Releases of Ubuntu—a Linux operating system mostly composed of free and open-source software—are made semiannually by Canonical Ltd using the year and month of the release as a version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on 20 October 2004. Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month (or even year) than planned, the version number will change accordingly.
Releases are scheduled every April and October to incorporate new GNOME releases made every March and September. Free support is offered and includes security updates for "main" free software packaged. Every fourth release, scheduled for April of every even-numbered year, is designated as a long-term support (LTS) release, meaning it receives free support for five years. Non-LTS releases are designed as interim releases and receive free support for nine months. The Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) service from the Ubuntu Pro subscription, which is free for personal use on up to five devices, extends long-term support to be ten-years long and include security updates for community-managed "universe" free software packages. The Legacy subscription add-on extends long-term support to fifteen years.
On 19 March 2013, the Ubuntu Technical Board reduced the support period for interim releases from eighteen months to nine. For LTS releases 10.04 and earlier, the desktop version received free support for three years, and the server version for five years. LTS release 12.04 harmonized the support period to five years and introduced the Extended Security Maintenance service as part of the Ubuntu Advantage subscription service. By 26 January 2023, Ubuntu Advantage was rebranded to Ubuntu Pro, and ESM to Expanded Security Maintenance as support for the Universe repository was added to the service. The paid Legacy Support was introduced on 25 March 2024, extending long-term support by two years, which increased to five years on 13 November 2025.
Version end-of-life After each version of Ubuntu has reached its end-of-life time, its repositories are removed from the main Ubuntu servers and consequently the mirrors. Older versions of Ubuntu repositories and releases can be found on the old Ubuntu releases website.
Naming convention Ubuntu releases are also given code names, using an adjective and an animal with the same first letteran alliteratione.g., "Dapper Drake". With the exception of the first two releases, code names are in alphabetical order, and except for the first three releases, the first letters are sequential, allowing a quick determination of which release is newer. As of Ubuntu 17.10, the initial letter "rolled over" and returned to "A". Names are occasionally chosen so that animal appearance or habits reflects some new feature, e.g., "Koala's favourite leaf is Eucalyptus"; see . Ubuntu releases are often referred to using only the adjective portion of the code name, e.g., "Feisty".
Version timeline
Release history Ubuntu 4.10 (Warty Warthog)
Ubuntu 4.10 (Warty Warthog) was released on 20 October 2004 as the inaugural release of Ubuntu. It received support until 30 April 2006. It is built upon Debian, with plans for a new release every six months and eighteen months of support thereafter. It used the ext3 file system. Ubuntu 4.10 was offered as a free download and, through Canonical's ShipIt service, was also mailed to users free of charge in CD format.
Similar to UserLinux and unlike other distros at the time—which had the user choose the apps to install—the Debian-based Ubuntu curated "one best FOSS app" for each category, minimizing the amount of questions asked by the installer and the disk space used. Alternatives and additional software could be installed through Debian's Advanced Package Tool (APT), which featured automatic dependency resolution, a feature then only found in commercial and professional Linux distributions. Ubuntu's competitors in the consumer-friendly free-of-charge distributions segment required the user to work out such dependencies themselves and did not use the APT dependency resolution tools due to Debian's notorious complexities and hard installation process, which Ubuntu managed to simplify.
Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog)
Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) was released on 8 April 2005. It received support until 31 October 2006. Ubuntu 5.04 added various new features and packages including installation from USB devices, the Update Manager, an upgrade notifier, readahead, grepmap, suspend, hibernating and standby support, dynamic frequency scaling for processors, the Ubuntu hardware database, Kickstart installation, and APT authentication. Beginning with Ubuntu 5.04, UTF-8 became the default character encoding.
Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger)
Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), released on 12 October 2005 and was supported until 13 April 2007. Ubuntu 5.10 added several new features including a graphical bootloader (Usplash), an Add/Remove Applications tool, a menu editor (Alacarte), an easy language selector, logical volume management support, full Hewlett-Packard printer support, OEM installer support, a new Ubuntu logo in the top-left, and Launchpad integration for bug reporting and software development.
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake)
Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) released on 1 June 2006 and was the first long-term support (LTS) release, with support continuing until 14 July 2009 for desktops and June 2011 for servers. Ubuntu 6.06 was released behind schedule, having been intended as 6.04. It is sometimes jokingly described as their first "Late To Ship" (LTS) release. Development was not complete in April 2006 and Mark Shuttleworth approved slipping the release date to June, making it 6.06 instead.
