Kubuntu, Xubuntu 12.04 Become Long Term Support Releases

By , Published January 10, 2012

Three of Ubuntu’s siblings have jumped aboard the Long Term Support (LTS) train.

Proposals for Xubuntu, Kubuntu and Edbuntu to become ‘LTS’ releases were approved by the Ubuntu Technical Board during a meeting on January 9th.

The changes will see Xubuntu, the lightweight XFCE based Ubuntu spin, provide 3-years of support, security fixes, and important updates in Xubuntu 12.04. Kubuntu and Edbuntu, in keeping with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, will provide 5 years of similar support in their 12.04 releases.

On the surface the news might seem relatively inconsequential, but it paves the way for Xubuntu, Kubuntu – and perhaps most importantly Edbuntu – to be installed with confidence, with that knowledge that for 3 to 5 years the OS will be badged with the latest security, bug and stability updates.

via Technical Board Mailing List

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  3. GMusicbrowser now default music app in Xubuntu 11.04
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  • http://about.me/nlsthzn Neil Oosthuizen

    Very good news…

  • http://about.me/nlsthzn Neil Oosthuizen

    Very good news…

  • Samuel Orr

    I really like the concept of LTS releases.

    • https://profiles.google.com/phonixor phonixor

      I think they are fundamentally flawed
      Libraries you want stable, apps you want the latest and greatest…
      Only way to do this, is to support multiple versions of libraries… which is a hell on its own…

    • https://profiles.google.com/phonixor phonixor

      I think they are fundamentally flawed
      Libraries you want stable, apps you want the latest and greatest…
      Only way to do this, is to support multiple versions of libraries… which is a hell on its own…

      • http://twitter.com/drumboy_ Aaron H

        From what point of view?  A desktop consumer point of view, LTS makes sense.  From a developer perspective, they somewhat make sense.  From a support standpoint, it’s essential. 

        I never really understood why people love or hate adding PPA sources to get the latest and greatest to LTS releases simply because if you are adding them you should know what you’re doing.  The LTS development teams shouldn’t take responsibility for the end user adding newer software of which may or may not work.

      • Samuel Orr

        Nice to have opinions. However I have many reasons why a long term supported option works. First are businesses. I have seen workplaces and education centres using Windows 2000 era software even today. Obviously the businesses can not or do not want to upgrade. Either way it seems logical having a very long term supported software would be a great boon to such businesses.

        An up to date rolling type of system is great for developers but not mass deployments or casual users. I would not want to sell a laptop if I will ask or force users to fully upgrade it’s core infrastructure every 12 months.

        Also why do people think working and supported software is old. There some cases where software ‘needs’ to be upgraded though. Such as web browsers need to follow the latest web technologies to be useful (maddeningly). Though I would rather maintain a newer browser than ‘dist-upgrade’ my whole system so I can watch lolcats.

        What are advantages of something new? People sometimes like new. Not always. Why are people still on Windows Xp then? Newer software may or may not be more reliable. You can obviously say it will be less tested ‘in the wild’.

        • https://profiles.google.com/phonixor phonixor

          businesses want there apps to work just like anybody else…

          they only care about LTS because there apps do not get updated with the newer versions of the OS, and they don’t want to spend the time and resources to test/upgrade everything..

          Having LTS is a realistic standpoint currently…
          but it is still a flawed design

          • Samuel Orr

            I am guessing I just take your word for this? You have not cited much of anything other than opinion.

            Obviously it is not a flawed design as it works for all major operating systems.

          • https://profiles.google.com/phonixor phonixor

            that something works, does not mean it has a good design.

            and you don’t need citations for common sense!
            http://xkcd.com/978/

  • Samuel Orr

    I really like the concept of LTS releases.

  • http://twitter.com/shishimaru1000 Salvatore Cresce

    Kubuntu 5 years? In 5 years probably there will be 743297 new versions of KDE. I hope a kde repo would make things easier, because probably there will not be new versions in main repos.

  • http://twitter.com/shishimaru1000 Salvatore Cresce

    Kubuntu 5 years? In 5 years probably there will be 743297 new versions of KDE. I hope a kde repo would make things easier, because probably there will not be new versions in main repos.

  • http://twitter.com/calcionit Cálcio

    It’s wonderful. 5 years witout format my HD and without problems. This way each version LTS maybe I can buy a new hardware. lol

  • http://twitter.com/calcionit Cálcio

    It’s wonderful. 5 years witout format my HD and without problems. This way each version LTS maybe I can buy a new hardware. lol

  • https://launchpad.net/~esteinma Erik

    Why Xubuntu only 3 years?

