Iptables Automated Firewall Configuration Tool Python — Complete Documentation & Simulation

Overview & System Context

Iptables Automated Firewall Configuration Tool Python: Comprehensive Web-Sourced Technical Investigation Exhaustive Research Dossier · Pure Web-Scraped Content: ~9113 Words · Real Software Screenshots: 3 1. Executive Overview & Technical Background firewalld, stylized in all lowercase, is a firewall management tool for Linux operating systems. It provides firewall features by acting as a front-end for the Linux kernel's netfilter framework. firewalld's current default backend is nftables. Prior to v0.6.0, iptables was the default backend. Through its abstractions, firewalld acts as an alternative to nft and iptables command line programs. The name firewalld adheres to the Unix convention of naming system daemons by appending the letter "d".

firewalld is written in Python. It was intended to be ported to C++, but the porting project was abandoned in January 2015. firewalld v0.9.0 added native support for forward and output forwarding via policy objects. By default, firewalld does not block outbound traffic as required by standards such as NIST 800-171 and 800-53. The separation of trust zones represents the defining paradigm that distinguishes firewalld from conventional, flat packet-filtering tools. Rather than evaluating a monolithic chain of rules sequentially across the entire operating system, firewalld isolates network traffic into designated zones mapped to physical interfaces or source address ranges.

firewall-config is a graphical front-end that is optionally included with firewalld, with support for most of its features. firewall-applet is a small status indicator utility that is optionally included with firewalld. It can provide firewall event log notifications as well as a quick way to open firewall-config. firewall-applet was ported from the GTK+ to the Qt framework in the summer of 2015 following the GNOME Desktop’s deprecation of system tray icons. Due to its reliability and tight systemd integration, firewalld serves as the default firewall daemon across major enterprise and community distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 7+), CentOS (7+), Fedora (18+), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES 15+), openSUSE Leap (15+), and EndeavourOS. It is also packaged across Debian and Ubuntu repositories, providing a dynamic alternative to ufw and legacy iptables-persistent configurations.

Figure 1: GitHub - Privex/pyrewall: A Python tool / service for managing iptables ... CentOS 7 and newer Fedora 18 and newer OpenSUSE Leap 15 and newer Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and newer SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 and newer EndeavourOS Apollo and newer firewalld is enabled by default in all of these distributions. firewalld is also available as one of many firewall options in the package repository of many other popular distributions such as Debian or Ubuntu.

This is a list of free and open-source software (FOSS) packages, computer software licensed under free software licenses and open-source licenses. Software that fits the Free Software Definition may be more appropriately called free software; the GNU project in particular objects to their works being referred to as open-source. For more information about the philosophical background for open-source software, see free software movement and Open Source Initiative. However, nearly all software meeting the Free Software Definition also meets the Open Source Definition and vice versa. A small fraction of the software that meets either definition is listed here. Some of the open-source applications are also the basis of commercial products, shown in the List of commercial open-source applications and services.

Cline – AI coding agent for IDEs and the command line. Codex CLI – AI coding agent and command-line interface developed by OpenAI. Command Code — CLI and desktop AI agent DeepSeek Coder – large language model designed for code generation and AI-assisted software development. Eclipse Theia – integrated development environment and framework with AI-assisted software development features. goose – AI coding agent for the desktop and command line. Kilo Code — CLI and IDE extension developed by Anaconda OpenCode — CLI, desktop app, web app, and IDE extensions OpenHands — AI software development agent Oh My Pi – terminal-based AI coding agent developed as a fork of Pi. Pi – terminal-based AI coding agent. Zed – source-code editor with integrated AI-assisted development and agentic coding features.

