and Windows in Lifehacker coverage). Ubuntu has enough critical mass to make a dent in Windows' user share.

Again, I'm not saying other distros are terrible or that Linux users should flock to Ubuntu. Just that it makes more sense to push Ubuntu than other distros right now.

[Extreme Coder]

Actually, I've seen people recommend Slackware and Gentoo for newbies proclaiming that they make users understand what they're doing (which is true, but Windows users for the most part aren't interested in that).

And I'm not bashing other distros which could be suitable for desktop use like Suse and Mandriva. I'm not saying Mandriva users should drop their distro and follow my one true way. I'm just saying that it'd actually be helpful if one distro got enough critical mass to be recognized as "Home user's desktop Linux". Ubuntu is already heading in that direction and has far more press than comparable distros (for example, right now it's on par with OS X and Windows in Lifehacker coverage). Ubuntu has enough critical mass to make a dent in Windows' user share.

Again, I'm not saying other distros are terrible or that Linux users should flock to Ubuntu. Just that it makes more sense to push Ubuntu than other distros right now.
Ok, I get what you're saying. :)
No need to argue over this anymore ;)

[igknighted]

Actually, I've seen people recommend Slackware and Gentoo for newbies proclaiming that they make users understand what they're doing (which is true, but Windows users for the most part aren't interested in that).

And I'm not bashing other distros which could be suitable for desktop use like Suse and Mandriva. I'm not saying Mandriva users should drop their distro and follow my one true way. I'm just saying that it'd actually be helpful if one distro got enough critical mass to be recognized as "Home user's desktop Linux". Ubuntu is already heading in that direction and has far more press than comparable distros (for example, right now it's on par with OS X and Windows in Lifehacker coverage). Ubuntu has enough critical mass to make a dent in Windows' user share.

Again, I'm not saying other distros are terrible or that Linux users should flock to Ubuntu. Just that it makes more sense to push Ubuntu than other distros right now.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. Although the common userspace driver API proposed for kernel 2.6.23 could very well be a big step towards what I proposed in my earlier post about consistancy across distros.

[salsafyren]

I wonder why Shuttleworth deliberately increases the workload on the developers: every second year, a 5 year supported release will emerge. When 8.04 will be released, Ubuntu has to support:

8.04
7.10
7.04
6.06

Next time an LTS will be released they will have to support 5 versions. That's too much IMHO.

Ubuntu has to support all versions no matter how many people are using them.

[igknighted]

I wonder why Shuttleworth deliberately increases the workload on the developers: every second year, a 5 year supported release will emerge. When 8.04 will be released, Ubuntu has to support:

8.04
7.10
7.04
6.06

Next time an LTS will be released they will have to support 5 versions. That's too much IMHO.

Ubuntu has to support all versions no matter how many people are using them.

Support for 6.06, 7.04 and 7.10 at that point will include: Absolutely critical security fixes and making sure that the servers hosting the repo's stay on. There is very little development on these releases.

[Arathorn]

Next time an LTS will be released they will have to support 5 versions. That's too much IMHO.

Ubuntu has to support all versions no matter how many people are using them.

Aren't you contradicting yourself here?

Does the LTS-ifying of Gutsy + 1 really mean KDE 4 will not be included? Is that final? KDE 4 should be out shortly after Gutsy, with Gutsy KDE 4 packages released shortly after that, so KDE 4 should be pretty stable by the time Gutsy's successor is released.

[psyopper]

I'm at UbuntuLive as I type this. Mark pointed out yesterday and reiterated today that there is a movement among and between the Linux Kernel team and the major software Distros to come up with a compatable (with all parties involved) release schedule so that:

1. The Kernel team can focus on and release rock solid core releases

2. The DE's and Distro's can release rock solid software releases

3. These releases can coincide with each other so that the user and administration base will know that they are getting strong and stable releases for their produciton/enterprise environments. In Ubuntu Speak these would become the LTS releases

There would still be interim releases of all of the above as well as bugs are fixed and new things are tried. In Ubuntu Speak these would be the standard 6 month releases.

I mention all of this because maybe the next LTS, 8.04 would coincide with these timed releases. Of course this is all talk and conjecture, but maybe Mark knows more about the final process of these super-stables than we do.

PS - you can check out my blog (http://psyopper.wordpress.com) for UbuntuLive updates.

[salsafyren]

Aren't you contradicting yourself here?

