TechnicalOverview

Revision 160 as of 2011-03-29 00:51:23

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Introduction

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" Beta 1 gives a preview of the next version of Ubuntu.

Get Ubuntu 11.04

Upgrade from Ubuntu 10.10

To upgrade from Ubuntu 10.10 on a desktop system, press Alt+F2, type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes), and press Enter. Update Manager will open up and display the message, "New distribution release '11.04' is available." Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

To upgrade from Ubuntu 10.10 on a server system, install the package update-manager-core if it is not already installed. Then execute the command sudo do-release-upgrade -d, and follow the on-screen instructions. Note that the server upgrade is now more robust, and thus will utilize GNU screen and automatically re-attach in case unexpected problems arise, e.g. dropped connection problems.

The same instructions apply to all other editions of Ubuntu (such as Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.)

Download Beta 1

Beta 1 ISO disk images can be downloaded from:

Features new to Natty Narwhal

For complete details and plans for Ubuntu 11.04, please see the Natty blueprints list:

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 came from an automatic sync from Debian's Unstable branch, while others have been explicitly pulled in for the development of Natty Narwhal.

For a list of all packages being accepted into Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal", please subscribe to natty-changes:

Some of the most important updated packages in this Beta 1 release are:

  • Linux kernel 2.6.38
  • LibreOffice 3.3.1

  • Upstart 0.9
  • Dpkg 1.16.0

Linux kernel 2.6.38

Beta 1 includes the 2.6.38-7.39 kernel which is based on the latest mainline kernel, 2.6.38. This is a major update from the v2.6.35 in Maverick, and a minor update from the 2.6.38-rc6 shipped with Alpha 3.

This kernel update brings little new functionality updates over the version avaliable in Alpha 3, but more bug fixes the most noticeable being related to graphics. We re-enabled vesafb as a module to help prevent GPU hangs and screen corruption on boot. We also saw a scattering device quirk patches to enable some problematic audio devices. Going forward we'll continue to pull in the upstream 2.6.38.y stable updates to help resolve any issues and keep our focus on delivering a solid kernel for the Ubuntu 11.04 release.

TO DO: ogasawara - please put nice words in place to highligt difference from maverick, we'll reuse this in release notes later https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Configs/MaverickToNatty

Python 2.7

All main packages have now been built and and are installable with Python 2.7. If any incompatibilities are detected during runtime, please report them on the broken package in Ubuntu, and add the official tag 'python27' on the bug.

Dpkg 1.16.0-pre

This is a merge from the community snapshot for multiarch support. This brings us up-to-date with staged changes for the upcoming Debian 1.16.0 dpkg release, as well as pulling in the current version of the in-progress multiarch work from Raphael Hertzog, sponsored by Linaro Ltd.

Upstart 0.9

Upstart has been updated to 0.9.4-1.

Chroot support

Upstart is now "chroot-aware". If initctl is run from within a chroot the Upstart init daemon outside the chroot will honour requests from within the chroot to manipulate jobs within the chroot.

Basic Job/Event Visualisation

Upstart provides a new Python script initctl2dot which converts the output of the new initctl show-config command to GraphViz format. By default, all job configuration files are considered and the links between jobs and events are displayed graphically. Additionally, it is possible to list a set of jobs to graph. Run "initctl2dot --help" or "man initctl2dot" for full options.

New Initctl Commands

Two new initctl commands have been added:

  1. show-config

  2. check-config

The show-config command displays core job configuration details, namely the start on, stop on and emits stanza information. This is useful since it allows users to see how Upstart has parsed the job configuration files. Additionally, the show-config command accepts an optional --enumerate option which makes it easy to see which elements of complex conditions are jobs, which are events and which are environment details. This option forms the basis of the Visualisation feature above.

The check-config command is useful for System Adminstrators and tooling to ensure that all jobs are theoretically startable/stoppable. For example, if a job configuration file specified the following complex condition:

  start on (A and (B or (starting C or (starting D or starting E))))

The check-config command would flag an error if for example none of the jobs 'C', 'D' or 'E' were available since that would indicate the job in question could never be automatically started (since the start on condition could never be true). Similar checks are performed on events, so if jobs 'C', 'D' and 'E' are available but events 'A' and 'B' are not advertised as being emitted by any job, 'check-config' will generate an error. If no errors are detected, check-config displays no output and returns zero. If errors are detected for a job, each condition that is unsatisfiable is displayed with a message.

