The codename for next year’s Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release has been revealed as ‘Jammy Jellyfish’.
The new name was posted on Launchpad, home of Ubuntu development, as is tradition. But what does the codename tell us? Can we glean anything from this mercurially minded moniker?
The word ‘jammy’ is used informally in the UK to mean very lucky or very good
Jammy is an interesting adjective. Broadly speaking it means to be filled with jam (what American’s call jelly) or something that has the consistency of jam. But the word ‘jammy’ is also used informally in the UK to mean someone or something that is very lucky or fortunate, e.g., “that jammy cat had an extra plate of milk!”.
Jellyfish is “a sea creature with a body like jelly and long thin parts called tentacles that can give a sharp sting, according to the Oxford Dictionary.
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is the next long-term support release of Ubuntu and is due for release in April 2022. Planning for the release is now underway but not too much is (yet) known about Canonical’s for it.
We can assume it’ll feature a new kernel, new graphics drivers, and a raft of updated apps. The desktop will be GNOME 41 (or later); Firefox will only be available as a Snap app, with the repo build retired; and Ubuntu’s new Flutter-based installer may be default.
As this the release serves as the foundation for the next few years of Ubuntu bigger technical and foundational changes are also possible.
It’s an imaginative codename combo that marries the playfulness of recent codenames (like Hirsute Hippo, and Disco Dingo) with more reflective choices from the past (e.g., Hardy Heron was a fantastic choice for an LTS).
We’ll be keeping our ears to the ground to bring you all the latest Jammy Jellyfish news as and when we hear it. Let me know what you think of the codename and what your hopes for 22.04 LTS are down in the comments!