Ubuntu flavours now need a beta release to ship

posted by Rianne Schestowitz on Jun 18, 2026

• Ubuntu flavours now need a beta release to ship - OMG! Ubuntu

  Most flavours already hit the beta milestone every six months without issue. But until now a flavour that missed the deadline could still be granted a one-off exception.

  During the Ubuntu 26.04 LTS cycle, that’s what happened with Ubuntu Kylin, the Chinese-orientated spin that uses the UKUI desktop. It missed the Beta window but still made the final release.

  That won’t happen again. To get an official stable release, a flavour now must have a beta release out the same time as every other flavour, as Canonical’s Oliver Reiche says in a mailing list announcement:

  “To ensure that every flavor is fully prepared for the final release, please be advised that no flavor will be considered for an official release unless it has successfully submitted a Beta release according to the scheduled timeline”.

  For users of flavours, this has an obvious upside: a more stable stable release come April or October.

Direct Link:

• Important Policy Update Regarding Beta and Final Releases for Ubuntu Flavors

  Hello everyone,

  As we look toward future releases, the Release Team would like to clarify our policy regarding Beta participation.

  To ensure that every flavor is fully prepared for the final release, please be advised that no flavor will be considered for an official release unless it has successfully submitted a Beta release according to the scheduled timeline. The package diffs between Beta and Final releases should be minimal and only contain bug fixes.

  For Resolute, we made a rare exception with Ubuntu-Kylin. While @handsomefeng did a tremendous job in getting his release in shape just in time despite missing the Beta window, this was a one-time occurrence. To maintain the quality and stability of our collective final products, we will not be making such exceptions moving forward.