We currently have Plasma 5.24.90 (Plasma 5.25 Beta)  available in our Beta PPA for Kubuntu 22.04, and in the Ubuntu archive and daily ISO build for the 22.10 development series.

However this is a beta release, and we should re-iterate the disclaimer from the upstream release announcement:

DISCLAIMER: Today we are bringing you the preview version of KDE’s Plasma 5.25 desktop release. Plasma 5.25 Beta is aimed at testers, developers, and bug-hunters. To help KDE developers iron out bugs and solve issues, install Plasma 5.25 Beta and test run the features listed below. Please report bugs to our bug tracker. We will be holding a Plasma 5.25 beta review day on May 26 (details will be published on our social media) and you can join us for a day of bug-hunting, triaging and solving alongside the Plasma devs! The final version of Plasma 5.25 will become available for the general public on the 14th of June. DISCLAIMER: This release contains untested and unstable software. It is highly recommended you do not use this version in a production environment and do not use it as your daily work environment. You risk crashes and loss of data.

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.24.90

Testers of the Kubuntu 22.10 Kinetic Kudu development series:

Testers with a current install can simply upgrade their packages to install the 5.25 Beta.

Alternatively, a live/install image is available at: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/daily-live/current/

Users on Kubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish:

5.25 Beta packages and required dependencies are available in our Beta PPA.

The PPA should work whether you are currently using our backports PPA or not.

If you are prepared to test via the PPA, then…..

Add the beta PPA and then upgrade:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/beta && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

Then reboot.

In case of issues, testers should be prepared to use ppa-purge to remove the PPA and revert/downgrade packages.

Kubuntu is part of the KDE community, so this testing will benefit both Kubuntu as well as upstream KDE Plasma software, which is used by many other distributions too.

• If you believe you might have found a packaging bug, you can use launchpad.net to post testing feedback to the Kubuntu team as a bug, or give feedback on IRC [1], or mailing lists [2].
• If you believe you have found a bug in the underlying software, then bugs.kde.org is the best place to file your bug report.

Please review the release announcement and changelog.

[Test Case]
* General tests:
– Does plasma desktop start as normal with no apparent regressions over 5.24?
– General workflow – testers should carry out their normal tasks, using the plasma features they normally do, and test common subsystems such as audio, settings changes, compositing, desktop affects, suspend etc.
* Specific tests:
– Check the changelog:
– Identify items with front/user facing changes capable of specific testing.
– Test the ‘fixed’ functionality or ‘new’ feature.

Testing may involve some technical set up to do, so while you do not need to be a highly advanced K/Ubuntu user, some proficiently in apt-based package management is advisable.

Testing is very important to the quality of the software Ubuntu and Kubuntu developers package and release.

We need your help to get this important beta release in shape for Kubuntu and the KDE community as a whole.

Thanks!

Please stop by the Kubuntu-devel IRC channel on libera.chat if you need clarification of any of the steps to follow.

[1] – #kubuntu-devel on libera.chat
[2] – https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/kubuntu-devel

The Beta of Impish Indri (to become 21.10 in October) has now been released, and is available for download.

This milestone features images for Kubuntu and other Ubuntu flavours.

Pre-releases of the Impish Indri release are not recommended for:

• Anyone needing a stable system.
• Regular users who are not aware of pre-release issues.
• Anyone in a production environment with data or workflows that need to be reliable.

They are, however, recommended for:

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

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

We STRONGLY advise testers to read the Kubuntu 21.10 Beta release notes before installing or upgrading, and in particular the section on ‘Known issues‘.

Kubuntu is taking part in #UbuntuTestingWeek from from September 23rd to September 29th. Details for all flavours are available on the Ubuntu Discourse announcement.

You can also find more information about the entire 21.10 release (base, kernel, graphics etc) in the main Ubuntu Beta release notes and announcement.

We currently have Plasma 5.22.90 (Plasma 5.23 Anniversary Edition Beta)  available in our Beta PPA for Kubuntu 21.04, and 21.10 development series.

However this is a beta release, and we should re-iterate the disclaimer from the upstream release announcement:

DISCLAIMER: This is beta software and is released for testing purposes. You are advised to NOT use Plasma 25th Anniversary Edition Beta in a production environment or as your daily desktop. If you do install Plasma 25th Anniversary Edition Beta, you must be prepared to encounter (and report to the creators) bugs that may interfere with your day-to-day use of your computer.

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.22.90

Note: Users of 21.04 Hirsute Hippo who have installed packages from the BETA PPA should run ‘sudo ppa-purge kubuntu-ppa/beta’ once they have finished testing, and before attempting to upgrade to 21.10 when it is released. Failure to do so is likely to break upgrades.

The PPA should work whether you are currently using our backports PPA or not.

Also Impish Indri 21.10 will ship with Plasma 5.22.5 by default. However we aim to make 5.23 available in the backports PPA soon after release. This testing will help that aim.

If you are prepared to test, then…..

Add the beta PPA and then upgrade:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/beta && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

Then reboot.

In case of issues, testers should be prepared to use ppa-purge to remove the PPA and revert/downgrade packages.

