Infinite Ubuntu Updates vs Debian's Fewer Updates?

Maintenance
1

I’m newer to managing Linux servers. I have two MIAB Ubuntu servers and two Debian servers running other server services. I noticed my Ubuntu servers have updates nearly every day and my Debian servers have them less frequently. Updating my MIAB feels like a daly routine that isn’t as enjoyable as my coffee.

I did some reading and learned that Ubuntu runs on the testing branch of Debian so it has more of the latest software but also more updates. Am I understanding that correctly?

I just read some posts from Josh in 2014 Ubuntu 14.04 Requirement about why Ubuntu was chosen. And some others said they’d love to see it run on Debian some day. Maybe I’ll learn to get involved in software projects and help that out some day.

This question isn’t to challenge the decision of using Ubuntu but to understand, what advantage does Ubuntu have over Debian for implementing something like MIAB? Because to me it seems like Ubuntu is a lot more work to maintain and update than Debian.

Or if anyone that has advice on managing the constant stream of Ubuntu updates I’m all ears.

2

There is Canonical Livepatch.

Someone here was trying it.

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3

Are your servers running unattended-upgrades? MiaB began doing this a while back and I rarely see upgrades. Keep in mind that this runs on a cron job, but if you check your MiaB server and see upgrades available - look again the next morning, and I bet that you will see that they have been done. There still is the necessity to reboot every two - three weeks for kernal upgrades.