TechnicalOverview

Differences between revisions 80 and 132 (spanning 52 versions)
Revision 80 as of 2009-09-17 20:00:32
Size: 13825
Editor: minbar
Comment: errata for bug #431786
Revision 132 as of 2009-10-28 16:06:36
Size: 13138
Editor: pD9EB68B8
Comment:
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 6: Line 6:
The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. The Karmic Koala Alpha 6 is the sixth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10, bringing with it the earliest new features for the next version of Ubuntu.

'''This is an alpha release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released on October 29th, 2009.'''
The Ubuntu team is happy to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. This is their latest result, the Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate, which brings a host of exciting new features.
Line 12: Line 10:
To upgrade from Ubuntu 9.04 on a desktop system, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release '9.10' is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions. If you are upgrading from Ubuntu 9.04, we have easy-to-follow [[http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading|upgrade instructions]].
Line 14: Line 12:
To upgrade from Ubuntu 9.04 on a server system: install the {{{update-manager-core}}} package if it is not already installed; edit {{{/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades}}} and set {{{Prompt=normal}}}; launch the upgrade tool with the command {{{sudo do-release-upgrade}}}; and follow the on-screen instructions.

= New features in Karmic =

Feature development for Karmic is happening with full speed. Please see the [[https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/+specs|Karmic blueprint list]] for details.

Please test and report any bugs you find:

 http://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

== Updated Packages ==

As with every new release, packages--applications and software of all kinds--are being updated at a rapid pace. Many of these packages come from an automatic sync from Debian's Unstable branch. For a list of all packages being accepted for 9.10 Karmic Koala, please subscribe to karmic-changes:

 https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/karmic-changes
= New features since Ubuntu 9.04 =
Line 31: Line 15:
As part of our boot performance work, we have now transitioned to [[http://upstart.ubuntu.com/|Upstart]]. If you are testing on your primary machine, we '''strongly''' suggest having an [[http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/9.10/alpha-5/|Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 5 LiveCD]] available, or creating an Alpha 5 USB startup disk before doing an upgrade. This will allow us to help you recover in the case that something goes wrong during the boot of your system after upgrade. We request that all bugs affecting the performance or functionality of boot be tagged with `ubuntu-boot` in Launchpad. As part of our boot performance work, we have now transitioned to [[http://upstart.ubuntu.com/|Upstart]] native jobs, to let users get to their desktop faster after boot. Upstart is written by Scott James Remnant.
Line 33: Line 17:
== Software Store ==
Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 6 includes the [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareStore|Ubuntu Software Store]]. It is temporarily located under `System`, with a plan to replace `Add\Remove` in the Beta release. We kindly request users to try it out, and [[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/software-store|report any bugs]] they find.
== Software Center ==
Ubuntu 9.10 RC includes the [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter|Ubuntu Software Center]], developed by Michael Vogt, replacing 'Add/Remove' in the '''Applications''' menu.
Line 38: Line 22:
Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 6 includes the latest [[http://live.gnome.org/TwoPointTwentyseven/|GNOME 2.27.91]] development release. Ubuntu 9.10 RC includes the latest [[http://live.gnome.org/TwoPointTwentyseven/|GNOME 2.28]] desktop environment with a number of great new features:
Line 40: Line 24:
[[http://live.gnome.org/Empathy|Empathy]] has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client, introducing the [[http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/wiki/|Telepathy framework]].  * [[http://live.gnome.org/Empathy|Empathy]] has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client, introducing the [[http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/wiki/|Telepathy framework]].
Line 42: Line 26:
The gdm 2.27.91 login manager is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases.  * The gdm 2.28 login manager by William Jon Mc``Cann is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases, permitting a more integrated login experience.

 * Evince, the GNOME document viewer, now ships with an enforcing AppArmor profile. This greatly increases security by protecting you against flaws in the historically problematic PDF and image libraries. Users who use a non-standard location for their home directory will need to [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingApparmor#Adjusting%20Tunables|adjust the home tunable]] in ```/etc/apparmor.d/tunables/home```. This profile has been developed by the Ubuntu Security team.

== Ubuntu 9.10 translation status ==

Thanks to the efforts of the broad translations community around the globe, Ubuntu is available in the following 25 languages: Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, Swedish, German, Hungarian, Simplified Chinese, English, Russian, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish, Catalan, Czech, Polish, Korean, Bulgarian, Greek, Slovenian, Traditional Chinese, Basque and Galician.

