14 DAY TRIAL // After a couple of weeks of testing, the Kubuntu developers have announced this weekend the availability of the KDE Plasma 5.8.8 LTS and Krita 3.3.2 packages for Kubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus).
If you're using the Kubuntu 16.04 LTS operating system on your personal computer, then you're stuck with the long-term supported release of the KDE Plasma desktop environment, version 5.8, which was recently updated upstream to version 5.8.8, a maintenance patch adding an extra layer of performance improvements.
Because Kubuntu 16.04 LTS is also a long-term supported release, the Kubuntu team is always upgrading the operating system's core components to new software versions, and they've just made the KDE Plasma 5.8.8 LTS desktop environment available to users trough the Kubuntu Backports PPA, along with Krita 3.3.2.
Here's how to update to KDE Plasma 5.8.8 LTS and Krita 3.3.2
If you're running Kubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus), you can now update it to the KDE Plasma 5.8.8 LTS desktop environment and Krita 3.3.2 open-source digital painting app if you run the following commands in a terminal emulator, such as Konsole. After that, make sure you reboot your computer.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports -y
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
"While we believe that these packages represent a beneficial and stable update, please bear in mind that they have not been tested as comprehensively as those in the main Ubuntu archive, and are supported only on a limited and informal basis," reads the announcement.
With the Kubuntu Backports PPA installed on your Kubuntu 16.04 LTS computer, you'll continue to receive new software updates as they become available. However, the KDE Plasma 5.8 LTS desktop environment will get one last maintenance update, KDE Plasma 5.8.9 LTS, which will see the light of day on April 10, 2018.