The next point release in the Ubuntu 22.04 series will now be released later than originally intended.
Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS was due for release on Thursday, February 9. However, the release has had to be delayed by two weeks, and is now scheduled to arrive on Thursday, February 23.
Why the delay?
Nothing catastrophic, as Canonical’s Lukasz Zemczak explains in an e-mail to the Ubuntu developer mailing list:
“As there were some unexpected complications during the preparation of our HWE 5.19 kernels for jammy, and with shim 15.7 making its way to the archive, we decided that more time is necessary to get everything ready. We decided to move the 22.04.2 release date to February 23.”
Though unintended the delay will have little, if any impact on most of us.
Ubuntu point releases are primarily about refreshing the installation media with a more recent package set (so we don’t have to download as many post-install updates thereby saving time and bandwidth).
That said, a new hardware enablement stack is due to roll out alongside the .2 update. It will make Linux kernel 5.19 (as shipped in Ubuntu 22.10) available to LTS users. This will also be delayed, with devs citing “challenging” compiler and dkms issues that necessitate further testing.
On the off-chance you were planning a fresh Ubuntu 22.04 LTS install using newer ISO images, be aware you’ll have to punt your plans back a fortnight. This should ensure everything that gets released runs as best it can, as soon as it can.