I mentioned the last successful build of resolute (a 26.04 alpha image), which will soon disappear (being replaced by the newer stonking daily, so if anyone wants the resolute ISO, you’ll need to grab it before it’s replaced with that new stonking build.
Once the fix is merged; the [Ubuntu MATE] stonking daily will build on next cron cycle.
So here’s the quick backstory for anyone unfamiliar, like I was a couple of months ago.
Ubuntu MATE, the official Ubuntu flavor built around MATE Desktop, was launched in 2014 by Martin Wimpress, who effectively led the project for 12 years.
In March 2026, Wimpress stepped down. No drama, just burnout. No formal replacement has been appointed, and the impact became apparent when daily builds broke earlier this year and remained broken because nobody had the authority to merge fixes.
The good news is that contributors have stepped up and are now working to get Ubuntu 26.10 “Stonking Stingray” builds running again! The project’s future remains uncertain without a designated leader, but its community continues to keep Ubuntu MATE alive!
That hurts. The JUST is obsolete and/or on the wrong place.
I am trying to help create a more neutral description of the incident, one that is fairer to the open source community. This is not to expose anyone, but rather to show respect to the main person responsible for the Ubuntu Mate project. He has admirably kept this project alive for a long time. As mentioned above, such projects often lack of sufficient numbers of suitable individuals who can share the workload and who are willing to assume the necessary responsibility and rights, in the event of such an unpleasant incident.
It is also about the family members who bear the brunt of it and suffer alongside them, while they are the most important support in helping such individuals regain their balance.
P.S.
Please keep in mind that my English is a second language.
I understand you. I agree fully. What I meant was: often projects like these end because of drama and fallouts between devs, where one or more leave to start their own fork of what they once supported. This was not the case. No drama or disagreement.
Instead I’ll quote only the author, rather than describing:
I was translating the expressions back and forth from English to German and back to Spanish and English. The “best/worst” I got was was “just exhaustion” which isn’t better to emphasize what exactly was the reasons of stepping down.
Also listening the first 10 Minutes of the Brodcast Passing the Gourd it Is not in any way talking about a burnout … more as a “just shifting away to a new type of desktop” is to say short, what he selves explains.
( they’ve been available a few days; though you had to navigate LP to download them; as the Ubuntu Release team had to manually enable movement to cdimage.ubu… which is now done )
For any of you who haven’t noticed it yet, the new Ubuntu-MATE maintainers team have said hello
Off-topic in regards stonking, but the Ubuntu MATE & Ubuntu Unity builds for resolute have been disabled, as was expected… neither of those two flavors applied for LTS status; and the point release ISOs are part of LTS.
The project’s future remains uncertain without a designated leader, but its community continues to keep Ubuntu MATE alive! 