Ubuntu 26.10 Snapshot 2 is available to download, the second of four snapshots planned for the ‘Stonking Stingray’ development cycle ahead of a stable release in October.

As with the first snapshot, there’s not a lot “new” stuff to see or test out, so unless you’re a developer or an avid bug hunter there’s little reason to rush off and try it.

Canonical’s Utkarsh Gupta, announcing the release on Ubuntu’s developer mailing list, warns of a “breaking change” – don’t panic: it’s not in the image itself, but the URL it’s accessed from.

Over the past few weeks the Ubuntu cdimage server layout has been unified. Ubuntu desktop releases have been moved to a named subfolder to match the approach used by Ubuntu’s official flavours. Redirects handle existing links (so nothing’s broken per se).

Previously, Ubuntu desktop images sat in a top-level directory:

  • https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/24.04/

They now sit in a named one:

  • https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/releases/24.04/

Flavours see no real change, as they’ve always been in a named top-level folder:

  • https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/24.04/

But what is “breaking” is the URL used for daily builds because Canonical has chosen to not implement redirects for links pointing to them.

These no longer live at cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live but cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/stonking/daily-live. Flavours also see their URLs change too, gaining a series middle-man, which for this cycle is stonking.

Who are Ubuntu Monthly Snapshots for?

Ubuntu’s monthly snapshots are not traditional alpha builds (which the distro dropped in 2013). Ubuntu’s engineers describe them as “throwaway artifacts” (sic) as they are automated freezes generated by Canonical’s new automated image-building pipeline.

Snapshots don’t get the same amount of human QA but their punctual nature gives contributors a soft target to aim for to test changes against, and gives Canonical chances to stress test the new system. For end-users looking to test, it’s better to grab a daily build – they’re fresher.

Ubuntu 26.10 Snapshot 3 is due out on 30th July. If you do install Snapshot 2 you just need to install updates as they come to ride the development wave.

User-facing changes will arrive in the coming months, including the GNOME 51 desktop alpha and the first of Ubuntu’s planned AI features, which allows for voice typing in any text field.

You can download Ubuntu 26.10 Snapshot 2 from the Ubuntu cdimage server (at the new URL).