D-Bus service activation

D-Bus version 1.4.1-0ubuntu2 and higher allow D-Bus services to be activated via Upstart. To convert an existing D-Bus service to be activated by Upstart:

  1. Add the keyword, "UpstartJob=true" to the ".service" file.

  2. Create a corresponding Upstart job configuration file with a start on condition specifying the new "dbus-activation" event, followed by the service name (such as "start on dbus-activation com.ubuntu.NattyService").

  3. Ensure that "dbus-daemon" is invoked with the "--activation=upstart" option.

Manual stanza

A new job configuration stanza, "manual" has been added. If specified, this has the effect of removing any previously defined "start on" stanza for job so that the job can only be started with "initctl start" / "start". This is most useful when used in combination with Override files.

Override files

Override files are files ending in ".override" which if placed into the job configuration directory ("/etc/init/") are able to modify the way in which a job configuration file behaves. They could be used by System Administrators or tooling to change the behaviour of a job without modifying a packages configuration files directly.

Override files support the same syntax as the existing job configuration (".conf") files.

For example, to ensure that a service is never automatically started:

  echo manual >> /etc/init/myjob.override

To allow the original behaviour, simply delete the Override file.

Another example: to change the start on condition for a job:

  echo "start on (starting job-A or event-B)" >> /etc/init/myjob.override

Note that Override files have no effect unless there is a corresponding job configuration file (a file with the same prefix name).

The effect of deleting an override file is to revert the job (immediately) back to its original configuration.

Socket bridge

Upstart now provides a socket bridge (upstart-socket-bridge) which is a daemon started early in the boot process that allows jobs to be started when socket connections are made. Jobs register their desire to be started by a socket connection by requiring the new "socket" event in their start on (or stop on) stanza(s):

  # Internet sockets
  start on socket PROTO=PROTO PORT=PORT ADDR=ADDR

  # Local and Abstract sockets
  socket PROTO=PROTO PATH=PATH

For example, to have a web server only start when the first client connection is received, its job configuration file might specify:

  start on socket PROTO=inet PORT=80

See the new manual pages for further details:

  • upstart-socket-event (7)

  • upstart-socket-bridge (8)

Miscellaneous

  • A new manual page, upstart-events (7) summarising well-known Upstart events.

  • A Bash completion script has been included for initctl.

  • A new script init-checkconf has been provided which allows a user to check an individual job configuration file to ensure it is syntactically correct before installing it in "/etc/init/". Run "init-checkconf -h" or "man init-checkconf" for full options.

  • The Vim package "vim-runtime" now includes syntax support for upstart job configuration files.

Ubuntu

Network Manager

The Network Manager applet has been patched to use appindicator. Putting nm-applet through as many test scenarios as possible will be much appreciated!

Ubiquity

TO DO: ev - update please

Preparing your computer for for Ubuntu is now much simpler, with clearly worded options detailing the exact set of actions that will take place with your choice.

Also, you can now replace or upgrade existing Ubuntu installations, with the Desktop CD installer.

Ubuntu One

TO DO: review and update as necessary

The Ubuntu One control panel now allows selective syncing. Note: music purchased from the Ubuntu One Music Store is not selected to sync by default.

The Ubuntu One launcher icon now displays sync progress. Important notifications will be displayed through OSD notifications.

File syncing is faster now, thanks to the improvement of scanning which files to sync.

Software Center

TO DO: review and update as necessary

Ubuntu Software Center now allows users to "rate & review" installed applications, provided that they have Ubuntu Single Sign On accounts. Users can also optionally share reviews via integration with social networking services added into Gwibber.

Unity

TO DO : dbarth, oubiwann - please review and update as necessary

Unity is now the default Ubuntu Desktop session. If you encounter a problem with Unity, and it is not mentioned in the known issues below, please follow the directions for filing a Unity-specific bug at:

The Unity Launcher has many new features in Natty Narwhal, a few of which are:

  • drag and drop re-ordering of launcher icons
  • full keyboard navigation support
  • launcher activation through keyboard shortcuts
  • right-click context menu quick-lists
  • switching between running applications

There is a full Places implementation for applications and files now, in addition to the "Dash" start screen (which will come up when clicking on the Ubuntu logo on the top-left of the screen) for the most common actions, such as searching. Also, icons can be dragged and dropped from Dash to the Unity Launcher.

There are now three session types available in GDM:

  • Ubuntu Desktop: it runs Unity. It requires 3D driver support.
  • Ubuntu Classic Session: it runs GNOME with gnome-panel. It supports all video hardware and video drivers.
  • Ubuntu Classic Session (no effect): it runs GNOME with gnome-panel. It is in 2D mode only.

Classic GNOME panel applets are not supported in Unity, only indicators such as nm-applet.

