What will happen to Thunderbird in Ubuntu 22.04 after 115.18.0?

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1

Hi, everyone :slight_smile:

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (“Jammy Jellyfish”) - currently Ubuntu 22.04.5 with all updates installed - has Mozilla Thunderbird as its e-mail client (as “.deb” packages)

Currently (2nd February 2025), the Thunderbird version installed (if we install all software updates), in Ubuntu 22.04, is 115.18.0 (“115.18.0esr”)

Now, it so happens that the “Release Notes” for version 115.18.0esr of Mozilla Thunderbird - https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/115.18.0esr/releasenotes/ - include the following sentence:

“Thunderbird 115.18.0esr is the final release of Thunderbird 115.”

So, my question - for anyone that may know and be so kind to answer me - is the following: what will happen to Thunderbird to users that are running it in Ubuntu 22.04? Specifically:
A) Will those users stop receiving Thunderbird updates, because they have the final release of Thunderbird 115 (“Supernova”) - which is that version “115.18.0esr” - and will remain in that Thunderbird version until they upgrade to a newer Ubuntu version (such as “24.04”) which would presumably also upgrade Thunderbird to a newer version?
-OR-
B) Will those users, still in Ubuntu 22.04, be automatically upgraded to Thunderbird 128 (“Nebula”) - which also is an ESR (“Extended Support Release”) of Thunderbird - and, in that case, will they get it as “.deb” package or will they get migrated to a snap based release?
-OR-
C) Will it happen something else entirely?

Thanks in advance! :slight_smile:

2

Thunderbird users upgrading from 22.04 to 24.04 get automatically upgraded to a new version of Thunderbird in snap form. It tracks the latest/stable channel which is 128.6.1esr-3.

$ snap info thunderbird
name:      thunderbird
summary:   Mozilla Thunderbird email application
publisher: Canonical✓
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/thunderbird
contact:   https://www.thunderbird.net/contact/
license:   unset
description: |
  Thunderbird is a free email application that’s easy to set up and customize - and it’s loaded with
  great features!
commands:
  - thunderbird
snap-id:      k1Ml1O9GzSO2QftV0ZlWSbUfQ78nN460
channels:
  latest/stable:    128.6.1esr-3 2025-01-27 (634) 221MB -
  latest/candidate: 128.6.1esr-3 2025-01-24 (634) 221MB -
  latest/beta:      135.0b4-1    2025-01-28 (635) 210MB -
  latest/edge:      ↑
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3

Let’s divide generic “updates” into the two main categories…

Bugfix updates: 20.04 and 22.04 LTS users are already using a very old version of Thunderbird, so most bugfixes occurred long ago. Is there some particular bug you are asking about?

Security updates: The Ubuntu Security Team will continue to patch CVEs for the life of the Ubuntu release, just as they have been for many years. The end of upstream releases is not an important change. This happens with a lot of software. If you are concerned about a specific vulnerability, check the Ubuntu CVE tracker.

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