Ubuntu 21.04, codenamed “Hirsute Hippo”, is here. This release continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, partnering with the community and our partners, to introduce new features and fix bugs.
Ubuntu Desktop 21.04 uses Wayland graphics by default, strengthening security while enhancing performance. 21.04 comes with improved AD (Active Directory) integration where user authentication, with Group Policy enabled, works out of the box to allow administrators to manage Ubuntu workstations and simplify developer compliance with company policies. Ubuntu 21.04 also adds the ability to configure system settings from an Active Directory domain controller. Using a Group Policy Client, system administrators can specify security policies on all connected clients, such as password policies and user access control, and Desktop environment settings, such as login screen, background and favourite apps.
Ubuntu Server 21.04 integrates recent innovations from key open infrastructure projects like Openstack Wallaby, Rails 6, QEMU 5.2, libvirt 7.0, Kubernetes, and Ceph with advanced life-cycle management tools for multi-cloud and on-prem operations from bare metal, VMWare and Openstack, to every major public cloud.
The Ubuntu Kernel has been updated to the 5.11 based Linux kernel, our default toolchain has moved to gcc 10.3.0 release with glibc 2.33, and we’ve also updated to openssl 1.1.1.
The newest Ubuntu Budgie, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu are also being released today. More details can be found for these at their individual release notes under the Official Flavours section:
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/hirsute-hippo-release-notes/
Maintenance updates will be provided for 9 months for all flavours releasing with 21.04.
To get Ubuntu 21.04
In order to download Ubuntu 21.04, visit:
Users of Ubuntu 20.10 will be offered an automatic upgrade to 21.04 in due course once an upgrade bug in the “shim” bootloader is fixed. For further information about upgrading, see:
https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop/upgrade
and
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/19221/#heading–release-upgrades
As always, upgrades to the latest version of Ubuntu are entirely free of charge.
We recommend that all users read the release notes, which document caveats, workarounds for known issues, as well as more in-depth notes on the release itself. They are available at:
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/hirsute-hippo-release-notes/
Find out what’s new in this release with a graphical overview:
https://ubuntu.com/desktop
https://ubuntu.com/desktop/features
If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but aren’t sure, you can try asking in any of the following places:
#ubuntu on irc.freenode.net
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
https://ubuntuforums.org
https://askubuntu.com
https://discourse.ubuntu.com
Help Shape Ubuntu
If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at:
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/contribute
About Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, IoT, cloud, 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:
More Information
You can learn more about Ubuntu and about this release on our website listed below:
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Originally posted to the ubuntu-announce mailing list on Thu Apr 22 17:02:00 UTC 2021 by Łukasz ‘sil2100’ Zemczak, on behalf of the Ubuntu Release Team