generated: '2026-09-05'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle, https://ubuntu.com/security/esm,
  https://documentation.ubuntu.com/lxd/latest/api-extensions/,
  https://status.canonical.com/, https://status.snapcraft.io/,
  https://documentation.ubuntu.com/landscape/reference/release-notes/,
  https://snapcraft.io/docs/reference/release-notes/
provider: Canonical
providerId: canonical
description: >-
  Canonical publishes one of the most explicit lifecycle commitments in the industry, but it is a
  commitment about OPERATING SYSTEM RELEASES rather than about API versions. The distinction matters
  for an integrator: the Ubuntu release cadence and the LTS/ESM support windows are firm, dated and
  contractual, while the API contracts themselves (LXD /1.0, snapd /v2, Launchpad /1.0) have no
  published deprecation policy and are versioned by capability discovery instead.
versioning:
  policy: per-product; no single company-wide API versioning policy is published
  strategies:
    - api: canonical:lxd-rest-api
      strategy: frozen path version plus an append-only capability list
      detail: >-
        The LXD API has been at /1.0 since the 1.0 release. New capability is added as a named entry
        in the api_extensions[] array returned by GET /1.0, never as a new path version. Canonical
        maintains the extension list as public reference documentation; it is currently several
        hundred entries long. This is a deliberate never-break-the-path posture.
      evidence: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/lxd/latest/api-extensions/
    - api: canonical:snapd-rest-api
      strategy: path version /v2
    - api: canonical:landscape-api
      strategy: 'parallel v1 (labelled LEGACY by Canonical) and v2 REST API'
      evidence: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/landscape/reference/api/
    - api: canonical:launchpad-api
      strategy: 'named series — /1.0 (stable), /devel (explicitly unstable, may change without notice)'
      evidence: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/launchpad/user/how-to/launchpad-api/
deprecation:
  policy_published: true
  policy_scope: >-
    The published policy covers Ubuntu releases and the packages in them, not API endpoints. Canonical
    publishes exact end-of-standard-support and end-of-ESM dates per Ubuntu release, and the release
    cycle page is the single authoritative calendar.
  policy_url: https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle
  headers:
    sunset: not used
    deprecation: not used
    note: >-
      No Canonical surface emits RFC 8594 Sunset or Deprecation response headers; live probes on
      2026-09-05 of api.charmhub.io and ubuntu.com/security returned neither.
  cadence:
    interim_releases: every six months, supported for 9 months
    lts_releases: every two years, with 5 years of standard security maintenance
    esm: >-
      "ESM extends the life of LTS releases by providing 10 years of security updates for the 'Main'
      repository and also adds 10 years of security coverage for the 'Universe' repository. Available
      through Ubuntu Pro." — quoted from https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle, probed 2026-09-05.
  deprecated_in_contract:
    count: 0
    note: >-
      Zero operations across the thirteen harvested specs carry `deprecated: true`. Canonical
      deprecates by api_extension supersession and by release EOL, not by marking operations in the
      contract.
  legacy_surfaces_named_by_the_vendor:
    - surface: Landscape legacy API (v1)
      evidence: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/landscape/reference/api/legacy-api-endpoints/
      note: Canonical's own navigation labels these endpoints "legacy" and directs new work to the v2 REST API.
    - surface: landscape-api command-line client
      evidence: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/landscape/how-to-guides/api/use-the-legacy-api-command-line-client/
    - surface: python-libmaas
      evidence: https://pypi.org/project/python-libmaas/
      note: No release since 2022-08-17; see packages/canonical-packages.yml.
status_page:
  published: true
  pages:
    - name: Canonical status
      url: https://status.canonical.com/
      platform: Site24x7 StatusIQ
      probed: '2026-09-05'
      http_status: 200
    - name: Snap Store status
      url: https://status.snapcraft.io/
      platform: Site24x7 StatusIQ
      probed: '2026-09-05'
      http_status: 200
  note: >-
    Two separate status pages: status.canonical.com covers Canonical services broadly, and
    status.snapcraft.io covers the Snap Store / Charmhub delivery surfaces that snap clients depend
    on. Neither publishes a machine-readable status JSON endpoint at a discoverable path.
sla:
  published: true
  note: >-
    SLAs are attached to the Ubuntu Pro / Canonical support subscription rather than to an API. The
    published support tiers are weekday and 24/7, priced per machine per year; see
    plans/canonical-plans-pricing.yml.
  url: https://ubuntu.com/support
release_notes:
  - product: Ubuntu
    url: https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle
  - product: Landscape
    url: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/landscape/reference/release-notes/
  - product: snapd / Snapcraft
    url: https://snapcraft.io/docs/reference/release-notes/
  - product: LXD
    url: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/lxd/latest/api-extensions/
    note: The api-extensions list doubles as LXD's API change log — each entry is a dated capability addition.
support_windows:
  - release_class: Interim
    standard_support: 9 months
  - release_class: LTS
    standard_support: 5 years
    extended: 10 years with Ubuntu Pro (ESM, Main and Universe)