Ubuntu 25.10: Rust instead of C, Wayland instead of X11

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Canonical is preparing an extensive modernisation of the distribution with Ubuntu 25.10 "Questing Quokka": The new version brings far-reaching changes to system components and the desktop environment. As the last interim version before Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, the release serves as a testing ground for technology that is due to arrive in long-term support in six months' time.

In Userland, Ubuntu is switching to Rust-based components. The traditional sudo command is replaced by the new implementation sudo-rs from the Trifecta Tech Foundation. This makes Ubuntu the first major distribution to take this step. The developers hope that the memory safety feature of Rust will result in significant security improvements compared to the original C-based implementation.

The GNU coreutils are also gradually being replaced by Rust variants (uutils). They should work more modularly and securely. In addition, Canonical is introducing a new Rust-based hardware library (rust-hwlib), which has been specially developed for Ubuntu Pro and is intended to manage hardware information and certifications more efficiently.

GNOME only with Wayland

Ubuntu 25.10 marks the end of support for GNOME under X11. The desktop environment will only be delivered with a Wayland session, classic X11 applications will continue to run via the XWayland compatibility layer. This decision follows the upstream development path of GNOME and is intended to reduce maintenance effort and improve security and performance.

The current GNOME 49 also includes two new standard applications: The image viewer Loupe replaces Eye of GNOME and offers GPU-accelerated rendering as well as so-called sandboxed image decoding. The terminal emulator Ptyxis replaces GNOME Terminal and integrates container support for Podman, Distrobox and Toolbx.

Kernel and TPM encryption

Ubuntu 25.10 contains the Linux kernel 6.17. The kernel for ARM64 systems contains the STUBBLE component developed by Canonical, with which the kernel can load device trees. Device trees provide information about the hardware on ARM64 notebooks instead of ACPI.

Ubuntu 25.10 experimentally integrates hardware-supported encryption via Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0. Encryption keys are securely stored at hardware level so that access to encrypted data is only possible after successful verification of system and user identity. The system automatically creates a recovery key and prompts users to back up before critical firmware updates. The passphrase can be changed in the new Security Centre.

RISC-V variant with restrictions

Ubuntu 25.10 is once again being released in a RISC-V version, but uses the RVA23 profile for modern 64-bit RISC-V CPUs, for which no hardware is yet available on the market. Some development boards are under development, including some with the Dubhe-83 processor from StarFive, which has been available since December 2024. Owners of older RISC-V boards must fall back on Ubuntu versions from 22.04 onwards, as these are incompatible with 25.10.

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