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What is the difference between Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS?

Some documents I read said they can just support Ubuntu 16.04, but when I googled for Ubuntu 16.04 image, I just found Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

apaderno
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Tsung-Li Wang
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1 Answers1

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There is no difference between the two. Ubuntu 16.04 is the version number, and it is a (L)ong (T)erm (S)upport release, LTS for short. A LTS release is supported for 5 years after release, while regular releases are supported for only 9 months.

Every even year, the April release (hence the .04) is a LTS (examples: 12.04, 14.04, 16.04). The next upcoming LTS after 16.04 will be Ubuntu 18.04, codenamed 'Bionic Beaver', due to release in April 2018.

Videonauth
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    I’m not sure including the “The next LTS...” because I’m 6 months this answer will be wrong. It also doesn’t add much- linking to the Wiki would be better if you feel the information is needed. – Tim Nov 13 '17 at 09:08
  • Could there be a difference in that for a time the non-LTS chain of releases and the LTS chain or release happen to coincide. If you are not on the LTS chain and end up using an LTS release you will only do so until the next non-LTS release comes along. If you are on the LTS chain, you will not upgrade until the next LTS. – TafT Nov 13 '17 at 09:33
  • @Tim it's probably ok, the answer does have a time-stamp. The answer also provides the release date of 18.04, which should make it obvious to a reader in the future. – Baldrickk Nov 13 '17 at 11:10
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    @TafT if you are on an LTS release, you can chose which release you upgrade to, although by default it will not suggest you upgrade until the next LTS. – Tim Nov 13 '17 at 11:14
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    @Baldrickk Even if it didn't have the timestamp and the release date, the answer is about 16.04 and the next LTS will always be 18.04. After all if we were talking about 14.04, we would say "the next release was" instead of "the next release will be". Oh, how I love semantics :D – John Hamilton Nov 13 '17 at 11:23