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PayPalDeveloper 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.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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True labour of love, the only distro that has tempted me to switch away from Mint.
This man is not a simple "maintainer" and cannot be replaced at least not easily.
Quoting: tmtvlLet's hope the new maintainer will finally do what we're all waiting for and rename it to Mubuntu.M'buntu tips hat
Persephone the Sheep 13 hours ago
Linux_Rocks 13 hours ago
Quoting: wytrabbitMuubuntuQuoting: tmtvlLet's hope the new maintainer will finally do what we're all waiting for and rename it to Mubuntu.M'buntu tips hat
Quoting: wytrabbitMuubuntuQuoting: tmtvlLet's hope the new maintainer will finally do what we're all waiting for and rename it to Mubuntu.M'buntu tips hat
Quoting: PhlebiacWhat's the attraction of MATE over Cinnamon or current GNOME with classic-look extensions? Serious question, not trying to start any desktop wars.I'm using MATE on arch. The attraction for me is that the thing just works without breakages or problems. I know exactly how it behaves from years of using it and it does exactly what i need it to do without any problems.
Quoting: EhvisI ran it for some time a good while back. Too many issues with compositor with only good old "compiz" really doing everything I needed it to do. But that too degraded over time until I just had to leave it. It always felt like they did not just stick to traditional desktop paradigms, but stuck with old tech as well. How is it doing with Wayland?theres picom option these days (MATEs own software rendering compositor is bad yeah). But i personally don't care or use compositor at all. Snappy and responsive desktop without any fluff animations is what i value more.
Quoting: JarmerMate itself is still stuck on x isn't it? With all the distros dropping x and going wayland only, if mate doesn't migrate to full wayland support as cinnamon is doing, will it even have a future at all?there is experimental wayland support also but it's very basic and broken.
What distros are dropping X11 support? there are still things that dont work on wayland some people require, so i doubt X will go anywhere soon. If that time comes we will see.
Quoting: XpanderWhat distros are dropping X11 support? there are still things that dont work on wayland some people require, so i doubt X will go anywhere soon. If that time comes we will see.All of them...
Fedora
Ubuntu
Opensuse
Popos
Mint
Gnome (I know not a distro, it's a de, but still relevent) is fully wayland only, no x at all.
^ this is just off the top of my head, I could look up more, but it's pretty much all the major parent distros.
I'm sure you can add X back in to some of these if you want, but that's not the point. X will of course still be used by the legacy people, but every day that passes that percentage will go down and down until there's a stable like 0.1% or something.
Last edited by Jarmer on 31 Mar 2026 at 2:29 pm UTC
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