[geeks] Policy for system / package upgrades in Enterprise

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Tue, Aug 03, 2010 at 08:25:20AM -0400, hike wrote:
>Isn't a new LTS Ubuntu out now?  10.4 is listed as LTS in google-search.
>
>Personally, if it isn't available with the distribution, I would not install
>it.  It would require a monitoring and updating "by hnd".

It's out, but it has the usual problems. LTS does not mean supported
until after 12.04 LTS comes out, it means SOME PACKAGES WILL BE
BACKPORTED for while and as it gets closer to 2011, that number will
dimish.

By the time it gets close to being out of support, the number will be
very close to zero.

My experience with 8.04 LTS was that by the time 9.04 (which was not LTS)
came out, only "critical" updates were available, and my definition of
critical was far more encompasing than theirs.

What LTS means in practicality is that if you have a system running an LTS
release, it will continue to run as long as they say it is supported, and
if a bug is found that renders the system unusable (for example a root exploit
via a TCP overflow in the kernel), it will be fixed.

It DOES NOT mean that anything released afterwards will be backported by
UBUNTU or the community, and your efforts to do it on your own will probably
fail due to needing updated libraries, etc.

It also DOES NOT mean that newer kernels will be backported (or back portable)
with success, so new hardware support is not a given, or in some cases,
likely.

It's like Windows in a way. At the application level, almost every
application that ran in Windows XP in 2002, still runs under XP today,
and M/S will provide some level of support until 2014. 

However, the wonderful Windows 7 application you love may not work, and
if so, it's never going to. Nor MAY Windows XP run on your new computer
if the old one fails.

Geoff.


-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must order 
dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it. :-)