Questions about Linux Mint and this list

[Bret Busby]

On 19/7/22 1:14 am, Aaron Rainbolt wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 18, 2022 at 11:53 AM Dave Stevens via ubuntu-users
> <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, 18 Jul 2022 11:39:20 -0500
>> Aaron Rainbolt <arraybolt3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> at first glance, this might seem silly
>>
>> it doesn't seem silly, it seems like censorship. Where is the list of
>> distributions that Ubuntu permits discussion of on this list? Is MS
>> Windows one of them? But it is in every third email (or so).
>>
>> D
>>
>> --
>> Belief is the wound that knowledge heals.
>>
>> Teran to Peran, in The Telling
>> -Ursula K LeGuin
> 
> So firstly, much of the mention of MS Windows you are running into may
> be due to WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). WSL runs an official
> Ubuntu image, and is therefore officially supported. There are also
> various technologies that exist to allow Windows and Ubuntu to
> interact with each other, and for those solutions, we offer support
> for them. We don't support Windows itself anymore than any software
> company is supporting Windows when they support a product they make
> that works on or with Windows.
> 
> Secondly, there is a good list of supported Ubuntu flavours, you can
> find it here: https://ubuntu.com/desktop/flavours All of these
> flavours are officially supported by official Ubuntu support channels.
> 
> Thirdly, how are we supposed to support an unofficial derivative if
> they make changes without our consent? If someone over in Linux Mint
> land makes a mistake and breaks a package, and some Mint user comes
> into the Ubuntu chat trying to figure out what's wrong, we could spend
> a good deal of time trying to figure out what on earth went wrong,
> suggesting various fixes and debugging the problem. On the other hand,
> that same user could go into the official Linux Mint chat and ask the
> same question, and someone knowledgeable there could say, "Oh yeah,
> this is a bug, sorry about that, we're fixing it." Do you see how the
> second option results in much less wasted time for everyone involved?
> 
> Fourthly, I know that what we're doing isn't censorship, since we are
> under the same "no we don't support that" from Debian. Ubuntu is a
> Debian derivative (as are all of its flavours), and we make changes
> and mistakes that could easily cost the Debian team hours of
> head-scratching if they got hauled into the Debian support channels.
> Instead, Debian deflects those support requests to us. Not only do we
> not feel censored, we're thankful for the opportunity to help our
> users, and actively contribute to the Debian project. Their success is
> our success, even if our users can't get support from them.
> 
> Fifthly, unofficial Ubuntu derivatives who are willing to work with us
> can become official Ubuntu flavours. Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix and Ubuntu
> Unity are both in the process of becoming official Ubuntu flavours.
> Once that happens, everything will be easy from a support perspective,
> and we will fully support them through all official Ubuntu support
> channels.
> 
> Please don't assume that we're being malicious or somehow censoring
> other distros. We're happy to see people using Linux in whatever form
> it comes in. In fact, we ourselves sometimes use other distros in our
> development process! Knowing whether or not a bug is unique to Ubuntu
> or exists across all distros can be quite helpful in debugging
> problems, and I myself have spun up Debian, Fedora, KaOS, and Arch
> Linux virtual machines to help with Ubuntu development. I know at
> least one developer used Manjaro at some point to help test. It's not
> hard to imagine us using Mint if the opportunity presented itself. I'm
> willing to guess other distros use an Ubuntu system every once in a
> while to help develop themselves, too. Other distros help us, and we
> help other distros. We just want to make sure everyone actually gets
> the help they need in an efficient manner, that's all.
> 
> On that note, I'm gonna take Linux Mint for a spin in a VM pretty soon
> here and see what happens. Maybe I'll be able to be helpful to the
> wider Linux community that way. Thanks for your time, and have a great
> day!
> 

Whilst it is inferred from your posts in the last few hours, but, not 
explicitly stated, are you one of the Ubuntu developers/staff?

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............