    • http://twitter.com/miquelvp Miquel Vera

      cuz’ it’s black!

    • http://twitter.com/miquelvp Miquel Vera

      cuz’ it’s black!

    • Gabriel Rousseau

      Because their team is not big enough to give support for 5 years.

    • Gabriel Rousseau

      Because their team is not big enough to give support for 5 years.

  • https://launchpad.net/~esteinma Erik

    Why Xubuntu only 3 years?

  • http://onthetube.co.uk/ OTT

    Hi, my name’s Ed Buntu.

  • http://onthetube.co.uk/ OTT

    Hi, my name’s Ed Buntu.

    • http://profiles.google.com/houdas.rodolphe Rodolphe Houdas

      I was thinking the same thing ^^

    • seamus williams

      Balls……

  • http://profiles.google.com/herophuong93 Phương Hero

    Is “edbuntu” a typo error or it’s really another way to call “Edubuntu”?

    • http://twitter.com/highvoltage Jonathan Carter

      It’s a typo, they meant “Edubuntu”

  • http://profiles.google.com/herophuong93 Phương Hero

    Is “edbuntu” a typo error or it’s really another way to call “Edubuntu”?

  • Gabriel Rousseau

    Joey, there is no Edbuntu… It is EdUbuntu

  • Gabriel Rousseau

    Joey, there is no Edbuntu… It is EdUbuntu

    • daas88

      He must have made it on purpose, because he mistyped it twice.

    • daas88

      He must have made it on purpose, because he mistyped it twice.

    • http://twitter.com/highvoltage Jonathan Carter

      All the “u”s are lowercase though. “Edubuntu”

  • christian

    I don’t like the concept of LTS releases. LTS releases should be the only ones available as releases, they should have updated apps and only security updates for system components, and the non-LTS’s should become prereleases. This is what Windows and OS X does, and it works. The problem with having a 6 month release schedule are releases such as 11.04 which are so blatantly unfinished that they utterly devastated Ubuntu’s image as a stable, secure OS that is good for work – which isn’t fair given just how stable all the other versions are.

  • christian

    I don’t like the concept of LTS releases. LTS releases should be the only ones available as releases, they should have updated apps and only security updates for system components, and the non-LTS’s should become prereleases. This is what Windows and OS X does, and it works. The problem with having a 6 month release schedule are releases such as 11.04 which are so blatantly unfinished that they utterly devastated Ubuntu’s image as a stable, secure OS that is good for work – which isn’t fair given just how stable all the other versions are.

    • https://login.ubuntu.com/+id/R4szkb7 Jo-Erlend Schinstad

      Yes, Windows and OS X are developed behind closed doors as proprietary software. That’s why they have to do it the way they do it. Nobody is forcing you to use the non-LTS versions, but it is good that people can contribute. If we do like you say, stick to old software, then that means developers will not target Ubuntu or that Ubuntu holds back development of GNU/Linux. Neither would be acceptable.

      11.04 and 11.10 have been transitional releases. It should’ve been communicated much better, but they’re not typical Ubuntu releases. Gnome needed to be upgraded, and that is complicated. I would’ve expected the transition to be much less smooth than it has been.

      Developers and enthusiasts should use the newest version. From what you say, you should probably stick to LTS-releases. There’s nothing wrong with that. Consider non-LTS-versions developer/enthusiast releases if you want to. You’re free to ignore them, but they help create the next LTS.

      • Anonymous

        I think the idea is in communication not in whether or not you should have the freedom to use it. I use Fedora, which is released just as frequently as Ubuntu, but if someone asks about Linux, my first instinct is to recommend them Red Hat or CentOS (if they don’t need the tech support and don’t want to spend the money).
        I fully agree that the dev’s and enthusiant (such as myself) should use these 6 month releases, but the average user would have a better use of the LTS style releases. This is exactly why I think the LTS versions should be recommended, just like how Ubuntu recommends 32 bit over 64 bit on their site, etc, etc.

    • https://login.ubuntu.com/+id/R4szkb7 Jo-Erlend Schinstad

      Yes, Windows and OS X are developed behind closed doors as proprietary software. That’s why they have to do it the way they do it. Nobody is forcing you to use the non-LTS versions, but it is good that people can contribute. If we do like you say, stick to old software, then that means developers will not target Ubuntu or that Ubuntu holds back development of GNU/Linux. Neither would be acceptable.

