Hubitat updates break things more than I care to deal with. Is a LTS version with a lifecycle of at least five years a possibility or a pipe dream?
I'm craving a stable platform that just works...
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You just find a version that works well for you and stay on it until you decide there is something supported in a newer version you must have. There is nothing forcing you to update and in fact it doesn't even nag you to update just a little red 1 in the corner of the management page.
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Supporting older platform versions also comes with its own cost in terms of HE staff time and effort to remain on top of prior version(s). Hot Fixes may need to be applied to these setups from time to time as well, such as security-related fixes, which all takes time to assess and integrate into the old code.
The flip-side to that approach is to continually move the platform forward, applying fixes to the latest version and asking customers to come on the journey. I know with some of the cloud platforms I have been using over the last few years for work, that can be a rocky-ride, sometimes with very little control over the changes being applied.
Personally, I think Hubitat strikes a nice balance across these two approaches, taking the best of each. They provide a steady pace of change for those hungry for more devices and features, while still allowing users to choose when to install the latest platform updates, along with the option to continue to use older versions of built-in apps even on the latest platform release. They are also quick to respond to reports of bugs, releasing fixes efficiently.
Another point to make is that a platform version that is stable for one user, does not guarantee it will be stable for all. There is an almost infinite range of combinations of devices and services people can use with their HE setup, not to mention custom drivers and the varied ways people use their hub.
Like @Terk suggested, it is about finding what is a stable setup for you. Many have commented about not always upgrading to the next major release straight away, making use of hub backups as a roll-back point if needed, amongst other strategies.
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5 years? There isn't a platform out there right now that will do what you're asking. You name it and it's constantly evolving, breaking many people's automation while they continue to grow. Wink? Started out as a huge favorite and now it's basically a swear word. Smartthings? They can't even keep the same app for 5 years. And they are in the middle of delivering a massive blow to millions of smart homes when they finally up and kick it to the groovy platform that had been the basis of all development on that platform. How about home assistant? It's a regular day job to keep up to date with that thing. Wanna talk about Google? The original app doesn't work at all with all the changes. I can't even add devices to a room or delete devices the same. Alexa skills up and break all the time.
You might have a case with Homekit remaining stable, but to develop in that ecosystem is certainly in another world compared to doing so in Hubitat.
One thing for sure is, at least with Hubitat, if you decide to run a fully local system with zero cloud connections, it's pretty much the only system you can just run without ever updating. I guess you could do the same with HA if you decide to remain 100% cloud free. But as soon as you bring in any WiFi or cloud devices which have their own updates handled outside of Hubitat, well what you're asking for is just impossible.
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"Most" things that break were already broken. So many people say, "Something happened to my z-wave" even though z-wave wasn't touched (and hasn't been in a while). 95% of the time updates expose problems in someone's existing system. Usually database corruption. Yes, there have been times where something was broke, immediately identified and fixed in a hot release a day, if not hours later but that doesn't happen often. I mean the last hardware based issue caused by an update was back on an early version of 2.2.9 when people were trying to add z-wave items and it wasn't completing. (This didn't affect the mesh itself). Overall the within an existing platform revision, the newest is usually the most stable. That said, you can always roll back if there is a major problem.
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Such as? This is definitely not my experience.
If things are working the way you want, and you don't desire the new features, just don't update.
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Ya, that's what I've done with Lutron RRA2.
I just purchased a second HE. Using one for production and one for testing will hopefully prevent things from getting mucked up.
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