Enterprise open source Toolkit

Enterprise-level Ubuntu Linux due this week

Renai LeMay ZDNet Australia

Published: 30 May 2006 10:00 BST

The developers of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution plan to make a new landmark version of the software widely available this week.

Ubuntu's public schedule for releasing the software lists 1 June as the date for the new version, code-named "Dapper Drake", to be made public. The milestone release will be officially supported by the project for a longer period than previous versions, and will be billed as suitable for enterprise use.

Dapper Drake will be supported for three years for the desktop version and five years for servers, compared to 18 months for the current 5.10 "Breezy Badger" version.

The code release will come after the development process was extended by six weeks in order to improve the reliability of the software. Normally Ubuntu pushes out an official version every six months.

"In some senses Dapper is a first for us, in that it is the first 'enterprise-quality' release of Ubuntu, for which we plan to offer support for a very long time," Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth said in an email in March to the developer community.

"I, and others, would very much like Dapper to stand proud amongst the traditional enterprise Linux releases from Red Hat, Debian and SUSE as an equal match on quality, support and presentation," he continued.

Dapper Drake will be able to be downloaded from Ubuntu's Web site.

News.com's Stephen Shankland contributed to this story.