'''NOTE:''' This is a Beta pre-release. 
Ubuntu Server Cloud Images Pre-releases are NOT recommended for:
 * Regular users who are not aware of pre-release issues
 * Anyone who needs a stable system
 * Anyone uncomfortable running a possibly frequently broken system
 * Anyone in a production environment with data or workflows that need to be reliable

Ubuntu Server Cloud Images Pre-releases ARE recommended for:
 * Regular users who want to help us test by finding, reporting, and/or fixing bugs
 * Ubuntu Server developers, testers
 * People who want to 'live-on-the-edge'
 * Those evaluating new features to Ubuntu Server

= New Features in Ubuntu Server Cloud Images 13.04 Beta 1 =
=== Root Filesystem is now controllable from user-data ===
The ubuntu cloud images previously used cloud-initramfs-growroot so that the root filesystem would take up whatever disk space was made available.  This allowed the hypervisor to simply extend/resize the volume and the image to magically make use of it.

Cloud-init in Ubuntu 13.04 has support for using partx to grow a partition while the partition is mounted.  This means that the partition resize can take place later in boot and can now be controlled by user-data.  The user can disable this if they wanted to use that additional space for something other than the root filesystem.

== Ubuntu Server Cloud Images Applications ==
= Installation =

Ubuntu Server Cloud Images pre-releases are distributed via AMI's on Amazon AWS only. See 
http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/raring/beta1 for the AMI ID's.

== Overview ==
== Download  ==

Ubuntu Server Cloud Images 13.04 Beta 1 images can be downloaded from:
  * http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/raring/beta1

= Upgrading =

'''PLEASE BE REMINDED THAT UBUNTU CLOUD IMAGE UPGRADES TO 13.04 BETA 1 ARE NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. The Ubuntu Server team recommends using the Ubuntu 12.04'''

== Upgrading from Ubuntu Server 12.10  ==

To upgrade from Ubuntu Server 12.10, run "sudo do-release-update -d"

== Upgrading from Other Releases ==

Users of other Ubuntu Server Cloud Images releases need to upgrade first to 12.04, and then to 12.10, and then basically upgrade to 13.04.

== Infrastructure ==

=== Linux kernel 3.8 ===

The Ubuntu Studio 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) Beta 1 snapshot includes the [[https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux0lowlatency/3.8.0-12.8|3.8.0-12.28 Ubuntu Linux Lowlatency kernel]] which is based on the upstream [[http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/testing/linux-3.8-rc6.tar.bz2|v3.8-rc6 Linux kernel]].  Notable changes include initial support for arm multiplatform support for TI omap3/4 and Freescale imx6, alx ethernet driver support, misc config updates and security fixes.

=== GNU Toolchain ===

13.04 is distributed with an updated default toolchain that includes: [[http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/|GCC]] 4.7.2-21ubuntu1 (was GCC 4.7.2 in 12.10) and eglibc 2.17-0ubuntu4.   ARM 64 bit cross compiler (gcc-4.7-arm64-cross 0.5.0) is also available. 

Further information can be found upstream ([[http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.7/changes.html|GCC-4.7]], [[http://sourceware.org/gdb/download/ANNOUNCEMENT|gdb]]).

=== Java Toolchain ===
[[http://openjdk.java.net/|OpenJDK7]] is the default Java implementation. Current revision is:  OpenJDK-7 7u15-2.3.7-1ubuntu2.

= Support =

 * Ubuntu Server 13.04 is supported for 18 months. 
 * Support via email can be found at the [[https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server|Ubuntu Server Mailing List]].
 * Support via IRC can be found in the #ubuntu-server channel on the freenode network