Apertus – Swiss National AI Initiative LLM BERT – Google LLM BLOOM – BigScience multilingual LLM Cerebras-GPT – Cerebras Systems LLMs DeepSeek – R1 and V3 models Gemma 4 – Google LLM GLM-4.5 and later versions – Z.ai LLMs GPT-1, GPT-2, and GPT-OSS – OpenAI LLMs GPT-J, GPT-Neo, and GPT-NeoX – EleutherAI LLMs Hy – Tencent open-weight LLM Granite – IBM LLMs Grok-1 – xAI LLM Inkling – Thinking Machines Kimi (some versions) – Moonshot AI LLMs MiMo (some versions) – Xiaomi LLMs Mistral (some versions) Muse Glimmer — Meta Superintelligence Labs LLM Nemotron 3 – Nvidia open-weight models OLMo – Allen Institute for AI LLM Phi – Microsoft LLMs Qwen (some versions) – Alibaba Cloud LLMs Sarvam-M, Sarvam-105B and Sarvam-30B – Sarvam AI LLMs SmolLM – Hugging Face small language models (SLMs) Step-3.7Flash – StepFun LLM T5 – Google LLM XLNet – Google LLM Figure 2: Iptables Tutorial 1.2.2 ArduPilot CoppeliaSim Gazebo Mobile Robot Programming Toolkit OpenRTM-aist Paparazzi Project Player Project Python Robotics Robot Operating System (ROS) TurtleBot UBtech Thinker Webots – robot simulator Archimedes (CAD) Art of Illusion Blender BRL-CAD – constructive solid geometry (CSG) solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) system FreeCAD – parametric 3D CAD modeler with a focus on mechanical engineering, BIM, and product design LeoCAD — beginner Lego 3D modeler LibreCAD – 2D CAD software using AutoCAD-like interface and file format MakeHuman MeshLab Open Cascade Technology (OCCT) – CAD kernel for 3D CAD, CAM, CAE OpenSCAD – scripting-based 3D CAD software QCAD SolveSpace – 2D and 3D CAD, constraint-based parametric modeler with simple mechanical simulation abilities Sweet Home 3D Wings 3D Electric FreePCB Fritzing – CAD software for the design of electronics hardware to build more permanent circuits from prototypes gEDA GNU Circuit Analysis Package (Gnucap) Icarus Verilog KiCad – suite for electronic design automation (EDA) for schematic capture, PCB layout, manufacturing file viewing, SPICE simulation, and engineering calculation KTechLab Magic Ngspice pcb-rnd Oregano Quite Universal Circuit Simulator (QUCS) Verilator XCircuit Blender – 3D computer graphics software toolset used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D printed models, and motion graphics FreeCAD – equivalent of Blender geared toward mechanical engineers OpenFOAM – software used for computational fluid dynamics (or CFD) FlightGear – atmospheric and orbital flight simulator with a flight dynamics engine (JSBSim) that was used in a 2015 NASA benchmark to judge new simulation code to space industry standards SimPy – queue-theoretic event-based simulator written in Python Salome – generic platform for Pre- and Post-Processing for numerical simulation Figure 3: How to edit iptables rules – Boukou Délire OpenPGP – open-source version of Pretty Good Privacy GNU Privacy Guard – replacement for PGP OpenSSL – library for applications that provide secure communications over computer networks NaCl (software) – crypto library Libsodium – fork of NaCl VeraCrypt – disk encryption software forked from TrueCrypt LUKS – standard for disk encryption on Linux systems Nym (mixnet) – mix network that uses noise and random packet timing for obfsucation, overlay network for NymVPN Tor (network) – free overlay network for enabling anonymous communication Tails (operating system) – security-focused Linux distro using Tor by default Signal (software) – secure messaging app Off-the-Record Messaging – protocol for secure instant messaging GPGTools – macOS suite for GnuPG-based encryption Aircrack-ng – Wi-Fi security auditing tool BackTrack – predecessor to Kali Linux Burp Suite Community Edition – security assessment and penetration testing of web applications Ghidra – software reverse engineering suite developed by the NSA Hashcat – password recovery utility High Orbit Ion Cannon – DDoS hping3 — packet crafting and network penetration-testing utility Hydra (software) – login cracker supporting numerous protocols John the Ripper – password cracking tool Kali Linux – penetration testing Linux distribution Metasploit Project – framework for developing and executing exploit code Netcat – network utility for reading/writing data across networks Nikto (vulnerability scanner) – web server vulnerability scanner Nmap – network scanning, port scanner, and auditing tool OpenSSH – implementation of the SSH protocol Radare2 – reverse engineering framework Snort (software) – network intrusion detection system sqlmap – automated SQL injection and database takeover tool Suricata (software) – network threat detection engine Volatility (memory forensics) – memory forensics framework for incident response Wireshark – network protocol analyzer YARA – tool to identify and classify malware qBittorrent – BitTorrent client Transmission (BitTorrent client) – lightweight BitTorrent client IPFS – InterPlanetary File System for decentralized storage and sharing RetroShare – secure communication platform with file sharing 2. System Architecture & Core Working Principles Zerocoin – privacy-focused cryptocurrency protocol Zcash – cryptocurrency based on Zerocoin using zk-SNARKs Monero – privacy-focused cryptocurrency using ring signatures NYM — Nym mixnet privacy- and security-focused token Tornado Cash — Cryptocurrency tumbler ClamAV – cross-platform antimalware toolkit written in C and C++, able to detect many types of malware including viruses ClamWin – antivirus tool for Windows and written in C, C++ Lynis – security audit tool (set of shell scripts) for Unix and Linux Bouncy Castle GnuPG GnuTLS KGPG NaCl OpenSSL Seahorse Signal stunnel TextSecure wolfCrypt 7-Zip Snort – network intrusion detection system (IDS) and intrusion prevention system (IPS) Suricata – network threat detection engine OpenVAS – software framework of several services and tools offering vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management Nmap – network scanner, port scanner, and security auditing tool Nikto – web server vulnerability scanner Volatility – memory forensics framework for incident response Cyberduck – macOS and Windows client (since version 4.0) Lsh – server and client, with support for SRP and Kerberos authentication OpenSSH – client and server PuTTY – client-only Apache Cassandra – NoSQL database from Apache Software Foundation offers support for clusters spanning multiple datacenter Apache CouchDB – NoSQL database from Apache Software Foundation with multi-master replication MariaDB – community-developed relational database management system with pluggable storage engines and commercial support PostGIS – adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL as per Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) PostgreSQL – relational database management system emphasizes on extensibility and SQL compliance and available for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD ATutor – web-based Learning Content Management System (LCMS) Canvas LMS – web-based, open, extensible learning management system Chamilo – web-based e-learning and content management system Claroline – collaborative Learning Management System DoceboLMS – SAAS/cloud platform for learning eFront – icon-based learning management system H5P – framework for creating and sharing interactive HTML5 content IUP Portfolio – educational platform for Swedish schools ILIAS – web-based learning management system (LMS) Moodle – learning management system OLAT – web-based Learning Content Management System Omeka – content management system for online digital collections Sakai Project – web-based learning management system SWAD – web-based learning management system Kiwix – offline web browser that allows users to download Wikipedia's entire content and use it for offline learning. Later it was expanded with repositories for Wikimedia Foundation, public domain texts from Project Gutenberg, many of the Stack Exchange sites, and other resources OpenStreetMap – OpenStreetMap was developed in 2004. It uses Open data and users data input through Crowdsourcing and Web mapping to create a complete and downloadable alternative to other online maps.

