Ubuntu Core 22 has already been released and these are its changes

Canonical recently released the release of the new version of Ubuntu Core 22, a compact version of the Ubuntu distribution tailored for use on industrial and consumer Internet of Things (IoT) devices, containers, and equipment.

Ubuntu Core serves as the base for running additional components and applications, which are packaged as self-contained plugins in snap format. Ubuntu Core components, including the base system, Linux kernel, and system plugins, are also provided in snap format and are managed by the snapd toolkit. Snappy technology makes it possible to image the system as a whole, without dividing it into separate packages.

Instead of a staged update at the level of individual deb packages, Ubuntu Core uses an atomic update mechanism for snap packages and the base system, similar to Atomic, ChromeOS, Endless, CoreOS, and Fedora Silverblue. When upgrading the base environment and snap packages, it is possible to revert to the previous version, in case problems are identified after the upgrade. There are currently over 4500 snap packs in the SnapCraft catalog.

To ensure security, each system component is verified using a digital signature, which allows you to protect the distribution from making hidden modifications or installing unverified snap packages. Components delivered in Span format are isolated by AppArmor and Seccomp, creating an additional frontier for system protection in case individual applications are compromised.

The base system includes only a minimal set of required applications, which not only reduced the size of the system environment, but also had a positive impact on security by reducing potential attack vectors.

The underlying file system is mounted read-only. It is possible to use data encryption on the drive using TPM. Updates are released regularly, delivered in OTA (over-the-air) mode, and are synchronized with the Ubuntu 22.04 build.

Main news of Ubuntu Core 22

In this new version that is presented, it is highlighted that the concept of validated packet sets is proposed (Validation sets), which allows defining a set of snaps packages and their versions so alone can be installed and upgraded together. Tested sets can be used to enforce restrictions to only install specific snap packages, redistribute your own additionally tested and verified packages, or to simplify dependency management.

Another significant change in this new version of Ubuntu Core 22 is that added tools to update Ubuntu Core 20 environment to version 22 without reinstallation, plus the ability to reset settings to their original state (factory reset) was implemented.

On the other hand, we can also find that support for quota groups has been added to limit the CPU and memory resources associated with specific snapshot service groups.

It is also noted that the support for the MicroK8s toolkit, which offers a simplified version of the Kubernetes container orchestration platform, in addition to also proposing a variant of the package with the Linux kernel, including PREEMPT_RT patches and is oriented to its use in real-time systems.

Of the other changes that stand out from this new version of Ubuntu Core 22:

  • Added support for the MAAS (Metal-as-a-Service) toolkit for rapid deployment of configurations across multiple systems.
  • Added support for cloud-init to configure the system at boot stage.

Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it about this new version, you can check the details In the following link.

Download and get

Ubuntu Core comes in the form of an indivisible monolithic base system image, which does not use splitting into separate deb packages. Ubuntu Core 22 images, which are synchronized with the Ubuntu 22.04 package base, are prepared for x86_64, ARMv7 and ARMv8 systems. The release follow-up time is 10 years.


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