Canonical has released the beta version of the upcoming Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) today for public testing, so it’s time to see what the final release might bring.
Ubuntu 25.04 (codenamed Plucky Puffin) is powered by the recently released Linux 6.14 kernel and features the latest, powerful GNOME 48 desktop environment. It includes many advanced features, such as triple buffering in Ubuntu, Papers as the new default document viewer replacing Evince, and geolocation services supported by BeaconDB.
The Ubuntu desktop installer now has a new option that allows users to replace an existing Ubuntu installation and improves the dual-boot user experience, especially on Windows systems protected by BitLocker. If there is sufficient unallocated space and dual-boot support is available, users can now install Ubuntu alongside an existing BitLocker partition, supporting encrypted installs and other advanced scenarios.
Netplan now supports wpa-psk-sha256 Wi-Fi connections, routing policy configuration in the NetworkManager backend, and the new systemd-networkd-wait-online feature, which waits for DNS servers to be configured and accessible before declaring a network interface as online.
Additionally, the xdg-terminal-exec package is now installed by default, allowing users to access the default terminal more easily using keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+Alt+T. The latest GIMP 3.0 image editor is available for installation from the repositories. LibreOffice 25.2 is the default office suite, and Mozilla Firefox 136 is the default web browser.
Under the hood, Ubuntu 25.04 includes an updated toolchain with GCC 14.2, GNU Binutils 2.44, GNU C Library 2.41, LLVM 20, Python 3.13.2, Rust 1.84, Go 1.24, NetworkManager 1.52, Qt 6.8.3, OpenSSL 3.4, systemd 257.4, Netplan 1.1.2, BlueZ 5.79, Cairo 1.18.4, PipeWire 1.2.7, Poppler 25.03, and OpenJDK 24 GA.
If you’d like to try Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin), the beta version is available now from the official website.
However, keep in mind that this is a pre-release version and should not be installed or used in production environments. The final release is expected on April 17, 2025.
This beta version is available for Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Cloud, Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Ubuntu Unity, Ubuntu Cinnamon, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, and Ubuntu MATE editions.