In these days, a series of important events related to the Free software that we have not been able to share with you due to certain problems with our connection.
Apparently things are not going to improve, so I take the opportunity to leave you verbatim the announcement made in the debian website about the end of Support for Debian GNU / Linux 5.0 (aka Lenny). From the start we thank the user 103 for notifying us via email.
Security support for Debian GNU / Linux 5.0 ended on February 6
One year after the release of Debian 6.0 aliases
Squeezeand about three years after the release of Debian GNU / Linux 5.0 aliasesLenny, security support for the older stable distribution (5.0 aliasesLenny) came to an end a few days ago. The Debian project is proud to have supported the old stable distribution for a long time, and even for a year after the new version was released.Debian project released Debian 6.0 aliases
Squeezeon February 6, 2011. Users and distributors have been given a period of one year to update their old installations to the current stable distribution. Therefore, security support for the 5.0 distribution ended on February 6, 2012 as previously announced.Security updates previously announced for distribution will continue to be available at security.debian.org.
Security updates
The Debian Security Team provides security updates to the current distribution throughhttp://security.debian.org/>. Security updates for the old stable distribution are also provided for one year after the new distribution has been released, or until the current distribution is superseded, whichever comes first.
Upgrading to Debian 6.0 aliases
SqueezeUpgrades to Debian 6.0 from the previous distribution, Debian GNU / Linux 5.0 aka
Lenny, are automatically handled by the apt-get package management tool for most configurations, and to a degree also by the aptitude package management tool. As always, Debian GNU / Linux systems can be updated without hassle, without forced downtime, but it is recommended to read the release notes to avoid inconvenience, and for detailed installation and upgrade instructions.About Debian
Debian is a free operating system developed by thousands of volunteers from around the world who collaborate over the Internet. Debian's dedication to Free Software, its non-profit nature, and its open development model make it unique among GNU / Linux distributions.
The main strengths of the Debian project are its volunteer base, its dedication to the Debian Social Contract, and its commitment to providing the best possible operating system. Debian 6.0 is another important step in that direction.
Contact
For more information visit the Debian website at http://www.debian.org/, or send an email to .
3 years of support I think is a short time.
I don't think it's a short time if you consider that the Debian "oldstable" branch compared to the "stable" software is a bit outdated. Debian has opportunely maintained a stable system for a long time with support for a monstrous number of architectures, it is a very difficult task when you consider that it is a completely community driven distribution and not financially supported like others. Of those three years of support, one is so that users have time to update from the "oldstable" branch to the "stable" branch, I think these three years are rather generous instead of little. We must also see this situation from another point of view, this support includes only security updates, so what about the software update? Debian's guidelines and decision making have always been firm to my understanding and as a result it has remained a respectable and influential distribution.
@ 103, but assuming it is a production server, a database that grows enormously every day along with other types of information and an unprecedented 24/7 process load; believe me it is not funny to be migrating every 3 years.
Other distributions like Red Hat and its clones (that sounded funny) have support for 7 years and not long ago the Red Hat increased its time to 10 years. The reason for giving such long times has to do with what I mentioned in the first paragraph and also the white running time which are the first days or the first weeks where the "last adjustments" have to be fine-tuned and where the system will work. somewhat unstable. So it doesn't make sense to be migrating every 3 years when it can be done every 10.
For this type of situation, companies have strategies such as backup or virtualized servers or others that depend on each person. The system in production can be 'online' and another being updated and in a matter of seconds become the primary server.
I do not think it is good to compare Red Hat with Debian in this sense, Red Hat is a distribution that is focused on business environments where things like the one you explain happen, Debian is oriented for both servers, business environments and desktop, in addition to what I explained previously there are many, many architectures and packages that have to be maintained. I am not criticizing Red Hat's model or any other distribution, just that Debian's generosity is unmatched.
But a production environment with a dozen machines is not the same as one with a few thousand ...
@proper, 3 years is quite generous considering debian belongs to the community. In any case, you have the option of using ubuntu (server) LTS, or paying for RedHat or SuSe Enterprise ..
It would be good to have it at least 5, but security flaws are constantly found and there are updates regarding the path of the files, formats in the file system: from ext3 to ext4 and now Btrfs; new versions of applications, it would be good to always be at the forefront with the systems, although the fact of migrating from one version to another involves a lot of expense (either time or money), that's where the dilemma ... 😐
I wanted to try this distro and I never did, it hurts
Well, nothing prevents you from doing it.
Debian is still alive and well, only support for version 5.0 has ended, although if you really want to try that version, you can still do so. However, I would recommend version 6.0, which has a more updated repository.