Please help us test these and subsequent RC builds, so that we can have an amazing and well tested release in the coming week.

As noted below, the initial builds will NOT be the final ones.

Over the next few hours, builds will start popping on the Cosmic Final
milestone page[1] on the ISO tracker.  These builds are not final.
We're still waiting on a few more fixes, a few things to migrate, etc.
I've intentionally not updated base-files or the ISO labels to reflect
the release status (so please don't file bugs about those).

What there are, however, are "close enough" for people to be testing in
anger, filing bugs, fixing bugs, iterating image builds, and testing
all over again.  So, please, don't wait until Wednesday night to test,
testing just before release is TOO LATE to get anything fixed.  Get out
there, grab your favourite ISO, beat it up, report bugs, escalate bugs,
get things fixed, respin (if you're a flavour lead with access), and
test, test... And test.  Did I mention testing?  Please[2] test.

Thanks,

... Adam

[1] http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/397/builds
[2] Please.

Downloads for RC builds can be found by following the link after clicking through to ‘Cosmic Final’ on the Ubuntu ISO tracker. Please report test case results if you have a Ubuntu SSO account (or are prepared to make one). Feedback can also be given via our normal email lists, IRC, forums etc.

Upgrade testing from 18.04 in installed systems (VM or otherwise) is also a very useful way to help prepare for the new release. Instructions for upgrade can be found on the Ubuntu help wiki.

Ubuntu ISO tracker: http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/
Kubuntu-devel mailing list: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/kubuntu-devel
Kubuntu IRC channels: #kubuntu & #kubuntu-devel on irc.freenode.net
Kubuntu 18.10 Upgrade instructions: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CosmicUpgrades/Kubuntu

This milestone features images for Kubuntu and other Ubuntu flavours.

Pre-releases of the Bionic Beaver are not encouraged for:

• Anyone needing a stable system
• Anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage.

They are, however, recommended for:

• Ubuntu flavour developers
• Those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs as we work towards getting this release ready.

Beta 2 includes some software updates that are ready for broader testing. However, it is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs.

You can:

• Read the full text of the Beta-2 announcement
• Download the Kubuntu 18.04 Beta 2 images
• Read more information about the Kubuntu 18.04 Beta 2

This milestone features images for Kubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, and Xubuntu.

Pre-releases of the Bionic Beaver are not encouraged for:
* anyone needing a stable system
* anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional,
even frequent breakage.

They are, however, recommended for:
* Ubuntu flavour developers
* those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing
bugs
as we work towards getting this release ready.

Beta 1 includes some software updates that are ready for broader testing. However, it is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs.

The full text of the announcement: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-release/2018-March/004321.html

The Kubuntu 18.04 Beta 1 images can be downloaded from:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/18.04/beta-1/

More information about Kubuntu 18.04 Beta 1 can be found here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/Beta1/Kubuntu

Please update your ISOs if you downloaded previous images, and test as before.

Please help us by testing as much as you have time for. Remember, in particular we need i386 testers, on “bare metal” rather than VMs if possible.

Builds are available from:

http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/383/builds

the CD image to left of the ISO names being a link to take you to download urls/options.

Take note of the Ubuntu Community ISO testing party on Monday 16th at 15:00 UTC:

https://community.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-17-10-community-iso-testing/458

Please attend and participate if you are able. The #ubuntu-on-air IRC channel on irc.freenode.net can be joined via a web client found beneath the live stream on ubuntuonair.com, or of course you can join in a normal IRC client.

Happy testing,

Rik Mills

Kubuntu Developer
Kubuntu Release team

Note: This is an initial spin of the RC images. It is likely that at least one more rebuild will be done on Monday.

Adam Conrad from the Ubuntu release team list:

Today, I spun up a set of images for everyone with serial 20171015.

Those images are *not* final images (ISO volid and base-files are still
not set to their final values), intentionally, as we had some hiccups
with langpack uploads that are landing just now.

That said, we need as much testing as possible, bugs reported (and, if
you can, fixed), so we can turn around and have slightly more final
images produced on Monday morning. If we get no testing, we get no
fixing, so no time like the present to go bug-hunting.

… Adam

The Kubuntu team will be releasing 17.10 on October 19, 2017.

This is an initial pre-release. Kubuntu RC pre-releases are NOT recommended for:

• Regular users who are not aware of pre-release issues
• Anyone who needs a stable system
• Anyone uncomfortable running a possibly frequently broken system
• Anyone in a production environment with data or workflows that need to be reliable

Kubuntu pre-releases are recommended for:

• Regular users who want to help us test by finding, reporting, and/or fixing bugs
• Kubuntu, KDE, and Qt developers

Getting Kubuntu 17.10 Intial Release Candidate:

To upgrade to Kubuntu 17.10 pre-releases from 17.04, run

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

from a command line.

