Which ROS 2 Release Should I Choose: Lyrical Luth or Jazzy Jalisco?

Updated

Choose Lyrical Luth if you are starting a new project that needs the longest support window and you can run Ubuntu 26.04 (Resolute) or Windows 11. Choose Jazzy Jalisco if your machines are on Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) or Windows 10 and you want a mature LTS release that matches your current OS. Both are ROS 2 long-term releases; the deciding factors are support horizon and target platform, not feature differences described on ros.org.

Side-by-side comparison

Dimension Lyrical Luth Jazzy Jalisco
Release type ROS 2 long-term release (LTS) ROS 2 LTS release
Support until 2031 Not stated on the page
Primary target OS Ubuntu 26.04 (Resolute), Windows 11 Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble), Windows 10
Other systems Supported to varying degrees Supported to varying degrees
Positioning on ros.org Latest ROS 2 long-term release Latest ROS 2 LTS release targeted at its OS pair

The page describes Lyrical Luth as "our latest ROS 2 long-term release with support until 2031" and Jazzy Jalisco as "our latest ROS 2 LTS release." Only Lyrical Luth has an explicit end-of-support year in the source material, so treat the support column as a known fact for one option and an open question for the other.

How to decide

Pick Lyrical Luth when

  • You are provisioning new hardware or a fresh development image and can standardize on Ubuntu 26.04 or Windows 11.
  • You want to avoid a migration for as long as possible; the stated support runs to 2031.
  • You are comfortable that the release is newer, so third-party packages and tutorials may lag behind it.

Pick Jazzy Jalisco when

  • Your team, CI runners, or robots already run Ubuntu 24.04 or Windows 10 and you do not want to upgrade the OS as part of adopting ROS 2.
  • You want the release that most current tutorials and community answers were written against, which reduces friction when following along.
  • Your support horizon is shorter than a full OS upgrade cycle, so the missing end-of-support date on the page is not a blocker.

When neither is obvious

If you must support both older and newer machines, install Jazzy Jalisco on the Ubuntu 24.04 / Windows 10 fleet and reserve Lyrical Luth for new deployments. The page notes that "other systems are supported to varying degrees," so verify your exact OS and architecture against the ROS 2 documentation before committing — "varying degrees" means some combinations are partial or community-maintained.

Verify before you install

  1. Confirm your OS version exactly (for example, lsb_release -a on Ubuntu) and compare it to the target listed for each release.
  2. Open the "Install Lyrical Luth" or Jazzy Jalisco page from ros.org and check the platform table for your distribution and architecture.
  3. Check that the packages your project depends on publish builds for that release; a newer LTS often has fewer prebuilt binaries early on.
  4. Only then follow the install instructions for your chosen release.

The most common snag is assuming "supported to varying degrees" means fully supported: a release can install on a secondary OS while some tools or drivers are missing. Confirm each dependency rather than the release as a whole.

Where to go next

ros.org links installation guides for both releases, plus ROS 2 documentation and tutorials, Robotics Stack Exchange for troubleshooting, and the forums and Zulip chat for maintainer and community discussion. Use the documentation for your chosen release specifically, since instructions differ between LTS versions.