For users of Ubuntu MATE and Ubuntu Unity, the 2 Linux Distributions will NOT be the Long Term Support (LTS) release for the next 26.04.
Ubuntu announced the LTS qualifications for Resolute Raccoon in last week:
We haven’t seen LTS requalification requests from Ubuntu MATE nor Ubuntu Unity, so these will release subject to release team approval, and they will be non-LTS.
As you know, the Ubuntu flavors are the community maintained distributions with different desktop environments or specific intended use case. So far, Ubuntu has 10 official flavors, they are listed in this Ubuntu web-page.
Ubuntu always requires the official flavors to go through a qualification process for every releases, especially for LTS. For next Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, the following flavors have been approved with three year LTS qualification.
- Ubuntu Budgie
- Ubuntu Kylin
- Xubuntu
- Lubuntu
- Edubuntu
- Ubuntu Studio
- Ubuntu Cinnamon
What About KUbuntu 26.04
KUbuntu 24.04
KUbuntu is not mentioned in the announcement. And, I didn’t see the qualification request for KUbuntu 26.04 in the Technical Board.
The KUbuntu developer, Scarlett Gately Moore, was in a car accident in last July. Though back to work now, she needs a little help.
Rik Mills, another KUbuntu developer who’s also Ubuntu core developer, is actively building packages for Ubuntu 26.04 and backporting Plasma desktop and KDE frameworks for current Ubuntu release through KUbuntu PPAs.
IMO, KDE Plasma is so popular and maintainers are still actively working, there’s no reason to exclude KUbuntu 26.04 as one of the next official LTS flavors.
Why Ubuntu MATE and Ubuntu Unity Excluded
Ubuntu MATE 24.04
Ubuntu MATE is Ubuntu with MATE desktop environment, a continuation of the classic GNOME 2. It was firstly approved as official flavor when it was in version 15.04.
MATE in current Ubuntu releases is still at version 1.26, while the latest MATE 1.28 has been released for more than a year. Debian upstream has started packaging MATE 1.28 for Forky and Ubuntu 26.04, though Ubuntu MATE developer missed the LTS qualification.
According to the future of Ubuntu MATE discussion, it seems that the project lead, Martin Wimpress, is now having other interests and obligations (Nøughty Linux), so he didn’t apply the re-qualification requests.
For Ubuntu Unity, the official flavor since 22.10, the project lead Rudra Saraswat, is too busy because of university exams and tests.
Other members lack of knowledge to maintain the project, and Maik Adamietz asked for help by this thread in discrouse few months ago, but without luck. And, they didn’t even know the requalification process so missed the deadline for next 26.04 LTS.
For current Ubuntu MATE and Ubuntu Unity users
Without Ubuntu MATE or Ubuntu Unity, Ubuntu 26.04 can install the 2 desktop environments from the system repositories, though they will be less stable due to lack of desktop specific maintenance.
According to this discourse page, 24.04 users may stay with it until 2034, by enabling Ubuntu Pro for security maintenance, though Canonical does not offer phone or ticket support for Community Flavors.
In light of the above and having just installed Ubuntu Mate as a relative newbie to Linux, should I move to another desktop before getting too used to Mate?
I use Ubuntu Mate and have had Ubuntu Pro since they offered it. I am not worried. As a newbie I think you will be okay, and the forum is great if you have a problem. If you decide to switch there are options out there if you want the Mate Desktop.
Your best option would be Mint Mate. Good OS, okay forum for newbies. Multiple developers led by Clem who is very committed.
Another option is Debian Mate stable, but the forum is not friendly to new user, down right hostile to new users in my opinion. Most common answer RTFM (read the Fk’n manual) Base of many other distros including Ubuntu.
Sparky Linux Mate Stable or semi-rolling. As a newbie I would avoid the rolling distro. Forum quiet and not much help. I use Sparky Linux semi-rolling on by backup laptop and really like it. Again pretty much a one developer distro.
Devuan Mate GNU+Linux I don’t know much about it other than it is Debian without systemD instead of sysvinit, as a newbie you won’t probably understand or care about the difference. Devuan users will be much like Debian users but more Linux purists.
Pearl Linux MATE 12 Last time I used Pearl it was still under development and I wouldn’t recommend it for a new user.
Personally I would stay with Ubuntu Mate or move to Mint Mate, which I used for over a year and visually they are hard to tell apart. There are a few differences under the hood, but as a new user you won’t really notice them. The forum is good for new users, but nowhere near the Ubuntu Mate forum.
You can always use the search function on Distrowatch to find an OS that fits your needs.
https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major
Good luck.
ever since ubuntu unity and the gnome3 initial launch,
i have switched to Mate because its the familiar working gnome2 fork that i prefer
i tried cinnamon briefly, it wasnt for me.
because at the time only Mint offered Mate, ive been using the mate repos ever since
it works, its had a rough road but it does what i need.
as with all DE/WM flavors, use what works best for you.