This list represents the languages which have achieved the target of what we consider a translated operating system. However, Ubuntu is also available in many other languages with varying degrees of support, a big number of which are close to what we consider complete: Asturian, Serbian, Vietnamese, Estonian, Norwegian Bokmål, Bengali, Hebrew, Gujarati and Hindi. You can see the full list of languages, along with their statistics at [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Translations/ReleaseLanguages/9.10]].

== Application development with Quickly ==

Quickly, by Rick Spencer and Didier Roche, makes it easy for developers to make new applications for Ubuntu, and to share those application with other Ubuntu users via .deb packages or personal package archives.
Line 46: Line 42:
Kubuntu includes its first Netbook release, Social from the Start and the latest [[http://www.kde.org|KDE]] packages. See [[KarmicKoala/Alpha6/Kubuntu|the Kubuntu technical overview]] Kubuntu 9.10 includes the first Kubuntu Netbook release, Social from the Start and the latest [[http://www.kde.org|KDE]] packages. See [[KarmicKoala/RC/Kubuntu|the Kubuntu technical overview]].
Line 50: Line 46:
Alpha 6 includes alpha images which are common to [[http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/serveredition/cloud/UEC|Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud]] (UEC) and Amazon's EC2. You can try out the latest Karmic server alpha instantly on EC2 using a preconfigured AMI, or download an image and put it into your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud. For information on using UEC images on Amazon EC2, see the [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EC2StartersGuide|EC2 Starter's Guide]]. Ubuntu 9.10 RC includes images for common use on [[http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/serveredition/cloud/UEC|Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud]] (UEC) and Amazon's EC2. You can try out the latest Ubuntu 9.10 server image instantly on EC2 using a preconfigured AMI, or download an image and put it into your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud. For information on using UEC images on Amazon EC2, see the [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EC2StartersGuide|EC2 Starter's Guide]].
Line 52: Line 48:
== Ubuntu One file sharing == == Ubuntu One ==
Line 54: Line 50:
Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 6 ships the [[https://ubuntuone.com/|Ubuntu One]] file sharing service by default, providing tightly integrated file synchronization of your computer with other computers and the Ubuntu One network storage service. Ubuntu 9.10 RC ships with [[https://one.ubuntu.com/|Ubuntu One]] by default. Ubuntu One is your personal cloud. You can use it to back up, store, sync and share your data with other Ubuntu One users.

Ubuntu One gives all [[https://one.ubuntu.com/features/|features]] and 2 GB of essential storage to everyone. Synchronize files, contacts, and Tomboy notes across all of your Ubuntu computers and to the cloud. [[https://one.ubuntu.com/plans/|More space is available]] with a monthly subscription.

[[https://launchpad.net/ubuntuone/|Ubuntu One project information]] is available on Launchpad.
Line 58: Line 58:
Alpha 6 includes the 2.6.31-9.29 [[http://kernel.org|kernel]] based on 2.6.31-rc8. The kernel ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics (see below). `linux-restricted-modules` is deprecated in favour of DKMS packages. Ubuntu 9.10 RC includes the 2.6.31-14.48 [[http://kernel.org|kernel]] based on 2.6.31.1. The kernel ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics (see below). `linux-restricted-modules` is deprecated in favour of DKMS packages.
Line 62: Line 62:
Karmic Alpha 6's underlying technology for power management, laptop hotkeys, and handling of storage devices and cameras maps has moved from "hal" (which is in the process of being deprecated) to "Device``Kit-power", "Device``Kit-disks" and "udev". When testing Alpha 6, please pay particular attention to regressions in those areas and report bugs. Ubuntu 9.10 RC's underlying technology for power management, laptop hotkeys, and handling of storage devices and cameras maps has moved from "hal" (which is in the process of being deprecated) to "Device``Kit-power", "Device``Kit-disks" and "udev".
Line 64: Line 64:
== New Intel video driver architecture available for testing == == New Intel video driver architecture ==
Line 66: Line 66:
The Intel video driver has switched from the "EXA" acceleration method to the new "UXA". This solves major performance problems of Ubuntu 9.04, but could use further testing to flag any regressions it may bring.