This allow users to enter data when there is no data available due to lack of governance and economic interest or due to lower population of the places mapped Advanced Simulation Library ASCEND Calcpad Calculix CHEMKIN – chemical kinetics COCO simulator – chemical process simulator CP2K – quantum chemistry and solid-state physics DWSIM – chemical process simulator General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) – space mission analysis GNU Octave – numerical-analysis GROMACS – simulations of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids JSBSim – flight dynamics engine LAMMPS – Molecular dynamics Open Babel – chemical informatics OpenModelica – chemical process simulator OpenSees – earthquake engineering OpenVSP – parametric aircraft geometry tool Pyomo – mathematical optimization QBlade – wind turbine design and aerodynamic simulation software REFPROP – reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties XFOIL – analysis of subsonic isolated airfoils .apng – Animated Portable Network Graphics .avif – AV1 Image File Format .bpg – Better Portable Graphics .exr – OpenEXR .fits – Flexible Image Transport System primarily for Astronomy .flif – Free Lossless Image Format .gif – Graphics Interchange Format .iff / .lbm – InterLeaved BitMap .jng – JPEG Network Graphics .jpg or .jpeg – Joint Photographic Experts Group .jxl – JPEG XL .mng – Multiple-image Network Graphics .miff / .mi – Magick Image File Format .pam, .pbm, .pgm, .ppm, .pnm – Netpbm file formats .pgf – Progressive Graphics File .png – Portable Network Graphics .qoi – Quite OK Image Format .tiff – Tag Image File Format .wbmp – Wireless Application Protocol Bitmap Format .webp .xbm – X BitMap .xcf – GIMP .xpm – X PixMap .adoc – AsciiDoc .epub – ebook format .latex – LaTeX, macro package built on top of TeX for simplification .md – Markdown .odt – OpenDocument .rtf – Rich Text Format .tex – high-quality typography for mathematical notation, physics, chemistry, engineering/scientific notation .texinfo 1DayLater – invoicing software GnuCash – double-entry book-keeping HomeBank – personal accounting software KMyMoney – double-entry book-keeping LedgerSMB – double-entry book-keeping RCA open-source application – management accounting application SQL-Ledger – double-entry book-keeping TurboCASH – double-entry book-keeping for Windows Bitcoin – blockchain platform, peer-to-peer decentralised digital currency Ethereum – blockchain platform with smart contract functionality CiviCRM – Constituent Relationship Management software aimed at charities and NGOs iDempiere – business Suite, ERP and CRM SuiteCRM – web-based CRM Adempiere – Enterprise resource planning (ERP) business suite Apache OFBiz – suite of enterprise applications from Apache Software Foundation Compiere – ERP solution automates accounting, supply chain, inventory, and sales orders Dolibarr – web-based ERP system ERPNext – web-based ERP system for managing accounting and finance ERP5 – Single Unified Business Model based system written with Python and Zope iDempiere – fully navigable on PCs, tablets and smartphones driven only by a community of supporters JFire – ERP business suite written with Java and JDO LedgerSMB – double entry accounting and ERP system written with Perl metasfresh – ERP Software Odoo – ERP, CRM and CMS Openbravo – web-based ERP Tryton – ERP 3. Software Implementation, Frameworks & Protocols MAME – multi-platform emulator for arcade game systems Mednafen – multi-platform emulator MESS – multi-platform emulator RetroArch – cross-platform front-end for emulators, game engines and video games Snes9x – Super Nintendo emulator Stella – Atari 2600 emulator PCSX – PlayStation emulator PCSX2 – PlayStation 2 emulator PPSSPP – PlayStation Portable emulator Project64 – Nintendo 64 emulator RPCS3 – PlayStation 3 emulator Dolphin (emulator) – GameCube and Wii emulator Citra (emulator) – Nintendo 3DS and Wii emulator Cemu – Wii U emulator TIC-80 – virtual machine game engine that mimics the 8-bit systems of the 1980s QGIS – cross-platform desktop geographic information system (GIS) application to view, edit, and analyse geospatial data ADMB Euler Math Toolbox FreeMat GNU Data Language GNU MCSim GNU Octave J Julia Owl Scientific Computing Perl Data Language S-Lang Scilab Yorick Blender Game Engine – discontinued 2019 Godot – application for the design of cross-platform video games MonoGame – C# framework Open3DEngine – based on Amazon Lumberyard Stride – (prev. Xenko) 2D and 3D cross-platform game engine originally developed by Silicon Studio Amavis – email content filter Claws Mail – email Client Fetchmail – email Retrieval Geary – email client based on WebKitGTK+ GNUMail – cross-platform email client Hula – discontinued mail and calendar project K-9 Mail – Android Email Client MailScanner – email security system MH Message Handling System – email Client Modest – email Client Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups – email Client that was part of the now discontinued Mozilla Application Suite Mozilla Thunderbird – email, news, RSS, and chat client POPFile – cross-platform mail filter Proton Mail – app and web-based end-to-end encrypted e-mail evolved to become FOSS Roundcube – web-based IMAP email client Sylpheed – email and News Client Sympa – MLA software I2P – anonymous network layer (implemented as a mix network) that allows for censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer communication OnionShare – file sharing app using Tor network Popcorn Time – multi-platform media player qBittorrent – BitTorrent client Transmission – BitTorrent client Deluge – BitTorrent client BSD – FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, GhostBSD, TrueNAS, MidnightBSD, DragonFly BSD, OPNsense, pfSense, XigmaNAS, among others. GrapheneOS – Privacy- and security-focused, Android-based mobile operating system Kali NetHunter Linux – Debian, Ubuntu, Manjaro, Fedora, openSUSE, antiX, NixOS, Kali, Alpine, Tails, Mageia, Slackware, Gentoo, BlackArch, among others (List of Linux distributions). LineageOS – Android-based operative system for tablets and mobile phones GNU Hurd Mobian Nura Plasma Mobile PureOS Ubuntu Touch Redox OS FreeDOS – OS compatible with IBM PC DOS and Microsoft's MS-DOS ReactOS – OS intended to run the same software as Windows, originally designed to simulate Windows NT 4.0, later aiming at Windows 7 compatibility. It has been in the development stage since 1996.

