Introduction
As announced in the Discourse post last December (Announcing 6.20 kernel for Ubuntu 26.04 Resolute Raccoon), the Canonical Kernel Team is targeting Linux kernel version 6.20 for the upcoming Ubuntu 26.04 Resolute Raccoon LTS release.
The upstream Linux kernel community has already signaled that Linus Torvalds might bump the major release number to 7.x after 6.19 is released, similar to the bump from 5.19 to 6.0. However, since this hasn’t been officially announced, we will continue to use “6.20” for the next release for the time being. Just a reminder that in the Linux kernel development world, major version bumps (e.g., from 5.x to 6.x) aren’t based on technical breakthroughs or breaking changes. Instead, Linus Torvalds typically triggers a version bump when the minor version number reaches approximately x.20, simply to keep the numbers “manageable.”
Upstream Linux Kernel Schedule
As Linus Torvalds has announced over the past couple of weeks, including in the latest 6.19-rc7 release email, this upstream release will have an rc8 due to the holiday season. Consequently, the upstream final release of version 6.19 seems to be targeting February 8, 2026. Assuming 6.19 doesn’t get delayed any further, the upstream schedule for version 6.20 would look like this:
Table 1: Upstream 6.20 Predicted Schedule:
| Release | Date |
|---|---|
| -rc1 | 2026-02-22 |
| -rc2 | 2026-03-01 |
| -rc3 | 2026-03-08 |
| -rc4 | 2026-03-15 |
| -rc5 | 2026-03-22 |
| -rc6 | 2026-03-29 |
| -rc7 | 2026-04-05 |
| -rc8/v6.20 | 2026-04-12 |
| (late v6.20) | 2026-04-19 |
Ubuntu Release Schedule
Following are the current Resolute Raccoon Release Schedule main milestones that are relevant to the kernel release, annotated with our policy from Kernel version selection for Ubuntu releases:
Table 2: Annotated 26.04 Release Schedule:
| Date | Work Week | 26.04 Milestones | Kernel Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 19 | WW08 | Feature Freeze | Upstream kernel must be in an -rc or open merge window |
| March 19 | WW12 | Kernel Feature Freeze | Deadline for any non-upstream feature integration (-proposed) |
| March 23 (Monday) | WW13 | Beta Freeze, Hardware Enablement Freeze | |
| March 26 | WW13 | Beta | |
| March 30 | WW14 | Ubuntu release kernel version is frozen to whatever version it is as of the Monday | |
| April 09 | WW15 | Kernel Freeze | Shipping kernel is frozen in -release |
| April 16 | WW16 | Final Freeze, Release Candidate | Only critical fixes accepted between Kernel Freeze and Final Freeze |
| April 23 | WW17 | Final Release |
Putting It All Together
At this point in time we can be relatively confident about the upstream schedule and how it will align with the Resolute Raccoon Release Schedule.
The first half of the upstream development cycle will be pretty much uneventful. The Canonical Kernel Team will focus on forward-porting our SAUCE patches and ensuring all major components (e.g. Nvidia graphics drivers, ZFS, etc.) work properly with the new kernel version. It’s worth noting that at the Feature Freeze milestone, the Canonical Kernel Team makes the final call on which upstream kernel version to pick for the release.
For the busier second half of the development cycle, here is how everything should align on the schedule:
Similarly to what we delivered for the 24.10 Questing Quokka release, the Canonical Kernel Team plans to continue rebasing the Ubuntu Kernel on the upstream RCs and final releases even after the Kernel Freeze milestone, to quickly provide users with kernel updates based on the final upstream release. We’re calling this update a “Day-0 SRU,” aiming to release it before the regular SRU cadence starts. Our goal is to deliver this update as soon as possible after the 26.04 final release; however, we cannot commit to a specific date at this moment.
Call For Tests
As always, we welcome and encourage the Ubuntu community to actively participate in testing, including trying out the Ubuntu monthly snapshots, and provide feedback through the appropriate channels, such as the Ubuntu Kernel mailing list, Ubuntu Discourse, and Launchpad bug reports.