Ubuntu VMs quick and easy: Multipass now completely open source

Multipass is now completely open source: Canonical has released the final components of its virtualization manager for Ubuntu systems. The software allows users to set up, manage and actively use virtual machines (VMs) with just a few commands. Multipass is primarily intended for developers who regularly need new and specific Ubuntu systems.

In addition to Linux, Multipass also supports macOS and Windows as hosts. For the latter operating systems, however, the software has so far contained proprietary components, with Multipass itself being licensed under GPLv3. This is now changing with the release candidate of version 1.16, Multipass is now completely open source and the previously separate proprietary components are part of the same repository.

Ubuntu VMs for Linux, Windows, and macOS

On Windows, Multipass relies on Hyper-V, while macOS and Linux use QEMU. However, Multipass should require as little manual work as possible from the user: After clicking on “Open Shell”, the software sets up a VM called primary with the latest Ubuntu LTS and starts it; Multipass automatically includes the user's $HOME directory in primary. A shell connection to the instance is then opened.

Once the primary instance has been created, commands can be quickly sent to the VMs via it – start, restart, stop and suspend as well as shell refer directly to primary. As $HOME is already integrated, data can be easily exchanged via the user directory. Users can then use multipass find to retrieve all available images. multipass launch sets up the desired image and starts it. Optionally, the VM can be further customized with options and parameters.

The VM is then available and users can interact with it as they would with a regular Ubuntu system. The focus here is explicitly on developers, not end users – Systems can be quickly used for specific purposes such as testing or support. Desktops are not provided. If you no longer need a VM, you can remove it with a simple multipass delete.

Removed and new features

Previously, Multipass could also be used with LXD and libvirt. The latter offered more control over the VMs. However, the developers have marked both as obsolete with the new version and want to remove them with the next release. The same applies to blueprint support, with which individual multipass instances could be created. Images created in this way could previously also be set up via find. Furthermore, 1.16 is the last version that can be used with macOS 13.

New features include QEMU support for ARM Linux hosts, as well as reusable launch configurations and zoom options in the terminal. All information on the new release can be found on the project's GitHub page. Linux users can install Multipass via Snap, while on Windows and macOS the software is available as an installer directly from the project page. Alternatively, a community version is available via Homebrew.

(fo)