As the title says. What's the point of the LTS if I have to update anyway at least every 2 years because the packages aren't updated to new versions and hence quickly contain non-supported versions?
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Besides all being said here: you are free to create your own version of Ubuntu where things are done as you want them to be done. Mind though that there are thousands of derivatives of Redhat, Suse, Debian and Ubuntu and NONE of them do it like you suggest. Basically you will lack the resources to get this done over a large period of time: it is expensive, requires time and manpower. You will also be preparing for a newer release of software where another newer newer release is already there ;-) – Rinzwind Oct 15 '18 at 06:28
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Any update to your system has the potential to break something.
- Break compatibility with other software that depends on certain behaviour
- Break compatibility with configuration the user has customised
- Introduce new bugs (regressions) into the software itself
As such it is advantageous from a system administration point of view to minimise unnecessary updates - that is, any update that isn't fixing a critical or security related issue. And even then, updates should as far as possible be restricted to only fixing the specific critical issue.
The LTS and non-LTS releases of Ubuntu are both stable releases, in that after installation the packages remain largely unchanged with updates restricted to critical issues only. However the non-LTS releases are only supported for about 9 months, forcing a whole of system upgrade twice a year with a 3 month grace. By contrast the LTS releases only force a whole of system upgrade once every 4 years with a further 1 year grace.
thomasrutter
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