Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will use kernel 5.15 and Gnome 42

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will use Linux kernel 5.15 and not the newer 5.17. A Canonical developer writes that OEM variants of the operating system will be released later with 5.17 as standard, but that the 5.15 LTS release will be used for the time being.

Canonical developer Sebastien Bacher confirms in a forum post that Canonical plans to use kernel 5.15 for the upcoming 22.04 LTS version of Ubuntu. This will be the upcoming 22.04 release. Kernel 5.15 is also an LTS release, so the choice seems logical, but that kernel version is already several months old. Kernel 5.16 is already out and version 5.17 is expected at the end of March. Ubuntu 22.04 will be released after that, in April of this year.

Bacher gives no reason for using the specific kernel version. He says that “at some point” there will be oem and hwe versions of Ubuntu 22.04 that will use kernel 5.17, but he doesn’t give details about that.

Bacher says Canonical also plans to use Gnome 42 as a desktop environment in 22.04. “We are currently working on the stable version of 41 and then we will work on updates for 42. We aim to install that version by default. In Gnome 42, Canonical wants to stay away from GTK4 as much as possible, because the company would not do enough testing with it. However, GTK3 applications are being updated.