Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS, which was anticipated to be released soon, has been delayed by one week due to an unexpected issue. This delay was announced by Canonical’s Utkarsh Gupta, who indicated that some of the Ubuntu 24.04.2 images, particularly for the various flavors, were built without the new Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel (Linux 6.11).
It’s essential for the second point release to include the latest kernel version to support newer hardware effectively as part of Ubuntu’s long-term support (LTS) promise. While the primary Ubuntu ISO contained the necessary kernel, it’s vital for the flavor images to coordinate their release, ensuring consistency across all distributions.
As a result, the team is currently working on rebuilding the installer images with the correct kernel, followed by necessary re-testing of each ISO. Due to the compressed timeline, they have decided to postpone the release from its original date of February 13, 2025, to February 20, 2025.
Historically, this is not the first delay in the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS series; both the initial point release and the beta version encountered similar postponements. In light of this, Gupta mentioned that the engineering team would conduct a retrospective analysis to prevent future occurrences of such delays.
Those waiting for the new installation can still download the current Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS ISO, which includes Linux kernel 6.8. Additionally, updates for the HWE stack and the new kernel have started rolling out to existing users of Ubuntu 24.04 this week.
This minor setback offers users a reason to stay tuned for the upcoming release next week.