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I don't understand the significance of Ubuntu version numbers, especially the last portion (ex. ".4")

On the Ubuntu download page, there are the following options:

Standard support
LTS Releases
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) ›
Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS (Focal Fossa) ›
Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS (Bionic Beaver) ›

FROM: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Version             End of Standard Support   End of Life
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS    April 2027                April 2032
Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS  July 2022                 July 2022

What is the difference between Jammy Jellyfish and Focal Fossa?

Is 22.04 newer than 20.04.4?

Does this have anything to do with the "End of Life" date?

Nmath
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foshyboy
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    It seems doubtful that you really want us to regurgitate the release notes of both releases. Both are available here. The short answer is that 22.04 is two years newer. We can offer more useful advice if you can phrase a more specific question. – user535733 May 16 '22 at 15:16
  • As one glaringly obvious example of the difference, the kernel in 22.04 has the 5.15... series, even the HWE kernel in 20.04 is 5.13... – Organic Marble May 16 '22 at 19:57
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    20.04 LTS has standard support till April 2025 and reaches EOL in April 2030. 21.10 has standard support till July 2022 and reaches EOL in July 2022 as well. – HomerSimpson May 16 '22 at 20:11
  • Please read your included link well. 20.04 is LTS and therefor standard support for 5 years. EOL April 2030. – Joepie Es May 16 '22 at 20:18
  • Check this changelog page: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/jammy-jellyfish-release-notes/24668 and scroll down to the ubuntu server section – Vincenzo Greco May 16 '22 at 15:28

2 Answers2

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Is 22.04 newer than 20.04.4?

Yes

  • Ubuntu 20.04 was released in 2020 (20), April (04).
  • Ubuntu 22.04 was released in 2022 (22), April (04).

Therefore, Ubuntu 22.04 is 2 years newer.

From: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

enter image description here

As you can see from the picture above, the point release version 20.04.4 was released two months before the new version 22.04.

Note, the end of standard support for Ubuntu version 20.04 is in April 2025, not July 2022.

What is the point of the Version numbers last portion ".4"?

The last ".4" part of 20.04.4 is called the "point release." It means this is the 4 revision of the 20.04.

Both 20.04 and 22.04 are LTS. This means the version 20.04 gets long term support. Part of the long term support means support for new hardware.

For example, when 20.04 was released there were no Intel 11th generation Core i5 CPU. The original release could not have supported a CPU that was still in the Intel's drawing board. The "point releases" update the components of the OS necessary to support new hardware, while maintaining the stability by keeping everything else the same. The ".4" means this two year old Ubuntu supports hardware that came out 6 months ago.

Hope that helps

user68186
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7

It's relatively simple:

The first 2 digits (20 or 22 in your example) are the year of release. The next 2 digits are the month of release (eg 04 for April and 10 for October)

There's a new release every April and October, so there's a 20.04, 20.10, 21.04, 21.10, 22.04 etc. Each of those releases has a funny alliterative animal name (eg bionic beaver)

Every 2 years, the April release is a long term support version (eg 20.04LTS).

That version will have updated versions which you can upgrade to - they are 20.04.1, 20.04.2 etc. Those don't have a new name - they remain the same as the original release.

So at the moment you can install 22.04LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) and it will be supported until April 2027. There will be some upgrades in due course which will (presumably) be 22.04.1 and so on.

Hope that clarifies!

Will
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