MX Linux Forum

Good morning guys and Happy Happy New Year :-)
I use MX 19.4 with great satisfaction.
I ask you, can I continue to use MX19 or should I install the MX 21 distro?
Thank you

MX-19x is fully supported until end of June 2022. It won't stop working then, of course.

Chris

The great thing about Linux is, if you're happy with your current package setup, you can continue running it to the end of time. If it works for you, it will continue to work long after new versions have come out.

Now, with that said, if you really want to upgrade the packages on your system, then I'd highly recommend upgrading to MX 21. Since 21 is based on Debian Bullseye instead of Buster, you're going to be getting a huge ton of updates to the Stable repo. It all depends on what exactly you're looking for though.

chrispop99 wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:04 am MX-19x is fully supported until end of June 2022. It won't stop working then, of course.

Chris

BY now, it's confirmed that Debian long term (security) support for Buster Debian 10 will be to 2024. I think MX's wiki or faq on this is outdated.

https://wiki.debian.org/LTS

Damn moving targets...thanks!

asqwerth wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:36 am

chrispop99 wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:04 am MX-19x is fully supported until end of June 2022. It won't stop working then, of course.

Chris

BY now, it's confirmed that Debian long term (security) support for Buster Debian 10 will be to 2024. I think MX's wiki or faq on this is outdated.

https://wiki.debian.org/LTS

That's really good to know; thanks. I haven't had the time to re-install myself yet!

Chris

chrispop99 wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:57 am

That's really good to know; thanks. I haven't had the time to re-install myself yet!

Chris

I'm still on MX17/18 and MX19 as well (I do have a MX21 beta KDE installed for testing which I haven't removed because it works well).

I'll replace my MX17/18 installs with MX21 XFCE when it's closer to Stretch's End of Life in June. My practice is to replace my MX releases with "next Debian release + 1".

Thanks asqwerth
Nice to know this. The MX 19 works great, so if the support continues I stay it.
I tried 21 live, and it looks good and is packed with new software and features.
Nice your cat avatar :)

This thread brings up a good question and I think @Lilium23 may have been asking about the MX packages aspect of 19.4 support as we all know Debian archives its older releases for the benefit of users all the way back to the first releases or at least as far back as 3.0. You would just have to redirect your apt sources to point to the archives links for your preferred older Debian release that works for you. The issue, especially if your MX LINUX release version works for you and you have invested time, money and resources on that version for use on things that you may or may not be able to just replace the OS or upgrade,is that the MX LINUX specific packages for those older releases are not available for download like so many other distros like Redhat,SuSE, Debian,etc. I know this cause I tried to update MX14 since it had a very small install foot print with all the goodies I needed for older non pae based Pentium M and C3 thin clients, BUT, the MX portion of the packages would not update and could not be found anywhere on the internet either. The debian portion was found in the debian archive portion of their website and I was able to update those packages to what ever their EOL was. Sadly, I think MX Linux does not archive packages from older releases even version 18.3 and 19.4 as it ends in June 2022. So? What is my suggestion then? Setup you /var/cache/apt/archives folder to keep all packages when you use synaptic. USE synaptic when ever you can, so to save all those packages, and start backing those up on a regular basis on a disk big enough and reliable enough to hold so many packages, cause if your system should break, or you end up needing to reinstall or reflash your OS to your device, you gonna need them packages! I speak from experience. Oh and after backing up those packages, remove them from the var directory to keep room on the system disk for more updated packages that you will get when you use synaptic again. If you get update notifications on MX, use synaptic instead of the MX updater to get your updates, so you can keep those downloaded packages too. I did not know btw, that MX19.4 was ending support so soon..DOH!!! I could be wrong about the thread original question, but if I am not, this really is a valid question. MX LINUX portion support for 19.4? Is there a archived site somewhere to access older releases' packages?

Can be helpful to download packages.

https://linux.die.net/man/1/debmirror

Thanks. Nice to know my antiX 19 chromebook is good till 2024.

