Is there a version of Maui that follows NEON LTS

[Fargo]

I know that Maui is built on top of KDENeon which is built on top of Ubuntu LTS. I also know that Neon offers a user rolling version and a user LTS version. But does Maui offer a Plasma LTS branch that follows Neon user LTS? I see that the latest release (Maui 17.03) is now following the newer Plasma 5.9*. So thats not an LTS release. But what about Maui 2.1?

I was hoping that Maui 2.1 would continue to follow Plasma LTS, but I just ran the update manager and Plasma wasn't updated at all. Is this due to issues with the Plasma 5.8.* branch? Or does Maui not update plasma at all?

Please let me know how Maui will be handling the 2 different branches of Neon. Is there any chance we will see a Maui LTS version that follows Plasma LTS?

[leszek]

Maui is not following the Neon LTS repos.
You could however use Maui 2.1 and add the neon lts repo and upgrade from there.
That should work. However we do not officially support that and you are then basically running KDE Neon LTS

[Fargo]

So what gets updated with Maui 2.1? I ran the update manager and I know I got some updates. But it didn't update me to the latest version of Maui and it didn't update plasma. I guess my question is who is maintaining the repos for Maui 2.1? Is this just Ubuntu updates with the risk of breaking Maui or are these tested by Maui.

[leszek]

Maui 2.1 stays as is with maintenance and security updates provided by ubuntu lts.
If you want a newer Plasma version and KDE Applications you need to activate the maui-xenial-backports and maui-xenial-backports-neon repositories.
These provide the newest of them. However they don't follow the Neon LTS repos.

[Fargo]

Thank you. I'll have to think it over. Since I want a stable system maybe Maui 2.1 is the best option after all. I don't need the application updates. I just wanted the security and bug fixes in the neon lts

[Fargo]

Another question for you. Without changing any repos, how are the updates for the new Maui 17.03 release being handled? Does this release follow Neon rolling? Will it be constantly updated with the latest Neon packages? Or will it be frozen in the same manor as Maui 2.1 and only get Ubuntu security updates after its release?

Sorry for the questions. I just couldn't find any of these details on the website.

[leszek]

Maui 17.03 will be handled the same way as 2.1

[Fargo]

Thank you. I also just read the "Part Rolling via Backports" page again.

https://mauilinux.org/part-rolling-via-backports/

Thanks to your responses and this page, I think I am getting a better idea of how Maui Linux is put together.

If I understand it correctly, each Maui release is a set of frozen packages. Once released, these packages will not be updated, but only security updates from ubuntu will be made. (Unless backports are enabled which basically creates a constantly updated desktop and applications packages built on top of Ubuntu LTS and KDENEON)

Does that sound about right?

[leszek]

That sounds exactly right.

[Fargo]

Is that going to make it hard for the maintainers to keep up with everything? It seems like you will have a lot of different varieties of mixed systems out there. Does that open up potential for unstable systems, or worse yet security concerns?

I'm coming from the perspective of a Debian Stable based distro. So I'm used to only seeing one release every 2-3 years. So its hard for me to comprehend how you can maintain and support so many different releases. I realize they are all based on the same Ubuntu LTS core, but even with Debian Stable you can have issues when you start installing backports. Is Maui really able to test each release sufficiently to provide a reliable release so often?

Please don't take me wrong. I really like what you (and KDE Neon) are doing. I just fear that it sounds too good to be true.