Issue751


Contents

  1. In this Issue
  2. General Community News
    1. Ubuntu Unity as an official flavor
    2. Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS released
  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. UbuCon Asia 2022 - Looking for sponsors!
    2. Call for testing: ubuntu-frame, mir-kiosk, mir-test-tools, egmde
    3. Kinetic Kudu 22.10 Wallpaper Competition
  7. Ubuntu Cloud News
  8. Canonical News
  9. In the Press
    1. Canonical, Microsoft Bring Ubuntu on Arm to Azure
    2. Kylin: The multiple semi-official Chinese versions of Ubuntu
    3. Chrome extensions with 1.4M installs covertly track visits and inject code
    4. Microsoft is Investigating Azure Outage Affecting Ubuntu VMs
  10. In the Blogosphere
    1. Ubuntu 22.10 To Ship With WebP Image Support Out-Of-The-Box
    2. Latest Round Of Optimizations Wrap Up For Old ATI R300 To R500 GPUs On Linux
    3. Canonical Continues Snap'ing Up Linux Gaming For Ubuntu
    4. Ubuntu 22.10: Release Date & New Features
    5. Xfce’s Apps Update for August 2022: Xfdashboard 1.0, WebP Support in Screenshooter
    6. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and 20.04 LTS Users Get New Kernel Update, 9 Vulnerabilities Patched
    7. Systemd OOMD Will Now Honor "ManagedOOMPreference" For All cgroups
    8. Ubuntu 22.10 Readied With The Linux 5.19 Kernel
  11. Featured Audio and Video
    1. Ubuntu Security Podcast: Episode 175
    2. Ubuntu Portugal Podcast: 211 - Rúben Carneiro
  12. Meeting Reports
  13. Upcoming Meetings and Events
  14. Updates and Security for 18.04, 20.04, and 22.04
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 18.04 Updates
    3. Ubuntu 20.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 22.04 Updates
  15. Subscribe
  16. Archive
  17. Further News
  18. Conclusion
  19. Credits
  20. Glossary of Terms
  21. Get Involved
  22. Feedback

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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 751 for the week of August 28 - September 3, 2022.

In this Issue

  • Ubuntu Unity as an official flavor
  • Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS released
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Hot in Support
  • LoCo Events

  • UbuCon Asia 2022 - Looking for sponsors!

  • Call for testing: ubuntu-frame, mir-kiosk, mir-test-tools, egmde
  • Kinetic Kudu 22.10 Wallpaper Competition
  • Ubuntu Cloud News
  • Canonical News
  • In the Press
  • In the Blogosphere
  • Featured Audio and Video
  • Meeting Reports
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security for 18.04, 20.04, and 22.04
  • And much more!

General Community News

Ubuntu Unity as an official flavor

Steve Langasek thanks the Ubuntu Unity team for their submission, and writes that they have "met the requirements for inclusion as a daily flavor" and thus are included in daily builds. On successful completion of the 22.10 Beta milestone, Ubuntu Unity will become an official Ubuntu flavor.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/technical-board/2022-August/002669.html

Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS released

Łukasz ‘sil2100’ Zemczak announces the release of Ubuntu 20.04.5 on behalf of the Ubuntu Release Team. Provided details include: release information, the flavors included, links to download, support details, a link should we wish to contribute, and more.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2022-September/000283.html

This release was widely covered, the following is a collection of articles selected by our editors:

Interested in the flavors? Release announcements as follows:

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open: 140106 (-38)
  • Critical: 315 (-6)
  • Unconfirmed: 70219 (+15)

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

Translations

  • Ukrainian: 87.11% (40985/1080)
  • German: 86.31% (43549/245)
  • French: 80.41% (62303/6907)
  • Spanish: 79.92% (63848/4463)
  • Swedish: 76.96% (73279/980)

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

UbuCon Asia 2022 - Looking for sponsors!

