Which runs-on label selects a GitHub-hosted runner using the latest Ubuntu image GitHub provides for standard hosted runners?
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Short Explanation and Infographic
ubuntu-latest is the stable label that tracks GitHub's current default Ubuntu hosted image. Labels like ubuntu-current or linux-latest are not the standard hosted-runner names.
Full explanation below image
Full Explanation
GitHub-hosted standard runners use labels such as ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, and macos-latest, plus version-pinned labels like ubuntu-22.04 or ubuntu-24.04. ubuntu-latest resolves to whatever Ubuntu image GitHub currently designates as latest (the exact version changes over time and is documented in the runner images repository). ubuntu-current and github-ubuntu are not valid hosted labels. linux-latest is not a GitHub-hosted runner label (though self-hosted runners might use a custom linux label). For reproducibility, many teams pin ubuntu-22.04 or similar instead of latest. Larger runners and nested virtualization labels follow separate naming patterns and billing models.