      11.04 and 11.10 have been transitional releases. It should’ve been communicated much better, but they’re not typical Ubuntu releases. Gnome needed to be upgraded, and that is complicated. I would’ve expected the transition to be much less smooth than it has been.

      Developers and enthusiasts should use the newest version. From what you say, you should probably stick to LTS-releases. There’s nothing wrong with that. Consider non-LTS-versions developer/enthusiast releases if you want to. You’re free to ignore them, but they help create the next LTS.

    • Anonymous

      I agree with Jo-Erlend Schinstad, and want to add that I think developers should focus on making a good product first and a good image second, especially because the goal of ubuntu is not to make profit. The non-LTS releases are less stable and do hurt the image a little bit, but as Jo-Erlend said, “You’re free to ignore them, but they help create the next LTS.” The freedom to choose to use LTS versions or not should not be sacrificed to allure more newcomers. The whole linux ethos is all about the ability to choose. The ability to test the beta/alpha releases and be part of the development or to sit back and wait for the finished product to come out. If the between-LTS versions are phased out of the release cycle, the stability would attract new users but would severely diminish the development rate which, would in turn keep less users. And besides the idea of “beta” releases probably scares more people than non-LTS releases.

  • Anonymous

    Instead of developing separate Ubuntu spins why can’t Kubuntu/Edubuntu/Xubuntu be provided as a package/ppa that can be installed onto an Ubuntu install?

    • Anonymous

      Because some people don’t want to install the entire GNOME stack *and* the entire XFCE stack.  All of these are available in the repos (kubuntu-desktop, xubuntu-desktop, etc.), but making them standalone spins makes more sense than chucking more stuff on top of a GNOME base.

      • daas88

        But it would be nice to have a dvd with all of them, so you could pick the one you want and you’d be able to install a different OS in other computers.

      • daas88

        But it would be nice to have a dvd with all of them, so you could pick the one you want and you’d be able to install a different OS in other computers.

        • conor rynne

          nice idea, but that contradicts the simplicity of the ubuntu install process

          • http://twitter.com/MotionShot Heimen Stoffels

            Not if you make the CD default and the DVD an option. Just like with choosing 32-bit or 64-bit.

        • Gabriel Rousseau

          This is one of the oldest ideas on Ubuntu Brainstorm… And they said “no”. =(

          • daas88

            Ahh, the forever useless ubuntu brainstorm… I got many frustrations over there.

    • Anonymous

      Because some people don’t want to install the entire GNOME stack *and* the entire XFCE stack.  All of these are available in the repos (kubuntu-desktop, xubuntu-desktop, etc.), but making them standalone spins makes more sense than chucking more stuff on top of a GNOME base.

  • Anonymous

    Instead of developing separate Ubuntu spins why can’t Kubuntu/Edubuntu/Xubuntu be provided as a package/ppa that can be installed onto an Ubuntu install?

  • Patrick Gillespie

    Given the obvious limitations and bugs of Unity (and Gnome3 for that matter),  it’s hard for me to see how any of the Unity-based ‘buntus can be taken seriously. Unity is roughly equivalent to a KDE 4.0. Both these DE’s are beta quality, in my opinion. Offering them up as a 5 year option is an earnest but silly and empty gesture. There will be (and need to be) many, many improvements to Unity over the next 5 years. My response to this whole announcement is a big ‘whatever’.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/R25APX2NWD4262MDEYS2BWWEZU Mikolaj

      Are you sure you read the announcement? It’s not about Unity or Gnome, it’s about XFCE and KDE…

  • https://launchpad.net/~exeleration-g Exeleration-G

    I was hoping that there would be a Lubuntu LTS as well. But I guess that that’s not Ubuntu’s call, but rather the Lubuntu team’s.

  • https://launchpad.net/~exeleration-g Exeleration-G

    I was hoping that there would be a Lubuntu LTS as well. But I guess that that’s not Ubuntu’s call, but rather the Lubuntu team’s.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TOAP2YXEUL6HBNSCRICYVVMKSY Teg

    I hope Lubuntu gets accepted for LTS support as well considering it is now an official distribution. It really is a great distro for older computers and the Mint LXDE editions are super sexy. 

  • Anonymous

    Kubuntu with 5y support? Well that’s a great news :D

  • http://profiles.google.com/gtx.swift Lee Seymour

    Was hoping for 5yrs with Xubuntu, ah well…

  • Anonymous

    Great news :-) dist-upgrades are scary.

  • http://twitter.com/campbell2644 campbell s w

    The LTS option should be more prominently displayed on the Home pages because newcomers might well be better off with it.

 
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