Canonical may begin to update Ubuntu daily
Open source OS could shift from current six month update cycle
By Katherine Noyes | PC World | Published: 10:00, 25 November 2010
Ubuntu may shift from updating every six months to updating every day, according to a report Tuesday in The Register.
Users familiar with the wildly popular Linux distribution have long been accustomed to its twice-a-year updates, marked with names starting with successive letters of the alphabet. Version 10.10 released last month, for example, is "Maverick Meerkat," while version 11.04, due in April, will be dubbed "Natty Narwhal."
Soon, however, such updates may become a ongoing phenomenon.
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Ubuntu founder and CEO Mark Shuttleworth reportedly said during a conference call last month that a move to daily updates would help the Linux distribution "keep pace with an increasingly complex software and platform ecosystem as Ubuntu goes on more devices and syncs up Android and iPhones," the Register wrote.
"Today we have a six month release cycle," Shuttleworth reportedly said. "In an Internet-oriented world, we need to be able to release something every day. That's an area we will put a lot of work into in the next five years."
While undoubtedly more work for developers, a daily update cycle would be a boon for Ubuntu users and partners. Most notably, manufacturers of devices featuring Ubuntu embedded would be able to keep their systems better updated, matching more closely or even surpassing the update cycles seen on competing platforms.
Users, meanwhile, won't need to wait for changes to be included in their operating system, helping them stay up to date and secure.
A separate story on NetworkWorld asserts that Canonical has since said it won't be making any such switch. Which turns out to be true remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, between Unity, Wayland, a bunch of new business tools and the potential for a more frequent release cycle, the future Ubuntu is looking pretty exciting.
