LTS for Mageia 5

[xboxboy]

Oden: I wish you the best with this: I always enjoyed the powerpack days.

How to judge demand is a huge task. Mageia is in that magic zone where the community is big enough for an awesome result, but too small for mass adaption (how Ubuntu achieved it I will never understand). Now we're trying to work out how to monetize a 'free' product so that paying customers can have LTS.....Other than business, the people most likely willing to pay will want the latest stable version, not an older version: Such a conflict.

Many businesses are simply using CENTOS for it's stability, or Ubuntu for its massive userbase.

My business boxes are Mageia driven (other than the main server, CENTOS there, my mate administers that for me), and TBH I do dred the day I need to update. Would I pay for LTS, yes, but are there enough people like me? Maybe, but you need to find them, then get them to hand over the money........

I see exactly where doc is coming from: The poor devs, packagers, QA teams are stretched beyond their limits, and just getting the next release out is a mountain. I've often wondered if there is some how we could sell some merchandise to bolster the finances so we could pay for some development: But this is more complicated than it sounds, as always. But I would love an awesome Mageia hoodie

Maybe we need a rich philanthropist, but then you run into bias issues....

[doktor5000]

Mageia is in that magic zone where the community is big enough for an awesome result, but too small for mass adaption (how Ubuntu achieved it I will never understand).

Maybe the millions that were pumped in, which were also partly used to create a lot of documentation, translation and local communities and such helped slightly.
Also paid full-time employees do help ... slightly.

Would I pay for LTS, yes, but are there enough people like me? Maybe, but you need to find them, then get them to hand over the money........

Another idea would be either a mailing list for people to subscribe. Or some small Mageia website, where people could register themselves and hence their interest/companies, and subscribe for news.
With crowdsourcing approach or without, but would be a definitive way to get some real-world demand figures.

I've often wondered if there is some how we could sell some merchandise to bolster the finances so we could pay for some development: But this is more complicated than it sounds, as always. But I would love an awesome Mageia hoodie

A spreadshirt shop would fit that niche: http://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/

[hazard157]

I'm one the customer of paid LTS Mageia (when it appears).

Our company uses Mageia as main OS for software development. Also we are installing Mageia as OS on customers workstations. So we are ready to pay for LTS and for development also.

[Fargo]

I've always liked Mageia. Mostly due to the fabulous Control Center. But I'll admit that I've never been an avid user. This is due primarily to the short support cycle of Megia. I use my computer for my business, so I can't be updating all the time. I need something with long term support. For this reason I have always used Debian based distros. I would be very interested in a Mageia LTS. How much I would pay or how long of support I would need I really can't say at this point. But I would consider paying a small fee or making a small donation.

As to how long the LTS needs to be supported, I think that would depend on your userbase as a whole. I'd like to put forth the idea of of extending your support period from 2-9 month cycles to 3-9 month cycles for all releases. Essentially giving all releases a 27 month life. That extra 9 months gives me the option to reinstall and update every 2 years with an extra 3 months to schedule in my update. Five years of support is nice, but as a small business, I have no issues doing a fresh install every 2 years. Hopefully that extra 9 months would not put too much extra strain on the community or at least keep the cost down for the support extension.

[xboxboy]

Just had a thought: Probably a nightmare to implement though:

A core base of packages that can be supported through LTS for business cases, running through a separate repo. This way there wouldn't need to be all the QA and testing on all the packages...Still a big task though...

Maybe we need to find out what use the people who want LTS are chasing: ie:
A pure server box with no head
A cli only machine
Full desktop work station

I would suspect that LTS complexity would be more difficult for the desktop vs. a headless server box.

[macxi]

In practice I'm using the release of Mageia with odd numbers like LTS releases.
I'm still using Mageia 3 and is great. I'll skip the Mageia 4, I'll go straight to the Mageia 5.
I did it with Mageia 1 also jumped Mageia 2. I left the Mageia 1 straight to Mageia 3.
To continue using Mageia 3 yet, I only had to manually install two upgrade packages. LibreOffice 4.0.6.2 for LibreOffice 4.2.8.2 (downloaded from the official LibreOffice site) and the flash-player-plugin (downloaded the latest package of 5 Mageia repository). If I wanted to, I could have also updated Firefox.
If it were that simple, it would not be difficult to have a Mageia 5 LTS.

[doktor5000]

Well, using an outdated and EOL'ed distro release (for which no security updates or critical bugfixes are provided) for more then 9 months does not sound like a viable idea for potential LTS users ...

