Folks, the next version of Ubuntu is officially starting to take shape. The Ubuntu Release Team has announced the first monthly snapshot for Ubuntu 26.10, codenamed “Stonking Stingray.” While this is far from a finished operating system, it does give Linux enthusiasts and developers an early look at where Canonical is heading for the October 2026 release.
According to release team member Utkarsh Gupta, “Stonking Snapshot 1” is now available for download across several Ubuntu flavors, including Ubuntu, Lubuntu, and Ubuntu Budgie. More flavors are expected to appear as missing images get sorted out ahead of the next snapshot release.
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Canonical says these images are not production-ready and should essentially be treated as disposable testing builds. In other words, don’t install this on a mission-critical machine unless you enjoy debugging Linux problems for fun. Then again, many of us probably do.
The snapshot images are available now from Canonical’s CD image servers, including standard Ubuntu and community flavors Ubuntu 26.10 Snapshot 1, Ubuntu Budgie 26.10 Snapshot 1, and Lubuntu 26.10 Snapshot 1 are already live for adventurous testers.
Canonical is also updating the official Ubuntu 26.10 release notes as development progresses.
One interesting detail from the announcement involves upcoming cleanup work on cdimage.ubuntu.com. Canonical plans to reorganize daily development images so they follow a more consistent directory structure. That probably will not matter much to casual desktop users, but folks running automated scripts against Ubuntu image repositories may need to pay attention.
Snapshot 2 is currently scheduled for June 25. Developers wanting their latest package updates included in the next snapshot are being encouraged to get uploads submitted before then.
As always with these early Ubuntu development builds, the real appeal is seeing the direction of the Linux distribution before release. Ubuntu 26.10 will likely serve as an important stepping stone toward the next long-term support release, so developers, hardware vendors, and Linux enthusiasts are already beginning to poke around under the hood.
Canonical also deserves a little credit for continuing to make these early snapshots easily accessible. Some Linux projects hide development builds behind confusing infrastructure or inconsistent naming schemes. Ubuntu generally makes it pretty painless for curious folks to test upcoming releases, even this early in the cycle.
And yes, “Stonking Stingray” may be one of the more ridiculous Ubuntu codenames in recent memory. That alone makes it memorable.
