Ubuntu MATE LTS Re-qualification request

[Martin Wimpress]

Hi Alex,

> > I want to request Ubuntu MATE 24.04 qualification as an LTS release, supported
> > for 3 years. Key contacts include myself (flexiondotorg), Alan Pope (popey), and
> > Bill (franksmcb).
> >
> > We have a small team of active members on the team and are currently moving
> > team collaboration to an Ubuntu MATE space on the ubuntu.com Matrix.
> >
> > Support is limited to security and significant bug fixes for the MATE package
> > set; applications from which are seeded by several of the other flavours.
> >
> > We also help maintain packaging for several other applications, including
> > Arctica Greeter, Ayatana Indicators, Blueman and Yaru.
> >
>
> Thanks for providing the details above, I'm assuming then that you are
> committing to supporting the packages listed in
> https://ubuntu-archive-team.ubuntu.com/packagesets/noble/ubuntu-mate for
> 3 years?

That is correct.

> From https://ubuntu-mate.org/support/ it would appear that the main
> support mechanism is the ubuntu-mate.community discourse and associated
> LP bug reports against these packages.

LP issues are the main mechanism for reporting issues bugs, packaging
issues and security issues.

However, I've been talking to the Ubuntu Community team about more
closely aligning the Ubuntu MATE community spaces with the Ubuntu
community spaces. The move to Matrix was the first step, and adding
Ubuntu MATE category to the Ubuntu Discourse and using AskUbuntu for
Ubuntu MATE support is underway with assistance from the community
team.

> One question I have to ask is that from what I see over in the Ubuntu
> MATE discourse is that various folks seem to think you are focusing on
> NixOS now and have abandoned Ubuntu MATE
> (https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/plans-for-24-04-lts/27110/14,
> https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/plans-for-24-04-lts/27110/22) - although
> I can see you have been active in the ubuntu-mate github
> organisation. Can you clarify what your personal plans are going forward
> for Ubuntu MATE and specifically what that looks like for the proposed 3
> year timeframe for a possible 24.04 LTS?

Working with Nix and NixOS is a big part of my day job. I will  maintain
Ubuntu MATE for the 24.04 LTS life cycle and the support window for
future interim releases. That said, I am keen on bringing some new
maintainers into Ubuntu MATE and mentoring them to bring some fresh
ideas to future releases of Ubuntu MATE. I'll be posting a CTA for this
after the 24.04 release.

-- 
Regards, Martin.