Release dates

[lmuserx4849]

I was looking at LM release dates at distrowatch.

For this chat, I'm calling 18, 17, "versions", and the number after the version (.1, .2, .3), "release".

1. What software is suppose to change between the releases?

2. After a new release comes out, do older LTS releases mostly only get security updates?

3. If the base for a version's release is always the same ubuntu (trusty/14.04.?), does that mean things like gnu core utils, bash, gimp won't get updated until the next version?

I think I'm missing something

The release notes for LM 17 all say based on Ubuntu 14.04, but when I looked at distrowatch it shows for Ubuntu the date 14.04.5 to be 2016.08.05, which is after LM 17.3. Evidently Ubuntu has 14.04.5, 14.04.4, 14.04.3, 14.04.2, 14.04.1, 14.04 (2014.04.17).

The 3rd digit in Ubuntu's numbering system, I'll call "modification".

4. What kinds of changes occur between Ubuntu's modifications and releases? I assume versions are major changes.

Code: Select all

===> sed -n "/PRETTY_NAME/p" /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS"

I don't want my OS and system utilities to be bleeding edge (applications more so) but I'd like to stay a little more current, and I'm wondering how can I do that at LM.

18.3 2017.12.15
18.2 2017-07-02
18.1 2016-12-16
18.0 2016-06-30 based on ubuntu xenial

17.3 2015-12-04 (ubuntu 14.04.5 - 2016.08.05)
17.2
17.1
17.0 2014-05-31 based on ubuntu trusty
...

[michael louwe]

@ lmuserx4849, .......

.

.
LM 18.x is based on the Point Releases of Ubuntu 16.04.x. The reasons for Point Releases are ...

A point release is a minor release of a software project, especially one intended to fix bugs or do small cleanups rather than add significant features. Often, there are too many bugs to be fixed in a single major or minor release, creating a need for a point release.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_release
.

Like other LTS releases, 12.04 included point releases that bundled updates to shorten downloads for users installing the release later in its lifecycle.

Point releases included 14.04.1 on 24 July 2014, 14.04.2 on 19 February 2015, 14.04.3 on 6 August 2015, 14.04.4 on 18 February 2016 and 14.04.5 on 4 August 2016. The release initially included Linux kernel 3.13, but this was updated to 4.2 with the point release of 14.04.4 on 18 February 2016. The final point release, 14.04.5, provided the latest Linux kernel and graphics stacks from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_version_history

The Point Releases of Ubuntu are like the Service Packs for Win XP/Vista/7, eg Win XP SP1, Win XP SP2, Win XP SP3 and Win 7 SP1.

[xenopeek]

1. New releases in general bring new hardware enablement from them using newer kernel and newer graphics stack. They will also have the available security updates applied to the packages on them. That all is comparable to what Ubuntu does with its point releases. Linux Mint in addition brings you new feature releases (not just bugfixes) of the software developed and/or maintained by Linux Mint. Things like the X-Apps, Mint tools, Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce and so on.

2. Yes.

3. Unless there are security updates for such packages, yes.

4. While Linux Mint uses the Ubuntu repositories as a package base it doesn't use the Ubuntu ISOs. The Ubuntu ISO point releases are basically just the same ISO but with the packages on it updated with the available security updates and new hardware enablement. Such that after installion of the Ubuntu ISO point release there are fewer updates the user would have to install and the chance of the software working with newer hardware being better. Linux Mint also does that for its ISO point releases but as noted above Linux Mint also does new feature releases of software developed and/or maintained by Linux Mint as part of its ISO point releases.

In short, the Ubuntu ISO point releases do the same thing as simply installing available updates on your LTS install. The Linux Mint ISO point releases actually bring new feature releases of select software.

[lmuserx4849]

...
In short, the Ubuntu ISO point releases do the same thing as simply installing available updates on your LTS install. The Linux Mint ISO point releases actually bring new feature releases of select software.
...

Okay. Installing 17.1 and 17.3 will create the same system in the end, but 17.1 will have more initial updates to catchup to 17.3.

[lmuserx4849]

Goal: Stay reasonably current in the future, and learn a bit right now

How Ubuntu and LM relate (Links: #1,2,3):

Code: Select all

Ubuntu....Type...Date...  LinuxMint...Date......Status
16.04.....Rel....2016-04  18.0........2016-06...LTS 2021-04
14.04.5...Chg....2016-08  ......................LTS 2019-04
14.04.4...Chg....2016-02  ......................LTS 2019-04
14.04.3...Chg....2015-08  17.3........2015-12...LTS 2019-04
14.04.2...Chg....2015-02  17.2........2015-06...LTS 2019-04
14.04.1...Chg....2014-07  17.1........2014-11...LTS 2019-04
14.04.....Rel....2014-04  17.0........2014-05...LTS 2019-04

I used the LM Date from DistroWatch and it did seem to come right after the Ubuntu Date. However, there are 0,1-5 changes for Ubuntu, and 0,1-3 for LM.
/etc/os-release shows my LM 17.3 system is at Ubuntu 14.04.5. I'm not sure how it got there. From the above data, the Ubuntu version should be 14.04.3.

From the above and link (#3), it looks like every 2 years all software would be updated.

There are some packages that get updated though, like firefox. Is there a list at LinuxMint, Ubuntu, or Debian of these packages?

If I were to add another column to the above table for Debian, where would I find the Debian version/name & date that Ubuntu uses to create 14.04 and 16.04?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The above showed me the entire system, now I want to follow the history of some software in LM 17. I opted for bash.

