Canonical has released Ubuntu Core 26, a new long-term support (LTS) version of its immutable, snap-based OS.
Among the changes Ubuntu Core 26 brings is smaller over-the-air updates, with download sizes reduced by up to 90% for most snaps thanks to a new snap-delta format. Updates to the Core base snaps specifically drop from 16 MB to 1.5 MB.
Installation times are faster as the initramfs-based installer skips redundant reboots during provisioning. Core 26 also enables live kernel patching on ARM64 devices so that critical and high vulnerability kernel security fixes are applied without the need for a device reboot1.
Base snaps are now assembled by a new Chisel-based build system. This adds explicit, traceable dependencies so that every file can be attributed to its originating package ‘slice’. As an upside, the change also trims the base image size by 7%.
Ubuntu Frame (the display server Ubuntu Core uses to run GUI apps on kiosk and embedded devices) can now support multiple apps on a single screen with configurable layouts. A new gpu-2604 snap interface gives those apps access to GPU acceleration.
Ubuntu Core 26 also includes:
- Snapcraft components to ship large or optional resources separately
- Native OP-TEE integration for ARM TrustZone hardware-rooted key protection
- TPM-sealed keys stored in the LUKS2 header
- EU Cyber Resilience Act compliance
- Logs and metrics can stream to Grafana, Loki and Prometheus
Ubuntu Core 26 is available to download now, with more details available on the the Canonical blog.
As a reminder, Ubuntu Core is not a full-fat desktop OS (though an Ubuntu Core Desktop is in development but remains a WIP). It’s a minimal, Snap-based version of the distro that’s designed for use in embedded IoT, robotics and edge computing scenarios.
- Livepatch is also enabled for AMD64-based devices in Ubuntu Core 20 and up, nice! ↩︎