How To Find Ubuntu Support Duration From Commandline

As you may already know, Canonical, the Parent company of Ubuntu, releases new versions of Ubuntu desktop and server editions every six months (in April and October). And every two year, the Ubuntu edition released in April month is a Long Term Support (LTS in short) version. The LTS versions will receive support for five years whereas the non-LTS versions will be supported for 9 months only. The latest available non-LTS version is Ubuntu 19.10 (released in October 2019) and the LTS is version is Ubuntu 18.04 which is released in April 2018. You can find the list of all Ubuntu releases along with their support period from the Ubuntu official releases page. But, did you know that we can find Ubuntu support duration without having to refer the official website? If you don't know it already, here is a quick tip to find out.

There is a command named "ubuntu-support-status" which tells us the actual support period of a Ubuntu distribution. You don't need to go to Ubuntu site or any other sites. You can find how long the installed Ubuntu distribution will be supported right from the Terminal itself. The ubuntu-support-status command will analyze your Ubuntu system and list the following details:

• Total number of supported packages and how long they will be supported.
• Total number of unsupported packages and the support duration.
• Total number of packages that can't be downloaded.
• Total number packages that are no longer available for download.
• If Hardware Enablement Stack (HWE) is supported or not and its support duration.

Find Ubuntu Support Duration From Commandline

To find out how long support lasts of everything you have installed on your Ubuntu system, simply run:

$ ubuntu-support-status

Sample output from my Ubuntu 18.04 LTS server edition:

Support status summary of 'ubuntuserver':

You have 514 packages (100.0%) supported until April 2023 (Canonical - 5y)

You have 0 packages (0.0%) that can not/no-longer be downloaded
You have 0 packages (0.0%) that are unsupported

Run with --show-unsupported, --show-supported or --show-all to see more details

As you see in the above output, my Ubuntu server has 514 installed packages in total. And none of the packages are unsupported. Meaning - All packages will receive bug fixes, security updates and feature updates until April 2023. As stated above, Ubuntu 18.04 is released in April 2018 and it will be supported for next five years i.e April 2023.

Sample output from Ubuntu 18.04 desktop edition:

Support status summary of 'ostechnix':

You have 1691 packages (82.6%) supported until April 2023 (Canonical - 5y)
You have 271 packages (13.2%) supported until April 2021 (Community - 3y)
You have 3 packages (0.1%) supported until April 2021 (Canonical - 3y)

You have 0 packages (0.0%) that can not/no-longer be downloaded
You have 83 packages (4.1%) that are unsupported

Your Hardware Enablement Stack (HWE) is supported until April 2023.

Run with --show-unsupported, --show-supported or --show-all to see more details

As you see in the above output,

• 1691 packages are supported until April 2023,
• 271 packages are supported until April 2021,
• 3 packages are supported until April 2021,
• 0 packages can not or no-longer be downloaded,
• 83 packages are are unsupported.

You can narrow down the result to display only the unsupported packages using command:

$ ubuntu-support-status --show-unsupported

Sample output:

Support status summary of 'ubuntuserver':

You have 514 packages (100.0%) supported until April 2023 (Canonical - 5y)

You have 0 packages (0.0%) that can not/no-longer be downloaded
You have 0 packages (0.0%) that are unsupported

No longer downloadable:

Unsupported:

As you can see, I have 0 packages that are unsupported.

Similarly, we can display to display only the supported packages using command:

$ ubuntu-support-status --show-supported

This command will list all packages that are supported in your Ubuntu system.

To see more details i.e show all packages with their status, run:

$ ubuntu-support-status --show-all

To display help section, run:

$ ubuntu-support-status --help
Usage: ubuntu-support-status [options]

Options:
  -h, --help          show this help message and exit
  --show-unsupported  Show unsupported packages on this machine
  --show-supported    Show supported packages on this machine
  --show-all          Show all packages with their status
  --list              Show all packages in a list

You can also use another command "hwe-support-status" to find the support period of a Ubuntu system.

$ hwe-support-status --verbose
You are not running a system with a Hardware Enablement Stack. Your system is supported until April 2023.

Hope this helps.