Aaron Bertrand clarifies two concepts:
The underlying problem is that servicing complex software is, well, complex. Microsoft simplified this for our little corner of the world when they announced that SQL Server 2016 would be the last release to get service packs. We still have Cumulative Updates (CUs) and General Distribution Releases (GDRs) to deal with, but they tend to only cause confusion around Patch Tuesday (or the – cough – odd time a CU breaks things). Before I explain, let’s define these:
Read on for the definitions and why the GDR path exists.
Wait, I thought the German Democratic Republic (GDR / DDR) re-unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG / BRD) in 1990… Ah, the lengths I go to for an awful joke.