13.10 (Saucy Salamander) Beta 1 Released!

By José Antonio Rey | Published: 2013-09-06

Welcome to Saucy Salamander Beta 1 release, which will in time become the 13.10 release.

This alpha features images for Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu Studio and Xubuntu.

Pre-releases of Saucy Salamander are not encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs as we work towards getting this release ready.

At the end of the 12.10 development cycle, the Ubuntu desktop and server flavours decided that they would reduce the number of milestone images going forward and the focus would concentrate on daily quality and fortnightly testing rounds known as cadence testing. Based on that change, the Ubuntu products themselves will not have a Beta 1 release. Their first milestone release will be the beta release on the 26th of September 2013. Other Ubuntu flavours have the option to release using the usual milestone schedule. Further schedule details can be found: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SaucySalamander/ReleaseSchedule.

The Beta images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Saucy. You can download them here:

If you’re interested in following the changes as we further develop Saucy, we suggest that you subscribe to the ubuntu-devel-announce list. This is a low-traffic list (a few posts a week) carrying announcements of approved specifications, policy changes, alpha releases and other interesting events.

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce

A big thank you to the developers and testers for their efforts to pull together this Beta release!

Originally posted to the ubuntu-release mailing list on Thu Sep 5 17:26:49 UTC 2013 by Kate Stewart

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 332

By lyz | Published: 2013-09-02

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is issue #332 for the week August 26 – September 1, 2013, and the full version is available here.

In this issue we cover:

The issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph
  • Paul White
  • Howard Chan
  • J Scott Gwin
  • John Kim
  • And many others

If you have a story idea for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License

Call for Nominations to the LoCo Council

By lyz | Published: 2013-08-28

We on the LoCo Council are being faced with the challenge of replacing three of our current Council members. A special thanks to Laura, Chris and Sergio for all of the great contributions they have made while serving with us on the LoCo Council.

So with that in mind, we are writing this to ask for volunteers to step forward and nominate themselves or another contributor for the three open positions. The LoCo Council is defined on our wiki page.

Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCouncil

Team Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCouncilAgenda

Typically, we meet up once a month in IRC to go through items on the team agenda also we started to have Google Hangouts too (The time for hangouts may vary depending the availability of the members time). This involves approving new LoCo Teams, Re-approval of Approved LoCo Teams, resolving issues within Teams, approving LoCo Team mailing list requests, and anything else that comes along.

We have the following requirements for Nominees:

  • Be an Ubuntu member
  • Be available during typical meeting times of the council
  • Insight into the culture(s) and typical activities within teams is a plus

Here is a description of the current LoCo Council:

They are current Ubuntu Members with a proven track record of activity in the community. They have shown themselves over time to be able to work well with others, and display the positive aspects of the Ubuntu Code of Conduct. They should be people who can judge contribution quality without emotion while engaging in an interview/discussion that communicates interest, a welcoming atmosphere, and which is marked by humanity, gentleness, and kindness.

If this sounds like you, or a person you know, please e-mail the LoCo Council with your nomination(s) using the following e-mail address: loco-council<at>lists.ubuntu.com.

Please include a few lines about yourself, or whom you’re nominating, so we can get a good idea of why you/they’d like to join the council, and why you feel that you/they should be considered. If you plan on nominating another person, please let them know, so they are aware.

We welcome nominations from anywhere in the world, and from any LoCo team. Nominees do not need to be a LoCo Team Contact to be nominated for this post. We are however looking for people who are active in their LoCo Team.

The time frame for this process is as follows:

  • Nominations will open: August 28th, 2013
  • Nominations will close: September 18th, 2013
  • We will then forward the nominations to the CC, Requesting they take the following week to make their selections (hopefully by their meeting on September 19th,2013).
  • Date new council members will be announced: September 20th, 2013

Originally posted here by Pablo Rubianes on August 28, 2013.

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 331

By lyz | Published: 2013-08-26

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is issue #331 for the week August 19 – 25, 2013, and the full version is available here.

In this issue we cover:

The issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph
  • Paul White
  • Jim Connett
  • And many others

If you have a story idea for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License

New Local communities health check process

By José Antonio Rey | Published: 2013-08-25

This will be the new process, aiming to replace the current re approval process. It aims to be less formal, more interactive and above all still keep people motivated to be involved in the Ubuntu community.

Every team shall be known as a LoCoteam, teams that were previously known as an “Approved LoCoteam” shall be known as a “Verified LoCoteam”. New teams shall be a LoCoteam, teams do not have to be verified. The term Verified means that a Launchpad team has been created, the team name conforms to the correct naming standard and the team contact has signed the Code of Conduct.

Every two years a team will present itself for a HealthCheck – This is still beneficial to everyone involved, it gives the team a chance to show how they are doing and also the council can catch up with the team.

What is needed for a HealthCheck?

Create a Wiki with the activities of the period – Name the wiki page with Name of your team plus the YEAR example – LoCoTeamVerificationApplication20XX with the below details:

  • Name of team
  • How many people are in the team
  • Link to your wiki page / Launchpad group page
  • Social Networks (if they have any of them).
  • Link to loco team portal page, Events page, Paste events page – this is a good reason to encourage teams to use the team portal as all of the information is there and saves duplication.
  • Photo Galleries of past events.
  • Tell us about your team, what you do, if you have Ubuntu members in your team, your current projects.
  • Guideline of what you plan on doing in the future.
  • Any meeting logs, if available.

Teams will still remain verified this is just to check in and see how things are doing, If you can’t make a meeting, it can be done over email/Bugs.

In short, the overall process should remain pretty much the same as now.

If in case of any doubts/questions regarding the new process please dont hesitate to discuss or ask us 🙂

Originally posted here on Sun Aug 25 14:26:36 UTC 2013 by Bhavani Shankar