Is it normal for a distribution to also package upstream projects that customers want?
Exactly this. I see a lot of parallels between k8s releases and OS releases. Even if you're paying microsoft for patches to windows XP, I'm not seeing any of that and the python runtime that most of my software relies on also isn't seeing their cut so... I guess upgrade to at least python 3.10 and then call me back?
I would prefer to see the conversation turn more to "what can be done to reduce reluctance to upgrading? How can we make k8s upgrades painless so there's minimal incentive to stick with a long out of date release?"
It's a great point which probably should be part of the discussion. Say even if Kubernetes project offered LTS, how would that play into every other project that is pulled together.
> Is it normal for a distribution to also package upstream projects that customers want?
I suspect it differs by distribution. The distribution I worked on included a bunch of other projects, but it was also pretty niche.