I, just today, upgraded from 19.4 to 21 using the wiki page: mxlinux.org/wiki/upgrading-from-mx-19-to-mx-21-without-reinstalling/
I tried installing clean but was having some weird network issue where I couldn't connect to the repos even though it worked fine at first. I'm on the 5.15 kernel which 'upgraded' just fine btw, sans some virtualbox errors (which I don't use atm-I removed it).
There were aps which I use that got updates that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise so all in all a good day.
Follow the guide and it works quite well and is fairly simple to boot (nice play on words there). Biggest issue was just using the newer scheme for my secondary hd.

pianokeyjoe wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:28 pm ... The issue, especially if your MX LINUX release version works for you and you have invested time, money and resources on that version for use on things that you may or may not be able to just replace the OS or upgrade,is that the MX LINUX specific packages for those older releases are not available for download like so many other distros like Redhat,SuSE, Debian,etc. I know this cause I tried to update MX14 ...

Sadly, I think MX Linux does not archive packages from older releases ...
...
Is there a archived site somewhere to access older releases' packages?

We do have packages for older versions, even ones we do not "fully" support anymore. The repos currently have packages from MX-15 up.
MX-14 is a bit too old though, MX-14.4 was released March 22, 2015. I don't think it was long ago that it was cut off though.

Server space to horde legacy packages costs money. At some point there is a trade off that has to be made.

One thing folks should try to remember is that MX-19 came out on October 21, 2019, even if MX-19.4 came out on March 31, 2021, the base is older (this includes the Debian Buster base it is built on). Just because someone installed MX-19.4 yesterday, doesn't make it any more young.

This being said, anyone that has been around long enough should know that ending of "full" support doesn't mean "all" support ends. And there is a difference between Debian officially supporting something (standard or LTS) and what the MX team and community (officially or unofficially) does even after that support ends.

Also, since support provided is pretty cheap free from the end users perspective, I think in the end... its a pretty good deal.

I repeat, MX19 EOL is NOT 2022, but 2024 if you include Debian LTS support for it.

Also, if I recall correctly, I think our packaging team continued to update Firefox for MX15/16 for a few months after its EOL date. So at least browser security was still updated some time thereafter, while users sorted out their migration to newer releases.

asqwerth wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:36 am

chrispop99 wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:04 am MX-19x is fully supported until end of June 2022. It won't stop working then, of course.

Chris

BY now, it's confirmed that Debian long term (security) support for Buster Debian 10 will be to 2024. I think MX's wiki or faq on this is outdated.

https://wiki.debian.org/LTS

I updated the website (sort of the official source): https://mxlinux.org/previous-releases/
Will look for the WIki later...

Thanks for the update Jerry3904.
You are a truly fantastic team.

Will MX19 LTS be updating Firefox and Chrome?

JanK wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 11:31 am Will MX19 LTS be updating Firefox and Chrome?

The MX team still keeps the software for MX-18 series up-to-date, and will until mid summer this year.

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 1:12 pm

JanK wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 11:31 am Will MX19 LTS be updating Firefox and Chrome?

The MX team still keeps the software for MX-18 series up-to-date, and will until mid summer this year.

Yeah, i wonder what will be after summer)

@pianokeyjoe All the packages for MX-14 -> MX-21 are available on http://mxrepo.com
The main.mepis-deb.org domain we used for MX-14 was not renewed by the community member that originally acquired it, forcing the change in repo URLs.
As releases reach EOL they are removed from the mirrors, so far that's MX-14, 15 & 16.
At some point they will be moved to archive.mxrepo.com but it hasn't become necessary yet.

timkb4cq wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:18 pm @pianokeyjoe All the packages for MX-14 -> MX-21 are available on http://mxrepo.com
The main.mepis-deb.org domain we used for MX-14 was not renewed by the community member that originally acquired it, forcing the change in repo URLs.
As releases reach EOL they are removed from the mirrors, so far that's MX-14, 15 & 16.
At some point they will be moved to archive.mxrepo.com but it hasn't become necessary yet.

OOH! Thankyou!

@JanK
I think for version 18, you can continue to use it until doing so is impractical. Once Firefox (or whatever your main browser is) stops upgrading (most users' main vulnerability) one need to move forward. But, don't expect MX-18 to suddenly stop working.

