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I'll try to be as clear as I can about this, hoping to get clear answers.

I have Ubuntu Studio 15.10, which is not an LTS version, and will only be supported till July 2016.

  • Does that mean there will be no updates whatsoever available, by the end of the support period?
  • Or does it just mean that Canonical will not update the 15.10, but updates will be available from some backports, or other repositories?
  • Is it recommended to update to the 16.04 LTS version, when support (official at least) for 15.10 will cease?
  • Will a clean install be required, in the case of upgrading from 15.10 to 16.04, or will there be a direct upgrade path?

Please note, that my questions (and thereby the answers) should not only be intended for Ubuntu Studio, but all the Ubuntu family, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Edumuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, and others, if I have forgotten some.

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3 Answers 3

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14

Well, better be concise:

  • Yes
  • No, there will be no updates.
    You will be able to install obsolete software from the EOL repositories, but nothing there will be updated and you will not receive help from this or other official help websites.
    Also, when the distro version becomes EOL you will have to follow a particular procedure to upgrade it to the next version (and not always works)
  • Yes (even before, so you have time to adapt to your new system)
  • No, a clean install will not be required. I upgraded 14.04>14.10>15.04>15.10 and I am not experiencing any problem (as it was in old times, where thing got broken pretty badly)
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  • Thanks, marked both answers as complete, see also my comment to @Benjamin Linhares. I feel safer about a clean install.
    – theodorn
    Jan 24, 2016 at 13:21
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mate! Hope this helps you:

  • Yes, it means there will be no official support from canonical for 15.10. That is the reason why LTS is always recommended for people who need stability. You can still keep using 15.10 normally, tough.

  • Yes, you can patch and update your system from other sources and/or repositories, but I wouldn't recommend it. You can even install a newer kernell version, if you want, but in my opinion it is more practical to just install the newest LTS.

  • Yes. LTS is safer, stable and supported for a longer time (FYI I'm still using 14.04 and having a blast).

  • I think there will be an upgrade path. Check this page for more information: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/upgrade However, in my opinion it is better to do a clean install, since you will probably stay with 16.04 for some time. In my case, I think I'll wait until July of 2016 to upgrade to 16.04, for example. LTS is great because it gives you a lot of time to make your choice about upgrading.

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  • 1
    Thanks, then I'll probably do a clean install of Ubuntu Studio (US) 16.04. The reason I wanted 15.10 was mainly to get the latest versions of some software, like Kdenlive. I'm not sure, but I think 14.04 only has 09.08.0 of Kdenlive, while 15.10 has the 15.08 version. A clean install will be no big deal, since I don't get that much extra software and back up my user files regularly.
    – theodorn
    Jan 24, 2016 at 13:20
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    Just so you know, even with 14.04 you could get the latest version of kdenlive if you installed directly from their repositories :)
    – Benjamim Linhares
    Jan 24, 2016 at 15:40
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    @BenjamimLinhares I have, and I get kdenlive 0.9.something. What am I doing wrong?
    – Tobia Tesan
    Jan 25, 2016 at 8:14
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    @Tobia Tesan, did you sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunab/kdenlive-release to your software sources? I only know that Linux Mint 17.3 just gets you 09.10.0, even if you add the sunab repositories. I was under the impression the latest stable LM uses the same repositories as the latest LTS Ubuntu, but I could be wrong.
    – theodorn
    Jan 25, 2016 at 9:53
5

Just a minor addition to two great answers: the most annoying thing for me about using an unsupported version is that a few months after the support window ends, apt-get stops working. The main apt repositories delete references to your version. Of course you can find archives and add them to your sources list and it starts working again, so this isn't a deal breaker. But it's one of those things that makes me feel like what I'm doing is probably a bad idea.

I actually recently downgraded some boxes from 14.10 to 14.04 because of this.

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  • This is a very good, and useful point.
    – theodorn
    Jan 25, 2016 at 9:50

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