Ubuntu MATE LTS Re-qualification request

[Alex Murray]

Hi Martin,

On Thu, 2024-04-18 at 14:03:50 +0100, Martin Wimpress wrote:

> 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.

Ok, I wonder if perhaps it would be worth documenting this a bit more
clearly since from https://ubuntu-mate.org/support/ it seems more like
the discourse is the primary means for reporting issue - I realise there
are some notes right at the bottom of that page about reporting bugs but
perhaps this could be a bit more prominent via a section under
"Community Support" that explicitly mentions reporting bugs?

>
> 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.
>

Nice!

>> 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.

Thanks for the reassurance.

>From the TB point of view, I am satisfied that Ubuntu MATE meets the
requirements for a 3 year LTS for 24.04. +1 from me.

>
> -- 
> Regards, Martin.

Cheers,
Alex