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I'm running Ubuntu 16.04 on my 32-bit PowerPC machine and, in theory, 16.04 should be supported until 2021.

However, the output of "ubuntu-support-status" seems to indicate that this is not the case:

$ ubuntu-support status
Support status summary of 'iBookG3':


You have 0 packages (0.0%) that can not/no-longer be downloaded
You have 820 packages (100.0%) that are unsupported

Run with --show-unsupported, --show-supported or --show-all to see more details

Is PowerPC still receiving security updates? Or has support for PowerPC been dropped in its entirety?

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    The basic operating system of 16.04 LTS is supported by Ubuntu until April 2021. But there are many packages that are maintained by other organisations. These may or may not be supported with security updates, but it is not supervised/supported by Ubuntu, hence the statement that they are unsupported.
    – sudodus
    Dec 27, 2019 at 23:41
  • ...duplicate: askubuntu.com/questions/988967/…
    – mikewhatever
    Dec 27, 2019 at 23:46
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    This link may help: wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ}. There is information via the internet that support for PowerPC is via the community (not by the Ubuntu company Canonical, so not official). See this link
    – sudodus
    Dec 28, 2019 at 0:12
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    In the link provided by @sudodus (lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2007-February/…) it states "Beginning with Ubuntu 7.04, the PowerPC edition of Ubuntu will be reclassified as unofficial. The PowerPC software itself and supporting infrastructure will continue to be available, and supported by a community team." thus 16.04 support ended in 2019-April (when community support ended for 16.04 for that 'port'; Canonical moved to ppc64el support only)
    – guiverc
    Dec 28, 2019 at 0:17
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    I think this means that if you want to browse the internet safely and want official support with security updates, you had better get a computer, that works with current versions of standard Ubuntu. But if you want to keep your PowerPC alive, you can still rely on the community effort, but stay away from [risky web sites on] the internet.
    – sudodus
    Dec 28, 2019 at 0:20

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General statement about Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

The basic operating system of 16.04 LTS is supported by Ubuntu until April 2021. But there are many packages that are maintained by other organisations. These may or may not be supported with security updates, but it is not supervised/supported by Ubuntu.

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for PowerPC

There are lots of help for PowerPC users at this link:

wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ

It is clearly stated that beginning in 2007 "with Ubuntu 7.04, the PowerPC edition of Ubuntu will be reclassified as unofficial. The PowerPC software itself and supporting infrastructure will continue to be available, and supported by a community team".

See this link

Ubuntu for PowerPC is now a community supported platform (the announcement) so you can no longer pay Canonical to support your PowerPC desktop machine. This also means that ISO downloads have been moved to the ports section of the Ubuntu sever, and are no longer on most mirrors. In fact, it is often hard to find any reference to PowerPC on the main Ubuntu website or packages.ubuntu.com.

However, PowerPC packages (like for other architectures) are available on launchpad where you can look up the source code, build logs and bugs. Canonical and the wider community still fix PowerPC bugs when they are reported and when they find them. However, package releases will not be delayed due to problems which are specific to PowerPC. This means there is occasionally the need for some PowerPC specific workarounds which are detailed below and on the PowerPC Known Issues page.

and this link - scroll down to 'The PowerPC Architecture'

The PowerPC Architecture

Summary:

Beginning with Ubuntu 7.04, the PowerPC edition of Ubuntu will be reclassified as unofficial. The PowerPC software itself and supporting infrastructure will continue to be available, and supported by a community team.

Current support status of Ubuntu for PowerPC

So for a long time there has been no official support. The normal community team support lasts for 3 years (not 5 years as the official support), that is until April 2019.

I think this means that if you want to browse the internet safely and want official support with security updates, you had better get a computer, that works with current versions of standard Ubuntu.

If you want to keep your PowerPC alive, you can still rely on the community effort, but stay away from [risky web sites on] the internet.

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