Ubuntu 8.04.2 LTS Released

[srg_13]

I was thinking that a 6 release cycle is a waste of man power, also the result is that something like 60% of ubuntu users format every 6-7 months. Didn't we format every 5 months because Windows always scrued up? This aint progress, also dont tell me that its not needed to format. Don't even mention the update system.

Who reformats their computer every time a new release comes out? I've found that you only really need to do a clean install every three to five versions. They've even made a new tool to search for any unused packages that apt misses when it cleans up after an upgrade... Most of the time it's fine to just hit the 'Update Distribution" button in the update manager and follow the prompts.

Probably Ubuntu should come out once a year or even better once every 2 years. In the following 24 months, once in a while major packages get updated includind kernel, external drivers, desktop manager and some of the most important softwares most people use.

What do you count as 'coming out' then? Really, a new version of Ubuntu at the moment isn't much more than new versions of all the software, with a few alphas and betas to make sure that they all work together...

[MaestroMaus]

I was thinking that a 6 release cycle is a waste of man power, also the result is that something like 60% of ubuntu users format every 6-7 months. Didn't we format every 5 months because Windows always scrued up? This aint progress, also dont tell me that its not needed to format. Don't even mention the update system.

Probably Ubuntu should come out once a year or even better once every 2 years. In the following 24 months, once in a while major packages get updated includind kernel, external drivers, desktop manager and some of the most important softwares most people use.

This 6 month cycle is just meant to waste money, man power, make people format and so on. Not to mention that each release fixes 10 bugs and creates 4 new ones. thats just an example number of course.

Your hole point is invalid since Ubuntu has two release cycles, as mentioned before in this thread: LTS and normal releases.

You get two years of support on the LTS so you can use that one if you don't like the 6 month release cycle, either by using it two years and then getting a new one, or getting a new one once a year since the LTS version comes out once a year.

[mdmadph]

It's worked well for me a few times. My current Intrepid install has been upgraded from Feisty, and I can't trace any issues to the upgrading.

If you don't dig the 6-month release, then try a distro with a rolling release model (Sidux, Arch Linux, Gentoo, etc.)

You were lucky -- I upgrade over time from 7.10 to 8.04 and then to 8.10, and my system was a bloody mess. :P

Just reformatted completely to 8.04 and called it quits. I'll be fine for the next two years.

[Vadi]

It's not, people like making up stuff for no reason. That's why others call them "trolls".

Only diff in Ubuntu is that there is a button that you can press to upgrade.

[Zhick]

Rolling Releases FTW.
Btw: Imho with Debian an upgrade is pretty painless. For example etch -> lenny/sid : Change etch to lenny/sid in /etc/apt/sources.list, apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade and it's done.
Why would this be different for Ubuntu?

[BlackStar]

I'm a little confused... is this just a new up-to-date iso with all the updates (the equivalent of an MS service pack)?.. can I get the same security and bug fixes by doing the regular system update? or am i really going to have to reformat if I want to benefit from this?

Yes, yes and no.

Debian is doing a really good job if you want 2 years+ stable releases. It would be neither nice nor useful for Ubuntu to do the same. And if you want to wait longer between releases, there's XP.

Or, if you don't want to ever wait for updates and/or reformat every n months, just use Archlinux

[DanL]

Don't even mention the update system.

It's worked well for me a few times. My current Intrepid install has been upgraded from Feisty, and I can't trace any issues to the upgrading.

If you don't dig the 6-month release, then try a distro with a rolling release model (Sidux, Arch Linux, Gentoo, etc.)

[drelyn86]

I'm a little confused... is this just a new up-to-date iso with all the updates (the equivalent of an MS service pack)?.. can I get the same security and bug fixes by doing the regular system update? or am i really going to have to reformat if I want to benefit from this?

[miles]

bulletxt, that's really good arguments. You should just advocate the idea to Fedora, Open Suse, Mandriva, Ubuntu and about a hundred other distros, it's such a shame they overlooked these points.

Debian is doing a really good job if you want 2 years+ stable releases. It would be neither nice nor useful for Ubuntu to do the same. And if you want to wait longer between releases, there's XP.

[bulletxt]

I was thinking that a 6 release cycle is a waste of man power, also the result is that something like 60% of ubuntu users format every 6-7 months. Didn't we format every 5 months because Windows always scrued up? This aint progress, also dont tell me that its not needed to format. Don't even mention the update system.

Probably Ubuntu should come out once a year or even better once every 2 years. In the following 24 months, once in a while major packages get updated includind kernel, external drivers, desktop manager and some of the most important softwares most people use.

This 6 month cycle is just meant to waste money, man power, make people format and so on. Not to mention that each release fixes 10 bugs and creates 4 new ones. thats just an example number of course.