stability
noun [ U ]
uk
/stəˈbɪl.ə.ti/ us
/stəˈbɪl.ə.t̬i/
C1
a situation in which something is not likely to move or change:
a period of political stability
The point of a stable distro is that it’s unchanging. That way you have predictable issues that you can solve in the same way for the lifetime of that version.
Reliability is a side benefit of maintainers choosing the best available version to freeze.
ackshyually, we are both right.
I would argue that the reason a slow release schedule is called stable because it aims to achieve stability and reliability.
stable is called stable because of stability
The point of a stable distro is that it’s unchanging. That way you have predictable issues that you can solve in the same way for the lifetime of that version.
Reliability is a side benefit of maintainers choosing the best available version to freeze.