The Stellar Development Foundation announced changes to its Debian package distribution for Stellar Core and Horizon nodes. Support for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS has ended, and operators must upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04 LTS, with SDF committing to support all future Ubuntu LTS releases.
The SDF has updated its software release distribution strategy for Stellar Core and Horizon node operators. Since 2017, SDF has distributed these critical infrastructure components via Debian packages to simplify installation and maintenance. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS reached end-of-life in April 2021, and SDF has now discontinued Debian package support for this version. Node operators still on 16.04 must upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04 LTS, or compile from source. SDF has established tooling to support all future Ubuntu LTS releases, aligning with industry best practices and helping network participants maintain secure, stable infrastructure with predictable upgrade paths.
