Ubuntu

What is Ubuntu?

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: Desktop, Server and Core for Internet of things devices and robots.

 

The entire lifecycle of Ubuntu

The following figure shows you the visualised product life cycle of Ubuntu. You can see all releases with the latest patch version, the long-term support characteristics (orange flag in the green circle, the periods for version provision, maintenance and support.

Figure: Release, patch and end-of-life cycle of product Ubuntu (Canonical)

 

What is the Ubuntu release strategy?

Releases of Ubuntu get a development codename (‘HirsuteHippo’) and are versioned by the year and month of delivery. LTS or ‘Long Term Support’ releases are published every two years in April. LTS releases are the ‘enterprise grade’ releases of Ubuntu and are used the most. An estimated 95% of all Ubuntu installations are LTS releases. Every six months between LTS versions, Canonical publishes an interim release of Ubuntu, with 21.04 being the latest example. These are production-quality releases and are supported for 9 months, with sufficient time provided for users to update, but these releases do not receive the long-term commitment of LTS releases.

Facts and figures about Ubuntu

 

 

Keywords

Ubuntu

 

Canonical

 

Operating system

 

Release

 

Version

 

Major

 

Minor

 

Patch

 

End-of-life

 

EOL

 

Support

 

End-of-support

 

EOS

 

Maintenance

 

End-of-maintenance

 

EOM

 

Security

 

Long-term support

 

LTS

 

Vulnerabilities

 

Common vulnerabilities & exposures

 

CVE

 

Security