[tor-bugs] #25715 [Core Tor/Tor]: Ubuntu bionic LTS freezes this month and currently contains Tor 0.3.2.x

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#25715: Ubuntu bionic LTS freezes this month and currently contains Tor 0.3.2.x
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 Reporter:  arma          |          Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect        |         Status:  new
 Priority:  High          |      Milestone:
Component:  Core Tor/Tor  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal        |     Resolution:
 Keywords:                |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                |         Points:
 Reviewer:                |        Sponsor:
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Description changed by arma:

Old description:

> Their release schedule says that it will be a 5 year LTS, so supported
> until April 2023:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases
>
> Bionic is on track to include Tor 0.3.2.10:
> https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/bionic/+source/tor
>
> But Tor 0.3.2.x is scheduled to end-of-life in late 2018:
> https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/teams/NetworkTeam/CoreTorReleases#Listofreleases
>
> So we are on track for 4.5 years of sadness for ubuntu users.
>
> I see three possible paths forward:
>
> * Inform Ubuntu but accept that they will stick to Tor 0.3.2, and plan to
> just have a miserable passive-aggressive existence with Ubuntu users for
> the coming years. :(
>
> * Ask Ubuntu to switch back to Tor 0.2.9 (our LTS), which will be
> supported through the end of 2019. It is plausible that we would opt to
> continue supporting 0.2.9 for a while more after that, depending on when
> our next LTS appears.
>
> * Make a deal with Ubuntu where they ship either 0.3.2 or 0.2.9 for now,
> but when our next LTS appears, they'll update to it. In the past we tried
> such a thing and it didn't go as smoothly as either side would have
> liked, but that doesn't mean the idea itself is a bad one.
>
> I think we should work towards achieving option 2 or option 3, since
> option 1 would be unfortunate.

New description:

 Their release schedule says that it will be a 5 year LTS, so supported
 until April 2023:
 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

 Bionic is on track to include Tor 0.3.2.10:
 https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/bionic/+source/tor

 But Tor 0.3.2.x is scheduled to end-of-life in late 2018:
 https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/teams/NetworkTeam/CoreTorReleases#Listofreleases

 So we are on track for 4.5 years of sadness for ubuntu users.

 I see three possible paths forward:

 * Inform Ubuntu but accept that they will stick to Tor 0.3.2, and plan to
 just have a miserable passive-aggressive existence with Ubuntu users for
 the coming years. :(

 * Ask Ubuntu to switch back to Tor 0.2.9 (our LTS), which will be
 supported through the end of 2019. It is plausible that we would opt to
 continue supporting 0.2.9 for a while more after that too, depending on
 when our next LTS appears. (I believe our plan is to choose our next LTS
 based on Debian's schedule.)

 * Make a deal with Ubuntu where they ship either 0.3.2 or 0.2.9 for now,
 but when our next LTS appears, they'll update to it. In the past we tried
 such a thing and it didn't go as smoothly as either side would have liked,
 but that doesn't mean the idea itself is a bad one.

 I think we should work towards achieving option 2 or option 3, since
 option 1 would be unfortunate.

--

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/25715#comment:1>
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