Ubuntu released an update that sent users back to the command line.
Ubuntu is Linux distribution which became popular due to its easy setup and operation allowing users without Linux knowledge to use the operating system without the hassle that other Linux distributions gave to new users.
An embarrassing episode affected that very feature of Ubuntu when an update to the windowing system was incorrectly released for Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, early last week.
The update, which should have improved the xserver windowing system, locked instead the users out of the GUI (graphical user interface). Users who whished to run applications were forced to do it the old fashioned way of using the command line.
While this may not have been a problem for many veteran Linux users, the new inexperienced users who have turned to Ubuntu for its easy to use GUI, found themselves in front of a big problem with no apparent solution.
Still, the Ubuntu development team have quickly reacted and replaced the faulty update with a working one. They also posted instructions on how users could restore their system from the command line.
“An update to the windowing system in Ubuntu was incorrectly released for Ubuntu 6.06 LTS. When applied to Ubuntu 6.06, the patch inadvertently breaks the desktop windowing environment on some systems. When we learned of the problem, the patch was immediately withdrawn. Mirrors have also been disabled to ensure that the faulty patch isn’t available from them. For the limited number of users who received the patch in question, the corrective action above will resolve the issue,” says the Ubuntu website.
The incident brought shame to Ubuntu’s clean record, but although it was quite serious, it seems to have been isolated. We can imagine, though, what happened to those users who only have access to one PC, running Ubuntu, and don’t know their way through the command line.
Ubuntu had only pleasant surprises for it’s users until now, and this incident shouldn’t affect its overall image. Mistakes do happen.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused,” they say.