Linux kernel 6.18 has been designated as a long-term support branch. Updates for the 6.18 branch will be released at least until December 2027, although it is possible, as in the case of previous LTS branches, that the support period will be extended to six years. For regular kernel releases, updates are provided only until the next stable branch is released (for example, updates for the 6.17 branch were released until 6.18 came out).
At the same time, the support cycle for the Linux kernel 5.4 branch has been completed, culminating in the final release 5.4.302 (no further updates will be published in the 5.4.x series). The 5.4 branch was created in November 2019, supported for 6 years, and was utilized in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 6. Products supplied with kernel 5.4 are advised to migrate to more current LTS releases.
Support for long-term branches continues:
- 6.12 — until December 2026 (used in Debian 13, SUSE 16, Android 16, and Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 8).
- 6.6 — until December 2026 (used in OpenWRT 24.10).
- 6.1 — until December 2027 (used in Debian 12).
- 5.15 — until October 2026 (used in Ubuntu 22.04, Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 7 and OpenWRT 23.05).
- 5.10 — until December 2026 (used in Debian 11, Android 12, and OpenWRT 22).
Separately, the Linux Foundation provides SLTS (Super Long Term Support) branches based on kernels 4.4, 4.19, 5.10, 6.1, and 6.12, which are maintained separately and supported for 10-20 years. SLTS branch support is carried out under the Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) project, involving companies like Toshiba, Siemens, Renesas, Bosch, Hitachi, and MOXA, as well as LTS branch maintainers of the main kernel, Debian developers, and the KernelCI project creators. SLTS kernels are aimed at use in technical civil infrastructure systems and critical industrial systems.
Source: opennet.ru
