After 12 years leading Ubuntu MATE, its founder says it’s time to hand the reins to new maintainers.
After about a dozen years at the helm of the Linux distribution he started, Martin Wimpress says it’s time for somebody else to take charge at Ubuntu MATE.
He started the distro in October 2014. About three years previously, in April 2011, GNOME 3 had been released, which had been disliked by a large number of GNOME users. About two months after that, Argentine developer Germán Perugorría forked GNOME 2 to create MATE, which quickly became quite popular. After that, Wimpress created Ubuntu MATE, which eventually became an official Ubuntu flavor.
A few years after starting the distro, Wimpress spent about 4 years as an Ubuntu employee. These days, he’s working as an engineering manager at Chainguard, which focuses on securing software supply chains. Somewhere along the way, he became something of a Linux celebrity.
It’s hard to measure the distro’s popularity — DistroWatch doesn’t give it a separate listing on its Page Hit Ranking, but mixes it in with all the other ‘buntus — but it gets a lot of press.
On Friday Wimpress posted a blog on Ubuntu’s website saying he wants out. Why? Evidently, the thrill is gone.
“I created Ubuntu MATE back in 2014, and my involvement in the project is coming to a close. Perhaps you can help?” he said. “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.”
Evidently, he doesn’t have a mentee close at hand to whom he can give a pat on the back and say, “It’s yours.” Instead, he’s calling for those who might be interested in the job to raise their hands.
“I’m interested in handing over the reins to contributors who do have the time and energy to work on Ubuntu MATE,” he added. “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.”
If you’d like to volunteer, you can post a reply to his post, or reply to a similar post he said he’s made in the Ubuntu Flavors channel on Matrix.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
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