May

27

Why is Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) Not LTS?

May 27, 2009 | By: UbuntuLinuxHelp | 2 Comments
Posted in Experiences

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It's not LTS, because it's not time yet...

A short post: "Why is Jaunty not an LTS release, shouldn't I just stay with Hardy?" That's a question I received from one of my clients. For those not familiar, "LTS" means "Long Term Support". Indeed 8.04 (Hardy) has a longer support life than 9.04 (Jaunty), in fact, support for 9.04 will expire before 8.04.

Note:

Ubuntu Hardy (8.04) release was April, 2008

  • Support for desktops ends: April, 2011
  • Support for servers ends: April, 2013

Jaunty Jackalope (9.04) release was April 2009

  • Support ends: October 2010

One thing to be aware of is that Canonical (the people who release Ubuntu), provide an LTS version of Ubuntu every two years. Since Ubuntu 8.04 LTS was released in 2008, I assume Ubuntu 10.04 will be released in 2010 as an LTS release, and maybe be supported until 2015.

I think the above clearly answers the LTS question, however as to the choice of upgrading to 9.04 or remaining with 8.04, that's not as simple.

Some of the key changes released in 9.04 (among others) were:

  • Support for Wacom graphic tablets
  • Netbook support
  • Faster boot up time
  • Desktop integration for web applications
  • Support for the new ext4 file system

Additionally, keep in mind that some open (and closed) source applications may no longer be  developing for 8.04. In many respects, I would weigh the options of application support just as much as patches and security releases from the Ubuntu repositories.

Personally, I have not upgraded yet. Why? - I don't need to! Don't get me wrong, I love all the new toys, tweaks and features, but I'm happy with the way my system runs and am reluctant to change that.

However, as of late, I find I've been using more .deb packages (upgrading to Gimp 2.6 in Ubuntu Hardy for example). Additionally, I'm using nVidia and am not sure about support in Jaunty's new version of X.org.

Either way, just because 9.04 is not an LTS release, does not mean you shouldn't consider upgrading - You should. Rather, stand back an evaluate whether you really NEED an upgrade or not.

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Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. socialflea101980 socialflea101980 on June 6, 2009 8:05 pm

    So there’s a 40th month in 2009?

  2. UbuntuLinuxHelp UbuntuLinuxHelp on June 7, 2009 6:56 am

    @socialflea101980

    Hee hee hee… I did wonder for a moment. Nice catch! :) Thank you! (Editing title now…) ;)

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