Kubuntu "Official" alternative download links to past releases are horribly wrong

[oshunluvr]

I don't know who to complain to about this, but I was helping someone here and went searching for the "original" Kubuntu 22.04 ISO - as in the April 22 released ISO. The links on the entire page apparently are misleading and incorrect.

See for yourself. Go here: Alternative Downloads

Then scroll to the bottom where it says "Past Releases" and click on it. You get a simple list of available past releases and one would assume it is real, but it's not.

Pick ANY previous release and it sends you to the current ISO instead. For example, clicking 22.04 leads to a page with a folder "release" which leads to the 22.04.2 ISO. Go back and choose 22.04.1 and - you guessed it - it sends you to the 22.04.2 ISO download.

The really devious thing about it is the link in your URL bar shows what you choose, but that's not actually where you are. In other words when you click on 22.04/release that's what's in the URL bar, but the ISO in front of you is 22.04.2.

I don't understand why they would intentionally mislead people into thinking they could get the past ISO if they have no intention of letting you do so. Since they clearly aren't going to host the earlier ISOs they could at least be honest about it and not include misleading links.

[oshunluvr]

I checked Lubuntu and found the same. I smell Canonical's dirty hands on this one...

[claydoh]

Or just that Kubuntu never updated their website to edit/correct things.
It still shows 20.04.5 as the current Focal LTS, when it is actually .6

BUTT...most of the older point releases for LTS are kept on https://old-releases.ubuntu.com/
Except for the flavours, which only have truly old EOL images.

I am guessing a lack of documentation, and the fact that at least for desktop flavours, they all come with HWE enabled by default (supposedly)
I have asked on irc, I'd suggest the devel mailing list, but that is quite low volume these days.

[claydoh]

And some mirrors will have them. Such as: http://mirror.uchile.cl/ubuntu-cdima...jammy/release/

[claydoh]

But no useful information as to why, etc.

[GreyGeek]

Using the Kubuntu base link and drilling into 22.04 they all lead back to 22.04.2 or higher. Checking on previous LTS I found that they all point at the last release of that image.

This isn't an accident, but I doubt it is malicious. My suspicions are that Canonical wants to minimize the number of images available to the last release of each point so as to minimize the number of "Kubuntu 20.04 images that can be installed but for which no updates are available and for which they don't have the manpower to support. Clicking on https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/r...20.04/release/, for example, still shows the 22.04 in the URL but the image on that page is for 22.04.6 point release, the last in the series. as you noticed. IOW, only those point releases for which promised support still has to be supplied will have links for downloading. When the support period expires so will the links to the point release.

Why would Canonical do this? Because of the world's economic condition. The Dollar is falling out of favor as a "Word Reserve Currency". Inflation is taking hold in most countries and employers are cutting the most expensive parts of their operation, payroll costs, by laying off workers. Developers are not immune. Neither are folks like us who volunteer to help people on KubuntuForums.net.

I'm retired. If the costs of living continue to inflate at the same rate in the future as they've recently been inflating, and that appears to be the case, I'll have to do some budget cutting. Rent, food, clothing, electricity, cellphone service and health insurance are fundamental necessities. My fiber optic internet connection, or even a cheap connection, eating out and car & expenses are not fundamental necessities. If I have to begin cutting costs I won't be logging into this forum by phone tethering even though I have an unlimited data plan and can and have connected to the Internet by tethering my laptop to my smartphone, but T-Mobile will notice that my monthly data use jumped from 2-4 GB/month to a Gb per day or more and would throttle or eliminate tethering. A LOT of terms and conditions will be extensively rewritten in the coming months. Your ISP ToS will be only one of many. If things get worse I'll drop back to a cheap cellphone service or even switch to a flip phone.

The party is over, folks.

[Schwarzer Kater]

And some mirrors will have them. Such as: http://mirror.uchile.cl/ubuntu-cdima...jammy/release/

Thank you very much for this link!

Recently I had a similar case like oshunluvr and needed Kubuntu 20.04 or Kubuntu 20.04.1 (unfortunately the Kubuntu 20.04.1 ISO I kept for such cases was deleted in a hard drive crash last year…). I had not been able to find it at all on Kubuntu's or Ubuntu's servers until now, but now I am downloading it again.

[arsivci]

If only I had seen that link earlier. I had to install 20.04 so that I can update to 22.04.