Lubuntu is to offer users of its first Long Term Support release the choice of receiving selected software updates.

As an LTS release, Lubuntu 14.04 ensures that users will receive critical fixes and updates to core LXDE packages over the next three years.

Canonical’s commitment to Ubuntu, on which Lubuntu is based, also sees common shared components, like the Ubuntu Linux Kernel, supported for five years.

To balance the desire for a supported, stable system with the appetite for newer, leaner versions of the software it ships with, Lubuntu’s developers are to offer select software and system updates through a PPA.

Project lead Julien Lavergne says the approach will offer applications that are safe to upgrade to, but not able to be distributed through the main Ubuntu repositories.

“We will try as much as possible to push all the fixes to official repositories, especially the critical ones. However, I realised that we should also offer some [safe but unapproved updates] to our users during this time,” he adds.

Among the packages Lavergne highlights are:

New versions of default apps (e.g., Sylpheed, Gnumeric)

Updated themes, wallpapers, icons and other artwork

Fixes yet to be approved for inclusion in the main repositories

For now these updates will be located in the Lubuntu Staging PPA, but will be moved to a dedicated archive in the near future.