Sure, I know a lot of you fine folk install HA because you like to tinker and tweak stuff - but sometimes that time is a luxury. There are times in life where it feels like keeping on top of the updates is simply not possible - so I haven’t. I’ve let my system stagnate…horribly.
See, if I try to tinker a little with my current setup I’ll be without documentation (it’s moved on to keep pace with the blistering development), and if I try to update I’ll certainly spend the weekend trying to patch/repair the functionality I used to have rather than adding new things. I’m committed to leaving my current system to limp along while starting fresh on a new host. (Service interruption to some of the Z-wave lighting automations has to be minimal to maintain a happy home life).
I’m proposing an LTS-type version (common abbreviation for ‘long term support’), where documentation is frozen (except for corrections), and the only updates available are the non-breaking/important-security-fix types. I would be plenty happy with a release schedule of 1+ years, for those of us who don’t need the latest and greatest - those people who want to view this as an appliance rather than a continual hobby/project/timesink.
This project has some great goals (local control and privacy) which are my main draw, the maintainability as a user has me frustrated.