Kubuntu 26.10 Release Notes

Key points

Kubuntu 26.10, codenamed "Stonking Stingray", was released on October 15, 2026, on the same day as its Ubuntu 26.10 base. It is an interim release that ships Plasma 6.7.5 on Linux kernel 7.3, uses Wayland as its only supported session, and is the last Kubuntu release to offer the X11 session package.

Versions

• Desktop stack: Plasma 6.7.5, Qt 6.11.2, KDE Frameworks 6.29.0 and KDE Gear 26.08.1, which includes Dolphin, Konsole, Okular and Kdenlive.
• The kernel is Linux 7.3, and the release images carry kernel 7.3.0-9.9.
• Applications: Firefox 157 as a Snap and LibreOffice 26.8.1.
• The init system is systemd 261.3.
• Toolchain: GCC 15.2, Python 3.14.7, Rust 1.97, Go 1.27, LLVM 22, OpenJDK 25 (OpenJDK 27 is also available) and .NET 10.

Support period

• As an interim release, 26.10 gets security updates and critical fixes for 9 months, until July 2027.
• Users who need long-term support can stay on Kubuntu 26.04 LTS, which is supported until April 2029.

Plasma 6.7 changes

• Each monitor can now have its own set of virtual desktops.
• In Overview (Meta+W), scrolling or pressing Page Up / Page Down switches between virtual desktops.
• Discover has a more prominent Install button, redesigned app cards, a simpler sort order, and installed software grouped by type.
• A single toggle switches light and dark Global Themes together.
• The Oxygen and Air themes have been updated to match Breeze, and Breeze gains rounded highlights and click effects.
• The Union theming system is included as a tech preview, with kde-style-union on the ISO.
• plasma-pa adds a microphone volume test.
• The virtual keyboard (plasma-keyboard) supports press-and-hold for special characters.
• The System Tray gains a Background Apps section.
• print-manager shows badges for printer jobs and supports Windows shared printing through the Samba client tools.
• Launcher favourites can be rearranged by drag and drop.
• The Digital Clock can show time-zone offsets.
• Typing on the desktop jumps to matching items (type-ahead).

Wayland and X11

• The Plasma Wayland session is the default and the only fully supported session.
• The Plasma X11 session is not installed by default, and the Kubuntu team does not support it.
• 26.10 is the last Kubuntu release that will provide the plasma-session-x11 package. X11 users should plan a move to Wayland.

System changes

• coreutils are now entirely Rust-based. The last GNU utilities still in use (cp, mv, rm) have been replaced by the Rust uutils implementation.
• TPM-backed full-disk encryption can now be installed on machines that lack a hardware root of trust, as long as a PIN or passphrase is also set.

How to upgrade

• Upgrades from Kubuntu 26.04 LTS are supported.
• First, open the software sources tool and set "Release Upgrade" to "Normal releases":

sudo software-properties-qt

• Alternatively, set Prompt=normal in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades.
• Then run the release upgrader.

Known issues

• Systems that use TPM-backed full-disk encryption cannot upgrade from 26.04 LTS to 26.10 at release. Ubuntu plans to enable this upgrade path at some point during the 26.10 support period.

Where to get help

• Questions go to Kubuntu's Discourse forum or the Matrix room #kubuntu:matrix.org.

Summary by DistroNews, based on the original post.