14.04.5 release not documented? HWE upgrade broken?

[John Gilmore]

I tried sending this two months ago, it didn't seem to go through.
Let's try again, because the release is still broken.

	John

------- Forwarded Message

To: ubuntu-gnome at lists.ubuntu.com, gnu at toad.com
Subject: 14.04.5 release not documented?  HWE upgrade broken?
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 00:28:50 -0800
From: John Gilmore <gnu at toad.com>

There is apparently a 14.04.5 LTS release of Ubuntu Gnome, here:

  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-gnome/releases/trusty/release/

But there is nothing about this release in the usual places, like
here:

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGNOME/GetUbuntuGNOME
and
  https://ubuntugnome.org/download/
and
  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TrustyTahr/ReleaseNotes/UbuntuGNOME

Those pages still claim that 14.04.4 is the current 14.04 LTS release.
Is it?  Or isn't it?

	John

PS: The thing called "software updater" in the GUI (I don't know what
its real command-line name is) forced my Ubuntu-Gnome 14.04.x system
to upgrade to a new "Hardware Enablement Stack" otherwise it wouldn't
let me upgrade to *any* security updates of any sort.  (The only
options it offered are "upgrade to Enablement Stack" or "exit".)
Doing the upgrade broke my system.  I can log in, but as soon as I run
something, anything, even a Terminal, it pops up on the screen for a
second, and then gets its window borders un-decorated, and then the
screen background crashes, then the whole screen goes back to ASCII
daemon startup text for a second, and then the GDM login screen
reappears.  I'm avoiding upgrades on my other 14.04.x system because
life gets much harder when both your machines won't let you run any
programs.  I'm looking for the best 14.04 LTS release ISO so I can do
a full reinstall from scratch on the dead machine, because the
upgrader is so ($%()#$*#)@) unreliable.

PPS:  This page lies:

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/1404_HWE_EOL

Here's the lie:

  FAQ

  I am running 14.04.2 HWE. From August 4, 2016 onwards my system will
  no longer receive package updates?

  Not true. Such a system will only stop receiving updates for the
  kernel and the graphics stack. The rest of the software will
  continue to get updates.

In fact, when you run "Software Updater", it gives this message:

  New important security and hardware support update.

  WARNING: Security updates for your current Hardware Enablement Stack
  ended on 2016-08-04:
  * http://wiki.ubuntu.com/1404_HWE_EOL

  [Settings]  [Install]   [OK]

Those are the only choices.  Settings is not useful.  Install puts in
the new HWE stuff.  OK causes it to immediately exit, without giving
you the usual dialogue showing you packages to upgrade.  There is no
option to continue installing updates to the rest of your software.

------- End of Forwarded Message