AppleWin DOSBox – DOS programs emulator (including PC games) GNOME Boxes Hercules (emulator) Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) QEMU VirtualBox – hosted hypervisor for x86 virtualization DTrace – dynamic tracing framework for analyzing and troubleshooting running applications and operating systems Memtest86 – stress-tests RAM on x86 machines strace – diagnostic utility for tracing system calls and signals Valgrind – debugging and profiling tool for detecting memory and threading errors Xnee – record and replay tests Acceleo – model-to-text code generator Apache Velocity – Java-based template engine used for code generation Babel – JavaScript transcompiler Bison CodeSynthesis XSD – XML Data Binding compiler for C++ CodeSynthesis XSD/e – validating XML parser/serializer and C++ XML Data Binding generator for mobile and embedded systems Flex lexical analyser – generates lexical analyzers Open Scene Graph – 3D graphics application programming interface OpenSCDP – Open Smart Card Development Platform SableCC – parser generator for Java and .NET SWIG – Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator for several languages Umple – modeling and programming language with source code generation xmlbeansxx – XML Data Binding code generator for C++ YAKINDU Statechart Tools – Statechart code generator for C++ and Java Apache Flink – stream and batch data processing framework Apache Hadoop – distributed storage and processing framework Apache Mahout – scalable machine learning library Apache Spark – unified analytics engine Dask – parallel computing for analytics in Python ELKI – data analysis algorithms library GNU Octave – numerical computing environment JASP – GUI program for data analytics, data science, and machine learning Jupyter Notebook – interactive computing Keras – neural network library KNIME – data analytics platform Matplotlib – data visualization library MLlib – machine learning library for Apache Spark NumPy – numerical computing library Orange – data mining tool pandas – data manipulation library PyTorch – machine learning and deep learning framework Python R – statistical computing language SageMath – mathematics and data analysis environment SciPy – scientific computing library scikit-learn – Python machine learning library TensorFlow – machine learning framework WEKA – machine learning and data analysis suite 3G Bridge – grid interoperability Advanced Resource Connector – middleware BOINC – volunteer computing HTCondor – high-throughput computing Simple Grid Protocol – grid computing UNICORE – middleware CP2K – atomistic and molecular simulation of solid-state, liquid, molecular, and biological systems Open-source software Open-source license Comparison of file synchronization software § Open-source GNOME Core Applications List of concept- and mind-mapping software § Free and open-source List of formerly proprietary software List of GNU packages List of HDL simulators § Free and open-source simulators List of KDE applications List of open-source hardware projects List of optimization software § Free and open-source software List of public domain projects List of spreadsheet software § Free and open-source software List of Unix commands Releases of Ubuntu—a Linux operating system mostly composed of free and open-source software—are made semiannually by Canonical Ltd using the year and month of the release as a version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on 20 October 2004. Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month (or even year) than planned, the version number will change accordingly. Releases are scheduled every April and October to incorporate new GNOME releases made every March and September. Free support is offered and includes security updates for "main" free software packaged. Every fourth release, scheduled for April of every even-numbered year, is designated as a long-term support (LTS) release, meaning it receives free support for five years.

Non-LTS releases are designed as interim releases and receive free support for nine months. The Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) service from the Ubuntu Pro subscription, which is free for personal use on up to five devices, extends long-term support to be ten-years long and include security updates for community-managed "universe" free software packages. The Legacy subscription add-on extends long-term support to fifteen years. On 19 March 2013, the Ubuntu Technical Board reduced the support period for interim releases from eighteen months to nine. For LTS releases 10.04 and earlier, the desktop version received free support for three years, and the server version for five years. LTS release 12.04 harmonized the support period to five years and introduced the Extended Security Maintenance service as part of the Ubuntu Advantage subscription service. By 26 January 2023, Ubuntu Advantage was rebranded to Ubuntu Pro, and ESM to Expanded Security Maintenance as support for the Universe repository was added to the service. The paid Legacy Support was introduced on 25 March 2024, extending long-term support by two years, which increased to five years on 13 November 2025.

4. Practical Deployment, Analysis & Case Studies Ubuntu 4.10 (Warty Warthog) was released on 20 October 2004 as the inaugural release of Ubuntu. It received support until 30 April 2006. It is built upon Debian, with plans for a new release every six months and eighteen months of support thereafter. It used the ext3 file system. Ubuntu 4.10 was offered as a free download and, through Canonical's ShipIt service, was also mailed to users free of charge in CD format. Similar to UserLinux and unlike other distros at the time—which had the user choose the apps to install—the Debian-based Ubuntu curated "one best FOSS app" for each category, minimizing the amount of questions asked by the installer and the disk space used. Alternatives and additional software could be installed through Debian's Advanced Package Tool (APT), which featured automatic dependency resolution, a feature then only found in commercial and professional Linux distributions. Ubuntu's competitors in the consumer-friendly free-of-charge distributions segment required the user to work out such dependencies themselves and did not use the APT dependency resolution tools due to Debian's notorious complexities and hard installation process, which Ubuntu managed to simplify.

Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) was released on 8 April 2005. It received support until 31 October 2006. Ubuntu 5.04 added various new features and packages including installation from USB devices, the Update Manager, an upgrade notifier, readahead, grepmap, suspend, hibernating and standby support, dynamic frequency scaling for processors, the Ubuntu hardware database, Kickstart installation, and APT authentication. Beginning with Ubuntu 5.04, UTF-8 became the default character encoding.

Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), released on 12 October 2005 and was supported until 13 April 2007. Ubuntu 5.10 added several new features including a graphical bootloader (Usplash), an Add/Remove Applications tool, a menu editor (Alacarte), an easy language selector, logical volume management support, full Hewlett-Packard printer support, OEM installer support, a new Ubuntu logo in the top-left, and Launchpad integration for bug reporting and software development.

Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) released on 1 June 2006 and was the first long-term support (LTS) release, with support continuing until 14 July 2009 for desktops and June 2011 for servers. Ubuntu 6.06 was released behind schedule, having been intended as 6.04. It is sometimes jokingly described as their first "Late To Ship" (LTS) release. Development was not complete in April 2006 and Mark Shuttleworth approved slipping the release date to June, making it 6.06 instead. Ubuntu 6.06 included several new features, including having the Live CD and Install CD merged onto one disc, a graphical installer on Live CD (Ubiquity), Usplash on shutdown as well as startup, a network manager for easy switching of multiple wired and wireless connections, Humanlooks theme implemented using Tango guidelines, based on Clearlooks and featuring orange colors instead of brown, and GDebi graphical installer for package files. Ubuntu 6.06 did not include a means to install from a USB device, but did for the first time allow installation directly onto removable USB devices.

Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) released on 26 October 2006 and was supported until 25 April 2008. Ubuntu 6.10 added several new features including a new Human theme, Upstart init daemon, automated crash reports (Apport), Tomboy note taking application, and F-Spot photo manager. EasyUbuntu, a third party program designed to make Ubuntu easier to use, was included in Ubuntu 6.10 as a meta-package.

Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn), released on 19 April 2007 and was supported until 19 October 2008. Ubuntu 7.04 included several new features, among them a migration assistant to help former Microsoft Windows users transition to Ubuntu, support for Kernel-based Virtual Machine, assisted codec and restricted drivers installation including Adobe Flash, Java, MP3 support, easier installation of Nvidia and ATI drivers, Compiz desktop effects, support for Wi-Fi Protected Access, the addition of Sudoku and chess, a disk usage analyzer (baobab), GNOME Control Center, and zeroconf support for many devices.

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon), released on 18 October 2007 and was supported until 18 April 2009. Ubuntu 7.10 included several new features, among them AppArmor security framework, fast desktop search, a Firefox plug-in manager (Ubufox), a graphical configuration tool for X.Org, full NTFS support (read/write) via NTFS-3G, and a revamped printing system with PDF printing by default. Compiz Fusion was enabled as default in Ubuntu 7.10 and Fast user switching was added.

Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron), released on 24 April 2008 and was the second long-term support release of Ubuntu. Support ended on 12 May 2011 for desktops and ended on 9 May 2013 for servers. Ubuntu 8.04 included several new features, among them Tracker desktop search integration, Brasero for disk burning, Transmission for BitTorrent, Vinagre for Virtual Network Computing, system sound through PulseAudio, and Active Directory authentication and login using Likewise Open. In addition Ubuntu 8.04 included updates for better Tango compliance, various Compiz usability improvements, automatic grabbing and releasing of the mouse cursor when running on a VMware virtual machine, and an easier method to remove Ubuntu. Ubuntu 8.04 was the first version of Ubuntu to include the Wubi installer on the Live CD that allows Ubuntu to be installed as a folder within Windows, without a disk partition. The first version of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix was also introduced. Ryan Paul of Ars Technica praised the release's Wubi installer, improved hardware detection, and new software, while criticizing the PulseAudio integration's glitches and lack of configuration. Paul also criticized Ubuntu's search integration for disadvantages compared to using Beagle—which he found more feature-complete, supported by bundled software, and comparable to the search experiences of other operating systems.

Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), released on 30 October 2008, and was supported until 30 April 2010. Ubuntu 8.10 introduced several new features including RAID support, improvements to mobile computing, 3G support, and a guest account, which allowed others to use a computer allowing very limited user rights (e.g. accessing the Internet, using software and checking e-mail). Guest files are saved to a temporary folder wiped when logging out. Intrepid Ibex also included an encrypted private directory for users, the inclusion of Dynamic Kernel Module Support, a tool that allows kernel drivers to be automatically rebuilt when new kernels are released, and support for creating USB flash drive images.

On 24 October 2008, Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) was announced by Mark Shuttleworth and was released on 23 April 2009. Support ended on 23 October 2010. New features included faster boot times and the integration of web services and applications into the desktop interface. Because of that, they named it after the mythical jackalope. It was the first release named after a mythical animal, the second being Utopic Unicorn. It had a new usplash screen, a new login screen and also support for both Wacom (hotplugging) and netbooks. It also included a new notification system, Notify OSD, and themes. It marked the first time that all of Ubuntu's core development moved to the GNU Bazaar distributed version control system.

Ubuntu 9.04 was the first version to support the ARM architecture with native support for ARMv5EL and ARMv6EL-VFP. Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) was released on 29 October 2009, with support until April 2011. The desktop installation of Ubuntu 9.10 replaced Pidgin with Empathy Instant Messenger as its default instant messaging client. The default filesystem is ext4, and the Ubuntu One client, which interfaces with Canonical's new online storage system, is installed by default. It introduced Grub 2 beta as its default bootloader. It also replaced Add/Remove Programs (gnome-app-install) with Ubuntu Software Center, while Canonical stated their intention to possibly replace Synaptic, Software Sources, Gdebi and Update Manager in Ubuntu 10.04. Karmic Koala also includes a slideshow during the installation process (through ubiquity-slideshow) that highlights applications and features in Ubuntu. In an announcement to the community on 20 February 2009, Shuttleworth explained that 9.10 would focus on improvements in cloud computing on the server using Eucalyptus, a new theme, as well as further improvements in boot speed and development of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The new theme was later delayed to version 10.04, and only minor revisions were made to the default theme. Other graphical improvements included a new set of boot up and shutdown splash screens, a new login screen with a new transition into the desktop and greatly improved performance on Intel graphics chip-sets. In June 2009, Canonical created the One Hundred Paper Cuts project, focusing developers to fix minor usability issues. A "paper cut" was defined as, "a trivially fixable usability bug that the average user would encounter on his/her first day of using a brand new installation of the latest version of Ubuntu Desktop Edition." Shuttleworth first announced Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) on 19 September 2009 at the Atlanta Linux Fest before it was released on 29 April 2010 as Ubuntu's third long-term support (LTS) release. Canonical provided support for the desktop version of Ubuntu 10.04 until 9 May 2013 and for the server version until 30 April 2015. The release included improved support for Nvidia proprietary graphics drivers while switching to the open source Nvidia graphics driver, Nouveau, by default.

