Issue541


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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 541 for the week of August 12 - 18, 2018.

In this Issue

  • Welcome New Members and Developers
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Hot in Support
  • LoCo Events

  • Mir News: 17th August 2018
  • MAAS 2.4.1 released!
  • Lubuntu Development Newsletter #9
  • Akademy: closing time
  • Canonical News
  • In the Blogosphere
  • In Other News
  • Featured Audio and Video
  • Meeting Reports
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security for 14.04, 16.04, and 18.04
  • And much more!

Welcome New Members and Developers

Congratulations to these developers!

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open: 136893 (+1)
  • Critical: 436 (0)
  • Unconfirmed: 65900 (-172)

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Translations

  • Ukrainian: 90.28% (23715/0)
  • Spanish: 84.76% (37161/1726)
  • Bosnian: 84.47% (37880/4)
  • German: 84.22% (38479/260)
  • French: 80.08% (48596/5569)

Hot in Support

Ask Ubuntu Top 5 Questions

Ask (and answer!) questions at: https://askubuntu.com/

Ubuntu Forums Top 5 Threads

Find more support at: https://ubuntuforums.org/

LoCo Events

The following LoCo team events are currently scheduled in the next two weeks:

Looking beyond the next two weeks? Visit the LoCo Team Portal to browse upcoming events around the world: http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/

The Hub

Mir News: 17th August 2018

Alan Griffiths (alan_g) provides this week's work: developments from ppa:mir-team/dev, Snapcraft acceptance and its works in progress, and that UBports is working to update their Andriod Mir platform to the current version.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/mir-news-17th-august-2018/7618

The Planet

MAAS 2.4.1 released!

In a short post, Andres Rodriguez tells us MAAS 2.4.1 has been released, which fixes a large number of bugs. A link for more information is provided.

http://www.roaksoax.com/2018/08/maas-2-4-1-released

Lubuntu Development Newsletter #9

Simon Quigley updates us on events within the Lubuntu community. We are told that the 16.04 to 18.04 upgrade has been enabled, with a request to inform the team if you have issues, and link to a video of how to upgrade. We are given an update on the changes to the desktop and the Calamares installer, and are told that Lubuntu will be switching to Wayland with a brief Q&A.

https://lubuntu.me/lubuntu-development-newsletter-9/

Akademy: closing time

Valorie Zimmerman blogs after the closing of this year’s Akademy of KDE and links to photos she took there. Valorie thanks KDE e.V. and Ubuntu Community Fund for sponsoring some of her costs, and shares some experiences. She reveals her shock at being given an Akademy Award for her work in the KDE community.

http://linuxgrandma.blogspot.com/2018/08/akademy-closing-time.html

Canonical News

In the Blogosphere

Pitivi Video Editor Gains UI Polish, Video Preview Resizing

Joey Sneddon reports on improvements to the Pitivi app through the Google Summer of Code event. These include changes and additions to the welcome dialog and support for slow motion videos. Joey advises that the improvements are expected in the next stable release and shares screenshots and links to sources.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/08/pitivi-video-editor-gsoc-2018

Linux 4.18 Arrives With Some Big Changes

Joey Sneddon reports on the latest stable kernel release, delayed due to some pending minor updates. Though the code base is reduced overall by 100K, support has been added for new hardware, particularly new video drivers and sound chips. Of note is the inclusion of a reverse-engineered Steam Controller driver. Joey lists some of the many features of the release and provides links for greater details.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/08/linux-4-18-kernel-release-features

EXT4 & XFS File-System Updates Submitted For Linux 4.19

Michael Larabel tells us of Linux 4.19 kernel changes being made. For ext4, documentation found on the project's wiki has been converted into files in the kernel tree, the time stamp found in the superblock fields is now 64bit, the file system has been hardened against corruption and other improvements and fixes. Changes with XFS involve some IOMAP refactoring to remove buffer heads though more changes to XFS are expected before 4.19 is released.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=EXT4-XFS-Linux-4.19

Big CIFS/SMB3 Improvements Head To Linux 4.19

Michael Larabel updates us on significant patches improving the CIFS/SMB3 support provided in the 4.19 kernel. Updates include improved tracing and stats, snapshots to support previous version mounts over SMB3 as well as security and performance upgrades. Michael notes there is support for ACLs in SMB 3.11, providing the Git pull link for more details. Finally it is noted the GFS2 Linux cluster file-system has IOMAP support for buffered writes or direct I/O in 4.19.

