The Ubuntu release cycle

From its outset Ubuntu project has been committed to a regular release cycle and has managed to deliver on that commitment without fail. It is the regularity and reliability of these releases that makes Ubuntu a great option for users and businesses who can plan upgrades and new installs with a reliability that is very unusual in the operating system market. This diagram gives our long term commitment to releases and demonstrates the key difference between a Long Term Support release and our standard releases.

LTS Desktop and Server

Long Term Support releases for desktop and server. There are deployment platforms with wide hardware and software support and ideal or individuals and businesses making a longer term investment in Ubuntu

Standard release

These are the 6 monthly release that contain the best of the new from the Open Source and commercial worlds and suited to users happy to upgrade regularly.

Point Release

These are 6 monthly updates to the long term support cycle. These are primarily bug fixes and patches with occasional feature enhancements that maintain the integrity of the release over a long cycle. The point releases continue up to the next LTS release which then offers an obvious upgrade path for users

LTS Server

This is the extended support period for server.