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I'm kind of new to Ubuntu and running 20.10. I see there is a 21.04 out now. Not sure if I should upgrade or not. Is that a true upgrade?

I feel like everything is running smooth and Spotify is finally recognizing my local files which is has not been for a long time. My recording programs Nuendo and Cubase through Wine finally have sound and are working great. My Plex server is running amazing as well. I don't want to mess anything up.

Hrishikesh Kadam
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Tom
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    Both 20.10 and 21.04 are interim releases with only 9 months support. So, at some point before 20.10 becomes EoL you'll have to upgrade (or install fresh). From 21.04 you can then update to 21.10 (October) and then to 22.04 which is LTS and 5 years of support. Of course, you can do all this with fresh installs which often are preferred to pilling up unline release upgrades. Other alternative is to install 20.04 LTS and wait for 22.04 (20.04 is supported until 2025). – ChanganAuto Apr 24 '21 at 13:59
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    The numbers are not going down. Your must have installed **20.10**. The new release is 21.04. – Archisman Panigrahi Apr 24 '21 at 14:05
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    Yes, it is probably wise to upgrade to 21.04 since 20.10 will go EOL in July of 2021, about 3 months left. But you might want to wait a bit before doing it so that any more bugs can be worked out. – Terrance Apr 24 '21 at 14:07
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    and just to add, the very important things about ubuntu is the ability to try it first from the DVD rather than just committing so that allows you to check things out before wiping everything in the hope it will work. Add to that also, the opportunity to install [systemback](https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/install-systemback-ubuntu-18-04-bionic-18-10) to restore everything as it was at the given point if things don't work out as expected. – graham Apr 24 '21 at 14:10
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    Ah yes It is 20.10! You're right. Ha I was so confused. Ok I'll check it out and maybe wait a bit until all bugs are worked out. I'm assuming I won't lose anything. Upgrade always make me nervous. Thanks everyone! – Tom Apr 24 '21 at 19:26
  • The only notable change between 20.10 and 21.04 is that 21.04 defaults to Wayland. Though if that causes issues, you can just click the gear icon and select "Ubuntu on Xorg" to go back to Xorg super easily. Most everything else is very similar, just minor updates and tweaks. – QwertyChouskie Apr 30 '21 at 05:37
  • Does this answer your question? [Pros and Cons of LTS Vs. Normal Release](https://askubuntu.com/questions/60868/pros-and-cons-of-lts-vs-normal-release) – karel Oct 16 '21 at 10:52

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Ubuntu 20.10 will reach End Of Life in three months (July 2021). After that, you won't receive any security patches anymore.

So, yes, you should release-upgrade your system to 21.04 sometime during the three-month window.

  • Pro tip: DO NOT WAIT until the last minute. Once that window expires, it becomes much harder to release-upgrade your system.

  • Pro tip: A release-upgrade is a non-trivial event. The first step of a release-upgrade should be backing up your data. Just in case.

Non-LTS releases of Ubuntu release every six months in April and October (that's the .04 and .10 in the release number), so start marking your calendar. Each release has a life of only nine months; users of non-LTS releases expect to release-upgrade twice each year. In exchange for that 40-minute chore, users get newer software and bugfixes.

If you don't want to release-upgrade every six months, you can install an LTS release instead. Those are supported for five years (20.04 LTS is supported until April 2025).

user535733
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