Canonical Moves To Shipping Very Latest Upstream Kernel Code For Ubuntu Releases

Following decisions like exploring -O3 package builds for Ubuntu Linux, another newly-announced change by Canonical I must applaud is their decision to commit to shipping the very latest upstream kernel code at release time.

Ubuntu up to now for each release has shipped with the latest upstream kernel release as of kernel freeze time. But in some cases this means even shipping with a ~2 month old kernel version even if a new upstream Linux kernel release is near and will be stable ahead of the next planned Ubuntu Linux release. So now there's a shift in course by Canonical's kernel team for Ubuntu to accommodate that difference so the Ubuntu Linux release will be shipping with the very latest upstream kernel at release time.

This is great and the right move though it stops short of Ubuntu Linux shifting to a policy like new kernel versions coming down as stable release updates over the lifetime of Ubuntu releases.

Today's kernel version selection announcement sums it up as:

Current Policy

The way the CKT has historically chosen an upstream Linux kernel version was with a conservative ‘wait and see’ approach. Given the month-long stabilization window required, an upstream kernel version all but certain to be released would be the tentative selection, with a possible last minute jump to a more recent version should it turn out to release in a workable time-frame. This approach would guarantee stability on the appointed release day, but was proving unpopular with consumers looking to adopt the latest features and hardware support as well as silicon vendors looking for a firmer version commitment to align their Ubuntu support.

New Policy

The intent behind this post is to describe a new policy the CKT is taking in regards to kernel version selection for an upcoming Ubuntu release. To provide users with the absolute latest in features and hardware support, Ubuntu will now ship the absolute latest available version of the upstream Linux kernel at the specified Ubuntu release freeze date, even if upstream is still in Release Candidate (RC) status.

This is a nice improvement to see by Canonical for ensuring the freshest upstream kernel version is shipped as of the Ubuntu release time.

In turn this means for the upcoming Ubuntu 24.10 release it should solidly be the Linux 6.11 kernel. It would still be nice if Ubuntu would commit resources to allow shipping new upstream kernel versions down as stable release updates, but that is a battle for another day.