Ubuntu Netbook

TO DO: ogra - please review and update as necessary

In Natty the dedicated Ubuntu Netbook edition is only used on the preinstalled OMAP3 and OMAP4 armel images. On all other architectures the Ubuntu Netbook edition has been merged with the Ubuntu's Desktop.

The ARM version is the first one to ship our new Unity 2D interface by default, as there are no free 3D drivers available initially in a default installation.

For OMAP4 the image is still using a 2.6.35 kernel a 2.6.38 test kernel is available in a PPA from the kernel team.

Ubuntu Server

TO DO: Daviey please review and update as necessary

Provisioning servers have been made a bit more easier with cobbler and mcollective now available.

Powernap has been updated to 2.0. Powernap uses a new method to reduce power consumption, seen power savings of around 14% in most cases. It can now monitor user activity (Console, Mouse, Keyboard), system activity (load, processors, process IO), and network activity (wake-on-lan, udp ports tcp ports)

Default dhcpd server updated from dhcp3 to isc-dhcp (version 4).

Eucalyptus is now the latest stable point release (2.0.2) with security and efficiency fixes. (Known bug against the dhcpd server)

OpenStack (nova) in Universe is a technology preview, with a recent snapshot of 2011.2 (Cactus) release.

libvirt is updated to 0.8.8 with new features and bug fixes (see upstream changelog for full information 0.8.3->0.8.8)

The Beta 1 installs in most scenarios on both bare hardware and in virtual environments. Testing of the platform server, and additional server tasks is welcomed.

Cloud images

TO DO: Daviey/Robbiew please review and update as necessary

Running images in EC2, t1.micro is currently limited to arch amd64.

Images are now available in OVF format, and requires further testing.

cloud-init has been updated to 0.60, new features. This feature includes support resizing of / at first boot, adds minimal OVF transport (iso) support and allow setting of hostname when first booting.

The Ubuntu Server cloud have a newer kernel inside. See the kernel section for more information.

Kubuntu

TO DO: Riddell/ScottK, please review and update as necessary

Kubuntu now provides a working Samba filesharing module that lets you add and manage shares from the folder's Properties dialogs.

The new Language Selector module allows you to add, remove, and manage system languages directly from System Settings.

An updated system-config-printer-kde brings a number of bugfixes to Kubuntu's printer management tool.

For more information, please refer to:

Xubuntu

TO DO: charlie-tca, please review and update as necessary

A new GTK and Xfwm4 theme for Xubuntu named "Graybird" is now in Natty Narwhal. There is a new panel layout including a launcher panel in this release. The launcher panel is hidden at the bottom of the screen. The Elementary Xubuntu icon theme has also been updated. Xubuntu is using the Droid font by default, since it is a lightweight, good visibility font.

Gmusicbrowser has now been replaced Exaile.

Xfce 4.8

Xfce 4.8 has been released and is included in Natty Narwhal:

  • "The Xfce open source desktop is out with its first major update in two years this week. Xfce 4.8 brings the low-resource desktop into the modern era and provides usability improvements across the board. Xfce 4.8 is our attempt to update the Xfce code base to all the new desktop frameworks that were introduced in the past few years," The Xfce development team wrote in a statement. "We hope that our efforts to drop pieces like ThunarVFS and HAL with GIO, udev, ConsoleKit and PolicyKit will help bringing the Xfce desktop to modern distributions."

Menus in Xfce 4.8 are now editable with any menu editor that meets the freedesktop.org standards. The suggested editor is alacarte.

Edubuntu

TODO: highvoltage: please review and update as necessary

Ubiquity now has an additional step allowing users to fine-tune which applications should be installed on the final system.

QCad is now replaced by LibreCad.

The Unity session in Edubuntu is still work in progress, it's recommended to test using the Ubuntu Classic Desktop from the login screen instead.

For more details on what has changed in Edubuntu 11.04, please refer to:

Ubuntu Studio

TO Do: please review and update as necessary

Installation tasks:

The task selections during installation have been updated. The audio tasks have been parsed into two groups: generation and recording. The 'generation' task selections is focused more on synthesizers and sequencers (i.e. tone generation) and the 'recording' task focuses on recording live musician performances.

Kernel:

Currently, Ubuntu Studio is shipping the -generic kernel. We are working with the Ubuntu Kernel Team to get a -lowlatency kernel into the archives which will then ship, in addition to the -generic kernel, in Ubuntu Studio. An interim -lowlatency kernel is available in Allesio Bogani's PPA.

