[285] in Athena Release Announcements
[release-announce] Debathena Support status of Ubuntu 8.04, 11.04,
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan Reed)
Fri Oct 19 11:25:31 2012
From: Jonathan Reed <jdreed@mit.edu>
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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:24:55 -0400
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Good morning,
NOTE: This message applies to anyone running Debathena on Ubuntu 8.04 or Ubuntu 11.04, as well as anyone considering upgrading to Ubuntu 12.10. If you're unsure what version you're running, see <http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/x/PwCtAQ>
If you are receiving this e-mail, but are no longer responsible for Athena workstations or software in your department, lab, or center, please forward this message to your colleagues and encourage them to sign up for this list at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/release-announce
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Summary of changes:
- End of Debathena support and Ubuntu updates for 11.04
- End of Debathena support for 8.04 (Ubuntu security updates still available through April 2013)
- Statement on Debathena compatibility with Ubuntu 12.10
Ubuntu will be ending support for 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) on October 28, 2012. Anyone still running Ubuntu 11.04 should upgrade or reinstall their workstation as soon as possible. If you are running the "debathena-cluster" metapackage, your workstation should have automatically updated to Ubuntu 12.04. If it did not, you will need to reinstall it. (You can identify which metapackage you're running by following the instructions at: http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/x/6ooBCQ) Please note that if you choose to upgrade, you will first need to upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric), and from there to Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise). After October 28, your machine will continue to function, but will no longer receive security updates or bugfixes. IS&T support for Ubuntu 11.04 will also end on October 28, 2012.
Debathena will also be ending support for Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) on October 28, 2012. Ubuntu will continue to provide limited security updates for Ubuntu 8.04 through April 2013, but Debathena itself will no longer provide any updates or support. Anyone still running Ubuntu 8.04 should upgrade to at least Ubuntu 10.04 (the following Long Term Support release) as soon as possible, and ideally to Ubuntu 12.04. Please note that Ubuntu 8.04 was never supported (beyond an initial beta release) by IS&T, nor was it ever deployed on IS&T-owned or IS&T-maintained workstations.
Yesterday, October 18, Ubuntu released the newest version of their operating system: Ubuntu 12.10. Debathena is in the final stages of testing compatibility, and at this time, only the "debathena-standard" and "debathena-login" metapackages have been tested. Further updates will be posted on the Debathena web page (http://debathena.mit.edu). Ubuntu 12.10 will not be deployed to the Athena clusters, and IS&T continues to recommend Ubuntu 12.04 for personal Debathena workstations.
Finally, please note that as with all operating system upgrades, a downgrade is not possible without completely reinstalling the workstation, so IS&T encourages anyone considering an upgrade to fully test all third-party software and mission critical tasks with the newest version, prior to upgrading.
Jonathan Reed
For the Athena Release Team
