Misleading upgrade prompts on Kubuntu 22.04 LTS incorrectly suggest early EOL

[jasoncollege24]

Didn't see anywhere else to place this feedback as there is no longer a support area for 22.04 LTS, and the system in question will be upgraded to 24.04 in the next couple of months.

Since shortly after the full release of 24.04 LTS (early 2025-ish I think), the system has been giving daily upgrade notifications that strongly suggest support for 22.04 LTS has ended, and will no longer receive updates or security fixes from Ubuntu. Since Ubuntu LTS and it's derivatives are supported for 5 years from release (and packages are actively being upgraded), the wording (and frequency) of these notifications is extremely misleading, and should probably be changed. I'd like to keep the notifications so the later upgrade doesn't get forgotten, but is there a way to lessen their frequency? Maybe weekly or monthly, instead of daily?

[claydoh]

Since Ubuntu LTS and it's derivatives are supported for 5 years from release (and packages are actively being upgraded),

NOT quite correct. Derivates, or rather the official “flavours” do not see any desktop updates at all after three years, if not even less. For Kubntu, it is “best effort” once KDE itself stops shipping updates to the version in any ubuntu release.

As far as I can tell, there is no way to pause notifications, only set it to none, normal releases, or LTS (2 years). I am not sure if there is a way to hack it so 24.04 is not seen as an LTS, but that is probably the only way, and I have not found it yet.


I think it pulls a list from a url, not a local file.

https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release
https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release-lts

[jasoncollege24]

NOT quite correct. Derivates, or rather the official “flavours” do not see any desktop updates at all after three years, if not even less. For Kubntu, it is “best effort” once KDE itself stops shipping updates to the version in any ubuntu release.

The message is talking about Ubuntu updates specifically, and is still misleading. That is the real feedback here, as it insinuates that Ubuntu 22.04 is end of life. Maybe it's flavors aren't fully updated (such as KDE), but the Ubuntu core still seems to be getting updates, and the lifecycle online does say it's supported until April 2027. Should I be leaving this feedback on the Ubuntu forums instead of here?

[claydoh]

Since it isn't Plasma or KDE-related, Kubuntu doesn't develop this part, so has no control over this sort of thing, tbh, and the behavior has always been this way.

You might find someone with a similar thought over the years on Askubuntu, or ask on their Discourse - I see actual devs and similar folks in there. I haven't delved into this on either site at all, to be honest. I'd think this is not a unique idea that hasn't come up in all the years.

[oshunluvr]

The message is talking about Ubuntu updates specifically, and is still misleading. That is the real feedback here, as it insinuates that Ubuntu 22.04 is end of life. Maybe it's flavors aren't fully updated (such as KDE), but the Ubuntu core still seems to be getting updates, and the lifecycle online does say it's supported until April 2027. Should I be leaving this feedback on the Ubuntu forums instead of here?

It seems like your objection is the missing letter "K". The information is technically correct, just not spelled correctly.

It has been established that while Ubuntu will get updates until 2027, Kubuntu will not. The parts of Kubuntu that make it not Ubuntu will no longer be supported. Does that mean you have to upgrade? Not really, just that updates will net be provided.

If you examine "/etc/systemd/system/timers.target.wants/update-notifier-motd.timer" the description does indeed say "Ubuntu" and not "Kubuntu". This says to me that the Kubuntu team does not have it's "hands on" the update notifier and it's maintenance is left to the Ubuntu team.

So the answer to your question "Should I be leaving this feedback on the Ubuntu forums instead of here?" is no. Not because you're wrong or your point isn't valid but because forums are for discussion, not developer feedback. No developers are required to participate in any public forum. If you want something fixed, you should properly file a bug report.

So now the question is where to file? Ubuntu or Kubuntu? For Ubuntu, the current condition is correct, so not a bug. For Kubuntu, the team does not extend updates like bug fixes past 3 years, so you'd be reporting a bug to no one. Likely, the bug report would be immediately discarded or simply ignored as "End of Life." You would effectively be expecting the Kubuntu team to add the update notifier to is list of packages they have to maintain. I doubt they'd consider it, but anything is possible. It might be worth a try.