2024 marks the release of yet another LTS release for the Ubuntu family, namely the release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, code-named Noble Numbat.
As usual, the desktop edition of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS brings forth the biggest changes and lots of upgrades. Despite the lack of hype surrounding it, Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS is still an important release.
The main highlights of the latest LTS version of Ubuntu Server includes a new Kernel (6.8) that boasts low latency kernel features enabled by default, upgrades to Rust (1.75), .NET (8), OpenJDK (21) with TCK certification.
Even though OpenJDK LTS 21 is the default version in Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS, support for versions 17, 11, and 8 is still offered. Both OpenJDK 17 and 21 are TCK certified. In simple terms, it just means that both versions are up to date to most Java standards which means improved interoperability between Java platforms.
The introduction of .NET 8 also means that apps and toolchains can be upgraded to the newer .NET versions. The IBM System Z platform now also features support for .NET.
This version of Ubuntu Server also addresses the year 2038 issue/problem that existed on armhf. Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS features 64-bit time_t by default, which basically means that all future versions of Ubuntu will have no problems representing time after 03:14:07 UTC on January 2038.
The fact that AppArmor-enforced unprivileged user namespaces are now restricted by default is a big security improvement. The AppArmor package in combination with Ubuntu Kernel will affect all software on the system. This is all in an effort to mitigate the larger attack surface presented by unprivileged user namespaces. This process started in Ubuntu Server 23.10, but the feature was not enabled by default.
Other noteworthy updates include the Apache2 package (now at version 2.4.58), Clamav (1.0.0), Chrony (4.5), cloud-init (24.1.3), Containerd (1.7.12), Django (2.4.11), Docker (24.0.7), Dovecot (2.3.21), and Exim4 (4.97).
Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS also includes upgrades for GlusterFS (11.1), HAProxy (2.8.5), Kea (2.4.1), libvirt (10.0.0), LXD 5.21.0 LTS, Net SNMP (5.9.4), and Nginx (1.24).
A full list of changes is provided on the official Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Release Notes page.
