Canonical Commits to Regular Updates for Ubuntu Cloud

One of the nice things about Ubuntu, generally speaking, is that its update and release cycles are very predictable and reliable. Ubuntu Cloud Images, however, have long been an exception. But that has now changed with the announcement of updates for the cloud-ready versions of Ubuntu that will follow a more regular pattern — or, at least, a less irregular one.

As Canonical engineer Ben Howard explained, Ubuntu developers will now push out new Ubuntu Cloud Images following updates to the Linux kernel. Those latter updates don’t appear according to a rigid cycle, but generally come downstream from the kernel developers about once a month. The cloud versions of Ubuntu therefore will, in turn, be rebuilt every three or four weeks to incorporate the latest stable versions of their respective kernels.

While this policy still leaves a bit of unpredictability in the Ubuntu Cloud Image update cycle, it is a significant improvement over prior practice. Until now, Ubuntu developers updated the cloud images only on an ad-hoc basis, whenever they felt a patch was significant enough to merit rebuilding the platforms. From here on out, end users will be able to count on updates about once a month, and rest assured that they are always running the latest kernel code (or, more specifically, the latest code for the kernel version built into the Ubuntu release they choose to deploy).

From the standpoint of Ubuntu’s broader strategy, the new policy makes a lot of sense. Whatever one might think about Canonical, it’s hard to deny its very solid record of delivering software exactly when it says it will. The base Ubuntu distribution has come out exactly according to schedule twice a year for a decade, with one minor exception—the Ubuntu 6.06 release in 2006. And the desktop and server editions of Ubuntu are subject to a clearly defined, logical update policy.

That sort of reliability makes Canonical stand out within the open source channel, where many projects take predefined development roadmaps no more seriously than most toddlers take admonishments to eat their brussel sprouts. Delays in releases to other popular Linux distributions are common, and regular updates to existing releases are not always a sure thing. Indeed, in some cases, such as Debian’s, developers seem to take pride in incessant delays to their release cycle, which from some perspectives reflects a commitment to rock-solid stability–which is a great thing for users who find that trait more important than a predictable development cycle. To each his own.

For these reasons, bringing update procedures for Ubuntu’s cloud offerings into line with those that predominate in the rest of the Ubuntu family should help attract users who value Ubuntu for its reliable updates, or who want greater consistency between the cloud platform and other iterations of Ubuntu. It’s also a reminder that, the endless controversy over Unity or Amazon.com search features notwithstanding, Canonical can please its users.