Ubuntu Resolute Raccoon drops Xorg, keeps X11 apps alive • The Register

https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/24/ubuntu_resolute_raccoon/

Publish Date: 2026-04-24 13:22:00

Ubuntu 26.04 “Resolute Raccoon,” the latest LTS release from Canonical, arrives with GNOME 50, Linux kernel 7.0, and drops the Xorg option from Ubuntu Desktop while still running X11 applications through Xwayland.

This release is based on kernel 7.0, uses GNOME 50, and comes with Firefox 150. These are a pleasingly round set of version numbers, but over Resolute’s support lifetime, its Firefox versions will keep climbing, and as interim releases follow, the LTS Enablement Stack will also make newer kernels available. (systemd 260 arrived a little too late, so Resolute comes with systemd 259.) As the newest LTS version, Resolute will get free updates for the next five years, until 2031, and a further decade of security updates is available via Canonical’s “Ubuntu Pro” service, which became free for up to five machines in 2022.

These days, Ubuntu Desktop defaults to a fairly basic install with Firefox and little else. – Click to enlarge

The default Ubuntu Desktop uses GNOME, as it has been since Ubuntu 17.10. We took a look at GNOME version 50 early last month, and at the beta version of Resolute at the end of the month. Although some of the bundled apps and accessories have been replaced, it’s not vastly different from how GNOME 40 was in 2021, and it’s only an incremental change from GNOME 3 a full decade before that. It looks great, and if you like GNOME, it’s fine. However, there is a big functional difference in this release that is cosmetically invisible: it is now Wayland-only – there’s no option to log in using Xorg. X11 apps can run thanks to Xwayland, but users doing some advanced things like screen capturing, screen sharing, and remote control, and so on, will need to find and adjust to new tools.

Alongside the default GNOME desktop edition, Edubuntu 26.04 also uses GNOME 50. Alternatively, there are eight other official desktop flavors, with different software bundles.

For those who prefer a traditional Windows-like layout, there are multiple…

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