Youngbin Han tells us the UbuCon Asia 2022 team is looking for sponsors. A link is provided for those interested, with a clue that a lot more sponsorship money is required for this event than in recent years. We're asked to help spread the news, and Youngbin expressess “Hope to see you all in November! - both at the Ubuntu Summit and UbuCon Asia 2022!”.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubucon-asia-2022-looking-for-sponsors/30296

Call for testing: ubuntu-frame, mir-kiosk, mir-test-tools, egmde

Alan Griffiths tells us new snaps are available for ubuntu-frame, mir-kiosk, and mir-test-tools that use the latest Mir release (2.9.0). We are invited to help test them, and given the command to use the candidate version. We are told a known issue exists with wpe-webkit-mir-kiosk which has been reported to the maintainer, so its fix can be packaged. These apps are expected to be released in a week, however if the wpe-webkit-mir-kiosk fix is in progress it may be delayed slightly to accommodate that.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/call-for-testing-ubuntu-frame-mir-kiosk-mir-test-tools-egmde/30290

Kinetic Kudu 22.10 Wallpaper Competition

Philipp Kewisch welcomes us to the Ubuntu Kinetic Kudu Wallpaper Competition. Submissions are to be left on this thread, with the top two entries to be included on the official Ubuntu 22.10 release image. Details of the requirements for entry are provided, the dates for the submissions, the voting period, and the details on the announcement of winners are given.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/kinetic-kudu-22-10-wallpaper-competition/30319

Ubuntu Cloud News

Canonical News

In the Press

Canonical, Microsoft Bring Ubuntu on Arm to Azure

Paul Thurrott writes that Canonical and Microsoft have announced Ubuntu images on Ampere Altra Arm-based Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines are now available. We are told these images provide an "Azure-optimized kernel and configuration" to the Ubuntu experience, with a link to the Ubuntu blog for more details. Details of what Ampere Altra is are given, and some use-cases for where it's useful are discussed.

https://www.thurrott.com/cloud/271494/canonical-brings-ubuntu-on-arm-to-azure

Kylin: The multiple semi-official Chinese versions of Ubuntu

Liam Proven writes about Kylin. With most Linux R&D money in the western world being server only, effort in China is being spent on desktops; partially because of the Chinese government's program to reduce dependency on foreign OSes. Mention is made of Deepin and Ubuntu-DDE, before moving to Kylin and the Ubuntu Kylin User Interface (UKUI). There is also some talk of OpenKylin, before Liam moves to discussing Ubuntu Kylin, and the two versions: one from Ubuntu servers (international), the other being Chinese Ubuntu Kylin Pro. A short review of each is provided in this lengthy post.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/30/kylin_the_multiple_semiofficial_chinese/

Chrome extensions with 1.4M installs covertly track visits and inject code

Dan Goodin tells us that Google has removed browser extensions from the Play Store, because McAfee "researchers reported they were surreptitiously tracking users’ browsing history and inserting tracking code into specific ecommerce sites they visited". A list of these removed extensions is provided, so you can check your systems to ensure you don't have any installed. Let this be a reminder that extensions can be malicious and that you should exercise discipline when installing them.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/08/google-removes-extensions-that-covertly-tracked-users-and-injected-javascript/

Microsoft is Investigating Azure Outage Affecting Ubuntu VMs

Rabia Noureen reports that "Microsoft has acknowledged that customers may experience domain name system (DNS) issues whilst accessing some Azure cloud services". This was impacting users who used Ubuntu 18.04 on Azure VMs. We are told when the outage started, with a fix for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters being released. Further there are recommendations from Microsoft to get around unhealthy services, which include rebooting (get new DHCP lease) & disabling automatic security updates until the issue is fully resolved.

https://petri.com/microsoft-azure-outage-ubuntu-vms/

In the Blogosphere

Ubuntu 22.10 To Ship With WebP Image Support Out-Of-The-Box

Michael Larabel informs us that Ubuntu 22.10 will include webp-pixbuf-loader by default, with the package promoted to the 'main' repository. Michael gives us a description of where WebP comes from, tells us why we'd find it useful, and provides a link to the bug report that had it promoted to 'main'.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-22.10-webp-pixbuf-loader

Latest Round Of Optimizations Wrap Up For Old ATI R300 To R500 GPUs On Linux

Michael Larabel wrote about new optimizations for R300~R500 class GPUs recently, and here we're told about how the open-source community have made more optimizations for "these old-AMD GPUs on Linux". Michael highlights the work by Mesa contributor Pavel Ondračka on shader optimizations, provides a link to the merge request, along with more details.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/R300-Wrapping-Up-August-2022

Canonical Continues Snap'ing Up Linux Gaming For Ubuntu

Michael Larabel writes about Canonical's increased efforts to support gaming on Ubuntu within the Snap platform. Here Michael gives focus to Feral Interactive's GameMode that controls the CPU frequency scaling governor's performance. While GameMode has been available as a Debian package, work is underway to transition it to a Snap. Michael concludes stating: "We'll see how these ongoing Linux gaming improvements for Ubuntu pan out moving forward".