Ubuntu 6.06 included several new features, including having the Live CD and Install CD merged onto one disc, a graphical installer on Live CD (Ubiquity), Usplash on shutdown as well as startup, a network manager for easy switching of multiple wired and wireless connections, Humanlooks theme implemented using Tango guidelines, based on Clearlooks and featuring orange colors instead of brown, and GDebi graphical installer for package files. Ubuntu 6.06 did not include a means to install from a USB device, but did for the first time allow installation directly onto removable USB devices.
Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft)
Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) released on 26 October 2006 and was supported until 25 April 2008. Ubuntu 6.10 added several new features including a new Human theme, Upstart init daemon, automated crash reports (Apport), Tomboy note taking application, and F-Spot photo manager. EasyUbuntu, a third party program designed to make Ubuntu easier to use, was included in Ubuntu 6.10 as a meta-package.
Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)
Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn), released on 19 April 2007 and was supported until 19 October 2008. Ubuntu 7.04 included several new features, among them a migration assistant to help former Microsoft Windows users transition to Ubuntu, support for Kernel-based Virtual Machine, assisted codec and restricted drivers installation including Adobe Flash, Java, MP3 support, easier installation of Nvidia and ATI drivers, Compiz desktop effects, support for Wi-Fi Protected Access, the addition of Sudoku and chess, a disk usage analyzer (baobab), GNOME Control Center, and zeroconf support for many devices.
Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)
Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon), released on 18 October 2007 and was supported until 18 April 2009. Ubuntu 7.10 included several new features, among them AppArmor security framework, fast desktop search, a Firefox plug-in manager (Ubufox), a graphical configuration tool for X.Org, full NTFS support (read/write) via NTFS-3G, and a revamped printing system with PDF printing by default. Compiz Fusion was enabled as default in Ubuntu 7.10 and Fast user switching was added.
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron)
Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron), released on 24 April 2008 and was the second long-term support release of Ubuntu. Support ended on 12 May 2011 for desktops and ended on 9 May 2013 for servers. Ubuntu 8.04 included several new features, among them Tracker desktop search integration, Brasero for disk burning, Transmission for BitTorrent, Vinagre for Virtual Network Computing, system sound through PulseAudio, and Active Directory authentication and login using Likewise Open. In addition Ubuntu 8.04 included updates for better Tango compliance, various Compiz usability improvements, automatic grabbing and releasing of the mouse cursor when running on a VMware virtual machine, and an easier method to remove Ubuntu. Ubuntu 8.04 was the first version of Ubuntu to include the Wubi installer on the Live CD that allows Ubuntu to be installed as a folder within Windows, without a disk partition. The first version of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix was also introduced.
Ryan Paul of Ars Technica praised the release's Wubi installer, improved hardware detection, and new software, while criticizing the PulseAudio integration's glitches and lack of configuration. Paul also criticized Ubuntu's search integration for disadvantages compared to using Beagle—which he found more feature-complete, supported by bundled software, and comparable to the search experiences of other operating systems.
Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)
Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), released on 30 October 2008, and was supported until 30 April 2010. Ubuntu 8.10 introduced several new features including RAID support, improvements to mobile computing, 3G support, and a guest account, which allowed others to use a computer allowing very limited user rights (e.g. accessing the Internet, using software and checking e-mail). Guest files are saved to a temporary folder wiped when logging out. Intrepid Ibex also included an encrypted private directory for users, the inclusion of Dynamic Kernel Module Support, a tool that allows kernel drivers to be automatically rebuilt when new kernels are released, and support for creating USB flash drive images.
Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)
On 24 October 2008, Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) was announced by Mark Shuttleworth and was released on 23 April 2009. Support ended on 23 October 2010. New features included faster boot times and the integration of web services and applications into the desktop interface. Because of that, they named it after the mythical jackalope. It was the first release named after a mythical animal, the second being Utopic Unicorn. It had a new usplash screen, a new login screen and also support for both Wacom (hotplugging) and netbooks. It also included a new notification system, Notify OSD, and themes. It marked the first time that all of Ubuntu's core development moved to the GNU Bazaar distributed version control system.
Ubuntu 9.04 was the first version to support the ARM architecture with native support for ARMv5EL and ARMv6EL-VFP.
Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)
Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) was released on 29 October 2009, with support until April 2011. The desktop installation of Ubuntu 9.10 replaced Pidgin with Empathy Instant Messenger as its default instant messaging client. The default filesystem is ext4, and the Ubuntu One client, which interfaces with Canonical's new online storage system, is installed by default. It introduced Grub 2 beta as its default bootloader. It also replaced Add/Remove Programs (gnome-app-install) with Ubuntu Software Center, while Canonical stated their intention to possibly replace Synaptic, Software Sources, Gdebi and Update Manager in Ubuntu 10.04. Karmic Koala also includes a slideshow during the installation process (through ubiquity-slideshow) that highlights applications and features in Ubuntu.