Ubuntu MATE seeking maintainers as the creator looks to move on

Developer Martin Wimpress has announced their intention to move on from Ubuntu MATE, and so the distribution is looking for fresh faces.

What is Ubuntu MATE? It's an official flavour of the Ubuntu family. Using Ubuntu as the base of the packages but it comes with the retro MATE desktop environment which is the continuation of the old GNOME 2.

In a post on the official Ubuntu Discourse forum, Wimpress said:

Hey

I created Ubuntu MATE back in 2014, and my involvement in the project is coming to a close. Perhaps you can help?

As another development cycle passes, I find myself lacking the time I once had to work on Ubuntu MATE. And, to be frank, I don’t have the passion for the project that I once had. When I have time to tinker, my interests are elsewhere.

With that in mind, I’m interested in handing over the reins to contributors who do have the time and energy to work on Ubuntu MATE.

If you are an Ubuntu contributor with experience maintaining packages in the Ubuntu archive and are interested in working on Ubuntu MATE, let me know. I’ve posted a similar message in the Ubuntu Flavours channel on Matrix.

Looking forward to hearing from passionate Ubuntu contributors

Hopefully some other developers will step forwards to continue it on. If not, there's always Linux Mint that has a MATE edition if the old desktop style is really what you're after.