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 beta of Hirsute Hippo (to become 21.04 in April) has now been released, and is available for download.

This milestone features images for Kubuntu and other Ubuntu flavours.

Pre-releases of the Hirsute Hippo 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 21.04 Beta release notes before installing, and in particular the section on ‘Known issues‘.

Kubuntu is taking part in #UbuntuTestingWeek from 1st to 7th of April, details of which can be found in our Kubuntu 21.04 Testing Week blog post, and in general for all flavours on the Ubuntu Discourse announcement.

You can also find more information about the entire 21.04 release (base, kernel, graphics etc) in the main Ubuntu Beta release notes and announcement.

We’re delighted to announce that we’re participating in another ‘Ubuntu Testing Week’ from April 1st to April 7th with other flavours in the Ubuntu family. On April 1st, the beta version of Kubuntu 21.04 ‘Hirsute Hippo’ will be released after freezing all new changes to its features, user interface, and documentation. Between April 1st and the final release on April 22nd, all efforts by the Kubuntu team and community should be focused on ISO testing, reporting bugs, fixing bugs, and translations right up to final release.

On social media, please use the #UbuntuTestingWeek hashtag if you write about your testing or want to spread the word about the event to your followers. Testers can visit the ISO tracker and read bug reporting tutorials.

You can test without changing your system by running it in a VM (Virtual Machine) with software like VMWare Player, VirtualBox (apt install). Or run Hirsute from USB, SD Card, or DVD to test on your hardware.

There are a variety of ways that you can help test the release, including trying out the various live session and installation test cases from the ISO tracker. If you find a bug, you’ll need a Launchpad account to file it against the package the app is bundled in, which you can find by asking around on the IRC/Telegram/Matrix Kubuntu channels or the user mail list.

Chat live in IRC (Freenode) #ubuntu-quality (or #kubuntu-devel if it cannot be reproduced on other flavours) or Telegram: Ubuntu Testers.

The easiest and fastest way to file a bug is in the command line (Konsole): ubuntu-bug $packagename, such as ubiquity – `ubuntu-bug ubiquity`

It is important to file the bug within the testing environment so that the necessary results are properly provided to the bug-tracker. All you need to provide to the ISO tracker is the bug number.

If the bug is found in the installer, file it against `ubiquity`, or file it against the `linux` if your hardware isn’t working. We encourage those that are willing, to install it either in a VM or on physical hardware. It requires at least 15GB of hard drive space. If you can use it for a few days, more bugs can be discovered and reported.

Please test apps that you regularly use, so you can identify bugs and regressions that should be reported, especially as the recently released Plasma 5.21.3 is bundled in this release. New ISO files are built every day, and you should always test with the most up-to-date ISO. It is easier and faster to update an existing daily ISO file on Linux with the command below. Run in the terminal or konsole from within the folder with the ISO file:

$ zsync http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/daily-live/current/hirsute-desktop-amd64.iso.zsync

We look forward to you joining us to make Kubuntu 21.04 an even bigger success, and hope that you will also test out the other Ubuntu flavours.

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

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

Users running 18.04 development version who have not deliberately opted to use Breeze/Breeze-Light in their systemsettings will also see the change after upgrading packages.

Users can easily revert back to the Breeze/Breeze-Light Plasma themes by changing this in systemsettings.

Feedback on this change will be very welcome:

You can reach us on the Kubuntu IRC channel or Telegram group, on our user mailing list, or post feedback on the (unofficial) Kubuntu web forums

Thank you to Michael Tunnell from TuxDigital.com for kindly suggesting this change.

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

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.

Unfortunately that page illustrates Xenial and Ubuntu Unity rather than Zesty in Kubuntu. Using Discover or Muon, use Settings > More, enter your password, and ensure that Pre-release updates (zesty-proposed) is ticked in the Updates tab.

Or from the commandline, you can modify the software sources manually by adding the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ zesty-proposed restricted main multiverse universe

If you are going to be testing from proposed frequently, you might try the pinning process as described on the wiki page about how to enable proposed. Otherwise, you can just

sudo apt update and then sudo apt install packagename/zesty-proposed each of the packages listed in the bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/plasma-desktop/+bug/1687444.

If you do not pin, remove the proposed repository immediately after you finish installing the test packages, or you risk wrecking your system in interesting ways.

Please report your findings on the bug report. If you need some guidance on how to structure your report, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification. 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 bug-fix release out the door to all of our users.

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