Check if New Ubuntu Release is Available

Ubuntu releases follow a versioned cycle, such as 24.04 and 26.04. Each version introduces system-wide changes, updated kernels, and core libraries. Ubuntu release upgrades move the system from one major version to another, such as 24.04 to 26.04. Checking whether a new release is available can be useful to determine if a system upgrade path exists and to plan a future upgrade in advance. This tutorial explains how to check if new Ubuntu release is available.

One standard way to check for a new Ubuntu release is by using the do-release-upgrade tool with the -c option, which performs a check without starting the upgrade process.

do-release-upgrade -c

Example output:

Checking for a new Ubuntu release
New release '24.04.4 LTS' available.
Run 'do-release-upgrade' to upgrade to it.

If a new release is available, the tool displays the target version and indicates that a system upgrade can be performed. If no new release is found, it indicates that the system is already on the latest supported version.