Feedback about the new "kernel mode setting" feature is also heavily appreciated. This will reduce video mode switching flicker at booting, and dramatically speed up suspend/resume. Please see the [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/KernelModeSetting|instructions and feedback page]] for details.

== New default compiler ==

Karmic uses GCC-4.4 as the default compiler, which in some parts is more strict than GCC-4.3, see [[http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.4/changes.html|list of changes]]. Please make sure to test packages on karmic or in a karmic chroot before upload.
The Intel video driver has switched from the "EXA" acceleration method to the new "UXA", solving major performance problems of Ubuntu 9.04. Ubuntu 9.10 RC also features [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/KernelModeSetting|kernel mode setting]] by default on Intel hardware, which reduces boot-time flickering and dramatically speeds up suspend/resume.
Line 76: Line 70:
The new "ext4" filesystem is used by default for new installations of Karmic; of course, other filesystems are still available via the manual partitioner. Existing filesystems will not be upgraded. The new "ext4" filesystem is used by default for new installations with Ubuntu 9.10 RC; of course, other filesystems are still available via the manual partitioner. Existing filesystems will not be upgraded.
Line 78: Line 72:
If you have full backups and are confident, you can upgrade an existing ext3 filesystem to ext4 by following directions in the [[http://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Howto#Converting_an_ext3_filesystem_to_ext4|Ext4 Howto]] (note that the comments on that page at the time of writing about Ubuntu's use of vol_id vs. blkid are out of date and are not applicable to Karmic). Maximum performance will typically only be achieved on new filesystems, not on filesystems that have been upgraded from ext3. If you have full backups and are confident, you can upgrade an existing ext3 filesystem to ext4 by following directions in the [[http://ext4.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Ext4_Howto#Converting_an_ext3_filesystem_to_ext4|Ext4 Howto]]. (Note that the comments on that page at the time of writing about Ubuntu's use of vol_id vs. blkid are out of date and are not applicable to Ubuntu 9.10 RC.) Maximum performance will typically only be achieved on new filesystems, not on filesystems that have been upgraded from ext3.
Line 82: Line 76:
GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for new installations of Karmic, replacing the previous GRUB "Legacy" boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time, as automatically reinstalling the boot loader is an inherently risky operation. GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for new installations with Ubuntu 9.10 RC, replacing the previous GRUB "Legacy" boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time, as automatically reinstalling the boot loader is an inherently risky operation.
Line 95: Line 89:
A lot of work went into AppArmor for Karmic. The parser has been improved to
use cache files, greatly speeding up AppArmor initialisation on boot. AppArmor
also now supports 'pux' which, when specified, means a process can transition to
an existing profile if one exists or simply run unconfined if one does not.
Improved support for globbing has also been added, most notably when using
wildcard matching for the binary of a profile. Significantly, the AppArmor
patch for Ubuntu has been heavily reworked and now fully uses the upstream LSM
hooks. This makes AppArmor in Ubuntu very self-contained and a good candidate for
future inclusion in the upstream kernel.

AppArmor in Ubuntu 9.10 RC features an improved parser that uses cache files, greatly speeding up App``Armor initialisation on boot. App``Armor also now supports 'pux' which, when specified, means a process can transition to an existing profile if one exists or simply run unconfined if one does not.

Please see the [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AppArmor|AppArmor documentation]] for information on using App``Armor in Ubuntu.
Line 106: Line 95:
In addition to the above changes to AppArmor itself, several profiles were
added. Enforcing profiles for ```ntpd```, the GNOME document viewer
(```evince```), and ```libvirt``` are enabled by default. Co
mplain mode
profiles for Dovecot are now available in the ```apparmor-profiles``` package.
A new profile is provided for Firefox as well, though it is disabled by
default. Users can enable this by using:{{{

In addition to the above changes to App``Armor itself, several profiles were added. Enforcing profiles for ```ntpd```, ```evince```, and ```libvirt``` are enabled by default. Complain mode profiles for Dovecot are now available in the ```apparmor-profiles``` package.

