Even though Ubuntu 20.10 was only released in October last year, it was an interim release with 9-months of support. While any PC running Ubuntu 20.10 will continue to work after July 22, because you won’t get security updates. It’s highly recommended that you upgrade ASAP.
Ubuntu 20.10 doesn’t just abandon you after your system reaches End of Life. It notifies you either in terminal or on the desktop that your system is no longer supported. It even provides a mechanism to upgrade your current Ubuntu version to the newer version.
The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 20.10 is via Ubuntu 21.04. Ubuntu 21.04 continues to be actively supported with security updates and select high-impact bug fixes.
You can easily upgrade over the network with the following procedure.
Upgrading Ubuntu Desktops from 20.10 to 21.04
- Run the update-manager application.
- In Update Manager, click the Settings… button, and enter your password to start the Software Sources application.
- Select the sub menu Updates from the Software Sources application.
- Confirm the “Notify me of a new Ubuntu version:” option is set to “For any new version”, and change it if otherwise.
- Close the Software Sources application and return to Update Manager.
- In Update Manager, click the Check button to check for new updates.
- If there are any updates to install, use the Install Updates button to install them.
- Run update-manager -d.
- A message will appear informing you of the availability of the new release.
- Click Upgrade.
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
Upgrading Ubuntu Servers from 20.10 to 21.04
Install update-manager-core if it is not already installed:
sudo apt-get install update-manager-coreCode language: JavaScript (javascript)Edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=normal
Launch the upgrade tool and follow the on-screen instructions.
do-release-upgrade -dCode language: JavaScript (javascript)What is End of Life
The End of Life (EoL) of a software means the software has reached the end of its predefined support period. Beyond this date, the software won’t get any feature, maintenance or security updates. You may continue using the software past its end of life date but at your own risk. If there are security vulnerability, your system and data will be at risk.
Without the security updates your system will become vulnerable to hacking attacks (if you connect to internet). Suppose a vulnerability gets discovered in one of the software you use or even in Linux kernel. You don’t get the update so this vulnerability is not patched and some malicious hackers take advantage of it to steal your data.
