by 
Depending on where you live, the time has come to say goodbye to Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute Hippo) as the release has now reached end of life, effective immediately starting January 20th, 2022.
Dubbed by Canonical as the “Hirsute Hippo,” Ubuntu 21.04 was released nine months ago, on April 22nd, 2021. It was the first Ubuntu release to use the next-generation Wayland display server by default for its Ubuntu Desktop flavor, which uses a modified version of the GNOME desktop environment.
Ubuntu 21.04 didn’t make the plunge into the GNOME 40 desktop environment series due to its redesigned Activities Overview, but it did ship with support for GNOME 40 apps while being built on top of the older GNOME 3.38 desktop environment series.
Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute Hippo) came with the Linux 5.11 kernel by default for all official flavors, and it also introduced initial PipeWire support, nftables as the default firewall backend, support for smart card authentication, as well as a redesigned Yaru dark theme for its Ubuntu Desktop flavor.
However, being an interim release and not a long-term support (LTS) one, Ubuntu 21.04 only receives software and security updates for nine months. As such, as of January 20th, 2022, it officially reached end of life.
End of life (EOL) means that Canonical will stop offering updates for Ubuntu 21.04 users, which means that, in time, the system will become vulnerable to all sorts of threats and attacks.
If you’re still using Ubuntu 21.04 on your personal computer (that includes Kubuntu 21.04, Xubuntu 21.04, Lubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu Studio 21.04, Ubuntu Budgie 21.04, Ubuntu MATE 21.04, and Ubuntu Kylin 21.04), it is highly recommended that you upgrade to the latest Ubuntu release, in this case Ubuntu 21.10 (Impish Indri).
Please follow my tutorial on how to upgrade your Ubuntu 21.04 installations to Ubuntu 21.10 if you don’t know how to do it. But keep in mind that Ubuntu 21.10 is also an interim release receiving only nine months of support, until the end of June 2022.
In the meanwhile, Canonical is working on the next Ubuntu LTS release, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), which is scheduled for release on April 21st, 2022. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will be supported for at least 5 years and comes with Linux kernel 5.15 LTS and the GNOME 42 desktop environment.
Last updated 2 years ago
