Kubuntu LTS

[Jonathan Jesse]

On 12/20/07, Richard A. Johnson <nixternal at kubuntu.org> wrote:
> On Thursday 20 December 2007, Jonathan Jesse wrote:
> [...]
> | Ok I think we will disagree with this.  Just curious as to what has changed
> | since UDS-Boston when we talked about doing a release of KDE4 for both
> | Gutsy and Hardy along with LTS of Kubuntu that ran 8.04.
>
> That is still the plan, however I believe that for the KDE 4 release, it was
> just going to be vanilla, as it would be impossible to maintain such a work
> load with the current amount of contributors for Kubuntu. It is tough to keep
> up with development at times with the amount we have now, Gutsy is proof.
>
> | I think we are doing a diservice to Kubuntu by not creating a Long Term
> | Support.  Kubuntu is already viewed as a 2nd class citizen to Ubuntu and I
> | think this proves it even further.  In fact after using Ubuntu on my wife's
> | machine I am begining to agree with this as well.
> | Bring on the LTS
>
> No matter the route we take, I believe we would be doing a disservice to
> Kubuntu. One thing I don't see is what does having an LTS release do to make
> Kubuntu not look as a 2nd class citizen? KDE 4 right now is all the hype in
> the community, and I think many of us have recognized this to help us to not
> be viewed as 2nd class in the future. If we don't put our current resources
> on KDE 4, then 2nd class might be something we would wish for.
>
> Right now, Jonathan Riddell is stretched thin as well as the active
> contributors/volunteers. It is tough trying to keep up with everything when
> 99.9% of our developers have a life that comes first before Kubuntu, so many
> of us contribute when we can.
>
> Another thing to consider is this. With our current setup with KDE 3.5, we
> aren't bringing in any one new to help out. By focusing on KDE 4, one thing
> we are hoping for is for this to change.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I am torn between LTS and non-LTS for a multitude of
> reasons. I know people want LTS and just as many, if not more, want KDE 4. I
> am afraid that if we do the LTS way, we will miss out on KDE 4 and the hype
> behind it. At the same time I worry about those who were looking forward to
> an LTS release. At the same time, I also realize we do 6 month releases, and
> majority of our users follow our releases and typically upgrade on release
> day, the amount of noise created in the past about dist-upgrade breakage
> supports this.
>
> I am sure that Canonical won't let people down with the LTS release side
> either, as their current clients/customers that are using KDE will need this.
> I don't see Canonical, nor Kubuntu, not doing security updates over the next
> couple of years when they arise.
>
> Another thing to realize is that upstream is changing as well. More and more
> KDE applications are focusing on KDE 4 packages and not so much on their
> current KDE 3 packages. So if we were to go LTS, we would have to also pick
> up the slack for lack of upstream support as well. If a KDE package gets an
> update after the 8.04 release, we will still backport it like always for 18
> months. In the next 18 months, or even the next 12 months, you are going to
> see the current set of available KDE 3 apps drop their KDE 3 support. We
> definitely don't have the manpower to maintain those as well.
>
> --
> Richard A. Johnson
> nixternal at kubuntu.org
> GPG Key: 0x2E2C0124
>
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>
>
I understand the fact that Jonathan is swamped and has too much to do
already.  I also want Jonathan to understand I'm not upset with him
and I hope I didn't offeend him at all

Jonathan