Preparing for Rolling Sync 2026-04-23
The last Rolling sync for Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat targets April 24, pending regression fixes.
The Robot Operating System (ROS) 2 development team has announced a pivotal infrastructure update. They are preparing for a "Rolling Sync" of the Rolling Ridley distribution, scheduled for April 24, 2026. This sync is notable as it will be the final one performed for the current Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat base. The team has temporarily halted merges into the primary package repository (rosdistro) to stabilize the release, focusing on resolving several existing regressions, particularly within the critical ros2_control and ros2_controllers packages, which are essential for robot hardware interfacing.
Following this sync, the project will undertake a significant platform migration. The resulting packages from this final Noble Numbat sync will be moved onto the newer Ubuntu 26.06 Resolute Raccoon. This migration is a preparatory step for the future ROS 2 distribution, codenamed "Lyrical Luth." The team's immediate priority is ensuring the core `desktop_full` metapackage—a complete installation bundle for ROS 2—does not regress in functionality. Once the sync is complete and stability is confirmed, the hold on rosdistro merges will be lifted, allowing the community to resume normal development contributions.
- Final ROS 2 Rolling sync for Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat scheduled for April 24, 2026.
- Team is holding rosdistro PRs and fixing regressions in ros2_control before proceeding.
- Next step is a platform migration to Ubuntu 26.06 Resolute Raccoon for future 'Lyrical Luth' release.
Why It Matters
This planned migration is crucial for maintaining ROS 2's long-term support and compatibility with upcoming Ubuntu LTS releases, affecting thousands of robotics developers and projects.