Ubuntu team announced the release schedule for next Ubuntu 26.04 LTS few days ago!
Ubuntu 26.04, code-name Resolute Raccoon, is the next Long Term Support (LTS) release that will have 5-year standard support until 2031 and another 5 year Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) support via Ubuntu Pro.
image by Alexas_Fotos from pixabay.com
If everything goes well, 26.04 will feature GNOME 50 and perhaps Kernel 6.20 (if not switch to version 7.x) according to the Linux Kernel release history.
Besides Kernel and default Desktop environment, the next LTS will probably use Python 3.14 as default, and include Golang 1.25, binutils 2.46, and GCC 16 and other toolkit updates.
And the official Ubuntu 26.04 release note in Ubuntu Discourse has been created. Where you may keep an eye on the page for the latest changes.
Ubuntu 26.04 is planned to be released on April 23, 2026. From now on, there will be following events according to the release schedule.
| February 19, 2026 | Feature Freeze, Debian Import Freeze |
| March 12, 2026 | User Interface Freeze |
| March 19, 2026 | Kernel Feature Freeze, Documentation String Freeze |
| March 23, 2026 | Beta Freeze, Hardware Enablement Freeze |
| March 26, 2026 | Beta (mandatory) |
| April 09, 2026 | Kernel Freeze |
| April 16, 2026 | Final Freeze, Release Candidate |
| April 23, 2024 | Final Release |
As you may know, Ubuntu introduced monthly Snapshot releases when 25.10 was in development. It’s somehow NOT included in this release schedule.
NOTE: Ubuntu MAY change the schedule as time goes on. See this page for the official one.