Plymouth was also introduced, allowing boot animations. It also included a video editor for the first time by including Pitivi. GIMP was replaced with F-Spot due to the former's complexity and file size. The distribution also included integrated interfaces for posting to social media. On 4 March 2010 it was announced that Lucid Lynx would feature a new theme, including new logos, taking Ubuntu's new visual style into account: The new style in Ubuntu is inspired by the idea of "Light".We're drawn to Light, because it denotes both warmth and clarity, and intrigued by the idea that "light" is a good value in software. Good software is "light" in the sense that it uses your resources efficiently, runs quickly, and can easily be reshaped as needed. Ubuntu represents a break with the bloatware of proprietary operating systems and an opportunity to delight to those who use computers for work and play. More and more of our communications are powered by light, and in future, our processing power will depend on our ability to work with light, too.Visually, light is beautiful, light is ethereal, light brings clarity and comfort.Historical perspective: From 2004–2010, the theme in Ubuntu was "Human". Our tagline was "Linux for Human Beings" and we used a palette reflective of the full range of humanity. Our focus as a project was bringing Linux from the data center into the lives of our friends and global family. The new theme met with mixed critical responses. Ars Technica's Ryan Paul said: "The new themes and updated color palette are nice improvement for Ubuntu ... After testing the new theme for several hours, I feel like it's a step forward, but it still falls a bit short of my expectations." One aspect of controversy from the new design was the placement of the window-control buttons on the left instead of on the right side of the windows. TechSource's Jun Auza expressed concern that the new theme was too close to that used by Apple's Mac OS X: "I think Ubuntu is having an identity crisis right now and should seriously consider changing several things in terms of look and feel to avoid being branded as a Mac OS X rip-off, or worse, get sued by Apple. I believe the fans are divided right now. Some have learned to love the brown color scheme since it uniquely represents Ubuntu, while others wanted change." The naming of Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) was announced by Shuttleworth on 2 April 2010, along with the release's goals of improving the netbook experience and a server focus on hybrid cloud computing. Ubuntu 10.10 was released on 10 October 2010 (10.10.10) at 10:10:10 UTC. This was a departure from the traditional schedule of releasing an update at the end of October, and this change was made in order to get "the perfect 10", and a playful reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, since, in binary, 101010 is equal to the number 42, the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything" within the series. Support ended on 10 April 2012. New features included the new Unity interface for the Netbook Edition, a new default photo manager, Shotwell, replacing F-Spot, the ability to purchase applications in the Software Center, and an official Ubuntu font used by default.

The naming of Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) was announced on 17 August 2010 by Shuttleworth, and was released on 28 April 2011 with support until 28 October 2012. Ubuntu 11.04 used the Unity user interface instead of GNOME 2 as default. The move to Unity was controversial as some GNOME developers feared it would fracture the community and marginalize GNOME Shell. Ubuntu 11.04 employed Banshee as the default music player, replacing Rhythmbox. Other new applications included OpenStack, Firefox 4, and LibreOffice, which replaced OpenOffice.org. The Ubuntu Netbook Edition was merged into the desktop edition. Jesse Smith of DistroWatch criticized the instability of the release.

5. Performance Evaluation & Extended Technical Observations The naming of Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) was announced on 7 March 2011 by Mark Shuttleworth. He explained that Oneiric means "dreamy". Ubuntu 11.10 was released on 13 October 2011, and was supported until 9 May 2013. In April 2011, Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 11.10 would not include the classic GNOME desktop as a fall back to Unity. Instead, 11.10 included a 2D version of Unity as a fallback for computers that lacked the hardware resources for the Compiz-based 3D version. Shuttleworth also confirmed that Unity in Ubuntu 11.10 would run as a shell for GNOME 3 on top of GNOME 3 libraries, unlike in Ubuntu 11.04 where it ran as a shell for GNOME 2. Meanwhile, users were able to install the entire GNOME 3 stack along with GNOME Shell directly from the Ubuntu repositories. During the development cycle there were many changes to Unity, including the placement of the Ubuntu button on the left Launcher instead of on the top Panel, the autohiding of the window controls (and the global menu) on maximized windows, and the introduction of window controls and more transparency into the Dash search utility. In May 2011, it was announced that Pitivi would be no longer part of the Ubuntu ISO, starting with Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot. The reasons given for removing it included poor user reception, lack of fit with the default user-case for Ubuntu, lack of polish and the application's lack of development maturity. Other changes included the removal of the Synaptic package manager, and removing Computer Janitor, as it caused broken systems for users. Déjà Dup was added as Ubuntu's backup program. Mozilla Thunderbird replaced the GNOME Evolution email client.

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) is the fourth long-term support (LTS) version of Ubuntu, released on 26 April 2012. It is named after the pangolin anteater. The support period for the desktop version was increased to five years from three years to match the server version with this release, ending on 28 April 2017. Canonical continued to offer extended security maintenance to Advantage customers for an additional two years. Changes in this release include cutting the startup time for the Ubuntu Software Center by around 10 seconds, refinements to Unity that included the removal of the "window dodge" feature that made desktop panels hide from windows, and a new head-up display (HUD) feature that allows hot key searching for application menu items from the keyboard, without needing the mouse. Shuttleworth claimed that the HUD will ultimately replace menus in Unity applications. This release also switched the default media player from Banshee back to Rhythmbox and dropped the Tomboy note-taking application along with the supporting Mono framework. It also shipped with IPv6 privacy extensions, a feature introduced in 11.10, turned on by default. Jesse Smith of DistroWatch reviewed that while many people had questioned Ubuntu's direction, he felt that the "puzzle pieces, which may have been underwhelming individually, have come together to form a whole, clear picture." He wrote that Unity had grown to maturity, was non-traditional but attractive thanks to the HUD feature and reducing mouse travel, while criticizing its lack of flexibility, unsatisfactory performance in a virtual machine, and the HUD not working in many applications like LibreOffice.

