title: Why is node.js v4.4.5 recommended over v6.2.0 "for most users"?
body: <p>I used node.js for a development project a few years ago, and this app is somewhat "mothballed" for the time being — it needs to stay online, it needs to stay secure, but it shouldn't need much attention. It is currently running on node.js v0.10.32, but I would now like invest in a "final" migration to a Long Term Support (LTS) release so it will be easier to maintain for the foreseeable future.</p>
  
  <p>At first glance, the node.js homepage makes it look like v4.4.5 is obviously the only available LTS release:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bRAC7.png"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bRAC7.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>However if I click that <a href="https://github.com/nodejs/LTS#lts_schedule">LTS schedule</a> link, it tells a different story. As far as I can tell, version 6 of node.js is also slated to be an LTS release, with that support ending a full year later than version 4 will be.</p>
  
  <p>Given that:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>v6.2.0 is a versioned release</li>
  <li>v6 is purported to receive LTS maintenance until 2019-04-01</li>
  <li><a href="https://medium.com/@nodesource/node-js-is-semver-8b3938ae8d24">theoretically</a> no changes in v6.x should break backwards compatibility</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Why would I bother upgrading to v4 instead of v6? Seems like v4 buys me one less year of security patches, but no additional compatibility guarantees?</p>