Issue723


Contents

  1. In this Issue
  2. General Community News
    1. New domain names for PPAs
    2. Call for testing: preliminary 20.04.4 release candidate images ready!
    3. Welcome New Members and Developers
  3. Ubuntu Stats
    1. Bug Stats
    2. Translations
  4. Hot in Support
    1. Ask Ubuntu Top 5 Questions
    2. Ubuntu Forums Top 5 Threads
  5. LoCo Events
  6. The Hub
    1. Release of cloud-init 22.1
    2. Subiquity 22.02.1 has been released to stable
    3. Anbox Cloud 1.11.5 has been released
  7. The Planet
    1. Meet Canonical at Cloud Expo Europe London 2022
  8. Other Community News
    1. Launchpad now supports SSH Ed25519 keys and RSA SHA-2 signatures
  9. Ubuntu Cloud News
  10. Canonical News
  11. In the Press
    1. New Linux Privilege Escalation Flaw Uncovered in Snap Package Manager
  12. In the Blogosphere
    1. Ubuntu 22.04 Adds Apparent Options to Hide Mounted Drives / Trash from Dock
    2. UBPorts Foundation: Demand for Ubuntu Touch for Smartphones Grows
    3. Ubuntu Touch OTA-22 Rolling Out Now with Initial FM Radio Support, WebGL Support
  13. Other Articles of Interest
  14. Featured Audio and Video
    1. Ubuntu Security Podcast: Episode 149
    2. Ubuntu Portugal Podcast: 182 - Galinha de água
    3. Linux Action News 228
  15. Meeting Reports
  16. Upcoming Meetings and Events
  17. Updates and Security for 18.04, 20.04, and 21.10
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 18.04 Updates
    3. Ubuntu 20.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 21.10 Updates
  18. Subscribe
  19. Archive
  20. Further News
  21. Conclusion
  22. Credits
  23. Glossary of Terms
  24. Get Involved
  25. Feedback

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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 723 for the week of February 13 - 19, 2022.

In this Issue

  • New domain names for PPAs
  • Call for testing: preliminary 20.04.4 release candidate images ready!
  • Welcome New Members and Developers
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Hot in Support

  • LoCo Events

  • Release of cloud-init 22.1
  • Subiquity 22.02.1 has been released to stable
  • Anbox Cloud 1.11.5 has been released
  • Meet Canonical at Cloud Expo Europe London 2022
  • Other Community News
  • Ubuntu Cloud News
  • Canonical News
  • In the Press
  • In the Blogosphere
  • Other Articles of Interest
  • Featured Audio and Video
  • Meeting Reports
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security for 18.04, 20.04, and 21.10
  • And much more!

General Community News

New domain names for PPAs

Colin Watson reminds us of the history of Launchpad's PPAs, and the issues with cookies & HTTPS. This leads to a brief history of security decisions made, and to a "dilemma" which is being resolved by the addition of a ppa.launchpadcontent.net domain that supports HTTP and HTTPS. We are told Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will use this new address, but are also advised the older address will continue working using HTTP only. This is also a warning that some proxies will require change.

https://blog.launchpad.net/ppa/new-domain-names-for-ppas

Call for testing: preliminary 20.04.4 release candidate images ready!

Lukasz Zemczak on behalf of the Ubuntu Foundations Team reports the release of the first official release candidate of Ubuntu 20.04.4; noting that some OEM kernel work is being done so new ISOs may be required for desktop releases. We are invited to help test; links are provided so the test can be recorded, and we can track the progress on this release.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-release/2022-February/005317.html

Welcome New Members and Developers

Congratulations to this contributor!

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open: 138418 (+138)
  • Critical: 329 (-2)
  • Unconfirmed: 69100 (+50)

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

Translations

  • Ukrainian: 88.04% (38683/1111)
  • German: 87.03% (41974/47)
  • French: 81.51% (59825/7082)
  • Spanish: 80.89% (61838/4173)
  • Swedish: 77.55% (72646/918)

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

Release of cloud-init 22.1

Brett Holman reports that Cloud-init 22.1 is now available. Bret provides a list of the highlights found in this release, and a long changelog with details and links if more details are required.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/release-of-cloud-init-22-1/26720

Subiquity 22.02.1 has been released to stable

Dan Bungert tells us Subiquity 22.02.1 is now stable and available for "all users during installation". We are provided the link to the bug and CVE the release primarily fixes, with a warning that passphrases from prior versions may have leaked into log files, and details of how we can check to ensure this hasn't occurred. We are told the prior versions that included the flaw, including a list of the ISOs that were impacted, and a note that earlier ISOs may also be impacted if the installer updated online prior to install. A link to the full release note is provided.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/subiquity-22-02-1-has-been-released-to-stable/26735

Anbox Cloud 1.11.5 has been released

Simon Fels reports the release of Anbox Cloud 1.11.5. We are told it prepares for a Ubuntu kernel release on AWS of the 5.13 kernel that starts at the end of February. We are given the reason for Anbox's required adaption for the 5.13 kernel (certain containers may fail to start), along with a couple of links for more details.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/anbox-cloud-1-11-5-has-been-released/26739

