How long is support for packages?

[SolydForEver]

Hi all,

I was just reading an article on the LinuxMint forum about the length of support for packages in the new Ubuntu 16.04 LTS distro, soon the be followed by Mint 18 LTS.
It turns out only the core part of the distro is maintained for 5 years, large parts for "only" 3 years, some only 9 months and others not at all.
The thread can be read here: What does LTS really mean? The 5 years question.

Now I know that SolydXK is a rolling release, based on Debian so no influences from Ubuntu, but how are things maintained here? How does it actually work with support on packages? Can somebody explain this to me?

Thanks.

[palimmo]

Now I know that SolydXK is a rolling release, based on Debian stable

EDIT:
SolydXK is not rolling since it is based on Debian stable.
Different is SolydXK Enthusiast's Edition (existing as a community edition), based on Debian testing.

[SolydForEver]

But SolydXK is what is LMDE to Mint, right? Only with other DE's.
Or did something change which I am not aware off?

[palimmo]

SolydXK as well as LMDE moved to Debian stable in Winter/Spring 2015.

[SolydForEver]

Okay, thank you for this info. But what does it mean for the length of support of the packages, compared to Ubuntu and Mint?

[Zill]

Linux Mint main editions are now based on Ubuntu LTS releases. See "List of Linux Mint releases" for details of when support for each Mint release ends.

Both Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) and SolydXK (main editions) are now based on Debian stable (currently Jessie), which has an EOL (end-of-life) scheduled for June 6th 2017. However, at this time Jessie will move to LTS (Long Term Support) and this should extend the EOL to June 6th 2020. See "Production Releases" for full details.

[mhwelsh]

An uninformed reply.
By packages I assume tha you mean the bits and pieces that you add to the system like kmymoney or Knoda4.
Kmymoney has a large and active software community so it will be maintained for a long time.
Knoda4 originated from a gentleman called Horst Knorr who used to maintain it until he died. Here what support there is comes from two different people and at the moment it is still usable with current system software components.

I think that looking at the structure of the Debian community these are two cases that epitomise package maintenance. in real life.


martin welsh

[kurotsugi]

please note that the date mentioned above is an estimation. hence, you'll see (~) symbol for jessie in that page. no one could predict debian's life. however, you can expect that the main version got around 4-5 years support like ubuntus.

the 2nd note, at the end of stable's life (~june 2017) you can safely upgrade into new stable. by upgrading into new stable everytime it got released, basically it means that your system is supported for a lifetime :3