What's new in Ubuntu 16.04

Xenial Xerus is an LTS version of Ubuntu. LTS stands for Long Term Support. LTS versions come out every two years (instead of every six months like regular versions) and are supported for five years. So, in the case of Xenial, that means support up until 2021. Ubuntu 14.04 was the LTS before this latest release, and, although it will be supported with updates and security patches until 2019, it is probably a bit long in the tooth by now. Even if you didn't update in 2015 at all, you may want to update now.

Another thing that was getting long in the tooth and has gone through a facelift is the command-line-based APT software manager. Although the old syntax is still there, instead of searching with

apt-cache search <somepackage>

installing with

sudo apt-get install <somepackage>

and upgrading with

sudo apt-get upgrade

now you can just use apt plus a command:

apt search <somepackage>
sudo apt install <somepackage>
sudo apt upgrade

Apart from saving on keystrokes and the frustration of typos, you will also get to see a progress bar and names and messages highlighted in color.

The not-so-new (but welcome) apt lives alongside the definitely new snap in 16.04. Snap (Figure 1) is another software manager, but with a twist – while APT resolves dependencies (and sometimes fails because of this) by looking for and downloading extra software alongside the package you are installing, the new Snappy protocol delivers self-contained packages. These packages do not affect other installed software and will therefore never break the system by, for example, overwriting a library.

Figure 1: Snap lets you install self-contained packages.

The disadvantage is that, because snap packages have to carry all the dependencies within themselves, they tend to be bigger and take up more space on your hard disk with redundant libraries.

However, you should try it yourself. Open a terminal and type

sudo snap install notes

to install the Notes utility.

As for graphical software management from the desktop, the clunky Software Center has been zapped and the much lighter and prettier Gnome Software app (Figure 2) is the new thing. We have updated the article on package management on page 90 of this issue, so you can read all about the changes.

Figure 2: The Software Center is out. The Software app is in.

All Burned Up

Continuing with stuff that has been taken out… the Brasero CD burner is not in the default installation anymore, because who still records CDs and DVDs in this day and age? Also, Brasero has been unmaintained for some time and is starting to suffer from bit-rot.

The instant messaging app Empathy has also been removed. The logic behind this change still eludes me. Maybe nobody messages from the desktop anymore? Whatever the case, you can still install Brasero and Empathy from the Software Cen… I mean, Software app.

Something else the Ubuntu developers have killed (and that you probably won't miss it) is commercial hooks – including ads in the new graphical software manager and installation slideshow and commercial searches in the HUD. Canonical seems to be looking for revenue elsewhere, through alliances with cloud providers (the team up with Microsoft has caused quite a stir) and via their mobile phone/tablet platform. Business deals aside, the absence of ads and commercial searches is welcome, because they seemed to cheapen an otherwise excellent operating system and raised quite a few privacy concerns.

Another thing users will appreciate is the fact that you can now move the launcher around (Figure 3). Well, you can move it from the left of the desktop to the bottom and then back again. Use the Unity Tweak Tool , or just the command line, to move the launcher. Doing:

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher launcher-position Bottom

moves the launcher down to the bottom, and

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher launcher-position Left

puts it back up the left side.

Figure 3: Finally! But now that we can do it, putting the launcher on the bottom just looks weird.

Conclusion

The developers have made many other changes under the hood [1] – and not just on the desktop version of Ubuntu: The server version has had at least one major change that, in turn, has sparked a major controversy [2], maybe even a lawsuit.

But, squabbles aside, Ubuntu 16.04, Xenial Xerus is definitely different – at least different enough to merit trying out.