Download a Bootable image and put it onto a DVD or USB Drive here:

http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/383/builds (the little CD icon)

See our release notes: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArtfulAardvark/Kubuntu

Please report any bugs on Launchpad using the commandline:

ubuntu-bug packagename

Check on IRC channels, Kubuntuforum or the Kubuntu mail lists if you don’t know the package name. Once the bug is reported on Launchpad, please link to it on the qatracker where you got your RC image. Join the community ISO testing party: https://community.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-17-10-community-iso-testing/458

KDE bugs (bugs in Plasma or KDE applications) are still filed at https://bugs.kde.org.

The Kubuntu team will be releasing 17.10 on October 19, 2017.

This is the final Beta pre-release. Kubuntu Beta pre-releases are NOT recommended for:

• Regular users who are not aware of pre-release issues
• Anyone who needs a stable system
• Anyone uncomfortable running a possibly frequently broken system
• Anyone in a production environment with data or workflows that need to be reliable

Kubuntu Beta pre-releases are recommended for:

• Regular users who want to help us test by finding, reporting, and/or fixing bugs
• Kubuntu, KDE, and Qt developers

Getting Kubuntu 17.10 Beta 2:

To upgrade to Kubuntu 17.10 pre-releases from 17.04, run

sudo do-release-upgrade -d

from a command line.

Download a Bootable image and put it onto a DVD or USB Drive here:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/17.10/beta-2/

Torrents are also available.

See our release notes: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArtfulAardvark/Beta2/Kubuntu

Please report any bugs on Launchpad using the commandline:

ubuntu-bug packagename

Check on IRC channels, Kubuntuforum or the Kubuntu mail lists if you don’t know the package name.

KDE bugs (bugs in Plasma or KDE applications) are still filed at https://bugs.kde.org.

The Kubuntu team will be releasing 17.10 in October. The final Beta 2 milestone will be available on September 28.

This is the first spin in preparation for the Beta 2 pre-release. Kubuntu Beta pre-releases are NOT recommended for:

• Regular users who are not aware of pre-release issues
• Anyone who needs a stable system
• Anyone uncomfortable running a possibly frequently broken system
• Anyone in a production environment with data or workflows that need to be reliable

Kubuntu Beta pre-releases are recommended for:

• Regular users who want to help us test by finding, reporting, and/or fixing bugs
• Kubuntu, KDE, and Qt developers

Getting Kubuntu 17.10 Beta 2:

To upgrade to Kubuntu 17.10 pre-releases from 17.04, run sudo do-release-upgrade -d from a command line.

Download a Bootable image and put it onto a DVD or USB Drive via the download link at http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/382/builds. This is also the direct link to report your findings and any bug reports you file.

See our release notes: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArtfulAardvark/Beta2/Kubuntu

Please report your results on the Release tracker.

Bug reports on this beta go to https://bugs.kde.org, not to Launchpad.

The PPA comes with a WARNING: Artful will ship with Plasma 5.10.5, so please be prepared to use ppa-purge to revert changes. Plasma 5.11 will ship too late for inclusion in Kubuntu 17.10, but should be available via the main backports PPA as soon as is practical after release day, October 19th, 2017.

Read more about the beta release: https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.10.95.php

If you want to test on Artful: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/beta && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

The purpose of this PPA is testing, and bug reports go to bugs.kde.org.

The Kubuntu team will be releasing 17.10 in October.

This is the first spin in preparation for the Alpha 2 pre-release. Kubuntu Alpha pre-releases are NOT recommended for:

• Regular users who are not aware of pre-release issues
• Anyone who needs a stable system
• Anyone uncomfortable running a possibly frequently broken system
• Anyone in a production environment with data or workflows that need to be reliable

Kubuntu Alpha pre-releases are recommended for:

• Regular users who want to help us test by finding, reporting, and/or fixing bugs
• Kubuntu, KDE, and Qt developers

Getting Kubuntu 17.10 Alpha 2

To upgrade to Kubuntu 17.10 pre-releases from 17.04, run sudo do-release-upgrade -d from a command line.

Download a Bootable image and put it onto a DVD or USB Drive

See our release notes: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArtfulAardvark/Alpha2/Kubuntu

Please report your results on the Release tracker: http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker

While we believe these packages should be relatively issue-free, please bear in mind that they have not been tested as comprehensively as those in the main ubuntu archive.

Testers should be prepared to troubleshoot and hopefully report issues that may occur. Please provide feedback on our mailing list [1], IRC [2], or optionally via social media.

After a period of testing and verification, we hope to move this update to the main backports ppa.

You should have some command line knowledge before testing.
Reading about how to use ppa purge is also advisable.

How to test KDE PIM 16.12.3 for Zesty:

Testing packages are currently in the Kubuntu Backports Landing PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports-landing
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

1. Kubuntu-devel mailing list: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/kubuntu-devel
2. Kubuntu IRC channels: #kubuntu & #kubuntu-devel on irc.freenode.net