Last year Canonical established a policy to always ship the latest Linux kernel version at Ubuntu release time which for the upcoming Ubuntu 25.10 will mean shipping with Linux v6.17. But during the Ubuntu development cycles they typically don’t aggressively update to new interim versions tracking upstream, except that will now change to allow for better kernel test coverage.
Ubuntu releases during development have typically stuck to the kernel version of prior Ubuntu releases until they are ready to transition to their intended kernel version for release. But moving forward Canonical’s kernel engineers will work to keep those Ubuntu versions in development to now track the interim Linux kernel versions. In doing so the Ubuntu development releases will better track upstream and ideally catching any bugs/regressions sooner.
They announced their new intentions today on Ubuntu Discourse:
“To better align with Ubuntu’s monthly snapshot releases, the Canonical Kernel Team has expanded its commitment. We aim now to deliver not only the latest kernel release by the end of the development cycle but also to provide, on a best-effort basis, kernel updates based on the intermediate Linux kernel upstream releases. This initiative means that the Ubuntu development series, including the monthly snapshots, should receive more regular major kernel version updates. With this policy, we expect to find potential kernel-related issues earlier in the development cycle, leading to greater confidence in the quality of the final Ubuntu kernel version as we approach shipping the Ubuntu GA image.
As of this writing, a 6.15 Ubuntu generic kernel is available for tests in Questing. The team has already been working on a 6.16 Ubuntu kernel, and with the official upstream release of v6.16 yesterday ( July 27, 2025 (UTC)), we expect to have a more stable version available for testing in the upcoming weeks. For the GA release of 25.10, we are still targeting 6.17 as the final kernel version.”
Another nice improvement for those that run with the Ubuntu versions under development and also for helping better test the latest Linux kernel upstream to ensure better testing exposure and bug/regression spotting further ahead of Ubuntu release time.
