Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 LTS Proposal

The Ubuntu Budgie Team is proposing that the Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 (Bionic Beaver) will be supported for three years as our first LTS release.

CONSIDERATIONS

• Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 will be our third release as an official flavour.
• Ubuntu Budgie also had a 4th release (16.04) in a non-official (Ubuntu) capacity.
• Many consumers of Ubuntu expect and run the x.04 version to be an LTS release with a longer lifespan.
• Ubuntu Budgie is formally a part of the upstream budgie-desktop team.
• budgie-desktop v10.4 is designated at its LTS release. Budgie-desktop v10.4 will be maintained beyond the initial uplift to budgie-desktop v11. Currently, there is no specific date for EOL by upstream. However, we have a core developer very familiar with the code-base and can resolve issues in consultation with the upstream Budgie Desktop maintainers. We already take on responsibilities for upstream maintainer-ship of arc-theme.
• Many of the packages shipped in Ubuntu Budgie are covered by Ubuntu developers (i.e., gnome-control-center, mutter, xorg, etc.)

SUPPORT PLAN

• the primary focus of our support will be the budgie-desktop and associated applications that the Ubuntu Budgie org develops or maintains.
• SRU - Ubuntu Budgie has PPU upload rights for our essential packages. (To date we have only ever had 1 SRU with 4 fixes).
• We have a bug test team of approximately 70 members with two official team leads from the Ubuntu Budgie team itself. To handle testing, with release management to be done by the team leads.

  • https://launchpad.net/~budgie-remix-bug-busters

  • https://launchpad.net/~ubuntubudgie-dev

• Ubuntu Budgie security updates will be managed by the Ubuntu Budgie Team in consultation with the upstream budgie-desktop team.

  • https://launchpad.net/~ubuntubudgie-dev

• Future uploads (to Debian/Ubuntu) will be handled by initially by David Mohammed, with Dustin Krysak being brought up to speed as an additional resource. We will be working to expand who can upload in the team through mentoring programs and eventually application through the DMB.

  • https://launchpad.net/~fossfreedom

  • https://launchpad.net/~bashfulrobot

• Regarding "level of support", the team will perform bug fixes on launchpad bug reports via the bug-busters team. https://launchpad.net/~budgie-remix-bug-busters/+members

• We are also preparing to launch a Discourse forum in an attempt to organise the community, as well as make support more accessible for people outside the Ubuntu ecosystem (End Users). While not yet active, but will reside at https://discord.ubuntubudgie.org (just setting up). We currently leverage a Gitter room for our community which will be decommissioned in favour of Discourse.

POINT RELEASES

The Ubuntu Budgie team will be following the point release cycles of Ubuntu itself.

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/ReleaseSchedule

• Ubuntu Budgie 18.04.1
• Ubuntu Budgie 18.04.2
• Ubuntu Budgie 18.04.3
• Ubuntu Budgie 18.04.4

LIST OF PROPOSED LONG-TERM SUPPORT PACKAGES/APPLICATIONS

NOTE - currently all Budgie packages are presently accepted into both Debian and Ubuntu and do not require sponsorship for the 18.04 release.

• budgie-desktop (Debian + Ubuntu),
• budgie-desktop-environment (Ubuntu Only)
• budgie-artwork (Ubuntu Only)
• budgie-welcome (Ubuntu Only)
• budgie-wallpapers (Ubuntu Only)
• budgie-extras (Debian + Ubuntu)
• arc-theme (Debian + Ubuntu)
• moka-icon-theme (Debian + Ubuntu)
• faba-icon-theme (Debian + Ubuntu)
• rhythmbox-plugin-alternative-toolbar (Debian + Ubuntu)
• budgie-indicator-applet (Debian + Ubuntu)
• slick-greeter (Debian + Ubuntu)
• ubuntu-budgie-meta (Ubuntu Only)