I regularly set up servers using the stable PHP packages. If you sell a setup to a client then you want to provide an "expiry date" for the setup when the OS go

I regularly set up servers using the stable PHP packages. If you sell a setup to a client then you want to provide an "expiry date" for the setup when the OS goes EOL. Stable packages kept up to date with nothing but security patches makes sure whatever you set up will run for X years without you having to worry about features being deprecated. There's no need to have those versions pre-instaled though. As long as they can be installed with apt/yum then those who need them can install them.