Ubuntu releases occur every six months from Ltd, the original developer. Each new version of Ubuntu, in addition to its name, uses the year and month of release as its serial number. The first release of the shell, for example, was called Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on October 20, 2004. Therefore, numbers for future versions are preliminary; if the release is delayed until another month (or even year) relative to the planned one, the distribution number will change accordingly.
How do releases happen?
Ubuntu versions are traditionally dedicated to GNOME releases (about a month later), which, in turn, are released about a month after the releases of X.Org. As a result of this, each release of Ubuntu has a new version of GNOME and X.
Every fourth issue, released in the second quarter of every even year, acts as a distribution with long-term support. This means that these OS releases have been developing and receiving updates for five years and have technical support from Canonical Ltd. These include versions of Ubuntu 6.06, 8.04, 10.04, 12.04, 14.04 and 16.04. However, all distributions released before Ubuntu 12.04? only supported for only three years.
The remaining versions, released before 13.04, were usually maintained for 18 months and usually did not turn out to be obsolete until the release of the next "long-playing" distribution. This has changed, however, starting with Ubuntu13.04 - the support period has been halved to 9 months.
Which version of Ubuntu is the latest?
To date, the latest release of this OS is Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Xenial Xerus. On October 21, 2015, the developers announced that Ubuntu 16.04 LTS would be called XenialXerus, or "friendly ground squirrel." This shell was released on April 21, 2016 and was immediately appreciated by experts. How can you characterize it?
The default desktop environment remains the same - Unity 7, with the ability to upgrade to version 8. The release adds support for cephalometric and ZFS file systems, an LXD hypervisor (using Seccomp) for OpenStack, as well as support for Snappy packages. In addition, this operating system uses Systemd instead of Upstart as its initialization system.
This release replaced the Ubuntu Center software with GNOME Software, and also fixed the flaws in the ISO file. According to experts, the Ubuntu Software Center has been an unsuccessful tool for a very long time. The current update has significantly improved the "Ubuntu" for each user.
It is also worth noting that Ubuntu 16.04 LTS does not support the AMD Catalyst (fglrx) driver for AMD / ATI graphics cards, and instead recommends the free amdgpu Radeon software. However, they cannot provide optimal graphics performance.
The first release of this version of Ubuntu - 04.16.1 - will be available to all users from July 21, 2016.
Ubuntu's next upcoming release
On April 21, 2016, it was announced that Ubuntu 16.10 would be called Yakkety Yak, and the version would be released on October 20, 2016. This release will include a version of Unity 7, but it will offer a choice of version 8, which is part of the ISO, so that users can decide for themselves. Other announced improvements include a new version of Ubuntu software that will support faster downloads, better support for installing the command line (only for applications without a graphical interface), support for installing fonts and multimedia codecs, and improved promotion of paid applications.
How to find out the version of Ubuntu on my device?
Sometimes users forget which version of Ubuntu is running on their device. Finding out this is not a big deal. Nides will describe how to do this from the command line and graphical user interface.
Checking the version of Ubuntu from the terminal
This method will work regardless of which OS version and desktop environment you are running on Ubuntu Linux. The Russian version is checked in the same way.
Open the terminal first. If you are using Unity or another graphical interface, you can find an application called Terminal in LaunchPad.
Once you open the command line, there is a simple command that you can use to find your version of Ubuntu. This command looks like this: lsb_release –a.
After that, the line will display information about your operating system, including the distribution number.
Verifying Ubuntu Version with Unity
If you use Unity, this task is greatly simplified. To get started, open the "System Settings" item from the desktop located in the Unity main menu. You can also go to "System Settings" in LaunchPad Unity, if it is easier for you. How to find out the version of Ubuntu in this way?
The system settings menu is a convenient way to perform many command line functions directly from the graphical user interface. Adding users, installing updates, changing the time and so on - all this can be done from this menu. Click on the "Details" button located under the "System Settings" tab.
This will display all the information about the version of Ubuntu that you are using. This is a great place to not only see information about the OS number, but also to find out how much RAM is available on the device, what is your type of CPU (processor) and GPU (graphics), as well as the total amount of hard drive.
However, if you need the full number of your Linux Ubuntu version (for example, “14.04.3 LTS”, and not just “14.04 LTS”), you will need to use the command line method described above. The graphical interface will not be able to help you.
How to update Ubuntu to the next version
Most users are interested in having an updated and current OS on their device. How does the version of Ubuntu upgrade?
First of all, you should remember that any modernization associated with major releases of the operating system carries the risk of failure, data loss, or a broken software configuration. Comprehensive backups and extensive testing are highly recommended in any case, even if you are an advanced user.
The following guide assumes that your device is running Ubuntu 15.10, configured with sudo privileges for administrative tasks.
Although many systems can be updated instantly without difficulty, a safer solution would be to switch to the boot file of the new version by installing the distribution kit from scratch and configuring services with rigorous testing and importing application data as a separate step.
What do you need to know before upgrading?
Keep in mind that libraries, languages, and system services can change significantly. Ubuntu 16.04 has made important changes over the previous LTS release, which includes switching to Systemd system initialization instead of Upstart, and an emphasis on support for Python 3 and PHP 7 instead of PHP 5.
Before you begin a major upgrade on any system, you must make sure that you do not lose data if the update goes wrong. The best way to achieve this is to back up the entire file system. Using Digital Ocean Droplet, you can use the simplest approach - turn off the system and make its image.
Before starting a release update, it is safest to install the latest versions of all packages for the current version. Start by updating the package list: Sudo update APT-Get.
You will be shown a list of updates that you can implement. Choose yes and press Enter. This process may take some time. After its completion, use the Dist-Upgrade command, which will perform updates related to changing settings, adding or removing new packages as necessary. Answer “yes” to all system queries and wait for the process to complete.
Now that you have the latest updates for Ubuntu 15.10, you can replace the OS with version 16.04. Download the Ubuntu Update Tool. To do this, run the following command: sudo apt-get update.
Traditionally, Debian releases have been empowered to extend by modifying the /etc/apt/sources.list APT, which defines package repositories. Ubuntu still works according to Debian principles, so this process most likely still works without difficulty. Instead, however, it is advisable to use the tool provided by the Ubuntu project, which processes all checks for the new version, updates sources.list, and also performs a number of other tasks. This is the officially recommended path for updating a server, which must be done through a remote connection.
Start by starting the update without any options: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade.
If you are connected to your system via SSH (most likely you have Digital Ocean Droplet), you will be asked if you want to continue. At the command prompt, type Y and press Enter to continue.
Further you can be warned that the mirror record was not found. On Digital Ocean systems, you can safely ignore this warning and continue updating, since the local mirror for 16.04 is actually available.
You will be asked, “Do you want to overwrite the file 'sources.list'”? If you select “Yes”, a complete update of the operating system will occur. If you select “No”, the update will be canceled.
After the new package lists are downloaded and the changes are tested, you will be asked to start the update. Press Y to continue.
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Installing the update may take several hours. After the download is complete, the process cannot be canceled.
After the new packages complete their installation, you will be asked if you are ready to remove the obsolete packages. On a command line without a user configuration, this procedure should be safe. Click yes. If you have upgraded the entire system to a large extent, you can enter d and check the list of packages that will be removed.
Finally, if everything went well, you will be informed that the update is complete and a reboot is required. Enter Y to continue.
Completion
Wait for the computer to restart and reconnect. When booting the system, you should see a message confirming that you are currently upgrading to Xenial Xerus Ubuntu (stable version with support).
You should now configure a working installation of Ubuntu 16.04. You may need to examine the necessary configuration changes for services and deployed applications.