Canonical today published Ubuntu Core 18, bringing the popular Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to high-security embedded devices.
According to a post on the official blog, Canonical said the Ubuntu Core 18 enabled a new class of app-centric things, which could inherit apps from the broader Ubuntu and Snapcraft ecosystems or build unique and exclusive applications that are specific to a brand or model. Specific apps can be required, or optional, per model. Manufacturers get complete control over the versions and updates relevant to their own devices.
The digitally signed “snaps” will ensure that devices built with Ubuntu Core were resistant to corruption or tampering. Any component can be verified at any time. All snaps on Ubuntu Core devices were strictly confined, limiting any damage from a compromised application.
Ubuntu Core 18 will receive 10 years low-cost security maintenance, enabling long-term industrial and mission-critical deployments. Updates are delivered with a device-specific SLA, ensuring that change is managed by the manufacturer or the enterprise and providing a rapid response to any vulnerabilities that are detected over the device lifetime.
All snaps distributed to devices are scanned regularly for known weaknesses and devices, enabling enterprises and manufacturers to learn quickly about potential risks in their ecosystem.
The post said using standard Ubuntu meant that app publishers could support multiple devices without recompiling. Incidentally, Ubuntu is the most widely deployed Linux in the world and hence attracts a very wide range of publishers – there are 4,600 snaps published by 1700 independent publishers today.
Ubuntu, and Ubuntu Core are already enabled on a wide range of devices from leading manufacturers like Dell, Rigado, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung and NXP.
“Canonical’s Ubuntu Core puts the right code on a device with clean update and management semantics,” said Ian Hughes, Senior Analyst IoT, 451 Research.“Since snaps deliver everything from the kernel and device drivers to 3rd party applications, targeted upgrades can be orchestrated and delivered to IoT endpoints via a central app store with no user intervention. This manageability is essential to enhance the ongoing security and performance of devices in the field. Ubuntu Core is used across many types of IoT device such as digital signage, drones and robots, with ROS applications supported as snaps, and in IoT gateways. This all sits within the existing open source Ubuntu ecosystem providing familiarity and common tools for developers.”