LTS question

[jwilliam_kcr]

After searching the forum I couldn't find the answer to a specific question I have.

When it says that a particular release (9.04 server) is maintained until 2010 will security updates no longer be available after that? Or that commercial support won't be available after that? I don't ever see a need to use the commercial support but I would like to get packaged security updates for a while.

If security packages are not offered past 2010 will there be an upgrade path to the next version?

Just trying to make some decisions...

Currently using SLES 10 on most servers but the university is not going to renew the license for it so I'm looking for an alternative. I've been using Slackware since '94 (still using Slack on several servers) and like it a lot but I also like the idea of a larger community that is found in Ubuntu.

Thank you.

[lake54]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS

That should answer your question. Just for reference, the last LTS release was Hardy Heron - 8.04, not 9.04 - 9.04 is just a 'standard' release.

James

[whoop]

LTS's (currently 8.04) get longer support than normal releases. You can easily and freely (as in no money) upgrade your current version to a newer version (as long as your current version is not end of life).
An upgrade button will appear in update manager when a new release comes available.

[mister_p_1998]

LTS's (currently 8.04) get longer support than normal releases. You can easily and freely (as in no money) upgrade your current version to a newer version (as long as your current version is not end of life).

Not Easily at all, of the five or six times Ive tried and upgrade, it has only worked once, I hav recently upgraded my Dapper install to Hardy and after trying an upgrade( failed) I did a fresh install, exported and reimported all my apps, passwords, cron jobs etc. It was a good weeks work to get it running as before. I think there is a good argument for a longer than three years support distro, although I enjoy the new features of Hardy, I would have been happy running Dapper for another two or three years. As my main work machine, it was a pain having it down for several days while I tweaked it to my preferences.

Steve

[leandromartinez98]

If you want even more support than the 5 year LTS of Ubuntu,
you can try CentOS. I think their's is 7 years.

[whoop]

Not Easily at all, of the five or six times Ive tried and upgrade, it has only worked once, I hav recently upgraded my Dapper install to Hardy and after trying an upgrade( failed) I did a fresh install, exported and reimported all my apps, passwords, cron jobs etc. It was a good weeks work to get it running as before. I think there is a good argument for a longer than three years support distro, although I enjoy the new features of Hardy, I would have been happy running Dapper for another two or three years. As my main work machine, it was a pain having it down for several days while I tweaked it to my preferences.

Steve
Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I've been using Ubuntu for years (on various hardware) and the only times I did fresh installs was for first time installs and in cases of unrepairable hard-disk failure.

Note: I could be wrong but, a recent upgrade from Dapper is prone to failure as it's known to be more difficult (and possibly even unsupported) to upgrade versions after they reached End Of Life...

[jwilliam_kcr]

I appreciate all of the input. I will probably go with 8.04 LTS since it will be maintained for several more years. I'm also happy to see such an active forum.

[mister_p_1998]

If you want even more support than the 5 year LTS of Ubuntu,
you can try CentOS. I think their's is 7 years.

really? thats very interesting, although I love ubuntu too much to change it on my main machine, thanks for the info though..

Steve

[leandromartinez98]

Yes, CentOS is the free (as in beer) version of RedHat Enterprise Linux. I do not use it personally, but I've used it before, and it is interesting for large deployments seeking stability:

CentOS is an Enterprise Linux distribution based on the freely available sources from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Each CentOS version is supported for 7 years (by means of security updates). A new CentOS version is released every 2 years and each CentOS version is regularly updated (every 6 months) to support newer hardware. This results in a secure, low-maintenance, reliable, predictable and reproducible Linux environment.

[emeraldgirl08]

Not Easily at all, of the five or six times Ive tried and upgrade, it has only worked once, I hav recently upgraded my Dapper install to Hardy and after trying an upgrade( failed) I did a fresh install, exported and reimported all my apps, passwords, cron jobs etc. It was a good weeks work to get it running as before.
Okay this just scares me. I spent all day yesterday reinstalling my laptop to it's factory defaults. I really don't want to go through the headache of reinstalling stuff anytime soon!!!

;)

I have Hardy, Ibex, and Jaunty Live CD's in my possession and just now read Fedora's wiki article. I have a spare drive here I may want to install something besides Ubuntu in. Still undecided.

[whoop]

Okay this just scares me. I spent all day yesterday reinstalling my laptop to it's factory defaults. I really don't want to go through the headache of reinstalling stuff anytime soon!!!

;)

I have Hardy, Ibex, and Jaunty Live CD's in my possession and just now read Fedora's wiki article. I have a spare drive here I may want to install something besides Ubuntu in. Still undecided.

Well if you have a spare hard drive, why not install ibex and do a upgrade to jaunty (just for the experience).... If it works (I believe it will, it always does for me) you'll be less scared, if it doesn't (be scared ;) )... use a free rolling distro instead (not that you won't have any problems with that, though)

Note: if I do a distribution upgrade I always make sure that my current system is fully up to date and functional..