There are non-obvious benefits to upgrading on a timely basis; up-to-date security fixes, other OS bug fixes, often better stability, new software features. Upgrading is not as scary as it may seem. In my opinion, the best way for those who can is to install the new system to a spare partition (The one that was planned for in advance, right? When setting up a new computer, I always make at least three operating system partitions; one for the new OS, one for the next OS, and one for the OS after that. That way one can always go back one or two generations after future upgrades.). Then, without urgency, if things seem to be satisfactory, then selectively copy user files from the old home directories to the new home directories while avoiding polluting the nice new clean system with configurations stored in the old home directories.

Always make sure personal files are safely backed up before making system-level changes (like installing an operating system). Many alligator sized tears have been shed for not having backups. There is no free lunch.

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 10:19 pm There are non-obvious benefits to upgrading on a timely basis; up-to-date security fixes, other OS bug fixes, often better stability, new software features. Upgrading is not as scary as it may seem.

Thanks for your reply. Not that i am afraid of upgrade, but the thing is i also maintain PCs of other family members, who use it only for office/browsing and they are not fond of any changes.

But browsing is where a fair number of potential security issues can arise.

Eventually the MX packaging team will stop building updated firefox, etc for MX18 since it will be EOL around June 2022. They may continue building some packages for a few more months after EOL, but then it will come to an end.

You can continue running MX18, but there will be no further updates, including security stuff (Firefox, kernel etc). Perhaps you can extend its life a little longer by making your family members run flatpak or appimage versions of browsers thereafter, but no guarantees. Sometimes an older debian version may not run a very new appimage because some dependencies weren't packed into the appimage. Or the flatpak framework on older Debian may no longer work with a newer flatpak app. You'll have to test them out.

And you won't get kernel updates.

It's up to you, of course, since you are the maintainer for your family.

asqwerth wrote: Mon Mar 21, 2022 7:24 am But browsing is where a fair number of potential security issues can arise.

You can continue running MX18, but there will be no further updates, including security stuff (Firefox, kernel etc).

No, i (we) am using mostly MX19 now. It (as far as Debian, as i see) is on LTS to 2024/06. And i want to make very clear, if LTS support includes not only general security updates, but also updates for popular browsers?

"Thus the Debian LTS team takes over security maintenance of the various releases once the Debian Security team stops its work."

So i want to know what this security maintenance include.

Presumably (and logically), Debian LTS team will only address security issues of packages actually found in its own Debian Stable repo.

So you will need to check on what browsers are actually found in Debian Stable repo, and what are found in 3rd party repos (eg from the actual devs of the browser in question). Example, Vivaldi isn't in Debian Stable.

If a browser isn't in Debian Stable repo, then it depends on whether the devs for that browser continue to provide security updates for an older version of Debian when the new Debian Stable is released.

Note: It is MX packaging team that builds updated FF for the still-supported releases of MX. That's because Debian provides FF ESR, not "standard" FF. Can't speak for Debian's ESR support during the LTS period. But at least with standard FF, MX will provide updates to EOL since it's the default browser.

asqwerth wrote: Mon Mar 21, 2022 12:08 pm Presumably (and logically), Debian LTS team will only address security issues of packages actually found in its own Debian Stable repo.
Note: It is MX packaging team that builds updated FF for the still-supported releases of MX. That's because Debian provides FF ESR, not "standard" FF. Can't speak for Debian's ESR support during the LTS period. But at least with standard FF, MX will provide updates to EOL since it's the default browser.

Thanks, that was helpful. Will think what can be done

Sorry, maybe I am understanding the things in a wrong way. As long as FF is updated you should not have a problem. Or?

JanK wrote: Mon Mar 21, 2022 6:51 am

figueroa wrote: Sun Mar 20, 2022 10:19 pm There are non-obvious benefits to upgrading on a timely basis; up-to-date security fixes, other OS bug fixes, often better stability, new software features. Upgrading is not as scary as it may seem.

Thanks for your reply. Not that i am afraid of upgrade, but the thing is i also maintain PCs of other family members, who use it only for office/browsing and they are not fond of any changes.

Your users don't have to know a thing. You can easily give them the identical look and feel of MX-18 on MX-21.