A new profile is provided for Firefox as well, though it is disabled by default. Users can enable App``Armor sandboxing of their browser by running: {{{
Line 115: Line 102:
Please see the [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase/AppArmorProfiles|SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase]]
for a full listing of readily available profiles in Ubuntu.
This profile can be disabled again by performing: {{{
$ sudo apparmor_parser -R /etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox-3.5
$ sudo ln -s /etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox-3.5 /etc/apparmor.d/disable/usr.bin.firefox-3.5
}}}

An App``Armor profile is now available for Apache in the libapache2-mod-apparmor package. When used in combination with the mod_apparmor Apache module, web applications can now be protected and isolated from each other. Instructions for enabling the profile are in the /etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.apache2.mpm-prefork.apache2 file.

Please see the [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase/AppArmorProfiles|SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase]] for a full listing of readily available profiles in Ubuntu.
Line 119: Line 112:
Libvirt now contains AppArmor integration when using KVM or QEMU. Libvirtd is
configured to launch virtual machines that are confined by uniquely restrictive
AppArmor profiles. This feature significantly improves virtualisation in Ubuntu
by providing user-space host protection as well as guest isolation.
Libvirt now contains App``Armor integration when using KVM or QEMU. Libvirtd is configured to launch virtual machines that are confined by uniquely restrictive App``Armor profiles. This feature significantly improves virtualisation in Ubuntu by providing user-space host protection as well as guest isolation.
Line 125: Line 115:
The [[UbuntuFirewall|Uncomplicated Firewall]] now has support for
filtering by interface and egress filtering when using the ```ufw``` command.
Documentation for ufw is also improved to help users better utilise the ufw
framework and take full advantage of Linux netfilter's power and flexibility.
See [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFirewall#Features|UbuntuFirewall#Features]]
for a full list of features.
The [[UbuntuFirewall|Uncomplicated Firewall]] now has support for filtering by interface and egress filtering when using the ```ufw``` command. Documentation for ufw is also improved to help users better utilise the ufw framework and take full advantage of Linux netfilter's power and flexibility. See [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFirewall#Features|UbuntuFirewall#Features]] for a full list of features.
Line 132: Line 117:
= Download Alpha 6 = == Non-eXecutable Emulation ==
[[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Features#Non-Exec%20Memory|Non-eXecutable (NX) memory protection]], also known as eXecute-Disable (XD), has always been available in Ubuntu for any systems that had the hardware to support it and ran the 64-bit kernel or the 32-bit server kernel. The 32-bit PAE desktop kernel ({{{linux-image-generic-pae}}}) now also provides the PAE mode needed for hardware with the NX CPU feature.
Line 134: Line 120:
Get it while it's hot. ISOs and torrents are available at: For systems that lack NX hardware, the 32-bit kernels now provide an approximation of the NX CPU feature via software emulation that can help block many exploits an attacker might run from stack or heap memory.
Line 136: Line 122:
 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/alpha-6/ (Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Netbook Remix) <<BR>>
 http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/alpha-6/ (Ubuntu Server for UEC and EC2) <<BR>>
 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/karmic/alpha-6/ (Ubuntu Desktop for ARM) <<BR>>
 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-6/ (Kubuntu Desktop and Netbook) <<BR>>
 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-6/ (Xubuntu) <<BR>>
 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/karmic/alpha-6/ (Ubuntu``Studio) <<BR>>
 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-6/ (Mythbuntu) <<BR>>
== Blocking Module Loading ==
To [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Features#Block%20module%20loading|block the loading of any further modules]] after boot (generally for servers with unchanging hardware), the {{{/proc/sys/kernel/modules_disabled}}} one-way sysctl flag now exists to add another layer of protections against attackers loading kernel rootkits.

== Position-Independent Executables ==
Building on the work done in Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 to proactively protect Ubuntu from unknown threats by using [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CompilerFlags|strict compiler flags]], more applications have been built as [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Features#PIE|Position-Independent Executables]] (PIE) to take advantage of the [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Features#ASLR|Address Space Layout Randomisation]] (ASLR) available in the Ubuntu kernel.

In addition to the growing program list, PIE programs are now also built with the [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Features#BIND_NOW|BIND_NOW]] linker flag to take full advantage of the existing [[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Features#RELRO|RELRO]] linker flag. This results in PIE programs having fewer places in their memory that can be controlled to redirect program flow when an attacker attempts memory-corruption exploits.