On 23 April 2012, Shuttleworth announced Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) as the first of 4 releases that will culminate in LTS 14.04 and refresh the look, with work to be done on typography and iconography. The release takes its name from the quetzal, a species of Central American birds. It was released on 18 October 2012. Support ended on 16 May 2014. The Ubuntu Developer Summit held in May 2012 forecast this release to include an improved boot up sequence and log-in screen, "wrap around" dialogs and toolbars for the head-up display, and a vanilla version of Gnome-Shell as an option while dropping Unity 2D in favor of lower hardware requirements for Unity 3D. It would ship with Python 3 in the image and Python 2 available via the "Python" package, the PAE switched on by default in the kernel, Ubuntu Web Apps, a means of running Web applications directly from the desktop without having to open a browser, Nautilus 3.4 as its file manager to retain features deleted from later versions, and a new combined user, session and system menu. In September 2012, Canonical's Kate Stewart announced that the Ubuntu 12.10 image would not fit on a compact disc. However, a third-party project has created a version of Ubuntu 12.10 that fits on a CD with LZMA2 compression instead of the DEFLATE compression used on the official Ubuntu DVD image. In the same month, it was announced that the version of Unity to be shipped with Ubuntu 12.10 would by default include searches from Amazon.com for searched terms. This move caused immediate controversy among Ubuntu users, particularly with regard to privacy issues and European Directive 95/46/EC, and caused Shuttleworth to issue a statement indicating that this feature is not adware and labelled many of the objections as Fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Regardless, users filed a Launchpad bug report on the feature requesting that it be made a separate lens (mode for the search engine) and not included with general desktop searches for files, directories and applications. The degree of community push-back on the issue resulted in plans by the developers to make the dash and where it searches user-configurable via a GUI-setting dialogue. Despite concerns that the setting dialogue would not make the release, it was completed and is present in 12.10. In reviewing Ubuntu 12.10 at the end of October 2012 for DistroWatch, Jesse Smith raised concerns that "Canonical reserves the right to share our keystrokes, search terms and IP address with a number of third parties", and criticized the low performance and instability of the release. In early November, the Electronic Frontier Foundation criticized how the release loaded products from Amazon through HTTP, subject to eavesdropping. Jim Lynch gave a favorable review in December while noting concerns of software bloat.

On 17 October 2012, Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) would focus on "mobile metrics, things like battery life, number of running processes, memory footprint, and polish the rough edges that we find when we do that." It was released on 25 April 2013, and support ended on 27 January 2014, after Canonicial reduced the support cycle for non-LTS releases to 9 months from 18 months. The Wubi installer for Windows was dropped due to its incompatibility with Windows 8 and general lack of support and development. It included Unity 7, which had many performance improvements, and searching of photos and social media posts from the Dash.

On 23 April 2013, Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander) was announced by Mark Shuttleworth, and it was released on 17 October 2013. Support ended on 17 July 2014. Consideration was given to changing the default browser from Mozilla Firefox to Chromium, but problems with updates to Ubuntu's Chromium package caused developers to retain Firefox for this release. Similarly, the aging X Window System (X11) was intended to be replaced with the Mir display server, with X11 programs to have operated through the XMir compatibility layer. However, after the development of XMir ran into "outstanding technical difficulties" for multiple monitors, Canonical decided to postpone the default use of Mir in Ubuntu. Mir was still be released as the default display server for Ubuntu Touch 13.10. Joey Sneddon of OMG Ubuntu criticized the new Smart Scopes feature, noting that internet search engines turn in more useful and better organized results and recommended selectively disabling individual scopes to reduce the noise factor. Jim Lynch of Linux Desktop Reviews described the release as "boring" and the Smart Scopes feature as "very useful". In its year-end Readers Choice Awards, Linux Journal readers voted Ubuntu as Best Linux Distribution and Best Desktop Distribution for 2013.

Mark Shuttleworth announced on 31 October 2011 that by Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu would support smartphones, tablets, TVs and smart screens. On 18 October 2013, Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) would focus on "performance, refinement, maintainability, [sic] technical debt" and encouraged the developers to make "conservative choices". It was released on 17 April 2014. Support ended on 25 April 2019, after which extended security maintenance was available to Ubuntu Advantage customers for two more years. However, in September 2021, Canonical announced that it would extend LTS support for the 14.04 and 16.04 to a total of 10 years, extending ESM support for 14.04 until April 2024. In November 2025, Canonical announced they are further expanding LTS support to 15 years through their Legacy add-on, extending support for 14.04 through April 2029. The development cycle for this release focused on the tablet interface, specifically the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets. Ubuntu 14.04 reintroduced the ability to turn off the global menu system and use locally integrated menus instead for individual applications. Other features included a Unity 8 developers' preview, new mobile applications, a redesigned Startup Disk Creator tool, a new forked version of the GNOME Control Center called the Unity Control Center, and default SSD TRIM support. GNOME 3.10 is installed by default. In reviewing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS in April 2014, Jim Lynch concluded: "While there are not a lot of amazing new features in this release, there are quite a few very useful and needed tweaks that add up to a much better desktop experience. Canonical's designers seem to be listening to Ubuntu users again, and they seem willing to make the changes necessary to give the users what they want." Scott Gilbertson of Ars Technica stated, "Ubuntu is one of the most polished desktops around, certainly the most polished in the Linux world, but in many ways that polish is increasingly skin deep at the expense of some larger usability issues, which continue to go unaddressed release after release." Ubuntu 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" was released on 23 October 2014. Scott Gilbertson of The Register found little changes in the release (which did not include a new wallpaper) as developers focused on developing the future Unity 8 desktop environment and Mir display server, noting that the release marked the Ubuntu project's 10-year anniversary.

