The Ubuntu 26.04 'Resolute Raccoon' distribution has been released, classified as a long-term support (LTS) version, with updates provided for 15 years (5 years publicly available, plus another 10 years for users of the Ubuntu Pro service). Installation images have been created for Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Kylin (the edition for China), Ubuntu Unity, Edubuntu, and Ubuntu Cinnamon.
Key Changes:
- The desktop has been updated to GNOME 50, which removes the code for X11 support, implements a new session-saving system, redesigns the parental control interface, improves support for fractional scaling and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) mechanisms, and adds support for the Wayland protocol color-management-v2 for color management. By default, the Showtime video player (instead of Totem) and GNOME Resources (instead of the old resource monitoring application) are used.
- The 'Privacy & Security' section in the configurator has added a 'Telemetry' panel for configuring the collection and sending of Ubuntu Insights telemetry, through which metrics are periodically collected. The panel allows monitoring the status of telemetry submission and viewing the sent reports. The system is optional and can be activated at the user's discretion during the initial setup wizard (GNOME Initial Setup). Upon upgrading versions, a prompt for enabling telemetry appears.
- The minimum system requirements for Ubuntu Desktop 26.04 have increased from 4 to 6 GB of RAM (the last change was in 2018 when RAM requirements increased from 1 to 4 GB). A dual-core CPU with a frequency of at least 2 GHz and 25 GB of permanent storage space is also required. For Ubuntu Server 26.04, the minimum requirements are 1.5 GB of RAM and 4 GB on the storage.
- Stability and performance have been improved when using Wayland on systems with NVIDIA GPUs. Support for fingerprint sensors has been enhanced.
- Integration with the application desktop provided in snap format has been improved.
- Enhanced capabilities for using full disk encryption have been introduced, eliminating the need to enter a disk unlock password at boot, thanks to storing decryption key information in the TPM (Trusted Platform Module). Features for key recovery used in full disk encryption based on TPM have been implemented. Support has been added for the addition and removal of PIN codes or passwords after installation. An option for re-encrypting the disk has been added to the configurator.
- The design of dialogs presented by the authority request output system, which require user access confirmation, has been modified. Dynamic access provision is organized using the AppArmor mechanism.
- Efforts have been made to unify the installation and updating of packages. App Center is viewed as a single application for managing all types of applications, regardless of the format in which they are delivered.
- An additional virtualization stack virt-hwe (Hardware Enablement) has been proposed, the components of which will be updated twice a year to new versions as Ubuntu 26.04.x updates are released, similar to how new versions of the Linux kernel are proposed in such updates. The virt-hwe package set includes qemu-hwe, libvirt-hwe, seabios-hwe, and edk2-hwe packages. A utility ubuntu_virt_helper has been included to switch between two options for virtualization packages.
- The authd package has been added to the repository for configuring centralized authentication through cloud identity providers such as MS Entra ID and Google Cloud Identity.
- Updated package versions include Linux kernel 7.0, systemd 259.5, glibc 2.43, Chrony 4.8, LibreOffice 26.2.2, GStreamer 1.28, OpenSSL 3.5.6.
- Developer packages have been updated: LLVM 21, OpenJDK 25, PHP 8.5.2, Rust 1.93.1, strace 6.19, PostgreSQL 18, MariaDB 11.8.6, MySQL 8.4.8, Valkey 9.0.3.
- Server packages have been updated: Samba 4.23, Exim 4.99.1, Postfix 3.10.6, unbound 1.24.2, multipath-tools 0.12.2, OpenLDAP 2.6.10, containerd 2.2.1, runc 1.4.0, Docker 29, libvirt 12.0.0, QEMU 10.2.1, EDK2 2025.11, Netplan 1.1.2, cloud-init 26.1, OpenStack 2026.1, HAProxy 3.2, Apache httpd 2.4.65, Nginx 1.28.2, OpenSSH 10.2.
- In the sudo-rs utility, supplied instead of sudo, password input indication (the appearance of asterisks as you type) is enabled by default. To revert to the old behavior, set the option "Defaults !pwfeedback" in /etc/sudoers.
- Optional support for the cargo-auditable mode has been implemented for Rust packages, which attaches metadata about the versions of dependencies used during compilation to the executable file. This information allows tracking the vulnerability exposure of the executable files when a vulnerability in a dependency is discovered. Audit support has been implemented for the packages alacritty, bat, du-dust, eza, fd-find, hyperfine, ripgrep, sd, and sudo-rs.
- The package includes a compiler and DPC++ (Data Parallel C++) libraries for creating heterogeneous applications in SYCL (a superset of C++).
- The libfprint library has expanded support for fingerprint sensors and has implemented support for the Secure Device Connection Protocol (SDCP).
- The cgroupfs in the kernel is now mounted by default with the options 'nsdelegate, memory_recursiveprot, memory_hugetlb_accounting'. Support for cgroup v1 has been removed in systemd, and System V service scripts have been classified as obsolete (a compatibility layer for similar scripts is still maintained).
- By default, external drives are now mounted in the /run/media directory instead of /media.
- The blkmapd and nfs-blkmap services used for NFS have been removed.
- Support for IBM Z z14 (LinuxONE II) systems and earlier generations has been discontinued.
- Packages with DocumentDB 0.108, an open-source database by Microsoft, have been added to the repository. Full support for the MariaDB database system is provided in the 'main' repository. The building of PostgreSQL packages for the i386 architecture has been discontinued.
- Kerberos now supports loading configuration files from the /etc/krb5.conf.d directory.
- Ubuntu MATE 26.04 and Ubuntu Unity 26.04 will not be given LTS status. No builds have been made for Ubuntu MATE 26.04. At the end of March, the leader of Ubuntu MATE announced his departure from the project.
- Kubuntu features releases of KDE Plasma 6.6, KDE Gear 25.12.3, Qt 6.10, and KDE Frameworks 6.24.0. By default, a KDE session based on Wayland is used. The package 'plasma-session-x11' remains in the repository for creating X server-based sessions, but it is no longer supported by the Kubuntu team.
- In Edubuntu, the installer and the administrator menu have been completely rewritten, now featuring two backends (GTK4 and Qt6) that can be selected based on the type of desktop. It also includes the Cockpit module for the web interface. The distribution includes the Foliate eBook reader, Paperboy RSS reader, GNOME Showtime media player (instead of Totem), Arduino IDE, Raspberry Pi Imager, GChemPaint chemical structure editor, and GNOME Notes (instead of Gnote). GTK2-bound packages such as chemtool have been removed.
- Ubuntu Studio offers three switchable desktop layouts: classic with a top panel, macOS-style with a global menu, and Windows 10-style with a bottom menu. The installer and sound configuration system have been rewritten in Python with separate backends for GTK4 and Qt6. The sound configurator has added support for FFADO for FireWire devices and the ability to configure sampling rates and buffer sizes for PipeWire.
A new sound plugin Loopino (LV2/CLAP/VST2) has been added for loading, trimming, and looping audio files. An applet for adjusting PipeWire settings from the system tray has been included. The snd-hdspe driver for AIO, AIO Pro, RME HDSPe MADI, AES, and RayDAT sound cards has been added. The DistroAV package for transmitting audio and video in OBS Studio using NDI technology has been introduced. Versions of packages such as OBS Studio 32.1.0, FreeShow 1.5.9, QPrompt 2.0.1, RaySession 0.17.4, Patchance 1.3.2, Geonkick 3.7.0, BChoppr 1.12.8, harpwise 6.34.4, and blender 5.0.1 have been updated.
Source: opennet.ru
