Linux Mint developers are considering a change to the distro’s traditional six-month release schedule.

Project leader Clement Lefebvre thinks moving to a longer development cycle would allow the team to spend more time developing features, rather than fixing and testing.

If it does switch to a more ‘when it’s ready’ model, it will likely affect the release of Linux Mint 23 later this year – an end to the traditional biannual release cadence for its main edition, and its work on the Linux Mind Debian Edition (LMDE).

For fixed-schedule Linux distributions like Ubuntu, a predictable release cadence helps to focus engineering priorities and give users stability. Not all distros do this, though. ElementaryOS is known for its ‘when it’s ready’ approach.

A slower release pace would match Linux Mint’s considered approach to OS development

Codenames are also on Lefebvre’s mind.

Linux Mint reached the end of its alphabetical codenames with the Linux Mint 22.3 “Zena” release in January, marking the final ‘Z’ release. Slowing down the release rate might allow for more creative choices going forward.

For Lefebvre, a slower pace would match Linux Mint’s considered approach to development, i.e., taking time to do things properly, with its users in mind.

“I think one of our strengths is that we’re doing things incrementally and changing things slowly”, he says, citing past decisions to stick with LTS releases, reject Snap packages and create alternatives to upstream GNOME software as examples of the project’s independence.

Committing to releasing major updates every six months – barring the odd delay – works well in delivering incremental, iterative improvements, but does it cap ambition? Lefebvre thinks it might.

Major feature development is harder to do when you’re testing and releasing most of the time. Besides which, Linux Mint thinks of itself as more than just a distribution. “We’re first and foremost an operating system: a product, a user experience,” Lefebvre adds.

We’ll learn more details about on the plans for Linux Mint 23 following the release of Ubuntu 26.04 LTS in April, as this will form the package base of the next release.

If Linux Mint does switch to an extended development cycle, it would mean longer waits between major updates. But if Lefebvre’s ambition is any indication, the change would let Mint focus on work that doesn’t fit neatly into a six‑month window.