A. The current version on LM 17.3 is bash --version ===> 4.3.11

B. Bash @gnu.org (#4):

Bash 4.3 - 2014-02
Bash 4.3.30 - 2014-11
Bash 4.3-patch - 2016-10

Bash 4.4 - 2016-09
Bash 4.4.12 - 2017-10
Bash 4.4.18 - 2018-01
Bash 4.4-patch - 2018-02

C. I keep dpkg logs to have a complete history (I miss rpm --last ). Unfortunately this only shows 4.3, and no third digit.

2017-05 installed bash:amd64 4.3-7ubuntu1.6
2017-05 installed bash:amd64 4.3-7ubuntu1.7

2015-07 installed bash:amd64 4.3-6ubuntu1
2015-07 installed bash:amd64 4.3-7ubuntu1.5

I'm not sure where the ".11" came from in bash 4.3.11. The ".11" is nowhere in apt that I could find; And at gnu.org I found, 4.3, 4.3.30, and 4.3.patch. At link (#11), Debian package manager, I saw a bash 4.3-11, 2014-10, but I don't think 4.3.11 is the same as 4.3-11. I did see at link (#12) a line, "2014-02-26 Bash-4.3 distribution sources and documentation bash-4.3". So this must be it. Chet creates a cutoff point for distributions to use.

I did look at /usr/share/doc/bash-doc/changelog.Debian.gz and saw that 4.3-7ubuntu1.7 was a security update. This was clearly a Debian CHANGELOG. I was surprised that I could not find the bash CHANGELOG installed. I had to look online (#10). Normally in /usr/share/doc/bash or /usr/share/doc/packages/bash you'll see BUGS, CHANGES, FAQ, etc. When there are files in this directory, Debian always gzips them. They never seem that large.

I searched (#5) to find out how packages were named:

bash:amd64 4.3-7ubuntu1.7

4.3 = bash version
7 = debian version of the package
1.7 = ubuntu version

On LinuxMint 18.3, Bash is at version 4.3.48. At link (#12), bash git log, there is no patch 48. The log for 4.3 only goes up to 46 ("2016-06-20 Bash-4.3 patch 46"), and then comes bash 4.4. HHHHmmmm....

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lastly, does anyone know what the #66 below mean?

===> uname -r
4.4.0-45-generic

===> uname -v
#66~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 19 15:05:38 UTC 2016

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

== Links
1. DistroWatch Ubuntu
* https://distrowatch.com/index.php?distribution=ubuntu

2. DistroWatch LinuxMint
* https://distrowatch.com/index.php?distribution=mint

3. Ubuntu Releases
* https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

4. Bash Versions
* http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/

5. Ubuntu Package Names
* https://askubuntu.com/questions/620533/ ... e-packages

6. Ubuntu release end of life
* https://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life

7. Package list @Ubuntu
There were 3 dirs, 14.04.5, 14.04, and trusty.
They all seemed to be the same.
* http://releases.ubuntu.com/

8. Package list @LinuxMint
I searched for bash and only found 4.3+linuxmint5 for
sylvia, sonya, serena, sarah. All version LM 18.
Nothing for LM 17.
* http://packages.linuxmint.com/

9. Ubuntu Package Search
* https://packages.ubuntu.com/

10. Bash CHANGES
* https://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/bash/CHANGES

11. Debian Package tracker for bash
* https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/bash

12. Bash Git Repository
* http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/bash.git/log/?ofs=50

[catweazel]

The Point Releases of Ubuntu are like the Service Packs for Win XP/Vista/7, eg Win XP SP1, Win XP SP2, Win XP SP3 and Win 7 SP1.

Nonesense.

[xenopeek]

...
In short, the Ubuntu ISO point releases do the same thing as simply installing available updates on your LTS install. The Linux Mint ISO point releases actually bring new feature releases of select software.
...

Okay. Installing 17.1 and 17.3 will create the same system in the end, but 17.1 will have more initial updates to catchup to 17.3.

If you're using Linux Mint version numbers then no, you're incorrect or you misunderstood. Ubuntu 14.04.3 is the same thing as Ubuntu 14.04.1 with package updates applied. Linux Mint 17.3 is not the same thing as Linux Mint 17.1 with package updates applied. It is for the packages that come from the Ubuntu 14.04 package base repository but not for the packages that come from the Linux Mint repository. Because Linux Mint 17.3 repository provides you with new feature releases of software developed and/or maintained by Linux Mint, which are not available on Linux Mint 17.1 repository.

[SwanRider]

...
In short, the Ubuntu ISO point releases do the same thing as simply installing available updates on your LTS install. The Linux Mint ISO point releases actually bring new feature releases of select software.
...

Okay. Installing 17.1 and 17.3 will create the same system in the end, but 17.1 will have more initial updates to catchup to 17.3.

If you're using Linux Mint version numbers then no, you're incorrect or you misunderstood. Ubuntu 14.04.3 is the same thing as Ubuntu 14.04.1 with package updates applied. Linux Mint 17.3 is not the same thing as Linux Mint 17.1 with package updates applied. It is for the packages that come from the Ubuntu 14.04 package base repository but not for the packages that come from the Linux Mint repository. Because Linux Mint 17.3 repository provides you with new feature releases of software developed and/or maintained by Linux Mint, which are not available on Linux Mint 17.1 repository.

This is slightly off topic, but thank you for explaining this, I was wondering about the numbers and you have made it very clear as to what they are. I wonder how many people like myself who have come from windows thought they were like the service packs. Now I know this, I can tell others if asked - thanks xenopeek