The Xenial Kernel Freeze is in effect starting April 7

Feb 24, 2016 02:33 GMT  ·  By

The first Beta release of the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system will launch in a few hours for the opt-in flavors, so the Ubuntu developers have pushed a great number of new packages into the repositories.

As we are currently running the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS distribution on some of our computers here at Softpedia HQ, we've noticed that the upcoming OS has received a new kernel (linux-4.4.0-7.22). Apparently, it is based on the upstream Linux kernel 4.4.2 LTS (Long Term Support) announced by Greg Kroah-Hartman on February 17, 2016.

On this occasion, the Ubuntu Kernel Team has released their weekly newsletter earlier today to inform early adopters about the fact that the kernel packages of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS have been re-based on Linux 4.4.2, urging everyone to test them out and report any issues they might encounter.

"Our Xenial kernel has been re-based to v4.4.2 and is available for testing in the archive, ie linux-4.4.0-7.22," developers explain. "Please test and let us know your results. [...] We encourage anyone needing kernel patches pulled into Xenial to please submit them well in advance of Kernel Freeze to allow for as much testing as possible."

LibreOffice 5.1, GNOME Software, and more

Besides the Linux 4.4.2 kernel packages, the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) has received numerous other important updates, such as the latest version of the LibreOffice 5.1 office suite, which until today was based on the RC3 builds. Also, we’ve noticed the fact that the GNOME Software application is now installed by default.

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS will be a great release and will come with the latest software packages, including but not limited to Mozilla Firefox 45.0 and Mozilla Thunderbird 45.0 with GTK3 integration. Xenial Xerus launches April 23, 2016, but until then, we will be able to test the Beta release later today.