What New Features Does Ubuntu 25.10 “Questing Quokka” Introduce?

Ubuntu 25.10 “Questing Quokka” – Core Updates

Desktop environment

GNOME 49 adds newly designed Shell extensions and smoother animations.

Default image viewer changes to Loupe (replaces Eye of GNOME) and default terminal to Ptyxis.

High‑contrast mode and improved screen‑reader support added to meet the EU Accessibility Act.

Display subsystem

Wayland becomes the primary display server and now supports NVIDIA GPUs with variable refresh rate (VRR).

Triple‑buffering reduces screen tearing, delivering smoother gaming and video playback.

Enterprise features

Built‑in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) device registration.

Extended support for MDM protocols for enterprise device management.

Underlying system changes

sudo‑rs

(Rust‑based) fully replaces the traditional sudo tool.

Initramfs generation switches from initramfs‑tools to Dracut, improving boot speed by about 15 % and enhancing LVM/ZFS support.

RISC‑V hardware now requires the RVA23 specification; some older development boards may not upgrade.

Default kernel expected to be Linux 6.16.

Release timeline

24.04 LTS – supported until April 2029 (current stable).

25.04 – short‑term, support ended January 2026.

25.10 – short‑term, support until July 2026.

26.04 LTS – 12 years support until April 2038.

"The Dracut changes in 25.10 represent the biggest boot‑system transformation in Ubuntu in a decade." — Ubuntu kernel team engineer Matthias Klose

"The RISC‑V spec upgrade may affect the education sector; labs should plan hardware purchases early." — RISC‑V International community representative Zhang Wei