If possible please report any testing results comparing the -generic kernel performance compared to the -lowlatency kernel performance at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RealTime#Natty%20Benchmarks.

Network:

Due to continuing problems, network-manager will replace gnome-network-admin. If performance degradation is experienced, please contact the Ubuntu Studio developer via email email or on IRC (#ubuntustudio-devel on freenode).

Package selection:

The installed packages have changed. The packages shipped in Ubuntu Studio are more focused to support identified tasks and their derived work flows. Please note that this is a work in progress. If your favorite package is not include, please inform us about it and consider updating the task/work flows wiki page.

Unity:

Ubuntu Studio does not currently use Unity. As the user logs in it will default to Gnome Classic Desktop (i.e. Gnome2).

Mythbuntu

TO DO: Please review and update for Beta 1

The Mythbuntu-bare (Backup and Restore for the database and configuration files) Mythbuntu Control Centre plugin now has the ability to schedule backups on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

Known issues

As is to be expected at this stage of the release process, users may run into some significant known bugs. Please read carefully and do not make duplicate bug reports.

Boot, installation and post-install

  • If you are using the live-CD images, and do not have the 3D drivers installed for your hardware, you may see a message like "Sorry you don't have 3D support, install it for your graphic hardware to get Unity or please reboot and select "Classic Session" at startup.

TO DO: cjwatson - did the last LTSP upload fix this?

  • On Ubuntu Alternate, LTSP won't work due to a nbd-client issue and a gnome-session issue. A workaround exists by removing /opt/ltsp/<arch>/usr/share/ldm/rc.d/I01-nbd-update from the chroot and running "sudo ltsp-update-image". Once that's done, make sure to always select "Classic Desktop" as session type or login will fail.

  • On ARM platforms update-initramfs -c does not update the bootloader (701698)

  • Ubuntu Desktop i386 will occasionally not reboot after completing the installation and clicking 'Reboot Now' (712654)

  • Upstart chroot support is not reliable (728531).

  • TO DO: scrub and reword a bit better

    • grub-pc upgrade renders computer unbootable when Wubi is installed to partition other than Windows (610898)

    • Unknown keyword in configuration file: gfxboot(645818)

    • Plymouth hangs after installation of nvidia drivers on natty (684083)

    • swap partition disappeared during installation (709363)

    • python 2.7 - subprocess.Popen() crashed with TypeError in _cleanup(): an integer is required (711225)

    • debian-installer - iscsi root (amd64) with or without auth fails to boot (728088)

    • text does not display in plymouth (disk check, passphrase prompts) (728611)

    • gcc-4.5 - internal compiler error compiling kernel on powerpc (731665)

    • oem-config does not respect the console on serial tty (736111)

    • upgrade/reinstall option creates duplicate sources.list entries (739489)

    • return_to_partitioning fails when the replace option fails (740903)

    • openjdk-6 - JNI unable to find libpam.so (737603)

Common desktop applications

  • Jockey crashes on startup when not connected to the Internet. (711225)

  • apt.ubuntu.com doesn't work with Firefox 4 user-agent on Ubuntu. (709125)

  • When clicking on any link on thunderbird it does not open the link, it does however open the new window (not a tab) but nothing happens. (709216)

  • media players that used to work are not being detected when starting Banshee. "HardwareManager" error. (Bug: 736631)

  • TO DO: reword and sort into place

    • xdm: "Not possible to use xdm/wdm, only can use gdm (Lucid, Maverick)" (585853)

    • firefox: "FF 4 requires both .desktop and gconf entries for url handlers" (727372)

    • pango1.0: ""rm: cannot remove `/usr/share/doc/libpango1.0-0': Is a directory" when updating to 1.28.3-4" (703230)

    • jockey: "Unable to install Broadcom drivers from live session" (712554)

    • subunit: "Sync bzr 2.3.0-1 (main) from Debian unstable (main)" (713038)

    • ldtp: "users-admin not testable with ldtp and policykit" (741186)

    • system-tools-backends: "users-admin not testable with ldtp and policykit" (741186)

Graphics and display

  • The binary video driver -fglrx does not have X Server 1.10 compatibility, so does not function in 11.04 Beta 1. AMD will release an updated driver to fix this compatibility issue in the coming weeks, hopefully before Natty is released.
  • The -nouveau video driver has had an ABI change but lacked a version number increment. Following Debian we're versioning it as 'libdrm-nouveau1a'. Be aware this can cause difficulties in upgrading/downgrading from PPAs that include libdrm packages.
  • TO DO: reword

    • nvidia-graphics-drivers: "Nvidia proprietary drivers fallback test failed" (522061)

