Stonking Stingray: Ubuntu 26.10 for Business Owners

On 15 October 2026, the Ubuntu Release Team announced that Ubuntu 26.10, codenamed Stonking Stingray, has arrived. It includes Linux kernel 7.3, full adoption of Rust-based core utilities, post-quantum-ready package signing, and maintenance updates for nine months. When your website, shop, or company mail runs on Ubuntu, this release sits under the services your customers already use.

I can plan that upgrade with you. The Able Retainer is $799 a month for eight hours of senior production time, planned with you. Email me at greg@ableadmins.com and we will start from the version you run today.

What this means for your business

The official release notes state that Ubuntu 26.10 was released on 15 October 2026 and will be supported for nine months, until July 2027. LTS means long-term support, the track you follow when you ask Ubuntu for LTS upgrades.

If the server is on Ubuntu 26.04, an automatic upgrade to 26.10 is offered when you chose to be notified of all releases. Owners who chose LTS upgrades keep the long-term track. Phoronix reported on 15 October 2026 that Ubuntu 26.10 is the newest six-month non-LTS update, with the Linux 7.3 kernel in a near-final state and the Rust-based coreutils transition fully completed.

An interim release fits when you want these newer packages and can test them. The LTS track fits when you want the longer stay. If you are unsure which track the server follows, I can check that with you on the Able Retainer.

What changed in the server software

Here is the short version of what the Ubuntu 26.10 release notes describe.

Default core utilities now run entirely on the Rust-based uutils implementation. Rust is the language those tools are written in. The remaining GNU utilities cp, mv, and rm have been migrated, and administrators can still switch back to the GNU implementation. cp copies a file, mv moves it, and rm removes it. A backup or cleanup job that calls them deserves one quiet test on a spare copy of the data.

Ubuntu 26.10 ships OpenSSL 4, through the 4.0.3 release, with Encrypted Client Hello, expanded QUIC support, and post-quantum cryptography improvements. OpenSSL is the library behind the padlock on your website. Encrypted Client Hello hides the site name at the start of a secure connection. QUIC is a newer way browsers carry that connection. Post-quantum cryptography is work to keep those protections ready for quantum computers. Because OpenSSL 4 no longer supports engines, the PKCS#11 engine is removed, and configurations still referencing the pkcs11 engine must move to the provider. PKCS#11 is a hook some sites use for a hardware key or a certificate module. A config that still names pkcs11 needs an update before you lean on the new OpenSSL.

MySQL was updated from 8.4 LTS to 9.7 LTS, starting with 9.7.2. The mysql_native_password plugin has been removed. The release upgrader blocks the upgrade until accounts are migrated, for example with ALTER USER ... IDENTIFIED WITH caching_sha2_password. Each database login needs that newer method. Ask for the account list, take a backup the same day, and run the change in a window you chose. Then have the application sign in once.

HAProxy, which shares visitors across servers, moved from 3.2 to 3.4.2. The default load-balancing algorithm changed from roundrobin to random. Roundrobin walks a list of servers. Random picks one for each new visit. A processor setting called cpu-policy now defaults to performance, the old limit of 64 threads was removed, and HTTP backends enable option abortonclose by default. That option ends a request if the visitor disconnects early. Upstream supports the HAProxy 3.4 LTS branch until 2031-Q2, the second quarter of 2031. Samba in Ubuntu Server 26.10 is 4.24.7, and domain encryption types changed to AES by default. AES is a current encryption standard. Apache was updated from 2.4.66 to 2.4.68 and rebuilt against OpenSSL 4. The 2.4.67 and 2.4.68 releases together fix around 25 CVEs. A CVE is a public number for a security flaw. PHP was updated and rebuilt against OpenSSL 4. Postfix, a mail server, is 3.11.7. The release notes hold the full CVE and package lists.

Questions to send your host

You can forward this list to whoever looks after the server.

Which Ubuntu release is installed, and are notices set for all releases or for LTS upgrades?
Do any MySQL accounts still use mysql_native_password?
Does any OpenSSL config still name the pkcs11 engine?
Is HAProxy in front of the site, where the new default algorithm applies?
Do shared folders rely on Samba domain encryption?
Is there a backup of the site, the database, and the mail from this week?

When the answers are in one note, we can book the work on the Able Retainer.

How Able can help

I am the engineer who does the work. The Able Retainer is $799 a month, with eight hours of senior production time, planned with you. We can use those hours to confirm the Ubuntu release, migrate MySQL accounts, review OpenSSL and HAProxy, and pick a window that fits the business. Email greg@ableadmins.com and name the site you care about.

Sources

When you want a calm plan for this upgrade, start with the Able Retainer and we will take it one server at a time.