Ubuntu 25.10 'questing Quokka' Brings An Array Of Advances - Plus Some Trouble

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Ready aliases not, Ubuntu's default show will beryllium Wayland.
• The caller Ubuntu includes nan first user-facing Rust-based utilities.
• This merchandise besides comes pinch galore smaller improvements.

Canonical has released Ubuntu 25.10, codenamed Questing Quokka, pinch an array of upgrades for Linux users eager for cutting-edge features, improved security, and a caller desktop experience. As my comrade successful Linux, Jack Wallen, said of nan beta, it comes pinch "a fewer features that could beryllium eye-openers to longtime (and new) users."

Also: The easiest measurement to effort retired Ubuntu Linux

For me, nan biggest characteristic -- aliases misfire -- is nan move from nan aged (some mightiness opportunity archaic) X.org, nan open-source X Window System implementation, to nan modern Wayland. Both are show server protocols that supply nan graphical interface. How aged is X? I started utilizing it successful 1984 connected an AT&T 3B2 machine moving Unix System 7 Version 1. It's improved a batch since then, but nether nan hood, its creation still looks familiar. 

As you mightiness imagine, X has its adjacent stock of problems. But -- and this is nan important spot -- each older package useful good pinch it. 

Wayland, connected nan different hand, pinch its client-side rendering, enables applications to pass straight pinch nan desktop compositor. This reduces graphics rendering steps and improves efficiency. Wayland besides boasts a streamlined graphics pipeline, robust information architecture, improved ocular quality, and a maintainable and much unafraid codebase.

So, what's nan problem? Remember each that bequest package that useful manus successful mitt pinch X? Although Wayland has been astir since 2008, immoderate of those programs still hiccup erstwhile moving connected Wayland. These see video-conferencing programs Zoom and Jitsi Meet; immoderate Chromium-based browser erstwhile sharing windows; and distant desktop programs Remmina and Citrix Workspace. Wayland besides blocks schematic programs moving arsenic root. 

Applications relying connected X11 should stay compatible via XWayland, but we'll spot really good that goes pinch tens of millions of Ubuntu users putting it to nan test. 

When Wayland runs pinch compatible applications, you'll spot faster capacity and improved graphics reliability. When it runs pinch incompatible programs, you'll want to tear your hairsbreadth out. 

Why is Canonical doing this? The institution has nary choice. Its default desktop is GNOME, and nan newest shipping type of nan desktop, GNOME 49, only supports Wayland.

Also: The 5 fastest Linux distros I've tried - and they're each free

This day's been a agelong clip coming, but it's still going to beryllium a symptom until nan past celebrated X programme afloat supports Wayland. 

GNOME 49 brings a trove of usability refinements, specified arsenic smoother UI animations, an updated notifications system, and improved accessibility from nan login screen. Nautilus, nan default record manager, introduces a redesigned hunt and much informative files views, enhancing mundane usability. Fractional scaling and HDR support amended ocular clarity, particularly connected modern displays.

On nan different hand, Ubuntu 25.10 is simply a short-term release. Canonical only supports these for 9 months, truthful Ubuntu 25.10 retires successful July 2026. The adjacent semipermanent support (LTS) version, Ubuntu 26.04, will besides (unless things spell horribly wrong) usage only Wayland, and it will beryllium supported for a twelve years

Another of Ubuntu 25.10's astir striking advances is its representation information improvements. That's because it will beryllium switching to Rust-based implementations for some nan mission-critical sudo pinch sudo-rs and basal command-line utilities, coreutils. Linux has been slow embracing Rust for a while now, but this will beryllium nan first clip galore users really get their hands connected Rust-based utilities. The classical GNU Coreutils remains successful repositories for backward compatibility.

Another move from nan aged measurement of doing things is moving from initramfs-tools to Dracut for booting your computer. This besides provides reliable early support for Bluetooth and NVMe-over-Fabrics devices.

Also: 10 Linux tips I springiness to some beginners and professionals for improved productivity

Under nan hood, nan APT 3.1 package head debuts pinch smarter package dependency solution and caller introspection commands. This should make package guidance easier and much transparent for precocious users and troubleshooters.

Ubuntu 25.10 will besides see 2 brand-new halfway desktop apps: Ptyxis, a GPU-accelerated, feature-rich terminal emulator that replaces GNOME Terminal, and Loupe, which replaces Eye of GNOME arsenic nan default image viewer. Each offers capacity gains and modern interfaces, pinch nan originals still disposable to those who for illustration them.

TPM-backed disk encryption is now a first-class action successful nan installer, providing automated unlocking and betterment cardinal guidance wherever supported. The caller Security Center app offers clear entree to disk encryption controls and betterment options.

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Ubuntu besides makes Chrony nan default clip synchronization daemon, utilizing Network Time Security (NTS) for cryptographically authenticated clip syncing, helping adjacent long-standing weaknesses successful NTP.

Under it all, Ubuntu is built connected nan Linux 6.17 kernel. Because of this, Ubuntu 25.10 brings early support for Intel TDX, AMD SmartMux, awesome improvements for ARM64 (including easier booting connected next-gen Snapdragon laptops), and robust support for nan latest Intel Arc GPUs and RISC-V systems.

Server admins spot upgrades to instrumentality runtimes, much tin cloud-init provisioning, and nan latest server packages. This includes Apache 2.4.64, Nginx 1.28, PHP 8.4.11, PostgreSQL 17.6, and MySQL 8.4.

Also: I've tested nan champion Linux agency suites and these are my apical 5 - astir are free

Ubuntu 25.10 is disposable now for download for desktop, server, and unreality deployments, on pinch flavors specified arsenic Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu MATE. As a vanguard for April 2026's LTS release, Questing Quokka represents nan authorities of nan creation for Ubuntu Linux. I deliberation it's a compelling upgrade for those seeking nan newest of nan caller pinch nan champion information and capacity from Ubuntu to date. 

However, if you worth stability, I'd springiness this merchandise a walk for now. Let others find retired really reliable, aliases not, each Wayland each nan clip proves successful practice, earlier giving it a try.