Ubuntu plans spring clean for 14.10
Ubuntu intends to throw off the shackles that come with supporting a Linux distribution release for five years, and conduct some spring cleaning in its next release due in October this year.
Writing in his traditional alliterative naming blog post, Canonical and Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth said that 14.10 would focus on fresh ideas and look at the foundation of Ubuntu.
To that end, Ubuntu would bring the controversial systemd init system into the "centre of Ubuntu", move beyond Python 2, and showcase Linux Containers, which Shuttleworth said were the "fastest, lightest virtual machines on the planet".
Shuttleworth said that the code name for 14.10 will be "utopic unicorn".
Ubuntu's decision to move to systemd follows the protracted debate on whether Debian, the Linux distribution that serves as the base for Ubuntu, should go with systemd or the Ubuntu-backed Upstart system. After three months of discussion, two stalled votes, and one failed coup, Debian finally settled on systemd.
Soon after that decision, Ubuntu backed down from pushing its init system, and said it would follow Debian's lead.
Last week saw the release of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr), which as a long-term support (LTS) release, will be supported until April 2019.
Ubuntu 14.10 will be supported for nine months.