[macxi]

Well, using an outdated and EOL'ed distro release (for which no security updates or critical bugfixes are provided) for more then 9 months does not sound like a viable idea for potential LTS users ...

Yes, I agree with that.
But I keep using Mageia 3 to be required to complete a job that requires the use of Qgis.
I started a job using the Qgis 1.8.0, which works well in Mageia 3.
In Mageia 4, the updated version is Qgis 2.0.1. This update has changed many libraries, but some broke (OpenLayers Plugin, qgis-python) and only returned to work with the new update "Qgis 2.4.0", which is only available in Mageia 5. This is not a problem of Mageia 4, but the updated version of Qgis 2.0.1.
I will upgrade to the Mageia 5 as soon as it is released.

[DiBosco]

I'd happily pay for LTS. The very short support time puts me off installing it on new users' computers as it takes so much effort to go to their houses and reinstall every eighteen months. I know people say you can upgrade, but that function I have always found so slow and flaky you may as well just reinstall.

[doktor5000]

Slow and flaky? You can download all the packages in advance, and the download itself only depends on your bandwith and can be easily done in the background.
Upgrade via urpmi will always be quicker then reinstallation and reconfiguration and can also be done online, you only have a downtime when you need to reboot finally.
But as you say, it's also a matter of taste. I also like to reinstall, and afterwards will only import back some settings then I know that can safely be migrated across distro versions.

Will only take ~15 minutes for the new install, the rest can all be done when the system is already up and running, and another ~hour until all configs and backups are in place again.

[DiBosco]

My experience is that it takes hours and hours to download the packages and then four times out of five the upgrade doesn't work and you have to reinstall anyway. So, I just do a reinstall which takes half an hour tops.

[ozky]

I agree clean install is always safe bet i hate myself those upgrade problems it newer go like in movies,i get 5-7 minutes install time with kingston ssd.

[MadmanRB]

Well I think it should run on donations, I would pay for LTS but I dont link the average linux user would pay just for LTS.
The community prefers donations as opposed to forced pay, its what killed redhat you know
Having a paid version would just ruin things, ask for crowdfunding its worked before

[doktor5000]

Think you misunderstood this slightly. Nobody is forced to pay for anything.
Oden was simply asking if people want an additional choice for LTS and how many would pay (what amount) for that.
And LTS is probably not something for the average user, as we cannot give that away for free (like some other company backed by some billionaire)

Basing a company solely on donations is probably not a good idea.

[MadmanRB]

Well crowdfunding can be there if one asked for it.
I am sure Mageia can find an audience if the word was spread about it

[remmy]

Hi all,

The subject of LTS (Long Time Support) has come up several times through the years, almost since the launch of the Mageia project was first announced. So far, the general consensus has been that while LTS would be a valuable addition, that right now it would put too much workload on an already overloaded team of QA and packagers (who all do this on a voluntary basis). Some people have indicated they might be / are willing to pay for LTS, and to that end I have set up a small survey to get a feeling for this and to answer the question: Is there sufficient demand to make this commercially viable? And what expectations and requirements do people have for a Long Time Supported version of Mageia?

I'd be very grateful if you could spare a few minutes to take this survey.

Please note that this survey is not by the Mageia project nor officially endorsed by it.

[oden]

Hi all,

A final follow up on the topic.

Me and my company NUX AB will not persue the venture of providing LTS for Mageia.

Good luck to anyone who decides to give it a shot.

[doktor5000]

Did you actually read the post above yours? There is currently no LTS release of any Mageia version.
If you really want a rolling release, there's cauldron - see my signature.

But you should make up your mind what you really want, LTS and rolling release pretty much contradict each other.

edit doktor5000: the post that this reply is directed at, was removed due to violating forum rules

[doktor5000]

You seem to be a little confused. Our download page can be accessed from the header of any Mageia page, for a direct link: https://www.mageia.org/downloads/
For cauldron seems you didn't read my signature, as advised above. Here's the link about cauldron: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Cauldron

And again: There is currently no LTS release of any Mageia version.

edit doktor5000: the post that this reply is directed at, was removed due to violating forum rules

[doktor5000]

No you didn't understand. As it looks currently, there will be no LTS release, see the post directly above your first post: viewtopic.php?p=60723&f=4#p60723
And as cauldron is a rolling release, it has no release date.

edit doktor5000: the post that this reply is directed at, was removed due to violating forum rules