Does the LTS-ifying of Gutsy + 1 really mean KDE 4 will not be included? Is that final? KDE 4 should be out shortly after Gutsy, with Gutsy KDE 4 packages released shortly after that, so KDE 4 should be pretty stable by the time Gutsy's successor is released.

Sorry for being unclear. I meant that Ubuntu has to support eg. Dapper even though not many users are using it - because that's what they promised.

[salsafyren]

Support for 6.06, 7.04 and 7.10 at that point will include: Absolutely critical security fixes and making sure that the servers hosting the repo's stay on. There is very little development on these releases.

Yes. I read some of developer's meeting logs on the wiki, and it seemed they already had too much to do. Some developers think they need to fix more bugs.

I am just worried that Shuttleworth puts too much strain on existing developers. He needs to hire more people if he wants to keep the quality up.

[Hex_Mandos]

We'll just have to agree to disagree. Although the common userspace driver API proposed for kernel 2.6.23 could very well be a big step towards what I proposed in my earlier post about consistancy across distros.

I'd welcome that, too, and it'd be a better solution than Ubuntu becoming the standard.

psyopper: That sounds like great news! Having a coherent base between the distributions would be a great thing. Add a universal package format and we'll be really close to what Windows users expect from an OS.

[psyopper]

I wonder why Shuttleworth deliberately increases the workload on the developers: every second year, a 5 year supported release will emerge. When 8.04 will be released, Ubuntu has to support:

8.04
7.10
7.04
6.06

Next time an LTS will be released they will have to support 5 versions. That's too much IMHO.

Ubuntu has to support all versions no matter how many people are using them.

Not quite true. I'm sitting in Matt Zimmerman's Keynote right now and this discussion is happening as I type. Disregarding the LTS releases, there are only three supported releases at a time. As the newest one comes in the oldest one drops off.

It's two different management cycles, one cycle for the LTS releases (only two at a time), and the regular releases (only 3 at a time)

Most of the management support comes from keeping the repos updated. Build it once and mirror it to the various distros is all it should take, from the kernel to The GIMP.

[salsafyren]

Not quite true. I'm sitting in Matt Zimmerman's Keynote right now and this discussion is happening as I type. Disregarding the LTS releases, there are only three supported releases at a time. As the newest one comes in the oldest one drops off.

It's two different management cycles, one cycle for the LTS releases (only two at a time), and the regular releases (only 3 at a time)

Most of the management support comes from keeping the repos updated. Build it once and mirror it to the various distros is all it should take, from the kernel to The GIMP.

I think you are mistaken.

LTS releases are supported 3 years on the desktop, 5 years on the server.

So if you add an LTS release every two years, you'll have to support a lot of LTS releases in the end.

However, if Ubuntu can handle it, everybody wins.

[Incense]

So is there any real reason for the desktop user to stick with an LTS, rather then update with the normal six month release?

[Rocket2DMn]

Not particularly. They may not want every six month release since it can be a hassle for a lot of users to deal with upgrades like that twice a year. A lot of people will probably prefer to upgrade once a year, but even every 2 years isn't bad for those who don't want to deal with problems associated with upgrading.
I don't imagine a desktop user would want more than the 3 year support since after that length of time, an upgrade is probably in order.

[LaRoza]

I think Linux would need a slightly unified face to appeal to the masses. Now whether I think Linux should spread to the average user is a different story. The average user isn't going to get any smarter, and I don't want the distros to get dumber.

[psyopper]

If you're interested in what the support cycle looks like, there's a good picture of the slide from UbuntuLive that shows it in a nice logical fashion. Thanks to Phoronix for taking this shot and sharing it with the rest of us!

http://www.phoronix.net/image.php?id=787&image=ubuntulive_day2_14_lrg

[Tumpster]

I suppose I'll hold off and stick with dapper lts till April 08 then! :)

[Quillz]

My question is though, why was 6.06 chosen to be the first LTS? What made it so much better than the previous release or the next release? Was 6.06 always planned to be the first LTS?

[FuturePilot]

My question is though, why was 6.06 chosen to be the first LTS? What made it so much better than the previous release or the next release? Was 6.06 always planned to be the first LTS?

I think it was because prior to 6.06 the Ubuntu project was still very young and still getting its feet on the ground. Mark probably figured that Ubuntu had reached a point where it could handle it.