On October 15, 2026, the Kylin Team officially released Ubuntu Kylin 26.10, which will be supported for 9 months.

Based on the Linux 7.3 kernel, Ubuntu Kylin 26.10 brings major upgrades to core libraries, subsystems, and essential software, improving system stability and compatibility and delivering a smoother and more reliable user experience!

New Features

1. Kernel 7.3

Ubuntu Kylin 26.10 includes Linux kernel 7.3 with a series of enhancements:

● Initial support for Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops, including the ASUS Zenbook A14, HP EliteBook X G2q 14 AI, and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11.

● Broader support for Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus systems, with built-in camera support for selected laptops.

● Enablement for AMD Zen 6 client platforms, including HSMP, CPPC boost frequencies, EPP tuning, fTPM, and Sensor Fusion Hub.

● Additional Intel platform support, including the TI TAC5xx2 audio codec for Nova Lake and selected MIPI camera sensors.

● SPDX Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs) are now included with the amd64 and arm64 kernels to improve traceability.

● GPIB (IEEE 488) drivers are built for amd64, and experimental EROFS page-cache sharing between files with identical content is enabled.

● ZFS has been updated to 2.4.4, with DOCA-OFED 3.5 modules available and Lustre 2.17.58 modules prebuilt for the amd64 generic kernel.

● Prebuilt kernel modules are available for NVIDIA driver series 580 and 615. The 615 series ships only open kernel modules for Turing and newer GPUs.

2. systemd 261.3

systemd has been updated to v261.3. Compared with the default v259.5 in Ubuntu Kylin 26.04, the main changes are as follows:

● The systemd-sysv-generator component has been removed. Scripts in /etc/init.d are no longer automatically converted into systemd service units; affected services need native unit files.

● Enhanced CPU resource management, including CPU partition configuration and CPU/I/O resource pressure monitoring.

● Added RestrictFileSystemAccess=, using BPF LSM to restrict service execution to binaries on signed, dm-verity-verified file systems.

● Improved systemd-networkd with DHCP relay support and DHCP lease information available through networkctl.

● Improved systemd-resolved with configurable DNS cache sizes, static DNS records, and configuration reloads.

● Added support for preserving file descriptor state across kexec reboots when kernel and service configuration requirements are met.

● Expanded virtualization support with headless virtual machine operation and AMD SEV-SNP confidential computing.

● Improved crash diagnostics with JSON-formatted output and information about the crashing thread.

3. ToolChain update

● GCC now defaults to version 15.2.0.

● binutils has been updated to 2.47.

● glibc has been updated to 2.44.

● Python has been updated to 3.14.7.

● LLVM has been updated to 22.1.8.

● Rust has been updated to 1.97.1.

● Golang has been updated to 1.27.

● OpenJDK has been updated to 25.0.4.

4. UKUI 4.20 desktop environment

Ubuntu Kylin 26.10 retains the UKUI desktop design and existing features of Ubuntu Kylin 26.04. This release focuses on bug fixes and maintenance updates to desktop components, further improving system stability and compatibility.

Installer

1. Image install

Download the image through the official website, create a bootable disk for installation (recommended).

Image download address :  https://www.ubuntukylin.com/downloads/download-en.html

2. Upgrading from Ubuntu Kylin 26.04 LTS

Users running Ubuntu Kylin 26.04 LTS can upgrade to Ubuntu Kylin 26.10 through the Software Updater or the terminal once the release upgrade path is enabled.

Before upgrading, back up important data, ensure a stable internet connection and sufficient disk space, and install all available updates. Users with third-party repositories or PPAs should check for potential compatibility issues.

(1) Upgrade via terminal

First, edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=normal to enable upgrades to interim releases.

Open a terminal and update your current system:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade

Reboot if required. Once upgrades to 26.10 are enabled, run:

$ sudo do-release-upgrade

Follow the on-screen instructions and reboot when the upgrade is complete.

(2) Upgrade via Software Updater

Open Software & Updates, go to the Updates tab, and set “Notify me of a new Ubuntu version” to “For any new version”.

Once upgrades to 26.10 are enabled, open Software Updater and follow the prompts to complete the upgrade.

Note: Release upgrades may become available several days after the official release. If no upgrade is offered, please try again later. Users running Ubuntu Kylin 24.04 LTS must first upgrade to 26.04 LTS before upgrading to 26.10.

Official upgrade guide:

https://documentation.ubuntu.com/desktop/en/latest/how-to/upgrade-ubuntu-desktop/

Known issues

● After opening the Start Menu, clicking the full-screen button in the top-right corner causes the menu to display incorrectly.

Support

● Website: https://www.ubuntukylin.com/index-en.html

● Project page: https://launchpad.net/ubuntukylin

● Bug tracker: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntukylin

● Matrix channel: https://matrix.to/#/#ubuntu-kylin-dev:ubuntu.com

● Mailing list: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntukylin-devel

● Weibo: https://weibo.com/u/3265288504

● Business inquiries: contact@ubuntukylin.com

Thanks

Thanks to Andreas Hasenack, Rik Mills, Tomedev, Dan Bungert, utkarsh2102, and everyone who contributed to Ubuntu Kylin 26.10. This release is the result of our joint efforts.

If you would like to contribute to Ubuntu Kylin, please see:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuKylin/NewContributorGuide

https://www.ubuntukylin.com/ukylin