Exceptional respins of Ubuntu 17.10 media; call for testing

[Steve Langasek]

Dear developers,

Per <http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/385/builds>, updated
17.10 images (labelled "17.10.1") have been released now for all of the
following:

 - Ubuntu Desktop
 - Ubuntu Server
 - Lubuntu
 - Ubuntu Budgie
 - Ubuntu Kylin
 - Ubuntu MATE
 - Xubuntu

Since the bug is x86-only, the respins are also x86-only.  Images for other
architectures remain as-is.

The remaining images that released with 17.10 that have not been updated are
Ubuntu Studio and Ubuntu Server Subiquity.  Candidate images have been built
for these two flavors and may be released at a later date if we have testing
of them.

Thanks,
-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org

On Fri, Jan 05, 2018 at 03:51:58PM -0800, Steve Langasek wrote:
> Dear developers,
> 
> As many of you are aware, in late November it came to our attention that a
> bug in Ubuntu 17.10 was leading users to be locked out of their BIOS
> settings.
> 
>   https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1734147
> 
> This bug can be triggered merely by booting the live image without even
> installing, and has the potential to make a user's system unbootable either
> immediately or in the future.  While the affected machines are believed to
> always be recoverable via software, this is not straightforward and is very
> difficult to communicate to users who may be in the situation of having
> their laptop no longer be bootable.
> 
> In addition to providing a kernel update which disables the intel-spi driver
> at build time, we have taken the precaution of disabling downloads for the
> 17.10 images from the ubuntu.com download page, and I am in the process of
> making available respun 17.10 images for all flavors.
> 
>   http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/385/builds
> 
> The target release date for these updated images is Thursday, January 11.
> If your flavor would like to participate in the coordinated release of these
> re-released images, please put them through the usual testing to confirm
> that they are usable.  (It is not required that flavors participate in this
> re-release of 17.10, but I would strongly encourage it.)
> 
> 
> Note that these images are being prepared in advance of the release of fixes
> for Spectre and Meltdown.  As a rule, we do not re-release install media for
> security bugs, even those as severe as this; Ubuntu 17.10 install media
> without the Meltdown fix will be in the same category as Ubuntu 14.04.5 and
> Ubuntu 16.04.3 install media which also do not include the fix.  Also, it is
> beneficial to have Ubuntu 17.10 images available again ASAP in the face of
> the impending 17.04 EOL.
> 
>   https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2018-January/000227.html
> 
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
> Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
> Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
> slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org
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