Many Linux enthusiasts had used Ubuntu at some point in their careers and will recall the not-so-distant days when Canonical made a difference with their Unity desktop.
We shall specify for novice Linux users that Unity is a graphical shell for the GNOME desktop environment designed and maintained by Canonical for Ubuntu. It was beautiful and innovative, but another controversial Canonical decision threw it out in 2017.
So, since its 17.10 “Artful Aardvark” release, Ubuntu has reverted to using GNOME as the default desktop environment. In addition, the last official update from Canonical for Unity was the minor 7.4.5 version, dated back in March 2019.
Fortunately, Unity rose from the ashes six years after its major 7th release thanks to 12-year-old Rudra Saraswat, Linux Foundation Certified Developer and Ubuntu member from India.
Rudra is the driving force behind Ubuntu Unity, the unofficial flavor of the Ubuntu family. Furthermore, the stable Unity 7.6 desktop environment version was officially announced two months ago, seamlessly integrated into the distribution’s current LTS release, Ubuntu 22.04 “Jammy Jellyfish.”
So, it comes as no surprise these days that the devs team behind Ubuntu Unity has applied to become the official Ubuntu flavor. This is expected to happen in late October when Ubuntu 22.10 “Kinetic Kudu” will be released.
The good news is that the application has been accepted, and all indicators point to it being approved. So far, so good.
However, here’s where we need to make a necessary clarification. While some media outlets have stated that Ubuntu Unity is now an official Ubuntu flavor, this is not entirely (at the moment) correct. So, in keeping with our tradition of providing our readers with reliable and verifiable facts, here is the current situation.
Canonical has strict criteria and requirements for distros that want to join and be recognized as official Ubuntu flavors by the company.
The following statement stands out in the conversation between Ubuntu Unity’s leading developer and Canonical:
I am satisfied that your team has met the requirements for inclusion as a daily flavor and am voting +1 for Ubuntu Unity moving forward with daily builds. Becoming a recognized release flavor for 22.10 is contingent on successfully participating in the 22.10 Beta milestone.
Steve Langasek, Software developer, Canonical
That being said, it is highly likely that Ubuntu Unity will become the next official flavor of the Ubuntu family. However, for that to happen, the distro needs to participate successfully during the next month in the beta tests of the upcoming 22.10 release.
Of course, our entire team is convinced that Ubuntu Unity will meet all of the requirements, and we will be pleased to announce at the end of next month that its debut release as an official Ubuntu flavor, 22.10, is a fact.
