Ubuntu announced its 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) release almost 5 years ago, on April 26, 2012. As with the earlier LTS releases, Ubuntu committed to ongoing security and critical fixes for a period of 5 years. The support period is now nearing its end and Ubuntu 12.04 will reach end of life on Friday, April 28th. At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 12.04.

The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 12.04 is via Ubuntu 14.04. Users are encouraged to evaluate and upgrade to our latest 16.04 LTS release via 14.04. Instructions and caveats for the upgrades may be found at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/TrustyUpgrades and https://help.ubuntu.com/community/XenialUpgrades. Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04 continue to be actively supported with security updates and select high-impact bug fixes. All announcements of official security pdates for Ubuntu releases are sent to the ubuntu-security-announce mailing list, information about which may be found at:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-security-announce

For users who can’t upgrade immediately, Canonical has just announced an extended support package for Ubuntu Advantage customers, which will keep delivering security updates while you evaluate your upgrades to newer releases. The announcement, with details about how and where to purchase extended support, can be found at:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2017-March/000217.html

Since its launch in October 2004 Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions with millions of users in homes, schools, businesses and governments around the world. Ubuntu is Open Source software, costs nothing to download, and users are free to customise or alter their software in order to meet their needs.