• From: Fayetteville, Arkansas
  • Registered: 2011-04-25
  • Posts: 150

Topic: debian lifespan

I have a headless mini-itx server in a closet as a file server, apache server, ftp server, and printing with an older laser printer. My wife and I use this machine extensively as we travel and work in various places. (She's currently in the Amazon basin.) I was annoyed to find that the Opensuse installation (11.2) had a short "lifespan". There isn't much support for getting a simple IRC-server installed. I'd like to put debian on it, but there's a lot of configuration and reloading of databases, etc.. I don't want to have to do this every couple of years.
What is the lifespan of a typical debian release? In other words, how long could you expect to use it? There's probably a better term for it than "lifespan". ;-)

  • Registered: 2011-03-09
  • Posts: 3,235

Re: debian lifespan

i'm not 100% sure what you mean. are you talking about when, for example, you install Debian in 2000, will you still be able to install stuff on it in 2011, for example?

i mean, if you talk about 'expected use'... when you install Debian today, you can expect to use it until your hardware dies. but i suppose that'd go for any other distro as well.. which is why your question confuses me smile

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  • From: Lincoln, UK
  • Registered: 2008-11-20
  • Posts: 4,427

Re: debian lifespan

I guess there are a number of factors which come into play here and so giving a definitive answer is going to be difficult.

If we look at the facts, Debian 5 "Lenny" is the current oldstable release. It was officially released on Feb 15th, 2009 and it will continue to be oldstable until Wheezy is released (or it is classified as "end of life", which is stated to be on 2012-02-06). Debian has a release policy of "when ready" and so it is impossible to tell when this will happen, although I believe the release team are looking at a 2 year cycle. Given that Squeeze was released on February 6th, 2011, it could be another year yet. If this is the case, oldstable "Lenny" will have had a lifespan of about 3 years.

But...

...if you had starting using Lenny while it was still in testing, which would not be unreasonable, the lifespan would increase again by another 2 years. Giving a total life span of ~5 years, possibly.

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  • ej64
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  • From: somewhere in Germany
  • Registered: 2010-09-24
  • Posts: 63

Re: debian lifespan

Usually debian support is 3 years (look here)

If you're after longer support, the next Ubuntu LTS will arrive in April and will be supported until April 2017. This applies to all Ubuntu releases (main, server, Xubuntu, Kubuntu ...) and derivatives (like Mint).

An alternative is Cent OS 6 (based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux) which is supported until November 2017 with maintainance updates.

Other than that you may use Arch with it's rolling release model. You'll have to update regularly but can do that indefinitely (in theory).

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  • From: #! NightClub
  • Registered: 2011-06-02
  • Posts: 3,869

Re: debian lifespan

ej64 wrote:

Other than that you may use Arch with it's rolling release model. You'll have to update regularly but can do that indefinitely (in theory).

That is not what OP wants I suspect, otherwise you can do that with Debian too, upgrading from version to version forever or use Debian Sid.

Debian Stable is supported about 3 years, when you stay on Oldstable even more.

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  • From: inside Ed
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 2,867

Re: debian lifespan

ivanovnegro wrote:

Debian Stable is supported about 3 years, when you stay on Oldstable even more.

When a new version of Debian becomes available, the previous stable becomes oldstable. From that point on it gets one year of support. Support for Lenny is at an end.

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  • Registered: 2011-03-09
  • Posts: 3,235

Re: debian lifespan

just for my own understanding, could someone clarify what is meant by 'support'?
i mean, i just install my system and might run it until the end of time until the hardware breaks down or something... do i have anything to do with support? or are you guys talking about actually doing upgrades (which i never do)?

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  • From: #! NightClub
  • Registered: 2011-06-02
  • Posts: 3,869

Re: debian lifespan

el_koraco wrote:

When a new version of Debian becomes available, the previous stable becomes oldstable. From that point on it gets one year of support. Support for Lenny is at an end.

