Key Points
- ROS Noetic has reached end of life, but Canonical is ensuring continued security and support for developers and organizations building robots on Ubuntu.
- Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) for ROS coverage has been extended to ROS Noetic content-sharing snaps, providing long-term support and security for ROS environments.
- Content-sharing snaps simplify packaging, improve consistency, and reduce image size across robotic systems, making it easier for developers to build and deploy robots securely on Ubuntu.
As a tech journalist reporting on the latest Ubuntu news, I’m excited to share insights on the recent developments in the Ubuntu Robotics team’s efforts to support developers and organizations building robots on Ubuntu. With ROS Noetic reaching its end of life in May 2025, the team has been working tirelessly to ensure that users can continue to build and deploy robots securely on the platform. This is a significant concern for the Linux and open-source software communities, as ROS is a widely-used framework for building robot applications.
To address this issue, Canonical has extended its Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) for ROS coverage to ROS Noetic content-sharing snaps. This update is a crucial step towards providing long-term support and security for ROS environments distributed through the Snap ecosystem. By doing so, developers can continue to rely on maintained and compatible components, ensuring the security and stability of their robotic systems.
But what exactly are content-sharing snaps? In simple terms, they allow multiple snaps to share common dependencies, such as ROS libraries, tools, and assets, without duplication. This model simplifies packaging, improves consistency, and reduces image size across robotic systems. By following a modular architecture, developers can build more efficient and scalable robotic systems. For example, content-sharing snaps can be used to share common dependencies across multiple robots, reducing the overall size of the system and making it easier to maintain and update.
The extension of ESM to ROS Noetic content-sharing snaps is a significant development for the Ubuntu and Linux communities. It demonstrates Canonical’s commitment to supporting the development of secure and reliable robotic systems. By providing long-term support and security for ROS environments, Canonical is enabling developers to focus on building innovative robotic applications, rather than worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
The Snap ecosystem plays a critical role in this effort, providing a secure and efficient way to package and distribute ROS applications. With content-sharing snaps, developers can easily share and reuse components, reducing the complexity and overhead of building robotic systems. This, in turn, can lead to faster development times, improved collaboration, and increased innovation in the field of robotics.
As the Ubuntu Robotics team continues to work on ensuring the security and support of ROS environments, developers and organizations can rest assured that their robotic systems will remain secure and up-to-date. The extension of ESM to ROS Noetic content-sharing snaps is a significant step forward in this effort, and we can expect to see more developments in the future. With Canonical’s commitment to supporting the Linux and open-source software communities, the future of robotics on Ubuntu looks bright. As developers and organizations continue to build and deploy robots on Ubuntu, they can trust that their systems will be secure, reliable, and supported for years to come.
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