A Linux 6.6 kernel has been assigned the status of a long-term support branch. Updates for branch 6.6 will be released at least until December 2026, but it is possible that, as in the cases of branches 5.10, 5.4, and 4.19, the period will be extended to six years, with support lasting until December 2029. For regular kernel releases, updates are only issued until the next stable branch is released (for example, updates for branch 6.5 were released until 6.6 was available).
Long-term branches are still being supported:
- 6.1 - until December 2026 + support under SLTS (used in Debian 12 and main branch of OpenWRT).
- 5.15 — until October 2026 (used in Ubuntu 22.04, Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 7, and OpenWRT 23.05).
- 5.10 — 2026 decemberéig + SLTS keretén belüli támogatás (Debian 11, Android 12 és OpenWRT 22 alatt használva).
- 5.4 — 2025 decemberéig (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS-ben és Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 6 alatt használva)
- 4.19 — 2024 decemberéig + SLTS keretén belüli támogatás (Debian 10-ben és Android 10 alatt használva).
- 4.14 — 2024 januárjáig.
Separately, based on kernels 4.4, 4.19, 5.10, and 6.1, the Linux Foundation provides SLTS (Super Long Term Support) branches, which are maintained separately and will be supported for 10-20 years. SLTS branch maintenance is carried out within the Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP) project, in which companies such as Toshiba, Siemens, Renesas, Bosch, Hitachi, and MOXA participate, as well as maintainers of the main kernel's LTS branches, Debian developers, and creators of the KernelCI project. SLTS kernels are focused on use in technical systems of civil infrastructure and in critical industrial systems.
Forrás: opennet.ru
