Canonical releases Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Noble Numbat without problematic xz Utils and with new mascot

Canonical has announced the release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, codenamed Noble Numbat, on the Ubuntu blogs. The operating system is already available for download.

For the first time, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS “Noble Numbat” does not contain the commonly used xz Utils data compression package, which was recently discovered to contain spyware.

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS also enables default frame rates on all 64-bit architectures so that performance engineers have easy access to accurate and complete graphs when profiling their systems for troubleshooting and optimization.

ZFS encryption is back as a default installation option, as well as hardware-enabled full disk encryption (such as TPM), plus more guidance for those who want to use dual-boot with Windows and BitLocker settings.

Netplan 1.0 is now the default network configuration tool. And the default installation is “Minimal” as introduced in 23.10.

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS builds on the achievements of the past three interim releases, as well as contributions from open source developers around the world, to ensure a secure, optimized and future-proof platform.

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS includes the Linux 6.8 kernel with improved system call performance, nested KVM support on ppc64el, and access to the new bcachefs file system.