this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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It sure seems that way. Their "extended security maintenance" spam says that there are security updates that are only available if you "subscribe".
I asked the Linux community about this, and didn't get a straight answer (not surprised.)
It was enough for me to switch to Debian, though. There's no excuse for updates to be locked behind paywalls or sign-ups in the free software ecosystem.
The way I understand it is that the security team supports releases for 5 years. If you are running an older version of ubuntu than that and want security backports, you need to get the extended support. The difference in Debian is that when a release is too old, the security team simply doesn't backport security fixes. You can pay someone to do it, but it's not a part of what Debian as a project does.
The Ubuntu security team only supports the ~2,000 packages in "main"
Things like ffmpeg are in "universe" and only get security updates if you subscribe to Ubuntu Pro
ubuntu.com/security/esm
Debian's security team has always been significantly more responsive than Ubuntu. It's regularly had CVE fixes in older versions of Debian that newer versions of Ubuntu don't bother to pull into universe