Canonical has decided to introduce a significant development in Ubuntu development: Starting in 2025, development teams and the community will have access to monthly releases called snapshots or snapshots, which will represent the latest state of the development release of the popular GNU/Linux distribution. This initiative aims to offer new ways to test and review the system, while maintaining the stability and reliability characteristic of Ubuntu in its official releases.
With the arrival of these monthly snapshots, the goal is to bridge the gap between the work of technical teams and the direct experience of those collaborating on improving the system. They do not replace the usual semi-annual versions or the well-known LTS versions., but rather are intermediate checkpoints designed solely for testing and error detection.
What are the monthly Ubuntu snapshots?
These new monthly images that Canonical launches from May 2025 allow developers and advanced users to test new features, evaluate compatibility, and report issues much more quickly and effectively than ever before. Monthly snapshots are not stable releases: These are snapshots of the development status, similar to milestones or daily builds, but set monthly and subject to a certain amount of control to facilitate testing and review work before the beta and final release.
According to Jon Seager, Canonical's vice president of engineering, the purpose is modernize and automate internal processes as much as possible, thus reducing dependence on manual work, detecting errors early, and improving transparency for the community. We also want the process to be easily observable and reproducible, with greater test coverage and fewer surprises around important dates in the Ubuntu calendar.
Advantages for the Ubuntu community and development teams
Among the main benefits of these monthly releases it is worth highlighting that developers and testers will be able to anticipate problems, improving the quality of future official releases and collaborating more actively in bug resolution. We are also looking for better align the update of large components such as GNOME, Wayland or systemd, making it easier for teams of derivative flavors like Kubuntu — who already had problems weeks ago –, Xubuntu or Ubuntu Studio.
Canonical makes it clear that these images are intended primarily for developers, contributors, compatibility testing projects, and advanced users interested in closely following Ubuntu's development. Those who choose to use them should be prepared for possible disruptions and contribute bug reports and suggestions.
How to get these development versions
The images will be available through the usual download channels, neatly labeled by month and development version, along with cumulative changes and relevant documentation. The community is encouraged to try these snapshots, though Not recommended for daily use or production environments, as they may include errors or undocumented changes.
To be more specific, they can be downloaded from the Ubuntu CDImage, but in a new section. The Daily Builds were previously in the section with that name, but the snapshots will be in the "Releases" section, the same one where the beta will be offered when the time comes. For example, the link to the first snapshot of Ubuntu 25.10 is https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/releases/25.10/snapshot-1/. The URL consists of several parts:
- cdimage.ubuntu.com They are the subdomain (cdimage) and the domain (ubuntu.com).
- ubuntu it's the taste.
- releases It is the versions section.
- 25.10 is the version of the operating system.
- snapshot-1 it is the first one.
Internal changes and automation
This movement is part of the objective of automate the build and testing process of Ubuntu, using tools such as resilient workflow execution platforms. The expected result is a greater predictability and ease of maintenance, following in the footsteps of other major retailers that have already modernized these processes. Automating routine tasks leaves more room for technical staff to focus on innovation and quality.
Canonical is not abandoning its traditional release schedule, but with this commitment to monthly snapshots it seeks to the community can get involved earlier, providing valuable feedback from the outset and helping to refine each version before the final release. This way, semi-annual releases and LTS versions will continue to set the standard for those seeking stability, while developers will have new tools to participate in Ubuntu's evolution.
