Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
Canonical is no stranger to support. With every LTS release of Ubuntu, you get 5 years of standard support (which includes all packages found in the main Ubuntu repository).
If that's not enough, you can subscribe to Ubuntu Pro to gain another 5 years of security support along with support for apps within both the main and universe repositories.
It gets better.
Canonical has just announced they've added Legacy Support, which expands long-term support to a whopping 12 years for all distributions starting back to version 14.04. This is especially important to businesses who've deployed systems and need to depend on them for years.
To that, the official release announcement states, "Running the latest operating system (OS) offers new features and enhanced performance, which is a good choice for new deployments. However, for large, established production systems, the transition to a new OS version presents a challenge as it may involve updating the entire software stack running on top of it. This complexity is amplified by modern software architectures that incorporate containerisation, microservices, extensive data management features, as well as integration with third-party APIs."
The one catch to the new Legacy Support is that it is an add-on and, from the way the release reads, it's not going to be free. There's no mention of the Legacy Support add-on within the Ubuntu Support page, so it's hard to say what the price will be.
You can always use the Contact Us form to find out what the price will be, or wait until the official announcement.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.