Representatives from the Ubuntu Flavors along with various Canonical and community leads met on May 6th 2024 to discuss the just released Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat, and the upcoming release of Ubuntu 24.10 Oracular Oriole.
Mauro Gaspari (@ilvipero) kicked off the meetings with a message of gratitude to all involved with the release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Noble Numbat. This release cycle has been challenging and packed with surprises. Despite that, everyone managed to keep a positive attitude, worked as a team, and ultimately contributed to a stellar release!
Flavors & Infrastructure
Some Ubuntu flavors asked to get closer to the Ubuntu communications platform, and some work has been taking place during the last phases of the release cycle; therefore it is important to make sure that everyone has a chance to read it now, after the release. None of the platforms below are mandatory, it is essential that the Ubuntu Flavors choose platforms that work well for their respective teams.
Ubuntu Discourse
- Ubuntu Flavors are welcome to use the Ubuntu Discourse as their main asynchronous communication tool. There are a few things to be mindful of:
- To avoid clutter, flavor categories will be created under the “Flavors” main category. This currently limits the flavors to using tags, as the standard of Discourse supports a maximum of 2 layers categories by default. Having said that, 3-layer categories is a core feature, but disabled by default. Canonical is planning to test it in a staging instance very soon.
- Ubuntu Discourse is not meant to be used for technical questions and user support. AskUbuntu is our platform for that type of support and interactions. AskUbuntu already has tags created for all official flavors of Ubuntu, and special links can be created that include the tag. This can help users reach the right place when they ask questions related to specific Ubuntu flavors.
Matrix
- Matrix can be used by Ubuntu flavors. Rooms and spaces on the Ubuntu.com Matrix homeserver can be created by any Ubuntu member. Matrix documentation is available here and processes regarding room and spaces creation are clearly defined in the Room Administration document.(Room Administration | Ubuntu). Flavors that need help can also contact Matrix operators in the Ubuntu Matrix Ops room.
- IRC bridging has been tested and documentation drafted. There are many things to get right, and we are taking a safe and slow approach to make sure all involved parties are notified, and the technology used is stable and well documented. Frequent updates can be found on the Matrix category on the Ubuntu Discourse.
Websites
- Aaron Prisk (@aaronprisk) has been helping Edubuntu with a static website since the flavor got official status. He also found a great, open-source web building GUI tools for Ubuntu called Publii that can be used to easily design and update static websites. Publii is compatible with many hosting platforms, such as GitHub and GitLab pages.
- Eylul Dogurel (@eylul), Aaron Prisk (@aaronprisk) and Mauro Gaspari (@ilvipero) are going to see if the newly created Flavor Design Squad would be willing to help. Having flavor templates for Publii would further decrease the difficulty of getting a website up and running.
- Rick Timmis (@ricktimmis) mentioned that Kubuntu is using a similar approach. Hugo static website built and hosted on GitHub. Rick provided a link, so other flavors or anyone interested can take a look and see how the Kubuntu team builds their website.
Flavor status page
- The Canonical Community team receives frequent information requests related to the Ubuntu Flavors. These requests can originate by various community members, Canonical colleagues, content creators or members of the press. To provide this information in an organized manner that anyone can check at any time, Aaron Prisk (@aaronprisk) created a Discourse post, that tracks Flavour Release Status.
- Flavor teams with Discourse accounts can edit the page with latest links or news.
- Mauro Gaspari (@ilvipero) would like to eventually move it to a web frontend, where it can be easily found and referenced. This can be easily done with the Discourse documentation backend.
Testing releases
Quickemu
Martin Wimpress (@Wimpy) introduced the latest release of Quickemu. Quickemu can be used to effortlessly spin up Ubuntu flavor images. Martin believes that this tool can help our testers, and possibly encourage more people to get involved with testing.
Kubuntu QA
Rick Timmis (@ricktimmis) shared that the Kubuntu team is using the KubuQA tool. This can also be interesting for flavors and testers.
Retrospective!
Participants of the flavor sync meeting were offered to take part in a group activity. Mauro Gaspari (@ilvipero) prepared a fun retrospective that had two main goals: let everyone express their thoughts and emotions about the release, in a safe environment. The second goal was to provide a place where constructive criticism can be turned into action items.
Ubuntu 24.10 Oracular Oriole
Oliver Smith (@local-optimum) joined flavor sync session 1 despite being very busy at a Canonical sprint. Oliver gave a quick sneak peek of the Ubuntu 24.10 roadmap, and mentioned that he will be writing a post about it in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned for timely roadmap updates by @local-optimum !
Get involved!
Ubuntu Flavor Sync Meetings take place every 2 months on the second Monday of January, March, May, July, September. There are two sessions, 3PM UTC and 10PM UTC, to best accommodate our global community. The last Ubuntu Flavor Sync of each year happens in-person, at the Ubuntu Summit.
All are welcome to join and participate in the discussion!