Ubuntu 19.04 Development Starts Off With Python 3.7, Merged Usr Directories

Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" development is now officially underway.

Following the initial sync from Debian unstable, Ubuntu developer Matthias Klose announced this morning that "Disco Dingo is now open for development."

The initial prominent changes in the archive include landing Python 3.7 as the default Python3 version after Ubuntu 18.10 shipped with Python 3.6, removal of OpenSSL 1.0 with intending to only ship OpenSSL 1.1.1 LTS, and upgrading to Perl 5.28.

Ubuntu 19.04 has also switched to a merged usr directory setup by default on new installations where /bin is a symlink to /usr/bin, similarly are /lib and /sbin. This change will not affect those doing an upgrade to Ubuntu Disco, only new installations.

So far Canonical has been light in publicly talking about other plans for Ubuntu 19.04. We'll see if they manage to ship GSConnect this time around for better Android phone integration after that plan failed to materialize for Ubuntu 18.10. Some likely package versions for Ubuntu 19.04 are the latest GCC 8.x stable, Linux 4.21 (or it could end up being named Linux 5.0), Mesa 19.0, and GNOME 3.32.

Ubuntu 19.04 is expected to be officially released on 18 April while the feature freeze is set for 21 February, the UI freeze for 14 March, and the beta release on 28 March.