Canonical has announced the release of Ubuntu 24.10 'Oracular Oriole.' It is now available to download from the Ubuntu website. This version comes with the latest Linux kernel, toolchains, and the new GNOME 47 desktop environment. There have also been "significant improvements to software security."
Astronaut and CEO of Canonical, Mark Shuttleworth, said:
"Oracular Oriole sets a new pace for delivering the latest upstream kernel and toolchains. Experimental new security features demonstrate our commitment to continually elevate the Linux desktop experience in conversation with the community for the next 20 years and beyond."
Ubuntu 24.10 launches with the Linux 6.11 kernel. According to Canonical, this marks a shift in its kernel selection policy so that the newest available upstream Linux kernel is chosen so that users get the latest features and hardware support at release. Doing this also benefits silicon vendors, who can now easily plan for future kernel versions for Ubuntu releases and hardware enablement updates to LTS releases.
Another change in this update is permissions prompting, a "critical tool for privacy and security conscious users." The feature is technically experimental. The implementation uses AppArmor and enforces sandboxing and mediates access at the system call level so that everything is "tightly controlled and subject to user consent".
Prompting must be enabled through the new Security Center application in Ubuntu 24.10. Eventually, the Security Center will expand with more prompting options, plus firewall and encryption management.
Ubuntu 24.10 also brings GNOME 47, which has improved performance and stability, as well as new features. This Ubuntu version also switches to Wayland by default for hardware with Nvidia graphics and uses the open-source Nvidia 560 kernel modules by default on supported hardware.
For gamers, there are significant improvements to the Steam snap with an expanded permissions model and improved Nvidia driver support. The Steam snap also comes with gaming-specific Mesa PPAs to deliver optimized performance out of the box when combined with low latency settings enabled with Linux 6.11.
If you want to use Ubuntu 24.10, you can download it from the Ubuntu website. It is a stable release, but as a non-LTS version, it will only be supported for nine months.
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