Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Alpha 3 released

Yesterday, August 5, the third alpha version of Ubuntu 10.10, Maverick Meerkat Alpha 3 , was released, incorporating the functionality being prepared for the next stable version of the system, which will be released on October 10 of this year (10.10.10).

Upgrading from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

You can upgrade to the third alpha with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on the desktop version using the command:
update-manager -d

When launched, Update Manager will report the availability of a new version 10.10 . Click "Update" and follow the instructions of the program.

To upgrade your server Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, you must:

1. Install the update-manager-core package (if not already installed);
2. Edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=normal ;
3. Start the update manager with sudo do-release-upgrade -d ;
4. Follow the program instructions.

')

What's new in Maverick Meerkat

The development of functionality for Maverick has begun, details are available in the Maverick specifications .

Please test the release and report bugs .

Package Updates

As is usually the case when preparing a new version, the packages (applications and other software) are updated very often. Many of these packages arrive automatically when synchronized with the Debian Unstable branch. At the moment, the automatic synchronization period is over, so now there will not be so many changes.

You can get a list of packages accepted for 10.10 Maverick Meerkat by signing up for maverick-changes .

Ubuntu

GNOME has been updated to the current version 2.31. It includes the dconf and gsettings APIs in particular. Evolution has been updated to version 2.30, and is now much faster than the version included in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

Ubuntu netbook edition

The default shell in Ubuntu netbook edition is now Unity .

Among other things, it contains the global application menu ( there are many Unity screenshots, as well as a video).

The date / time indicator now provides a real calendar widget:

Also worth noting is the redesign of the volume control menu, which first appeared in the last alpha:

Shotwell is now used as the standard photo manager.

Kubuntu

KDE updated to 4.5 release candidate. The default web browser is now Rekonq, based on Webkit. Qt updated to the current version 4.7 beta .

Xubuntu

Xfce4 has been updated to the current version 4.6.2, which fixes many bugs and updates many of the programs used in Xubuntu. New default programs: Parole media player instead of Totem Movie Player, Xfburn burning software instead of Brasero, xfce4-taskmanager process manager instead of Gnome-Task-Manager.

Edubuntu

Edubuntu inherits all changes from Ubuntu. The edubuntu-artwork package has been divided into several smaller packages to simplify the installation of updates and reduce the size of downloadable files.

Software center

The “Featured” and “What's New” sections appeared on the software-center start page. The application has become faster, the interface has become more responsive, the function “History” has been added, where a list of what has been installed, removed and updated is presented. Added support for extensions (plug-ins), by default, specific technical records are not displayed.

Kernel 2.6.35

Alpha 3 ships with kernel 2.6.35-14.19, based on the final version 2.6.35.
This core contains a number of security improvements . One of the most important innovations changes the standard behavior of PTRACE , used by gdb, strace, ltrace, etc. Starting from Ubuntu 10.10, only child processes can be traced, due to the initial value 1 in /proc/sys/kernel/ptrace_scope . In some systems, this value can cause problems, for example, in systems used for development, and servers, where there are only administrative accounts. If the use of sudo for PTRACE is undesirable, you need to set this value to 0.

Ubuntu Server Cloud Images

cloud-init , a custom Ubuntu Server cloud initialization process, acquired new features back in Maverick Alpha 2, including pluggable hooks, ebsmount, ext4 support, and new parameters in cloud-config format.
Starting with Alpha 3, cloud instances can manage their own kernel, including updating the kernel with apt . This is done using the pv-grub utility provided by Amazon.

Installation

Now during the installation, you can use the new btrfs file system (for manual partitioning), if you place the /boot partition on another system.

Alpha 3 Download

Fly until it's cold! ISO images and torrents are available:

Ubuntu Desktop, Server and Netbook
Ubuntu Server for UEC and EC2
Kubuntu Desktop and Netbook
Xubuntu
Edubuntu dvd
Ubuntu studio
Ubuntu arm

Known Issues

At this stage of preparation for release, it is only natural that there are some known problems that users may encounter in Maverick Alpha 3. Here are descriptions of such problems, as well as possible fixes for them so that you don’t waste time reporting these bugs again.

• Installation in OEM mode fails when there is no Internet connection due to unsuccessful installation of the oem-config package from the installation image. If you need this for testing, ensure a permanent connection to the Network throughout the installation ( 613008 )
• Windows Installer Wubi fails. A study of the problem is being conducted ( 600578 , 613288 ).
• Ubuntu Netbook Edition with the Unity shell currently does not provide a workaround for systems with a video driver that does not support 3D acceleration, such as NVidia ( 600567 ).
• In systems with a small amount of memory (256 MB or less), ureadahead causes insufficient memory errors, which can make loading impossible ( 600359 ).
• Applications that use sqlite3 face many problems with performance and query execution, for example, banshee ( 612370 ).
• The prerelease version of Eucalyptus 2.0 is included in Alpha 3, although it still has a number of issues. For example, registration after installation does not work reliably ( 609112 ), complex topologies (such as separating CLC from Walrus, for example) are not yet supported ( 613033 ). When installing a node (“node”) system, be prepared to get two problems with grub that can be ignored without consequences ( 613463 ).
• KDM gives a timeout when booting from a Kubuntu Live image, after which the launch of a fault-tolerant X session should be possible ( 613574 ).

Error messages

It should not be too surprised that other errors can be present in the alpha version of Maverick Meerkat. Your comments, bug reports, patches, and suggestions will help make the necessary corrections and improve future versions. To report a bug, use standard tools .

If you want to help fix bugs, then you need to Bug Squad , where new forces are always welcome.

Help Ubuntu

If you want to contribute to the future of Ubuntu, see the list of possible ways to participate in its fate.

other information

You can find more information about Ubuntu on the website and on the Ubuntu wiki .

You can also subscribe to the Ubuntu developers development list ( Ubuntu's development announcement list ).

via ubuntu.com