    • nvidia-graphics-drivers: "nVidia 8600 GTS needs "NoPowerConnectorCheck" option to work" (522588)

    • nvidia-graphics-drivers: "Failed to detect second monitor" (737349)

  • Resume from suspend draws old gnome panel. (676166 )

  • In an Ubuntu Classic Session, Compiz crashes after enabling the effects in "Visual Effects" tab. (686698, 685682)

  • If Compiz crashes, and when attempting to fallback to a 2d session, it appears that the gnome-panel isn't mapped again. (711378)

  • In some cases, opening "Disk Utility" caused compiz to crash. (711916)

  • New window tracking system breaks in the case where windows try to restack relative to destroyed windows that were never mapped. (723014)

  • When switching between windows, Orca does not speak the title of the focused window. (724093)

  • Unity doesn't display (see: compiz crashed with SIGSEGV in nux::IOpenGLSurface::UnlockRect()), but sound effects suggest everything “loads” (685682, 686698, 687229, 728897 )


Unity is just emerging from active development right now, please check the unity bug reports before filing new bugs. If you encounter a bug and it is not mentioned in the unity bug reports, please follow the directions for filing a Unity bug.

Trackpads, touchscreens, mice, and keyboards

  • The -synaptics driver has received a new acceleration mechanism. Trackpad users may notice a significant decrease (or increase) in acceleration as a result. We are investigating configuration options for this new behavior.
  • The -evdev driver no longer provides middle mouse button emulation. 2-button mice that need this functionality are quite rare these days. The emulation mode causes a laggy pointer in cases where emulation is not needed, so this change improves responsiveness for all users. If you have a 2-button mouse that needs this, please see the directions for creating a 2-button mouse quirk. (710762)

  • Trackpads now have kinetic scrolling. If you flick to perform a scroll, then press a keyboard key while kinetic scroll events are generated, unexpected application behavior may result. (728643)

Linux kernel

  • Toshiba NB305 hangs for 5 minutes after suspend. Workaround: specify "nohz=off highres=off" as kernel parameters at boot. (508516)

  • TO DO: Rework and make better description

    • SATA link power management causes disk errors and corruption (539467)

    • New Apple iMac (Core i5) fails to display anything (542660)

    • iwlagn degrades quickly during normal wifi session (630748)

    • lenovo/thinkpad R500/T6x/T400[s]/T500/W500/W700/X60/X200 suspend fails" (625364)

    • Broadcom 4313 firmware fails to load because it is not present (707353)

    • [drm:drm_edid_block_valid] *ERROR* EDID checksum is invalid (712075)

    • t1.micro instance hangs when installing java (634487)

    • network manager - Touchpad stops working when wifi/3G connects (636091)

    • Video error - [drm:radeon_ttm_backend_bind] *ERROR* failed to bind 1772 pages (656486)

    • avahi-daemon hangs 'starting up' with v2.6.38 based kernels (704372)

Upgrades from Ubuntu 10.10

  • TO DO: reword

    • migration-assistant tries to unmount devices in use by the partman-commit and install processes (739400)

Ubuntu Software Center

  • When deauthorize my computer is used, the packages are removed but the sources.list entries are not disabled. (723911)

  • TO DO: reword

    • software-center "[master] software-center crashed with DatabaseModifiedError in _database_gen_postlist_iter()" (507836)

    • software-center: "ERROR - "failed to parse" when opening installed application details" (739908)

Edition-specific

Ubuntu Server

  • Eucalyptus is currently not able to negotiate with powernap effectively (711587)

  • In a small number of cases some instances not reachable via ssh. (712026)

  • Eucalyptus is currently incompatible with the shipped dhcpd server, meaning instances do not achieve networking. (717166)

  • open-vm-tools kernel module is not available with this image (727342)

Kubuntu

  • When restarting Kubuntu Live CD, in a language other than english, errors may be seen on screen before desktop starts. (656486)

  • Kubuntu mobile images fail to load. (712061)

Xubuntu

  • There is a bug in the "session-menu" plugin in Xfce4. To reboot or shutdown from VirtualBox, you must logout, then reboot or shutdown from GDM. (711571)

Edubuntu

  • LTSP installation on Edubuntu desktop/DVD media is currently broken. To work around this, open a Terminal, and run sudo ln -s /cdrom /media/cdrom before starting the installation. (727783)

Mythbuntu

Report bugs

It should come as no surprise that this Beta 1 release of Natty Narwhal contains bugs. Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions are welcome and will help improve the quality of future releases. Please see this page for more information:

If you want to help out with bugs, the 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:

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