On 20 October 2014, Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 15.04 would be named Vivid Vervet. It was released on 23 April 2015. With this release, systemd became the default init implementation, replacing Upstart. Though Shuttleworth dislikes systemd, the change was made due to Ubuntu's reliance on Debian, which had switched to systemd. The Unity 7 desktop environment may now always show menu items. The beta version defaulted to showing menu items in the application window instead of the top bar, a change reverted in the stable release. Jesse Smith of DistroWatch praised the stability of the release, especially amid the switch to systemd. Scott Gilbertson of Ars Technica criticised inconsistencies in the desktop environment amid Canonical's development focus on the upcoming Unity 8.

Shuttleworth announced on 4 May 2015 that Ubuntu 15.10 would be called Wily Werewolf. He initially expressed hope that the release would include the Mir display server, but it was released on 22 October 2015 without Mir. It eliminated the disappearing window edge scrollbars in favour of the upstream GNOME scrollbars, a move designed to save developer time in creating patches and updates. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols of ZDNET praised the release for its integration of cloud services, such as the new Ubuntu OpenStack cloud deployment and management tool "OpenStack Autopilot", as well as its server tools, especially Ubuntu's machine container hypervisor, LXD, included by default in 15.10. A Hectic Geek review noted problems with X.Org Server crashes and concluded "If you use Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and if it's working out for you, then there really is no need to switch to a non-LTS release, especially to the 15.10." A review on Dedoimedo identified problems with Samba, Bluetooth, desktop searching, battery life and the smartphone interface and found the release inconsistent.

Shuttleworth announced on 21 October 2015 that Ubuntu 16.04 LTS would be called Xenial Xerus and include an option for Unity 8. It was released on 21 April 2016. In September 2021, Canonical announced that it would extend LTS support for the 14.04 and 16.04 to a total of 10 years, extending the ESM support date for 16.04 until April 2026. The release adds support for Ceph and ZFS filesystems, the LXD hypervisor for OpenStack, and Snap packages. This release has online Dash search results disabled by default in Unity 7, does not support the AMD Catalyst (fglrx) driver for AMD/ATI graphics cards, and instead recommends the Radeon and AMDGPU alternatives. It also replaced the Ubuntu Software Center with GNOME Software (rebranded as "Ubuntu Software") and eliminated Empathy and Brasero from the ISO file.

Mark Shuttleworth announced on 21 April 2016 that Ubuntu 16.10 would be called Yakkety Yak. It was released on 13 October 2016. This release includes a faster version of Ubuntu Software, better support for installing command-line-only applications, support for installing fonts and multimedia codecs, paid applications, changelog entries for Personal Package Archives (PPAs) in the Update Manager, user session handling by systemd, and Linux kernel 4.8.

On 17 October 2016, Mark Shuttleworth announced that the codename of Ubuntu 17.04, released on 13 April 2017, would be Zesty Zapus. This release dropped support for the 32-bit PowerPC architecture, following the same move by the upstream Debian project. Other changes include the default DNS resolver now being systemd-resolved, Linux kernel 4.10, and included support for printers. Reviewers noted that this was likely to be the last version of Ubuntu to ship with Unity 7 by default before Ubuntu's switch to GNOME, matching the end of the alphabet in Ubuntu's codename scheme.

Artful Aardvark was announced via Launchpad on 21 April 2017 instead of on Shuttleworth's blog as had been the case in the past. It was released on 19 October 2017. Critics praised the smooth transition to GNOME and the significance of the release's changes. This is the first release of Ubuntu to use the GNOME Shell interface, and the first release to replace X11 with the Wayland display server. In May 2017, Ken VanDine, a Canonical Software Engineer on the Ubuntu desktop team tasked with the switch to GNOME, confirmed that the intention is to ship the most current version of GNOME, with very few changes from a stock installation. This release also dropped 32-bit desktop images; other images' 32-bit versions remain.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Bionic Beaver, the seventh LTS release, is a long-term support version that was announced on 24 October 2017 on Shuttleworth's blog and released on 26 April 2018. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS had normal LTS support for five years until May 2023 and has paid ESM support available from Canonical for an additional five years until April 2028. New features include colour emoji, a new To-Do application preinstalled in the default installation, the "Minimal Install" option in the system installer, which only installs a web browser and system tools, and new command-line system installer for Ubuntu Server. This release employed Linux kernel 4.15, which incorporated a CPU controller for the cgroup v2 interface, AMD secure memory encryption support and improved SATA Link Power Management. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS's default display server was returned to Xorg for more stability; Wayland was still included as part of the default install. For the first time some bundled applications were delivered by default as snaps. Plans to include a new theme, Communitheme (now Yaru), created by the Ubuntu community, were announced on 5 February 2018. However, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS did not include it, citing "outstanding bugs, a lack of broader testing, as well as ongoing gaps in corner-case usage." The new theme was available as a Snap package instead.

Shuttleworth announced Ubuntu 18.10 Cosmic Cuttlefish on 8 May 2018. It was released on 18 October 2018. Installation speeds are faster due to the use of a lossless compression algorithm known as Zstandard. Startup speeds of pre-installed Snap applications were also improved. Ubuntu 18.10 includes a new theme, Yaru, as the default theme, along with its accompanying icon theme, Suru.

Harvested Online Documentation & Reference Sources • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewalld • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20free%20and%20open-source%20software%20packages • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu%20version%20history