Clem Lefebvre, head of the Linux Mint project, What is the announcement? that the Linux Mint 21.2 development cycle closed a few days ago and that “projects for future releases have been tagged, built and added to repositories.” Navon expects a beta version of Linux Mint 21.2 to arrive first and then around two. Weeks later, the final version will be available.
One of the signs that tells us that a new Linux Mint ISO is coming in the next few days. ISO images page. You can see which ISOs are undergoing testing and whether those tests passed or failed, and then the release arrives a few days after they pass. At the time of writing, no beta images have been tested so we’re still a bit away from a beta release but it shouldn’t be long now.
Lefebvre also announced that the Xfce edition of Mint will ship with Xfce 4.18 and that XDG desktop portal support has been added to Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions that bring global dark mode options.
The XDG desktop portal has three options that affect applications: prioritize light, prioritize dark, and let applications decide. Some apps that support it include Firefox, Xed, Thingy, Xreader, Xviewer, and Pix. It is also supported by many Flatpaks and GNOME/LibAdwaita apps.
In addition to these changes, Software Manager has been given a UI refresh, includes improved scoring and sorting algorithms, and has a more tuned package list for a better overall experience. As the second point release for Linux Mint 21, it will only receive updates until Linux Mint 21, so that’s until 2027.
As a point release, upgrading from other Linux Mint 21 versions should be relatively easy and you shouldn’t run into any problems. Nevin will include upgrade instructions or a link to upgrade instructions in subsequent coverage.