Kubuntu is part of the KDE community, so this testing will benefit both Kubuntu as well as upstream KDE Plasma software, which is used by many other distributions too.

• If you believe you might have found a packaging bug, you can use a launchpad.net to post testing feedback to the Kubuntu team as a bug, or give feedback on IRC [1], or mailing lists [2].
• If you believe you have found a bug in the underlying software, then bugs.kde.org is the best place to file your bug report.

Please review the release announcement and changelog.

[Test Case]
* General tests:
– Does plasma desktop start as normal with no apparent regressions over 5.21 or 5.22?
– General workflow – testers should carry out their normal tasks, using the plasma features they normally do, and test common subsystems such as audio, settings changes, compositing, desktop affects, suspend etc.
* Specific tests:
– Check the changelog:
– Identify items with front/user facing changes capable of specific testing.
– Test the ‘fixed’ functionality or ‘new’ feature.

Testing may involve some technical set up to do, so while you do not need to be a highly advanced K/Ubuntu user, some proficiently in apt-based package management is advisable.

Testing is very important to the quality of the software Ubuntu and Kubuntu developers package and release.

We need your help to get this important beta release in shape for Kubuntu and the KDE community as a whole.

Thanks!

Please stop by the Kubuntu-devel IRC channel on libera.chat if you need clarification of any of the steps to follow.

[1] – #kubuntu-devel on libera.chat
[2] – https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/kubuntu-devel

We currently have Plasma 5.21.90 (Plasma 5.22 Beta)  available in our Beta PPA for Kubuntu 21.04, and 21.10 development series.

However this is a beta release, and we should re-iterate the disclaimer from the upstream release announcement:

DISCLAIMER: This is beta software and is released for testing purposes. You are advised to NOT use Plasma 5.22 Beta in a production environment or as your daily desktop. If you do install Plasma 5.22 Beta, you must be prepared to encounter (and report to the creators) bugs that may interfere with your day-to-day use of your computer.

https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.21.90

If you are prepared to test, then…..

Add the beta PPA and then upgrade:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/beta && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

Then reboot.

In case of issues, testers should be prepared to use ppa-purge to remove the PPA and revert/downgrade packages.

Kubuntu is part of the KDE community, so this testing will benefit both Kubuntu as well as upstream KDE Plasma software, which is used by many other distributions too.

• If you believe you might have found a packaging bug, you can use a launchpad.net to post testing feedback to the Kubuntu team as a bug, or give feedback on IRC [1], or mailing lists [2].
• If you believe you have found a bug in the underlying software, then bugs.kde.org is the best place to file your bug report.

Please review the release announcement and changelog.

[Test Case]
* General tests:
– Does plasma desktop start as normal with no apparent regressions over 5.21?
– General workflow – testers should carry out their normal tasks, using the plasma features they normally do, and test common subsystems such as audio, settings changes, compositing, desktop affects, suspend etc.
* Specific tests:
– Check the changelog:
– Identify items with front/user facing changes capable of specific testing.
– Test the ‘fixed’ functionality or ‘new’ feature.

Testing may involve some technical set up to do, so while you do not need to be a highly advanced K/Ubuntu user, some proficiently in apt-based package management is advisable.

Testing is very important to the quality of the software Ubuntu and Kubuntu developers package and release.

We need your help to get this important beta release in shape for Kubuntu and the KDE community as a whole.

Thanks!

Please stop by the Kubuntu-devel IRC channel if you need clarification of any of the steps to follow.

[1] – irc://irc.freenode.net/kubuntu-devel
[2] – https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/kubuntu-devel

The Kubuntu team is delighted to announce an ‘Ubuntu Testing Week’ from April 2nd to April 8th with other flavors in the Ubuntu family. April 2nd is the beta release of what will become Kubuntu 20.04 and during this week, there will be a freeze on changes to features, the user interface and documentation. Between April 2nd and final release on April 23rd, the Kubuntu team and community will focus on ISO testing, bug reporting, and fixing bugs. Please join the community by downloading the daily ISO image and trying it out, even beginning today.

QA tracker: http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/408/builds

From this main page, click on the ‘Kubuntu Desktop amd64’ link to arrive at the testcases page. On the testcases page, you can download the ISO by clicking the ‘Link to the download information’ and report test results to the various test cases for Kubuntu. If you see other flavors needing testing on the main page, please test for them as well.

Chat live on IRC (#ubuntu-quality) or Telegram (UbuntuTesters: https://t.me/UbuntuTesters) if you like, during this time of pandemic social distancing.

If you have no spare computer to use for testing, no problem! You can test without changing your system by running it in a VM (Virtual Machine) with software like Virtualbox, or running it in the live session from a USB or DVD, so you can also test if your hardware works correctly. We encourage those that are willing, to install it either in a VM or on physical hardware–requires at least 6GB of harddisk space–and use it continuously for a few days, as more bugs can be exposed and reported this way.

The easy way to report a bug is to open up Konsole by pressing alt+space and typing konsole or Menu > Konsole and then typing `ubuntu-bug packagename`, where packagename is the program or application where you experience the bug.

