I just created a new subcategory for discussions around Ubuntu Unity. Feel free to continue the good conversations and collaboration there:
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Thank you so much Aaron. 
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If i’m not mistaken the ISO’s are being automatically generated and tested with no human interaction.
There is no automated testing for flavors right now. Images are built daily.
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I’ve been a user of Ubuntu for quite some time and would love to help out wherever I can. I’ve been a software engineer for over 25 years and have developed on many different operating systems (both GUI and terminal/CLI apps) in C, C++, and other languages. I’ve also got a few years of Armbian/Debian experience on embedded devices and building OS images and app packages. Where is a good place to start so I can also help? I’ll continue looking through this thread for tips and advice on where to start.
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Unless we get tips where to start I will probably start by installing minimal Ubuntu 25.10 on my new ThinkPad T61 then try to install whole Unity desktop and try to fix all issues I find during installation (if there are any). I have an experience from the past that many bugs are easier to find on slower systems. And I will keep all packages (source code and .deb build instructions) in my own GitLab repository until we get information where are upstream repositories.
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We are still working on outlining everything and gather as much information we need to point you all in the right direction. This will take a few days so we ask kindly to be patient.
We will post about it once everything is in place.
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Let’s be frank: Unity has a heavy legacy code load, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain (as we see today). Wouldn’t it be more prudent to “abandon” the current project and create a “new generation Unity” simply by creating graphical customization plugins for the current Gnome? There’s a huge range of plugins for Gnome and KDE that allow you to create an experience exactly like Unity’s, while maintaining more modern code and without the burden of maintaining extremely legacy code like Unity’s.
There’s simply no need to maintain a legacy code load like the current Unity project does. How about combining these efforts and relaunching a new Unity, built only as a plugin layer on top of the current Gnome? The effort from all teams would be drastically reduced, and you would deliver releases on time and with better quality.
One example is the KDE Latte-dock package (I believe this is now integrated into KDE, no longer as a separate project), plus kvantum which had a simple theme that recreated the Unity interface with fidelity in KDE Plasma. This is just one example. I transformed my KDE Plasma into Unity in less than 5 minutes.
It would be much more prudent to abandon the Unity project and focus on a project based on themes and plugins for Gnome. The current state of Unity is a code “workaround” to make a legacy project work on top of modern kernels and libraries. If you are having difficulty maintaining the schedule today, expect this to evolve into something exponentially worse in the future with the current Unity.
I’m not wishing for the end of the project, I’m just expressing my point of view because I think the path you are following is not ideal for the future of Unity.
Let’s not get sidetracked here.
This topic is about recruiting folks who want to get involved and help.
Let’s please stay on topic.
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This is interesting idea and point of view. However unless I get to know the codebase I will not drop the idea of resurrecting existing Unity project.
On the other hand GNOME evolves very quickly and I am afraid that keeping Unity as a set of GNOME plugins up to date with GNOME can be a comparatively difficult task.
I am honestly very excited with resurrecting abandoned project even if it would be the most difficult way. I just like challenges 
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Hello everyone,
My name is Benjamin, I’m a computer science student and a self-taught Linux enthusiast.
I’d like to offer my assistance in response to the recent call for help. While I haven’t used Ubuntu Unity before, I’ve been an Ubuntu user since the release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
I’m still learning and not entirely sure where to start, but I have some experience working with ISO files in my home labs and I’m eager to research and contribute.
With some orientation and beginner guidance, I’m available and ready to help however I can.
Best regards,
Benjamin.
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Hi guys, daily driving Ubuntu Unity pretty much since it’s initial release.
Just wanted to mention that Unity8 aka Lomiri is already in active development and aiming to replace Unity7 for 26.04 LTS.
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As 26.04 is a LTS release we decided it’s not an option to switch to another DE as of yet. We love to colaborate with UBports however to build a separate Ubuntu Lomiri spin in the very near future. Think 26.10 for example. We then have enough time to test and develop things further.
Though development on Lomiri has made great progress, the majority of us agreed it’s not ready yet to replace Unity7. But… we are keeping it open as a option to replace Unity7 with Lomiri eventually at some point if there’s no other option left. We do not turn it down in any way and love to embrace it.
Besides that the topic was meant to ask for help and for more people to join in helping us to get Unity7 back into shape for the 26.04 LTS release.
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Hi,
Which competences are asked / needed ?
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Hello and welcome,
As i mentioned in a previous reply we are currently working on gathering as much information as we can to work on the infrastructure and outline everything so we can point the kind people who want to get involved the way.
However, it takes us longer than expected because our current project lead has no time at the moment to show us where everything is and how everything works. We ask for a little more pacience.
Once we have all the information I’ll post a comment or open a new topic.
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That would be nice, but i don’t know of a concerted effort to replace unity 7 yet. I’m also involved with UBPorts.
Perhaps it would be good to outline what we would need to actually replace unity 7 with Lomiri.
From feedback i’ve gathered so far:
- global menu
- the HUD (the ability to search through the menu bar using a shortcut)
- wallpaper based launcher color (the launcher changing color based on the wallpaper)
- display settings (resolution, refresh rate, scaling, multi-monitor arrangement etc)
- frosted glass theming (lomiri’s theming is rather flat in comparison)
- lenses (the ability to not only search for applications but also files and filter for file types)
These are point i could gather feedback on, but don’t consider this list to be comprehensive. Instead see this from this perspective, anything that replaces unity should have a minimal impact on the user experience. People chose ubuntu unity instead of xfce or kde customized to look like unity for a reason. If we can reach the point that the above issues are resolved by 28.04 that would be great.
Meanwhile we’ll continue to patch up unity 7 so it remains a solid choice for 26.04
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Now I understand the direction. I joined UBPorts so I can work on the HUD and lenses but unfortunately the infrastructure has not been made very welcoming to contributors thus I have been stuck with not being able to have a reproducible environment.
I suppose the same issue will be present with unity 7 and will be a pressing one. Making it straight-forward and well documented how to get started and set up the environment. Coming from a more or less a single developer at the helm(Rudra) I think it’s critical to open the knowledge process and have the core team as a facilitator of the onboarding process for new contributors.
A post was split to a new topic: Is it possible to use old Unity (Desktop) on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
are you in the lomiri telegram group? that should be a good place to start, that said lomiri is offtopic for this uh topic. The goal is here is to find help to fix up unity 7 so we can bridge over to whatever the future may hold
yes, we are still working on understanding the process ourselves for ubuntu unity, things seem scattered atm
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@mar1n3r0 if you’d like to continue talking about Lomiri with us i think it’s better to open a new topic about it so we could continue there.
@all In general:
I don’t want to sound blunt but there have been a few distracting post made already instead of focusing on what the topic was intended for in the first place.
We would really appreciate it if we stay ontopic from here onward. If you are willing to help us out, please leave a reply and we’ll get back to all of you as soon as we have all the info we need to point the way. Thanks in advance
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Hey guys, I would love to contribute as well, specially on gathering and documenting how to get started for newcomers.
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