[ale] LTS doesn't always mean LTS

[David Tomaschik]

On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 8:59 AM, DJ-Pfulio <DJPfulio at jdpfu.com> wrote:

> Just to clarify - chromium-browser is NOT chrome-browser.
> I would **NEVER** load chrome-browser.
> That's worse than running Win10, IMHO.
>
> I run Ubuntu mainly because of my misbelief that core repositories were
> supported for 5 yrs.  I have to rethink that choice.
>

Which packages in *main* are not supported for 5 years?  I've spot checked
a few of the ones you've listed, and they all seem to be in universe.
Canonical doesn't guarantee *any* package in universe will get security
updates, not even 5 minutes after they release.  While they *might* update
some of them, and some of the packages may be maintained by Canonical
employees, they're all considered "community maintained" which means
Canonical doesn't guarantee any updates -- stability, security, or
otherwise.  (Basically the same as "contrib" on Debian.)


>
> On my desktop ... the fact that LTS-to-LTS packages aren't supported is
> very concerning.  I'm not a repo-whore; don't add "universe" on servers.
>  Checking all my servers for similar issues now.
>
> Audio, video, language processing and printer drivers are the main
> things not supported.  fail2ban! mailx! Ouch.
>
> On my mail server ... it isn't as bad.
>   You have 6 packages (0.9%) supported until February 2015 (9m)
> libgnutls13 fail2ban rdiff-backup are the scary ones.
>

You claim you don't enable universe on servers, but these are Universe
packages:
- http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/fail2ban
- http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/rdiff-backup
- http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/heirloom-mailx
- libgnutls13 isn't even listed on packages.ubuntu.com?


>
> rdiff-backup is unsupported?!!!!!!!!  Didn't see that in the other lists
> (but looking at 6 packages does make things easier to see compared to
> 200+).
>
> What is the equiv cmd on debian?  Brought up a new debian wheezy server
> for front-end email stuff 2 weeks ago.  Appears there aren't any
> unsupported packages on it, including rdiff-backup.
>

I'm not sure, Debian LTS is a volunteer effort that's not considered an
official Debian project.  Debian stable gets updates to "main" until about
1-2 years after the next stable release (during which it is considered
"oldstable"): https://wiki.debian.org/DebianReleases


>
> Ok - both Debian and Ubuntu 14.04 are running rdiff-backup 1.2.8.
> Supported on Debian, but not supported on 14.04?  Hummmm.  Check the
> actual pkg installed - both are at 1.2.8-7.  So this is the classic 10%
> patching vs 90% correct reporting issue.  Reporting outdated packages
> correctly is MORE IMPORTANT than just saying they aren't supported.
> Don't know which is failing - debian or ubuntu at this point.
>

You've listed commands for finding when things are not supported, not when
they are outdated.  You can check outdated against your repo via apt or
similar, but you can't check outdated against upstream easily.  (Maybe this
should be possible, but then you'd need a standard format for the upstream
to report their current version, and it gets messy fast.)


>
> Sorry for sharing what probably isn't that important to many folks here.
>
> On 04/25/16 10:31, Jim Lynch wrote:
> > However if you are a school in GA that wants to run Linux and plans on
> > doing the mandatory testing, you're going to have to install Ubuntu.
> >
> > See
> >
> https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Documents/Milestones/GA%20Milestones%20DRC%20INSIGHT%20Tech%20Requirments%20To%20Post%208.3.15.pdf
> >
> > Another document that I saw suggested Fedora 20 was OK too, but that has
> > even worse support EOL was June, 2015.
> >
> > The problem with running just any old distro is that if it doesn't work
> > you are in deep dodo.
> >
> > While I don't think the distro has a lot to do with successful testing
> > via a Chrome browser, if it doesn't work and you're using Ubuntu, you
> > won't be blamed for it.
> >
> > Jim.
> >
> > On 04/25/2016 09:40 AM, Jim Kinney wrote:
> >>
> >> Ouch! That doesn't sound supported at all.
> >>
> >> Another in a growing list of why I don't use or recommend Ubuntu.
> >>
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-- 
David Tomaschik
OpenPGP: 0x5DEA789B
https://systemoverlord.com
david at systemoverlord.com
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