The Linux Mint Community website shows that the final ISOs for Linux Mint 21.2 are now undergoing testing. There are three versions being prepared, Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce.
The testing of the final ISOs comes just over two weeks since the beta was released to the public. On July 1, the head of the Linux Mint project wrote that the team had already gathered 60 bug reports and many issues were fixed thanks to user feedback.
One of the biggest changes that will be available in Linux Mint 21.2 is the introduction of styles in the Cinnamon edition. They let you combine different accent colours and select dark, light, or mixed themes - you can even use the Yaru colours from Ubuntu in this version.
Those users who downloaded the beta will be able to keep applying the latest updates and they will be considered as being on the final version. Linux Mint 21.1 users will be able to upgrade quite easily through the menu in the update manager, but it’s not mandatory.
Linux Mint 21, 21.1, and 21.2 are all based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and will therefore get updates until 2027. The benefit of upgrading is that you get the improvements that the Linux Mint team has been working on, such as styles for Cinnamon.
There’s no telling how long it’ll take for the ISOs to be publicly released, usually, it’s just a few days. It’s not uncommon for ISOs to fail the tests, this can delay the release as new ISOs undergo testing.
After the tests have passed, we’ll then need to wait for the team to write up blog posts for the releases but if you’re eager to get the new software, you can sometimes find it on official mirrors before the announcement.
Let us know in the comments if you"re tried the beta of Linux Mint 21.2, do you like it? Did you run into any problems?