New Zealand Linux

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.10
Desktop and Server editions, Ubuntu 9.10 Server for UEC and EC2, and the
Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Codenamed “Karmic Koala”, 9.10 continues Ubuntu’s
proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source
technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable, and suitable for
testing by any user.

Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop Edition improves on the work of 9.04 to get you going
faster, with improved startup times and a streamlined boot experience.

Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition integrates Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud setup in the
installer and provides improvements to system security with AppArmor,
including an AppArmor profile for libvirtd to further isolate virtual
machines from the host system.

Ubuntu 9.10 Server for UEC and EC2 brings the power and stability of the
Ubuntu Server Edition to cloud computing, whether you’re using Amazon EC2 or
your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

The Ubuntu 9.10 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu
Studio, and Mythbuntu, also reach RC status today. This release sees the
first technology preview of Kubuntu Netbook.

The final release of Ubuntu 9.10 is scheduled for 29 October 2009 and will
be supported for 18 months on both desktops and servers. Users requiring a
longer support lifetime on the server may choose to continue using Ubuntu
8.04 LTS, with security support until 2013, rather than upgrade to 9.10.

Before installing or upgrading to Ubuntu 9.10 please review the instructions
and caveats in the release notes:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/910

In addition, there are a small number of known bugs in the release candidate
that will be fixed before the Ubuntu 9.10 release, but warrant highlighting
for your attention:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/910overview#Known%20issues

About The Release Candidate
—————————

The purpose of the Release Candidate is to solicit one last round of testing
before the final release. Here are ways that you can help:

* Upgrade from Ubuntu 9.04 to the Release Candidate by following the
instructions in the release notes referenced above.

* Participate in installation testing using the Release Candidate CD
images, by following the testing and reporting instructions at
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/ISO

Desktop features
—————-

GNOME 2.28 featuring Empathy: with this latest release, Ubuntu now uses the
Empathy instant messaging service by default, introducing the Telepathy
framework.

Ubuntu Software Center: the first step in a replacement for Add/Remove
Software has landed.

New boot experience: multiple changes to look, feel and speed of the boot
experience have been included in the Ubuntu 9.10 release candidate.

Server features
—————

Cloud computing: Ubuntu 9.10 builds on the tantalizing cloud support in
Ubuntu 9.04, with support for Eucalyptus configuration at install time and
publishing of standard VM images for UEC.

AppArmor: Ubuntu 9.10 continues to raise the bar for server security, with
AppArmor profiles enabled by default for ntpd and libvirt providing another
layer of protection from attacks on the network or via guest virtual
machines.

UEC and EC2: Ubuntu 9.10 includes the first official release of Ubuntu
Server images for UEC and for Amazon’s EC2, giving you everything you need
for rapid deployment of Ubuntu instances in a cloud computing environment.
UEC images, and information on running Ubuntu 9.10 on EC2, are available at:

http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/9.10/rc

Ubuntu Netbook Remix features
—————————–
Ubuntu Netbook Remix is optimised for Intel Atom netbooks and compatible
x86 devices. It includes a new consumer-friendly interface that allows
users to quickly and easily get on-line and use their favourite
applications. This interface is optimised for a retail sales environment.

It includes the same faster boot times and improved boot experience as
Ubuntu desktop.

Kubuntu features
—————-

Kubuntu 9.10, built on KDE 4.3, brings users a complete, full-featured KDE 4
desktop with many new applications and innovations.

This is the first release for a new Kubuntu variant, Kubuntu Netbook Edition.
Built on a Kubuntu base, it brings users an exciting first look at KDE’s
netbook-oriented desktop environment.

New features include better integration with OpenOffice.org and various
social website connections for applications. Notable problems with network
management and user configuration have been fixed.

Please see https://wiki.kubuntu.org/KarmicKoala/RC/Kubuntu for all the
details.

For upgrade instructions from Kubuntu 9.04 or 8.04 see
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KarmicUpgrades/Kubuntu

Xubuntu features
—————-

Xubuntu 9.10 comes with the light-weight Xfce 4.6 desktop environment to
provide a desktop designed for productivity while conserving system
resources.

Xubuntu 9.10 is proud to offer an improved multimedia experience with the
Exaile media player, a more integrated power management solution with the
Xfce4 power manager, and more convenience built right in with improved
multimedia volume key support and more consistent desktop notifications.

Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/KarmicKoala/RC for the full list
and details about all the great enhancements Xubuntu 9.10 has to offer.

Edubuntu features
—————–

Edubuntu 9.10 transitions from an add-on educational CD that depended on an
existing Ubuntu installation to a full Ubuntu derivative delivered on as a
DVD image. This allows prospective users and decision makers to try the
educational offerings prior to installation and the flexibility to make
Edubuntu a first class educational operating system.

Mythbuntu features
——————

Mythbuntu 9.10 introduces MythTV 0.22. The entire stack has been ported to
QT4 and now allows for very neat UI effects. Also 0.22 adds support for
VDPAU hardware acceleration, and HD-PVR hardware support.

Please see http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.22 for more details
about changes introduced in 0.22.

See http://mythbuntu.org/9.10/rc for information about the Mythbuntu release
candidate.

A more complete tour of the features new in 9.10 can be found at
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/910overview

About Ubuntu
————

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, netbooks
and servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases. A
tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and an
incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional services including support are available from Canonical and
hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about
support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support

To Get the Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate
——————————

Occasionally you just want a bit of piece of mind about your server or Linux install. You may suspect there is somebody who has hacked your computer or even something changed by a package install that shouldnt have been.

Heres a couple of ideas on how to do a quick ‘health’ check on he md5sum of binary packages.

Debian based people should install dlocate and use that

apt-get install dlocate
dlocate -md5check openssh-server

To force a fail try something like this

mv /usr/share/man/man5/sshd_config.5.gz /usr/share/man/man5/sshd_config.5.gz-old
echo Boo > /usr/share/man/man5/sshd_config.5.gz
dlocate -md5check openssh-server

For Redhat/Centos etc based servers you can use yum

 rpm -qvV openssh

Again you can force a fail by changing a file

mv /usr/share/doc/openssh-4.3p2/CREDITS /usr/share/doc/openssh-4.3p2/CREDITS-old
echo Boo >/usr/share/doc/openssh-4.3p2/CREDITS
rpm -qvV openssh

For less verbosity just drop the lower case v (so its rpm -qV )

Often Iv’ve seen boxes compromised, or commands run that we have no idea who did it and at what time. Its very frustrating, especially when we have no idea if a customer did it, one of the staff, or if a box was compromised.

HISTTIMEFORMAT="%F-%R%t"

now you can run the following command

wishes@tulip:~$ history | tail -n 2
502  2009-10-15-11:26 vim .bashrc
503  2009-10-15-11:26 history | tail -n 2

If you want this permanent you can put it into /etc/profile on a line by itself. This will then be sites wide.