Extended Security Maintenance for Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic Beaver) begins 31 May 2023

[Steve Langasek]

Ubuntu announced its 18.04 (Bionic Beaver) release 5 years ago, on April 26,
2018.  As with the earlier LTS releases, Ubuntu committed to ongoing
security and critical fixes for a period of 5 years.  The standard support
period is now nearing its end and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will transition to
Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.

Users are encouraged to evaluate and upgrade to our latest 22.04 LTS release
via 20.04 LTS.  The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is via
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.  Instructions and caveats for the upgrades may be found
at:

  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FocalUpgrades for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JammyUpgrades for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and 22.04 LTS continue to be actively supported with
security updates and bug fixes.  All announcements of official security
updates for Ubuntu releases are sent to the ubuntu-security-announce mailing
list, information about which may be found here:

  https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-security-announce

Canonical provides Extended Security Maintenance for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to
customers through Ubuntu Pro.  Further information can be found here:

  https://ubuntu.com/blog/18-04-end-of-standard-support
  https://www.ubuntu.com/esm

Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most
highly regarded Linux distributions with millions of users in homes,
schools, businesses and governments around the world. Ubuntu is Open
Source software, costs nothing to download, and users are free to
customise or alter their software in order to meet their needs.

On behalf of the Ubuntu Release Team,
-- 
Steve Langasek