Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, will release the next interim release of this Linux distribution on October 10. The version has the code name Oracular Oriole and version number 24.10. The beta version will be released on September 19, followed by a final test version and release candidate on October 3.
Ubuntu 24.10 is a so-called interim release with nine months of updates before support ends. The LTS release 24.04, codenamed Noble Numbat, was released on April 25 and is a better choice for users who want long-term security. That version gets standard support until 2029, with an extension for additional support.
Daily new features
Important dates in Oracular Oriole’s release schedule include August 15, when the feature freeze happens, and the beta release on September 19. The final version will launch on October 10. Those who like experimenting with this Ubuntu version can try out new builds daily. It is important to note that these versions can be quite unstable.
Although details of the kernel are as of yet unknown, Linux news site Phoronix predicts that it will be Linux 6.11, with GNOME 47 as the user interface and the GCC 14.1 compiler. By comparison, in the current LTS version Noble Numbat, the included versions are Linux kernel 6.8, GNOME 46 and the 13.2 version of GCC, respectively. Thus, the new version is especially suitable for experimentation and early development work.
A new LTS version of Ubuntu every two years
An Ubuntu LTS version gets 10 years of support: five years of standard support and an additional five years of Extended Security Maintenance (ESM). For a fee, it’s possible to obtain another two years of support. Normally, an LTS version of Ubuntu comes out every two years, and smaller releases take place in between.
These smaller releases happen every year in April and October. The version number is the year and month of release and a combination of adjective + animal name in alphabetical order. Those combinations are getting progressively far-fetched since Canonical has already gone through the entire alphabet once.
The first version of Ubuntu saw a release in 2004. It’s goal was to make the Linux operating system more accessible to ordinary users. It is now the most popular Linux distribution.