[wellylug] Ubuntu LTS Desktop vs Server

[Ewen McNeill]

In message <1210629913.31834.2.camel at localhost>, Jethro Carr writes:
>On Tue, 2008-05-13 at 09:44 +1200, Carl Turney wrote:
>> I'm interested in Long-Term Support, and (for other reasons too) am soon
>> going to Ubuntu 8.04.1 [...]
>> Please, what are the pitfalls that I don't see in...
>> - Installing the Server version of Ubuntu.  [...]
>> And just treating it like a de facto Desktop system, but with 5 years of
>> bug fixes and security patches?
>
>Won't work.

As Jethro says, what you'd end up with is basically the same as if you'd
installed the Desktop version and used it for a couple more years after
the support for the Desktop version stopped.  The Desktop packages get a
shorter support period because they move so dramatically (think, eg,
Firefox) in the space of a couple of years that it's difficult to
provide any longer support -- and not much demand because most desktop
users are willing to upgrade at least to the next LTS version in a
couple of years.

>If you want long-term desktop support, take a look at CentOS 5 (aka free
>RHEL) which should have security updates for all program until 2014.

Beware, however, that there are many more things packaged for Ubuntu
(especially including universe/metaverse) than RHEL/CentOS.  If you're
requirements are very "average user" you might be fine, but if not
expect to spend some time finding things in third party repositories or
installing from source.

Essentially anything that offers long support dramatically restricts the
scope of what they're willing to support, simply to make it practical to
provide that scope of support.

Ewen