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-Snaps-Steam-GameMode

Ubuntu 22.10: Release Date & New Features

Joey Sneddon reminds us of the beta and main release dates of Ubuntu 22.10, and in this post provides a walkthrough of many of the 'most notable' changes, updates, and details in the release. Starting with some discussion on the codename 'kinetic kudu' , he then moves to summarizing Quick Toggles, new System Settings, new Desktop Settings, Ubuntu Dock gaining app Spread, and advises the release ships with Linux kernel 5.19, and more. Numerous GIFs are included so we can appreciate the discussion, as well as links are provided for those needing more details.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/08/ubuntu-22-10-release-new-features

Xfce’s Apps Update for August 2022: Xfdashboard 1.0, WebP Support in Screenshooter

Marius Nestor provides his August 2022 'monthly roundup' of the changes in the Xfce desktop. Firstly Xfdashboard 1.0 is covered with some detail, before moving to xfce4-screenshooter 1.9.11, Xce panel 4.16.5, and more. A link is provided to the Xfce mailing list for more detail.

https://9to5linux.com/xfces-apps-update-for-august-2022-xfdashboard-1-0-webp-support-in-screenshooter

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and 20.04 LTS Users Get New Kernel Update, 9 Vulnerabilities Patched

Marius Nestor reports the release of Linux Security updates for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS systems using the Linux 5.15 LTS kernel. Marius provides details of a number of CVEs, the discoverers of the flaws, and how they can be misused if left unpatched. In conclusion we are advised to update our system asap if using the 5.15 kernel; update procedures are given.

https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-22-04-lts-and-20-04-lts-users-get-new-kernel-update-9-vulnerabilities-patched

Systemd OOMD Will Now Honor "ManagedOOMPreference" For All cgroups

Michael Larabel writes "Stemming from Ubuntu 22.04 LTS activating systemd's out-of-memory daemon (systemd-oomd) and users find their web browser being killed when facing memory or swap pressure", upstream have implemented a change to alleviate this. The change, already implemented in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, is now merged in upstream systemd "allowing ManagedOOMPreference on all cgroups".

https://www.phoronix.com/news/OOMD-Preference-All-Cgroups

Ubuntu 22.10 Readied With The Linux 5.19 Kernel

Michael Larabel reports that Ubuntu 22.10 is now using the 5.19 kernel, and gives some details of why the Linux 6.0 kernel won't be out in time - given the kernel freeze date of 6 October 2022 for Ubuntu 22.10. Other details of what Ubuntu 22.10 will include, along with some dates are also provided.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-22.10-Linux-5.19

Ubuntu Security Podcast: Episode 175

"An increased rate of CVEs in curl is a good thing, and we’ll tell you why, plus we cover security updates for the Linux kernel, Firefox, Schroot, systemd and more."

https://ubuntusecuritypodcast.org/episode-175/

Ubuntu Portugal Podcast: 211 - Rúben Carneiro

"Em período de férias, estivemos à conversa com Rúben Carneiro, o programador responsável por inúmeras (25, segundo a úlitma contagem) aplicações para Ubuntu Touch presentes na Open Store e também do XFONE!"

https://podcastubuntuportugal.org/e211/

Meeting Reports

Upcoming Meetings and Events

  • Developer Membership Board: Mon, September 5, 7pm – 8pm
  • Main Inclusion Requests (MIR) Status: Tue, September 6, 2:30pm – 3:00pm
  • Ubuntu Foundations: Thu, September 8, 3pm – 4pm

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 22.04

Security Updates

Ubuntu 18.04 Updates

End of Standard Support: April 2023

Ubuntu 20.04 Updates

End of Standard Support: April 2025

Ubuntu 22.04 Updates

End of Standard Support: April 2027

Subscribe

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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/Issue751 (last edited 2022-09-05 20:40:25 by bashing-om)