Ubuntu 26 runner image now generally available

The Ubuntu 26.04 runner image for GitHub Actions is now out of public preview and fully supported for production workflows on both x64 and arm64. As part of this release, the ubuntu-latest label will migrate to Ubuntu 26.04, giving you the latest supported Ubuntu release by default.

Using Ubuntu 26.04

To run your workflows on the new image, set runs-on: ubuntu-26.04 or runs-on: ubuntu-26.04-arm in your workflow file. Ubuntu 26.04 includes updated, and in some cases removed, tools and tool versions compared to earlier images. These changes can break workflows that depend on specific software versions or preinstalled packages. Review the full list of changes and test your workflows against Ubuntu 26 before the migration begins.

ubuntu-latest is migrating to Ubuntu 26.04

The ubuntu-latest label will migrate from Ubuntu 24.04 to Ubuntu 26.04. This migration will roll out gradually between October 19 and November 19, 2026. During this window, workflows that use ubuntu-latest will automatically move to Ubuntu 26.04.

Because this moves your workflows to a new operating system version, the migration may break builds that rely on tools, packages, or versions that changed between Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04. To prepare:

• Test your workflows against ubuntu-26.04 before the migration begins.
• If you are not ready to move, pin your workflows to ubuntu-24.04 to stay on the current image.

Learn more

To learn more about available images, see the GitHub-hosted runners documentation. To see the included software list or report issues with the image, head to the runner-images repository.

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