Linux Mint confirm longer release cycles, the next release is planned for Christmas 2026

The Linux Mint team have given a roadmap update, after previously suggesting they would be looking at longer development times to get things right.

In a new blog post Linux Mint lead Clement Lefebvre noted they've come to a few main decisions for the health of the project overall including:

• Linux Mint will adopt a longer development lifecycle.
• The next release is planned for Christmas 2026.
• Linux Mint will use the same installer as LMDE (i.e. “live-installer”).

There's still quite a few details they need to work out including how long they want their own development cycle to be, if they will freeze minor releases or do some kind of "backported/semi-rolling" and if they will do any Alpha releases. As said by Lefebvre they have a simple mission to "fix bugs and improve the desktop", they want to keep setting the bar higher for each new release. It's all about getting that flexibility they need without rushing decisions.

For the next release, Mint 23 "Alfa" (code-name not final), Lefebvre said it's shaping up nicely with:

• Ubuntu 26.04 LTS as the package base
• Linux kernel 7.0
• Cinnamon 6.7-unstable (including the new Wayland screensaver, which we want to test early rather than later in the cycle)
• CJS 140
• Live-installer (ported from LMDE to replace Ubiquity; supports OEM installations, BIOS/EFI, SecureBoot, and LVM/LUKS)

The installer is currently receiving a lot of attention, and then they'll be moving onto focus on desktops, toolkits, and applications next.