Linux stable maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman officially designated Linux 6.12 as this year's long-term support (LTS) kernel version. The kernel.org document was updated today, and Linux 6.12 officially became the latest LTS version following last year's Linux 6.6 LTS series.
Currently, the Linux 6.12 LTS status annotation has an expected end-of-life (EOL) date of December 2026 - just two years away and the same end-of-life date as the Linux 5.10/5.15/6.1/6.6 LTS series.
The period of Linux 6.12LTS may be extended beyond December 2026, but this depends on the level of support from hardware/software vendors, testers, and the broad open source community. Whether they will continue to actively use the Linux 6.12LTS kernel and help test new patches in the series, review 6.12.xx release candidate versions, etc.
It is not surprising that Linux 6.12 becomes the LTS kernel. Typically, the LTS kernel for a given calendar year is the last major release of that year... and Linux 6.12 is the last major release of 2024, with its first stable release last month. Linux 6.12 offers a lot of great features, and it's great to be the LTS release of the year.