Can we include HWE in the release version?

[Xen]

Bryan Quigley schreef op 06-04-16 22:35:
> Hi all,
> 
> The naming scheme of just  "Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS" is no longer
> meaningful when it comes to determining what kernel/mesa/xorg you are
> on.   It's also confusing to many users what 14.04.4 actually means
> and it makes determining if you are supported more difficult [1].
> 
> I propose for 16.04 we change it so that the HWE# is included in the
> version, so it's trivial to determine the support level.
> 
> So for example, if we had done this for 14.04 we would have releases like:
> Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS - Everyone up-to-date with stock kernel
> Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS HWE15.04 - Out of date with vivid kernel
> Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS HWE15.04 - Up-to-date with vivid kernel

Personally I feel that naming scheme is hideous and will confuse even
more people.

What does HWE even mean? I can look it up, but it is not like it is some
kind of well known acronym or abbreviation.

(The way I understood it these point releases indeed brought new kernels
in addition to something else. The confusion that I experienced was more
the weird focus on end-of-support dates that was different for every
point release, creating tiers of support that utterly confused me,
particularly because the context with other (newer) versions of the
distribution was not clear. The idea of point releases bringing new
kernels and that "HWE" is not confusing at all. However, if this
dramatically is going to change "end of support" dates, then suddenly it
is not comprehensible anymore --- did it mean that a getting point
release meant less support?

What I remember is that the point releases had less support, which is
not understandable because they are newer systems.

Also if a point release actually means newer versions of all software
this is confusing by itself. Creating the ability for new hardware is
easy to understand. But if repos for .3 and .4 are going to be entirely
different, and now you are going to create 2 dimensions: currency of
software, and currency of kernel/HWE and you can mix them at will: that
is not helpful.

So I would suggest the confusion did not come from the naming scheme.
The confusion came from the fact that these varying levels of support
were incomprehensible. If anything upgrading to a newer kernel should be
recommended and encouraged for the largest part and if anything that
should give the benefit of longer support -- since you are up to date
now, right?

The fact that 14.04.1 is listed at end of life april 2019 and 14.04.2 is
listed at august 2016 is just utterly confusing. Changing the naming is
not going to help that.

If these two components have different EOL you can just say so, I'm not
sure if that is the case.

So if you wanted some thoughts, my thought is that your proposal here
would increase the confusion while not tackling the real issue.

Regards.



> etc
> 
> This does mean we could decide to provide downloads for both (we do
> have some demand for this):
> Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS (Stock kernel)
> Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS HWE1510 (Wily HWE)
> 
> And now we can differentiate between them in the same way on the
> download site as in an installed system.
> 
> Thoughts?
> Bryan
> 
> [1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/1204_HWE_EOL
> [2] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases
>