== New input method framework ==

Ubuntu has switched to IBus as preferred input method framework. Unlike the previously used SCIM, IBus is under active development and fixes a number of SCIM's design limitations.

The language selector tool now gives the user the possibility to select the preferred input method framework.

== Language-selector improvements ==

Chinese language-packs, formerly containing both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese translations, have been split into separate packages for these languages. This reduces the amount of data Chinese users need to download.

The language-support-extra and language-support-translations metapackages have been removed from the archive. Packages which provide additional translations for applications such as Thunderbird or OpenOffice.org are now installed by language-selector only if the application package is already installed on the system.

In Ubuntu 9.10 it is necessary to run language-selector manually to get the missing localisation packages installed. An automatic solution for this is planned for the next Ubuntu release.
Line 146: Line 146:
As is to be expected at this stage of the release process, there are several known bugs that users are likely to run into with Karmic Alpha 6. We have documented them here for your convenience along with any known workarounds, so that you don't need to spend time reporting these bugs again:

## * The OEM installer is reported to not correctly set up the end user account in Alpha 6. Investigation of this issue is ongoing. (Bug:423042)

 * When installing Ubuntu from Alpha 6 in a dual-boot configuration with another operating system, such as Windows Vista, the grub2 configuration will not present an option to boot to the other OS. Investigation of this issue is ongoing. (Bug:430141)

 * Installing a UEC cluster controller under Ubuntu Server will hang on reboot due to a bug in the eucalyptus init scripts. As a workaround, you can log in to the server remotely via ssh and change the CLOUD_PORT value in /etc/init.d/eucalyptus-cc to 8774. This bug will be resolved for the Ubuntu 9.10 Beta. (Bug:430758)

 * Installation of a eucalyptus node will not properly configure the bridge network setup in Alpha 6. To correct this after install, log in to the node and run the command {{{sudo sed -i "s/^iface $interface inet dhcp$/iface $interface inet manual/" /etc/network/interfaces && sudo service networking restart}}}, where {{{$interface}}} is the primary interface of the machine. Cluster nodes installed using Ubuntu 9.10 Beta will have the correct configuration set automatically. (Bug:430820)

 * The OEM installer end-user setup will fail to start in Alpha 6. Investigation of this issue is ongoing. (Bug:431941)

 * Choosing the "Install Kubuntu" option from Kubuntu and Kubuntu Netbook LiveCDs will start a live session instead. As a workaround, you can launch the installer from the live session desktop. Investigation of this issue is ongoing. (Bug:431169)

 * Installing using Wubi will run to completion, but after reboot the newly-installed system will fail to boot with the error message "Could not find a bootloader configuration". Investigation of this issue is ongoing. (Bug:431285)

 * In some configurations, users will be unable to use the auto-resize option due to a timestamp problem during ext3/4 filesystem check. Investigation of this issue is ongoing. (Bug:431786)

= Reporting bugs =

It should come as no surprise that this alpha release of Karmic Koala contains other bugs. Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help fix bugs and improve future releases. Please [[http://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs|report bugs using the tools provided]].

If you want to help out with bugs, the [[http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad|Bug Squad]] is always looking for help.

= Participate in Ubuntu =

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at

 http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

= More information =

You can find out more about Ubuntu on the [[http://www.ubuntu.com|Ubuntu website]] and [[http://wiki.ubuntu.com|Ubuntu wiki]].

To sign up for future Ubuntu development announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu's development announcement list at:

 http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce
For a full list of errata for Ubuntu 9.10, please see the [[http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/910|Ubuntu 9.10 release notes]].

Introduction

The Ubuntu team is happy to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. This is their latest result, the Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate, which brings a host of exciting new features.

Upgrading from Ubuntu 9.04

If you are upgrading from Ubuntu 9.04, we have easy-to-follow upgrade instructions.

New features since Ubuntu 9.04

Upstart

As part of our boot performance work, we have now transitioned to Upstart native jobs, to let users get to their desktop faster after boot. Upstart is written by Scott James Remnant.

Software Center

Ubuntu 9.10 RC includes the Ubuntu Software Center, developed by Michael Vogt, replacing 'Add/Remove' in the Applications menu.

GNOME

Ubuntu 9.10 RC includes the latest GNOME 2.28 desktop environment with a number of great new features:

  • Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client, introducing the Telepathy framework.

