Linux 6.6 Formally Becomes This Year's LTS Kernel

As was expected but now made official: this year's Long-Term Support (LTS) kernel is Linux 6.6.

The annual LTS kernel tends to be the last stable kernel version of the calendar year. Linux 6.6 debuted at the end of October. Linux 6.7 meanwhile should reach stable either in the final days of 2023 or the early days of 2024... More than likely this cycle may drag out given this release is massive in size and the end-of-year holidays tend to slowdown testing and bug fixing. But in any event Greg Kroah-Hartman has decided to go ahead and declare Linux 6.6 as the newest LTS kernel.

Kernel.org has been updated to reflect Linux 6.6 LTS. The current plan is for Linux 6.6 to be maintained until going end-of-life in December 2026: the same time Linux 6.1, 5.15, and 5.10 will reach end-of-life. Thus under current measures Linux 6.6 LTS will be maintained for the next three years although there has been talk of moving forward in shortening the LTS period to two years. In any event it's much shorter from the older Linux LTS kernels that enjoyed 5~6 years of kernel point releases.

So for those organizations sticking to yearly LTS kernels or targeting support around these kernel versions, Linux 6.6 is the new target and is a great one given its many new features and improvements.