Public images retention policies¶
All Ubuntu images on cloud-images.ubuntu.com go through a life-cycle of: release > deprecation > deletion.
Whenever a new daily image is built and released, all the previous serials for that image are deprecated except for the last 6. This policy determines when an image will be deleted, at which point it is no longer available for use.
Image retention policy¶
Our image retention policy depends on the type of Ubuntu image, we publish two types:
release images - fully tested, production grade images that benefit from Canonical’s in-life support
daily images - untested builds that contain all the latest updates from the Ubuntu archive
For more details about these image types, check out our documentation of image release types.
The retention policy can be summarized as follows:
Ubuntu suite |
Daily Images |
Release Images |
|
|---|---|---|---|
Interim Release |
Active |
Delete all but the last 6 serials |
No images are deleted |
EOL* |
Delete all serials |
Delete all but the latest serial |
|
LTS Release |
Active |
Delete all but the last 6 serials |
No images are deleted |
EOSS** |
Delete all but the last 6 serials |
No images are deleted |
- where:
EOL refers to when an interim Ubuntu release (for example, Lunar Lobster 23.04) has reached end-of-life, and will no longer enjoy support
EOSS refers to when an LTS Ubuntu release (for example, Bionic Beaver 18.04 LTS) has reached “End of Standard Support”