  • The gdm 2.28 login manager by William Jon McCann is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases, permitting a more integrated login experience.

  • Evince, the GNOME document viewer, now ships with an enforcing AppArmor profile. This greatly increases security by protecting you against flaws in the historically problematic PDF and image libraries. Users who use a non-standard location for their home directory will need to adjust the home tunable in /etc/apparmor.d/tunables/home. This profile has been developed by the Ubuntu Security team.

Ubuntu 9.10 translation status

Thanks to the efforts of the broad translations community around the globe, Ubuntu is available in the following 25 languages: Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, Swedish, German, Hungarian, Simplified Chinese, English, Russian, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish, Catalan, Czech, Polish, Korean, Bulgarian, Greek, Slovenian, Traditional Chinese, Basque and Galician.

This list represents the languages which have achieved the target of what we consider a translated operating system. However, Ubuntu is also available in many other languages with varying degrees of support, a big number of which are close to what we consider complete: Asturian, Serbian, Vietnamese, Estonian, Norwegian Bokmål, Bengali, Hebrew, Gujarati and Hindi. You can see the full list of languages, along with their statistics at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Translations/ReleaseLanguages/9.10.

Application development with Quickly

Quickly, by Rick Spencer and Didier Roche, makes it easy for developers to make new applications for Ubuntu, and to share those application with other Ubuntu users via .deb packages or personal package archives.

Kubuntu

Kubuntu 9.10 includes the first Kubuntu Netbook release, Social from the Start and the latest KDE packages. See the Kubuntu technical overview.

Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud Images

Ubuntu 9.10 RC includes images for common use on Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon's EC2. You can try out the latest Ubuntu 9.10 server image instantly on EC2 using a preconfigured AMI, or download an image and put it into your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud. For information on using UEC images on Amazon EC2, see the EC2 Starter's Guide.

Ubuntu One

Ubuntu 9.10 RC ships with Ubuntu One by default. Ubuntu One is your personal cloud. You can use it to back up, store, sync and share your data with other Ubuntu One users.

Ubuntu One gives all features and 2 GB of essential storage to everyone. Synchronize files, contacts, and Tomboy notes across all of your Ubuntu computers and to the cloud. More space is available with a monthly subscription.

Ubuntu One project information is available on Launchpad.

Linux kernel 2.6.31

Ubuntu 9.10 RC includes the 2.6.31-14.48 kernel based on 2.6.31.1. The kernel ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics (see below). linux-restricted-modules is deprecated in favour of DKMS packages.

hal deprecation

Ubuntu 9.10 RC's underlying technology for power management, laptop hotkeys, and handling of storage devices and cameras maps has moved from "hal" (which is in the process of being deprecated) to "DeviceKit-power", "DeviceKit-disks" and "udev".

New Intel video driver architecture

The Intel video driver has switched from the "EXA" acceleration method to the new "UXA", solving major performance problems of Ubuntu 9.04. Ubuntu 9.10 RC also features kernel mode setting by default on Intel hardware, which reduces boot-time flickering and dramatically speeds up suspend/resume.

ext4 by default

The new "ext4" filesystem is used by default for new installations with Ubuntu 9.10 RC; of course, other filesystems are still available via the manual partitioner. Existing filesystems will not be upgraded.

If you have full backups and are confident, you can upgrade an existing ext3 filesystem to ext4 by following directions in the Ext4 Howto. (Note that the comments on that page at the time of writing about Ubuntu's use of vol_id vs. blkid are out of date and are not applicable to Ubuntu 9.10 RC.) Maximum performance will typically only be achieved on new filesystems, not on filesystems that have been upgraded from ext3.

GRUB 2 by default

GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for new installations with Ubuntu 9.10 RC, replacing the previous GRUB "Legacy" boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time, as automatically reinstalling the boot loader is an inherently risky operation.

If you wish to upgrade your system to GRUB 2, then see the GRUB 2 testing page for instructions. See also the upstream draft manual.

Some features are still missing relative to GRUB Legacy. Notable among these are lock/password support, an equivalent of grub-reboot, and Xen handling.

iSCSI installation

The iSCSI installation process has been improved, and no longer requires iscsi=true as a boot parameter; the installer will offer you the option of logging into iSCSI targets if there are no local disks, or you can select "Configure iSCSI" in the manual partitioner.

