What’s new with Ubuntu 22.04.1?

Check out the new features in the first point release of Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish and how you can upgrade without touching the command line.

After a slight delay due to an installer issue, the first point release for Ubuntu 22.04 has been officially released. Although point releases are often overlooked by users, because they aren’t major upgrades, this time around you should certainly run the upgrade immediately.

The biggest reason is that this point release combines all of the security fixes and improvements that have been added since the initial release of Jammy Jellyfish. So, if you haven’t bothered to upgrade Ubuntu 22.04 since you first installed it, which you should have been doing all along, this point upgrade will add everything you’ve missed in one fell swoop.

SEE: Linux turns 30: Celebrating the open source operating system (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Upgrade from 20.04

One of the biggest upgrades for end users will be the ability of 20.04 users to upgrade to the latest release without having to touch the command line. At some point, users of 20.04 will see an upgrade prompt on their desktops, allowing them to easily make the jump to 22.04.1. This is a big deal because previously such upgrades would have required running several commands. That means no more:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y
sudo do-release-upgrade -y

Of course, you should remember that version 20.04 is an LTS (long-term support) release that is supported through April 2030 (although mainstream support ends in 2025), so there’s no rush to upgrade. But, if you want the latest release of Ubuntu, you’ll want to go through the upgrade process.

GNOME 42 point release

Another point release found in 22.04.1 is GNOME 42, which features a new enhanced dark mode and switches to Wayland by default, with the inclusion of Xorg for unsupported hardware. One oddity I have found is that Ubuntu has still yet to switch to the new terminal and text editor.

Ubuntu 22.04.1 still uses Gedit and GNOME Terminal for those applications. When the official switch will happen for Ubuntu is a mystery. This is strange, given Fedora 36 has at least switched to the new Text Editor while remaining with GNOME Terminal as the default terminal emulator.

New toolchains and major fixes

Ubuntu 22.04.1 ships with the latest toolchains, including Python, Rust, Ruby, Go, PHP and Perl as well as new frameworks like OpenCV, TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch, Kubeflow and kernel 5.15.0-46. With regards to vulnerability patches, one of the biggest is the Retbleed Spectre mitigation for older CPUs (both AMD and Intel).

Other fixes include those for the NVIDIA R515 graphics driver, screenshot memory leak, patched to fix various RDP issues, and numerous other issues. To see the full list, make sure to check out the Jammy Jellyfish Point-Release Changes.

Other additions/fixes

You’ll find plenty of other fresh additions and fixes for Ubuntu 22.04.1, such as:

• A new Hardware Enablement stack for updated graphics drivers and a new kernel.
• LibreOffice 7.3.
• New branding to the installer.
• NetworkManager 1.36.
• Wayland now supports NVIDIA graphics drivers on hybrid systems.
• New Snap apps for Steam, Kdenlive, Discord and OBS Studio.
• Certified for the Dell XPS 13 Plus developer edition.
• Better Active Directory integration.

Why rush or wait?

Given that 22.04 is still fairly fresh, it’s a natural conclusion to not bother with point releases. However, in this case, you should definitely take care of this upgrade. Even if it’s only for the Retbleed patch, this point release is a must. Because of that, the second you see that upgrade prompt, take the time to get it over with. Any chance you can apply security patches to your operating system (OS) should be taken seriously.

If you’re not a fan of upgrading and would rather go the fresh install route, you can download the point release from the official Ubuntu download page and install without having to worry about an upgrade going south.

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