What's new in Ubuntu 20.04

A little about code name. The word "Focal" means "Central point" or "most important part" that is associated with the concept of the nucleus, the center of any properties, phenomena, events, and "Fossa" comes from the root word "FOSS" (Free and Open-Source Software) and the tradition of naming the versions of Ubuntu with names of animals means fossa iis a cat-like, carnivorous mammal from Madagascar.

Ubuntu 20.04 as an important and successful update with support for the next 5 years for desktop computers and servers.

Ubuntu 20.04 was a logical continuation of Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" x 19.10 "Eoan Ermine". In versions for desktop computers, the latest trends, there was a dark theme. Thus, in Ubuntu 20.04 there are three options of standard themes Yaru:

• Light,
• Dark
• Standard.

Also deleted the Amazon app. Ubuntu 20.04 uses a GUI by default, the latest version of GNOME 3.36.

Key changes

Ubuntu 20.04 based on the Linux kernel 5.4, which was published on 24 November 2019. In this version implemented several important innovations, which we describe below.

lz4

Canonical engineers have tested different algorithms of compression for the kernel and initial boot initramfs, trying to find a compromise between the best compression (smaller file size) and time of extraction. Algorithm lossless compression lz4 showed the most noticeable results and was added to Ubuntu 19.10, which allowed it to reduce the boot time compared to previous releases (Ubuntu and 18.04 19.04). This algorithm will remain in Ubuntu 20.04.

Linux Kernel Lockdown

The Lockdown feature increases the security of the Linux kernel, by restricting access to the features that can allow execution of arbitrary code through a code provided by user processes. Simply put, even the super user account root cannot modify kernel code. This reduces the damage from a potential attack, even when the root account is compromised. Thus, it increases the overall security of the operating system.

exFAT

File system FAT Microsoft does not allow you to transfer files larger than 4 GB. To overcome this limitation, Microsoft created the exFAT file system (from the English. Extended FAT "advanced FAT"). Now you can format, such as a USB drive to exFAT using built-in support exFAT file system.

WireGuard

Although Ubuntu 20.04 will not use the kernel 5.6, at least once, it now uses backport WireGuard in the kernel 5.4. WireGuard is the new word in industry VPN, enabling WireGuard into the kernel already provides the advantage of Ubuntu 20.04 in the cloud direction.

Fixed bug with quota CFS and now a multithreaded application can run faster. Added driver allows you to work with sensors of temperature and voltage of CPUs Ryzen.

All this is not all the innovations introduced in the kernel 5.4. Detailed reviews can be found on the online kernelnewbies.org (in English).

Using the Kubernetes

Canonical added full support for Кubernetes 1.18 enabled Charmed Kubernetes, MicroK8s and kubeadm.

Install Kubectl in Ubuntu 20.04:

# snap install kubectl --classic

kubectl 1.18.0 from Canonical ✓ installed

Using SNAP

Canonical continues to promote the universal format of the package is a snap. This is even more evident in the release of Ubuntu 20.04. If you try to run a program that is not installed, then first of all it will offer to install with:

# snap install 

Improved support for ZFS

Although Linus Torvalds may not like ZFS, she still remains popular file system and its added experimental support for Ubuntu 19.10.
It is convenient and stable for storage, the same home archive or storage server at work (out of the box does more than the same LVM). ZFS supports partition sizes up to 256 quadrillion Zettabytes (hence the letter "Z" in the name) and can handle files up to 16 Exabytes.

ZFS performs control of data integrity, given how they are placed on the disk. Function copy-on-write ensures that data will not be overwritten. Instead, the new information is written to the new block, and file system metadata are updated to point to it. ZFS allows you to create snapshots (snapshots of the file system), which track changes in file system and exchange with it the data to save disk space.

ZFS assigns a checksum to each file on the drive and continually checks the status on it. If it detects that the file is damaged, it will automatically attempt to recover it. Setup Ubuntu there was a separate item that allows you to use ZFS. More details of the history of ZFS and its features can find in the blog It's FOSS.

Goodbye Python 2.X

The third version of Python was introduced in 2008, but even 12 years was not enough to keep the projects on Python 2 to adapt to it.
In Ubuntu 15.10, an attempt was made to abandon Python 2, but the support continued. And now, 20 April 2020 out Python 2.7.18, which is the last release of Python 2 branch. Updates for it will be no more.

Ubuntu 20.04 no longer supports Python 2 and Python uses the 3.8 as the version of Python by default. Unfortunately, in the world there are many projects working with Python 2, and for them the transition to Ubuntu 20.04 may be painful.

The latest version of Python 2 you can put a single command:

# apt install python2.7

3.8 in addition to Python, the developers can evaluate the updated set of tools, which includes:

• MySQL 8,
• glibc 2.31,
• OpenJDK 11,
• PHP 7.4,
• Perl 5.30,
• Golang 1.14.

Goodbye 32 bits

For several years, Ubuntu does not provide ISO images for 32-bit computers. Now existing users of the 32-bit versions of Ubuntu can upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04 but before the Ubuntu updated has not come out. That is, if you are currently using 32-bit Ubuntu 18.04, I can stay with her until April 2023.

How to upgrade

To upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 c previous versions easy enough to run the following commands:

# sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
# sudo do-release-upgrade

we are happy to announce that Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) is already available as an image for virtual machines in our Cloud platform. Create your own virtual IT infrastructure using the new software!

UPD: 19.10 Ubuntu Users will be able to upgrade to 20.04 now, users of Ubuntu 18.04 will be updated after the release of 20.04.1, which is scheduled for release July 23, 2020.