Putting the root filesystem on iSCSI is now supported.

AppArmor

AppArmor in Ubuntu 9.10 RC features an improved parser that uses cache files, greatly speeding up AppArmor initialisation on boot. AppArmor also now supports 'pux' which, when specified, means a process can transition to an existing profile if one exists or simply run unconfined if one does not.

Please see the AppArmor documentation for information on using AppArmor in Ubuntu.

New profiles

In addition to the above changes to AppArmor itself, several profiles were added. Enforcing profiles for ntpd, evince, and libvirt are enabled by default. Complain mode profiles for Dovecot are now available in the apparmor-profiles package.

A new profile is provided for Firefox as well, though it is disabled by default. Users can enable AppArmor sandboxing of their browser by running:

$ sudo aa-enforce /etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox-3.5

This profile can be disabled again by performing:

$ sudo apparmor_parser -R /etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox-3.5
$ sudo ln -s /etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox-3.5 /etc/apparmor.d/disable/usr.bin.firefox-3.5

An AppArmor profile is now available for Apache in the libapache2-mod-apparmor package. When used in combination with the mod_apparmor Apache module, web applications can now be protected and isolated from each other. Instructions for enabling the profile are in the /etc/apparmor.d/usr.lib.apache2.mpm-prefork.apache2 file.

Please see the SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase for a full listing of readily available profiles in Ubuntu.

Libvirt

Libvirt now contains AppArmor integration when using KVM or QEMU. Libvirtd is configured to launch virtual machines that are confined by uniquely restrictive AppArmor profiles. This feature significantly improves virtualisation in Ubuntu by providing user-space host protection as well as guest isolation.

Uncomplicated Firewall

The Uncomplicated Firewall now has support for filtering by interface and egress filtering when using the ufw command. Documentation for ufw is also improved to help users better utilise the ufw framework and take full advantage of Linux netfilter's power and flexibility. See UbuntuFirewall#Features for a full list of features.

Non-eXecutable Emulation

Non-eXecutable (NX) memory protection, also known as eXecute-Disable (XD), has always been available in Ubuntu for any systems that had the hardware to support it and ran the 64-bit kernel or the 32-bit server kernel. The 32-bit PAE desktop kernel (linux-image-generic-pae) now also provides the PAE mode needed for hardware with the NX CPU feature.

For systems that lack NX hardware, the 32-bit kernels now provide an approximation of the NX CPU feature via software emulation that can help block many exploits an attacker might run from stack or heap memory.

Blocking Module Loading

To block the loading of any further modules after boot (generally for servers with unchanging hardware), the /proc/sys/kernel/modules_disabled one-way sysctl flag now exists to add another layer of protections against attackers loading kernel rootkits.

Position-Independent Executables

Building on the work done in Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 to proactively protect Ubuntu from unknown threats by using strict compiler flags, more applications have been built as Position-Independent Executables (PIE) to take advantage of the Address Space Layout Randomisation (ASLR) available in the Ubuntu kernel.

In addition to the growing program list, PIE programs are now also built with the BIND_NOW linker flag to take full advantage of the existing RELRO linker flag. This results in PIE programs having fewer places in their memory that can be controlled to redirect program flow when an attacker attempts memory-corruption exploits.

New input method framework

Ubuntu has switched to IBus as preferred input method framework. Unlike the previously used SCIM, IBus is under active development and fixes a number of SCIM's design limitations.

The language selector tool now gives the user the possibility to select the preferred input method framework.

Language-selector improvements

Chinese language-packs, formerly containing both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese translations, have been split into separate packages for these languages. This reduces the amount of data Chinese users need to download.

The language-support-extra and language-support-translations metapackages have been removed from the archive. Packages which provide additional translations for applications such as Thunderbird or OpenOffice.org are now installed by language-selector only if the application package is already installed on the system.

In Ubuntu 9.10 it is necessary to run language-selector manually to get the missing localisation packages installed. An automatic solution for this is planned for the next Ubuntu release.

Known issues

For a full list of errata for Ubuntu 9.10, please see the Ubuntu 9.10 release notes.

KarmicKoala/TechnicalOverview (last edited 2009-10-28 16:06:36 by pD9EB68B8)