The Planet

Meet Canonical at Cloud Expo Europe London 2022

Malina tells us Canonical is a Platinum Sponsor of Cloud Expo Europe London 2022, with links so we can get free tickets, or book a meeting. We are given numerous dates, times & of the Round Table event: "How Charmed Kubeflow can help to scale up successful AI/ML initiatives", and a session talk with Q&A entitled "Drive business agility and reduce IT cost by automating software ops on hybrid cloud".

https://ubuntu.com//blog/meet-canonical-at-cloud-expo-europe-london-2022

Other Community News

Launchpad now supports SSH Ed25519 keys and RSA SHA-2 signatures

Colin Watson reports that Launchpad now supports Ed25519 OpenSSH public keys, and signatures using SHA-2. Whilst these features aren't new to most sites, we are told of some of the complexities in adding the new protocols to launchpad. Colin provides a detailed history of the various prior steps that led to this 'cryptography' finally making its way to Launchpad.

https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~cjwatson/blog/lp-new-ssh-features.html

Ubuntu Cloud News

Canonical News

In the Press

New Linux Privilege Escalation Flaw Uncovered in Snap Package Manager

Ravie Lakshmanan alerts us to a number of security vulnerabilities being discovered in Canonical's Snap software, including one that can be "exploited to escalate privilege to gain root" access (CVE-2021-44731). With some brief details explaining how it works & can be mis-used where the attacker has local access to the machine. The post then moves to list six other CVEs discovered.

https://thehackernews.com/2022/02/new-linux-privilege-escalation-flaw.html

Further coverage:

In the Blogosphere

Ubuntu 22.04 Adds Apparent Options to Hide Mounted Drives / Trash from Dock

Ji m blogs to make us aware of new options for the Ubuntu Dock in the forthcoming 22.04 release. In the 'Appearance‘ tab of system settings one can now toggle to show/hide the volumes and trash icons.

https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2022/02/easy-hide-mounted-drives-trash-ubuntu-2204/

UBPorts Foundation: Demand for Ubuntu Touch for Smartphones Grows

Leofric Averille reports that more Dutch people are looking for alternatives to Android or iOS smartphones, which has led to more enquiries going to UBPorts Foundation for answers. Giving us a quick introduction of UBPorts standalone mobile operating system goals, we are told Ubuntu Touch currently supports sixty different phones, with a link and brief mention of how it's installed.

https://www.taylordailypress.net/ubports-foundation-demand-for-ubuntu-touch-for-smartphones-grows/

Ubuntu Touch OTA-22 Rolling Out Now with Initial FM Radio Support, WebGL Support

Marius Nestor tells us the UBports Foundation has released OTA-22 software update for Ubuntu Touch mobile devices. We are told of the improvements and new features, one of which is FM Radio support, though users will have to wait a little longer for a radio app. Also mentioned is WebGL support for faster 3D rendering, and camera support for the Morph web browser allowing video calls. Other newer features are mentioned, some being available only on specific devices which are outlined, as well as many bugs squished.

https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-touch-ota-22-rolling-out-now-with-initial-fm-radio-support-webgl-support

Ubuntu Security Podcast: Episode 149

"This week Qualys dominate the week in security updates, disclosing details of 4 different SUID-root vulnerabilities, including Oh Snap! More Lemmings (Local Privilege Escalation in snap-confine), plus we look at updates for Firefox, cryptsetup and more."

https://ubuntusecuritypodcast.org/episode-149/

Ubuntu Portugal Podcast: 182 - Galinha de água

"Um episódio repleto de actualidade e temperado com o bom humor icónio e único em todo o mundo Ubuntu e arredores é o que o vosso podcast preferido tem para vos oferecer esta semana. Rápido, carreguem no botão."

https://podcastubuntuportugal.org/e182/

Linux Action News 228

"Canonical has a big week, why bcachefs looks like it's taking another step forward, and ChromeOS Flex for PCs is released."

https://linuxactionnews.com/228

Meeting Reports

Upcoming Meetings and Events

  • Developer Membership Board: Mon, February 21, 7pm – 8pm
  • Technical Board: Tue, February 22, 8pm – 9pm
  • Ubuntu Backporters: Wed, February 23, 5:30pm – 6:30pm
  • Community Council: Wed, February 23, 11pm – Thu, February 24, 12am
  • Ubuntu 20.04.4 release: Thursday, Feb 24, 2022
  • Ubuntu 22.04 Feature Freeze: Thursday, Feb 24, 2022
  • Community Office Hours: Thu, February 24, 6pm – 7pm
  • Ubuntu Desktop Indaba: Fri, February 25, 5pm – 6pm

Times shown are UTC. For more details and farther dates please visit: https://fridge.ubuntu.com/calendars/

Updates and Security for 18.04, 20.04, and 21.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 18.04 Updates

End of Standard Support: April 2023

Ubuntu 20.04 Updates

End of Standard Support: April 2025

Ubuntu 21.10 Updates

End of life: July 2022

Subscribe

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Or follow us via our various social media presences:

Archive

You can always find older Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter issues at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Archive

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

Other acronyms can be found at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary

Get Involved

The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting Ubuntu. More on this at: https://community.ubuntu.com/contribute/

Or get involved with the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter team! We always need summary writers and editors, if you're interested, learn more at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Join

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Ubuntu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical support questions, please check https://community.ubuntu.com/help-information/ for more information on where to get help.

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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue723 (last edited 2022-02-21 20:59:44 by bashing-om)