Libinput 1.12 RC2 Continues Working On Improving Linux Touchpad Behavior

Michael Larabel gives an update for the upcoming Libinput 1.12 release. Along with finishing the documentation are improved scroll detection, blocking of finger motion, and better palm detection in the input handling tweaks. More details are in the provided announcement link.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Libinput-1.12-RC2-Released

Mesa 18.2-RC3 Released With Two Dozen Fixes

Michael Larabel advises that Mesa 18.2-RC3 is now available for testing. This release has various driver patches, Wayland fixes, updates to the multiple build systems, and the Metro Redux fix. He provides a roadmap to the final of Mesa 18.2.0 and advises that 18.3 feature update is on Git master.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Mesa-18.2-RC3-Released

Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, and CentOS Linux Now Patched Against "Foreshadow" Attacks

Marius Nestor writes about a new Spectre-like flaw which affects Intel x86 CPUs called L1 Terminal Fault (L1TF) or Foreshadow which has now been patched. The flaw is documented in various CVEs which Marius notes providing some detail on it. Marius advises us to patch our systems including Ubuntu 12.04 ESM, 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, and 18.04 LTS, and use the most recent microcode firmware.

https://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-debian-rhel-and-centos-linux-now-patched-against-foreshadow-attacks-522335.shtml

KDE Applications 18.08 Open-Source Software Suite Released

Marius Nestor informs us that the KDE Application 18.08 software suite is out and stable. He draws much attention to the Gwenview image viewer which has lots of new features, but doesn't forget Konsole, KMail, Akonadi and other programs which too have new features and bug fixes. We are told this release will have 3-4 months of support and enhancements, ending when 18.12 is released late this year. Finally Marius provides many screenshots of the updated programs.

https://news.softpedia.com/news/kde-applications-18-08-open-source-software-suite-released-here-s-what-s-new-522344.shtml

Lubuntu Planning Switch To Wayland, Porting Openbox To Mir

Michael Larabel reminds us that Lubuntu will be using the LXQt desktop environment, but notes we may not know that they have laid out plans to use Wayland instead of X.Org. To achieve this they intend to port the Openbox window manager to use the Mir display server. Because this change will take some time, it's not expected until the Lubuntu 20.10 release.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Lubuntu-Openbox-Mir-Wayland

Mir Has Partial Support For The NVIDIA Proprietary Driver, X11 Support Remains WIP

Michael Larabel tells us that the team working on the Mir display server have continued adding features to it, the latest being partial support for the NVIDIA proprietary driver. Currently OpenGL clients won't work but they continue working towards that goal. Michael notes Mir has support for the XDG Shell stable protocol, with more Wayland extension protocols being worked on.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Mir-Partial-NVIDIA-Support

Wayland 1.16 / Weston 5.0 RC2 Released To Fix Vulnerabilities

Michael Larabel reports that an unscheduled release candidate has been issued for both Wayland and Weston. They address pointer overflows within Wayland's connection code and the compositor's keyboard mapping corrupting. The release candidates are available for testing while the final releases are expected next week.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Wayland-1.16-RC2-Released

In Other News

Linux-friendly embedded computer runs on Apollo Lake power

Eric Brown writes of Axiomtek's enterprise-grade PC, providing the specs and photos of the device. Supporting Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS and Windows 10 IoT, it is “well-suited for multimedia applications, security surveillance and smart factory automation,” says Axiomtek.

http://linuxgizmos.com/linux-friendly-embedded-computer-runs-on-apollo-lake-power/

Ubuntu Podcast: S11E23 – Twenty-Three Tales

“We’ve been upgrading RAM and tooting in the fediverse. We discuss Hollywood embracing open source, a new release of LibreOffice, pacemakers getting hacked and fax machines becoming self-aware and taking over the planet. We also round up the community news and events.”

Featuring: Alan Pope, Mark Johnson, and Martin Wimpress.

http://ubuntupodcast.org/2018/08/17/s11e23-twenty-three-tales/

Meeting Reports

Upcoming Meetings and Events

  • Security Team: Mon, August 20, 4:30pm – 5:30pm
  • Desktop Team: Tue, August 21, 3:30pm – 4:30pm
  • Kernel Team: Tue, August 21, 5pm – 6pm
  • Ubuntu Foundations: Thu, August 23, 3pm – 4pm

For more details and farther dates please visit: http://fridge.ubuntu.com/calendars/

Updates and Security for 14.04, 16.04, and 18.04

Security Updates

Ubuntu 14.04 Updates

End of Life: April 2019

Ubuntu 16.04 Updates

End of Life: April 2021

Ubuntu 18.04 Updates

End of Life: April 2023

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Archive

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Further News

As always you can find more Ubuntu news and announcements at:

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

Credits

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • Krytarik Raido
  • Bashing-om
  • Chris Guiver
  • Wild Man
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue541 (last edited 2018-08-21 00:08:24 by bashing-om)