...and the version number is needed well before the release is made official. Ubuntu developer here. No, the version number is not needed before the release. A

...and the version number is needed well before the release is made official. Ubuntu developer here. No, the version number is not needed before the release. All our infrastructure only uses the codename until release, since the final version name is not known for certain in advance. For example, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) was released late.