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Οut of curiosity Ι tried researching what options I have if I still use my Ubuntu 18.04 after April 2023. So I came across Extended Security Maintenance, which is free for 3 devices for personal use, as I saw. I logged in with my email and they provided me with a token:

sudo ua attach MYTOKEN

after that:

sudo ua status

gives the result: sudo ua status output

Does this mean that I will now receive extended updates for up to 10 years for my PC?

Are the disabled options beneficial?

Thanks for helping. I have been using Ubuntu for quite a lot of years now, but this is something new to me, so I'm looking forward to any insights.

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    You'll have seen this reference
    – graham
    Aug 21, 2021 at 12:37
  • i understand that. i have read through it and attached my device, i am trying to know what are fips and cis that are disabled, and by enabled status of esm means i will now continue to receive updates after 5 year period or i have to do something else ?
    – Shantanu Bedajna
    Aug 21, 2021 at 12:42
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    If you are not a security professional, or have no requirement to adhere to CIS or FIPS standards, then the disabled options are not beneficial.
    – user535733
    Aug 21, 2021 at 14:05

1 Answer 1

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On 18.04 ESM, you will only receive security patches between 2023-2028.

Not bugfixes

Not new versions

Not community support.

There is no benefit to using ESM while the release is still in the 5-year Standard Support period. ESM gets the same support and uses the same repositories until Standard Support ends (in 2023 for Ubuntu 18.04). As long as you retain the normal/correct LTS package sources, there is also no penalty.

If you disable the normal repositories and enable only the ESM repository before 2023, the only consequence is that we will gently chide you into undoing the change when you show up to ask why most of your software choices have vanished.

Opinion: ESM is designed to be a wheelchair for your elderly system: ESM is a commercial product that may keep your system active and safe long enough for you to carefully and deliberately migrate your complex enterprise workflow and custom services to a supported, thoroughly-tested new system. If you choose to use ESM for another purpose, that's entirely up to you. Most users do not need ESM, and should not view ESM as extended support (it's not).

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  • ahh very clear answer thank you !, but now that i have enabled it does that changes anything since 18.04 is still supported till 2023 april. Should i turn it off or keep it, seems like everything will work work same as usual, just after 2023 april if i dont have this ON then i won't receive security updates.
    – Shantanu Bedajna
    Aug 21, 2021 at 18:12
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    @Shantanu Bedajna: If you want community support for your ESM version, You can go to this page and vote to allow community support for these older versions that still qualify for ESM. meta.askubuntu.com/questions/19543/… - VOTE: No, I do not support the proposed changes to policy.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Sep 7, 2021 at 3:27
  • @C.S.Cameron updated to address your comment. Improvements welcome.
    – user535733
    Sep 7, 2021 at 3:44
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    @user535733 I do not really see anything wrong with what you wrote, (I upvoted it). however the Lack of community support is not written in stone and can be changed if the community insists. Lack of community support for ESM versions mainly affects poor people who can not afford the latest equipment. Being poor does not mean being ignorant. I'm sure these people can get what they need by running Debian if Ubuntu is not supported.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Sep 7, 2021 at 5:19

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