Correct. So, Lenny was supported 3 years?

rhowaldt wrote:

just for my own understanding, could someone clarify what is meant by 'support'?
i mean, i just install my system and might run it until the end of time until the hardware breaks down or something... do i have anything to do with support? or are you guys talking about actually doing upgrades (which i never do)?

We are talking about security related support as you get them with regular updates in one release. Lenny has now reached end of life e.g.
Of course you could still use it but it would be better to be offline for security reasons etc.

Edit: Typo and Debian trys to make the official releases of one version every once in two years but usually it needs a bit more time.

Last edited by ivanovnegro (2012-02-09 15:42:03)

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  • Registered: 2011-03-09
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Re: debian lifespan

ah ok, thanks ivanov, that makes sense. i don't pay attention to security etc much, so this has never been a topic i looked into.

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  • From: #! NightClub
  • Registered: 2011-06-02
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Re: debian lifespan

^ But you do update your system? For example you now should be on #! Statler (Debian 6.0.4) regardless of the Statler point releases.

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  • From: inside Ed
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 2,867

Re: debian lifespan

ivanovnegro wrote:
el_koraco wrote:

When a new version of Debian becomes available, the previous stable becomes oldstable. From that point on it gets one year of support. Support for Lenny is at an end.

Correct. So, Lenny was supported 3 years?

Something like that. But if something happens, and Wheezy gets released in 2013, Squeeze will have support till 2014. The policy is not support for three years, it's until the next stable plus one year.

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  • From: Fayetteville, Arkansas
  • Registered: 2011-04-25
  • Posts: 150

Re: debian lifespan

Thanks guys. The Opensuse machine is still running as it will for a long time, but it can't be updated easily or have new software added easily. The wikipedia page has a great little chart that I could not find on the Debian site itself. I may look at CentOs. Of course, I'll keep using Crunchbang on my netbook.

  • From: inside Ed
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 2,867

Re: debian lifespan

If you want something that will run and get updates without fresh installs for as long as the hardware supports it, CentOS is your best bet. Slackware too, but Slack requires more manual intervention.

Last edited by el_koraco (2012-02-09 16:38:47)

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  • Registered: 2011-03-09
  • Posts: 3,235

Re: debian lifespan

ivanovnegro wrote:

^ But you do update your system? For example you now should be on #! Statler (Debian 6.0.4) regardless of the Statler point releases.

no, i don't. don't really see the point, honestly. everything is working as it should. the only reason for updating i can think of is 'security updates', and since i still have not a very faint idea of what that means exactly, i just don't update at all.

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  • From: inside Ed
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 2,867

Re: debian lifespan

rhowaldt wrote:

no, i don't. don't really see the point, honestly. everything is working as it should. the only reason for updating i can think of is 'security updates', and since i still have not a very faint idea of what that means exactly, i just don't update at all.

big_smile Security updates are fixes for programs which have security vulnerabilities. Every so often, it's found out that attackers can exploit a vulnerability in ssh, pdf readers, some kernel module and similar. So the Debian guys apply the upstream patches to the programs in your repo and push the updates.

As an example, 99,99 percent of all the exploits on Windows are due to people not applying security updates. The rest are zero-day exploits, or exploits against a previously undocumented security hole. It doesn't matter in the same way on Linux, but still, it's good to update.

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  • Registered: 2011-03-09
  • Posts: 3,235

Re: debian lifespan

^ ok, well, maybe i'll start updating then big_smile

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  • Registered: 2010-09-02
  • Posts: 347

Re: debian lifespan

Set up unattended updates for security updates and it will be automatic.

Since Linux does not require a reboot for updates you will most likely never notice them.

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  • From: #! NightClub
  • Registered: 2011-06-02
  • Posts: 3,869

Re: debian lifespan

^ But there will be updates on the kernel and thus a reboot would be required.

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  • Registered: 2010-09-02
  • Posts: 347

Re: debian lifespan

True, but those are the only time and with Debian stable very rare.

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