If you prefer working in the terminal, open the virtual console (terminal) by pressing control + alt + F2, 3, 4 etc. and typing `ubuntu-bug packagename`, where packagename is the program or application where you experience the bug. Control + Alt + F1 to return to your desktop. If a crash has landed you in the terminal, login with your usual user name and password, and report the bug as above.

Here is a nice youtube video showing the entire process, including one way to figure out what packagename is appropriate in GNOME: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjTyzyY9RHw

Using ‘ubuntu-bug’ will automatically upload error logs and/or other files to Launchpad that developers need to fix the bug. By the way, the installer’s packagename is ubiquity. Experience tells us that is the most useful packagename to know for ISO testing when things go wrong with the installation. The live session software package is casper, should you encounter bugs affecting the live session itself, not programs. Other programs with bugs should be filed against their packages, for instance firefox, dolphin, vlc, etc. Only the bug *number* is needed when reporting the results of a test on the QA tracker.

Please test programs / applications that you regularly use, so you can identify bugs and regressions that should be reported. New ISO files are built every day; always test with the most up-to-date ISO. It is easier and faster to update an existing daily ISO with the command below (first right-click on the ISO’s folder in Dolphin and select ‘Open in Terminal’) or just open konsole or yakuake and `cd path-to-ISO-folder`. Zsync downloads only changes, so it’s very quick.
$ zsync http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/daily-live/current/focal-desktop-amd64.iso.zsync

We currently have Plasma 5.17.90 (Plasma 5.18 Beta)  available in our Beta PPA for Kubuntu 19.10.

The 5.18 beta is also available in the main Ubuntu archive for the 20.04 development release, and can be found on our daily ISO images.

This is a Beta Plasma release, so testers should be aware that bugs and issues may exist.

If you are prepared to test, then…..

For 19.10 add the PPA and then upgrade

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/beta && sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

Then reboot. If you cannot reboot from the application launcher,

systemctl reboot

from the terminal.

In case of issues, testers should be prepare to use ppa-purge to remove the PPA and revert/downgrade packages.

Kubuntu is part of the KDE community, so this testing will benefit both Kubuntu as well as upstream KDE Plasma software, which is used by many other distributions too.

• If you believe you might have found a packaging bug, you can use a launchpad.net to post testing feedback to the Kubuntu team as a bug, or give feedback on IRC [1], Telegram [2] or mailing lists [3].
• If you believe you have found a bug in the underlying software, then bugs.kde.org is the best place to file your bug report.

Please review the release announcement and changelog.

[Test Case]

* General tests:
– Does plasma desktop start as normal with no apparent regressions over 5.16 or 5.17?
– General workflow – testers should carry out their normal tasks, using the plasma features they normally do, and test common subsystems such as audio, settings changes, compositing, desktop affects, suspend etc.

* Specific tests:
– Check the changelog:
– Identify items with front/user facing changes capable of specific testing. e.g. “clock combobox instead of tri-state checkbox for 12/24 hour display.”
– Test the ‘fixed’ functionality or ‘new’ feature.

Testing involves some technical set up to do, so while you do not need to be a highly advanced K/Ubuntu user, some proficiently in apt-based package management is advisable.

Testing is very important to the quality of the software Ubuntu and Kubuntu developers package and release.

We need your help to get this important beta release in shape for Kubuntu and the KDE community as a whole.

Thanks!

Please stop by the Kubuntu-devel IRC channel or Telegram group if you need clarification of any of the steps to follow.

[1] – irc://irc.freenode.net/kubuntu-devel
[2] – https://t.me/kubuntu_support
[3] – https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/kubuntu-devel

The beta of Disco Dingo (to become 19.04) has now been released, and is available for download at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/19.04/beta/

This milestone features images for Kubuntu and other Ubuntu flavours.

Pre-releases of the Disco Dingo 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 flavor developers
* Those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs as we work towards getting this release ready.
* the Beta includes some software updates that are ready for broader testing. However, it is an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs.

You can:

Read more information about the Kubuntu 19.04 Beta: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DiscoDingo/Beta/Kubuntu

Download the Kubuntu 19.04 Beta images

Read the full text of the main Ubuntu Cosmic Beta announcement:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-release/2019-March/004743.html

The Ubuntu Cosmic Release notes will give more details of changes to the Ubuntu base: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DiscoDingo/ReleaseNotes

This milestone features images for Kubuntu and other Ubuntu flavours.

Pre-releases of the Cosmic Cuttlefish 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.
* the Beta includes some software updates that are ready for broader testing. However, it is an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs.

You can:

Read more information about the Kubuntu 18.10 Beta: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CosmicCuttlefish/ReleaseNotes/Kubuntu

Download the Kubuntu 18.10 Beta images

Read the full text of the main Ubuntu Cosmic Beta announcement https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-release/2018-September/004601.html

Read the main Ubuntu Cosmic Release notes, that may give more details of changes to the Ubuntu base: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CosmicCuttlefish/ReleaseNotes

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.

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.