Ubuntu 16.04 Imminent, New Slack Live Beta, Fedora 24/25 Schedules
Canonical today announced the release of Ubuntu 16.04, although it isn't actually on mirrors yet. Eric Hameleers announced the next test release of Slackware Live whose final will be based on upcoming Slackware 14.2 and Fedora 24 may end up slipping another week causing ripple effects through version 26. Bruce Byfield today discussed the second goal of Linux and Jonathan Riddell announced a user edition of KDE neon.
The top story today must be the announcement from Canonical for the release of Ubuntu 16.04. It is due tomorrow April 21 and brings new "snap" package format that isolates applications in their own little container. Speaking of containers, another feature touted this release is "LXD pure-container hypervisor" and "steps towards" convergence. Downloads will probably start hitting mirrors in the morning. Dustin Kirkland posted his Ubuntu "by the numbers" today as well. He said today's release is the sixth LTS version and supports 7 architectures. He added that "over 150,562 cloud instances of Xenial have launched to date and we haven't even officially released yet!"
Matthew Miller said in this week's "five things" post that due to a tight beta cycle it is quite possible another week delay could be necessary. He said when you weight quality against schedules, quality wins. So, if that happens, that could delay Fedora 25 a couple of weeks maybe but should be ironed out by Fedora 26. That is providing version 25 stays on revised schedule - which would be a first I think. Miller then added that folks can still count on releases roughly in April/May and October/November saying, "We’re still aiming to keep the annual cadence in sync." The beta is in freeze as of yesterday and all the code changes needed for version 24 are complete. The Beta is scheduled for release May 3 and Final is still currently scheduled for June 7.
Eric Hameleers blogged today that Slackware Live Beta 8, or 0.8.0, has been released. It's based on Slackware 14.2 RC2 and brings a few new options and features. Hameleers also added a 32-bit version per user request. While others await Ubuntu or Fedora, this is the final release I'm anticipating. I plan to switch to the Plasma 5 version with AlienBob packages, but Slack Live is also available in Pat's Slackware, a trimmed down Xfce, and full Slackware with MATE.
In other news, Jonathan Riddell released KDE neon User Edition Tech Preview with Plasma 5.6.3. Bruce Byfield today said no one remembers the second goal of Linux, to provide a completely free operating system. Dedoimedo put the latest Linux security scares in perspective and James Darvell reported on CIA funding of Open Source Software.