On Tuesday, May 18th, the Xubuntu Team voted to migrate some of our infrastructure away from Launchpad to GitHub for code hosting, while translations are now on Transifex. Here’s a summary of the changes:

• We have a new GitHub organization, under the Xubuntu name. Each subteam has an equivalent in the new organization.
• All codebases have been migrated to GitHub.
• All translations have moved to Transifex.
• Every codebase moved to GitHub has been mirrored on Launchpad. This supports our daily package builds, and allows community members to continue using only Launchpad if they choose.

The following functionality has not changed:

• Issues are still reported on Launchpad for each package, and ubuntu-bug continues to work as it always has.
• PPAs and daily package builds will continue to be updated as normal.

Why GitHub?

We’ve chosen to move to GitHub to make it easier for individuals to contribute to the project. As one of the largest platforms for software development, this is where we can reach the largest number of potential contributors while eliminating various barriers to entry. Here’s just some of the reasons we’re moving:

• Ubuntu and many of its flavors already host their code on GitHub.
• Many of our upstream and downstream projects are already on GitHub or have mirrors there.
• GitHub’s Web IDE simplifies contributions. Non-technical users can easily submit changes to their favorite projects, and maintainers can accept them just as easily.
• Discoverability is improved. All of Xubuntu’s projects can be found from a single page.

Why Transifex?

Transifex is a popular, web-based translation platform. They support open source projects by making their solutions free for any FOSS project, and have long been the translation solution for our primary upstream, Xfce. With their simple GitHub integration, we were able to quickly and easily move and have our translations automatically syncing in both directions.

To find all of our projects needing translators and to sign up, just visit our public page: https://www.transifex.com/xubuntu/public/

Okay, Great! Now What?

We encourage everybody to join us in breaking in our new platforms. Here’s how you can get started:

• Watch and star our projects! Watching a project will keep you in the loop for the latest changes. Starring a project will make it easier to find in the future, and help you discover similar projects.
• Fork our projects! Forking a repository makes a copy under your own profile. Make some changes and submit a pull request to include them in Xubuntu.
• Join the translations team! Xubuntu is used all around the world. Help us localize our software and documentation to make a global impact.

Don’t know where to begin? Checkout our Get Involved page to learn how you can contribute to our Artwork, Development, Documentation, Marketing, and Quality Assurance. Here’s some links to help you get to the right place:

• Xubuntu on GitHub (code, marketing materials, and more)
• Xubuntu on Transifex (translations)
• Xubuntu-tagged bugs on Launchpad

The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 20.10!

Xubuntu 20.10, codenamed Groovy Gorilla, is a regular release and will be supported for 9 months, until July 2021. If you need a stable environment with longer support time we recommend that you use Xubuntu 20.04 LTS instead.

The final release images are available as torrents and direct downloads from xubuntu.org/download/.

As the main server might be busy in the first few days after the release, we recommend using the torrents if possible.

Xubuntu Core, our minimal installation option, is available to download from unit193.net/xubuntu/core/ [torrent, magnet]. Find out more about Xubuntu Core here.

We’d like to thank everybody who contributed to this release of Xubuntu!

Highlights and Known Issues

Highlights

• GitHub: At the beginning of this cycle, we transitioned all of our codebases to a single location to make getting started easier for new contributors. Check out the new Xubuntu GitHub!
• Transifex: We’ve made it easier than ever to contribute translations to Xubuntu! Transifex brings all of our projects together in a single place, and removes various barriers to contributing.
• Documentation: A small team of new and past contributors joined together this cycle to refresh our documentation. Every chapter received significant updates, and will soon become available.

Known Issues

• Users with AMD graphics may still experience significant graphical issues. Since the release of 20.04, this issue has been found to be more widespread and also affects MATE users.

For more obscure known issues, information on affecting bugs, bug fixes, and a list of new package versions, please refer to the Xubuntu Release Notes.

The main Ubuntu Release Notes cover both many of the other packages we carry and more generic issues.

Support

For support with the release, navigate to Help & Support for a complete list of methods to get help.

We’re delighted to announce that we’re participating in another ‘Ubuntu Testing Week’ from April 1st to April 7th with other flavours in the Ubuntu family. On April 1st, the beta version of Xubuntu 21.04 ‘Hirsute Hippo’ will be released after halting all new changes to its features, user interface and documentation. Between April 1st and the final release on April 22nd, all efforts by the Xubuntu team and community should be focused on ISO testing, reporting bugs, fixing bugs, and translations.

It has been a year since we last did a collaboration with other Ubuntu flavors for an Ubuntu Testing Week, which was done for Xubuntu 20.04 LTS. That event was a major success, as a large volume of testers participated and it was announced on various linux news sites and podcasts. Alan Pope (aka Popey) from Canonical, Rick Timmis from the Kubuntu team, and Bill from the Ubuntu Mate team helped spread the word about the previous event in this clip from Big Daddy Linux Live (BDLL) on how the event came about, its goals, as well as points on how to test. You won’t want to miss being part of the event this year! Read on to learn how.

During the testing week you can download the daily ISO image and try it out, though you are welcome to start from today. You can test without changing your system by running it in a VM (Virtual Machine) with software like VMWare Player, VirtualBox (apt-install) and Gnome Boxes (apt-install), or you may run it from a USB, SD Card, or DVD, to test if your hardware works correctly. You can use software like Etcher and Gnome Disks (apt-install) to copy the ISO to a USB Drive or SD Card, while apps like Brasero (apt-install) and Xfburn (apt-install) can be used to burn it to DVD. We encourage those that are willing, to install it either in a VM or on physical hardware (it requires at least 15GB of hard disk space) and use it for a few days, as more bugs can be discovered and reported this way.

There are a variety of ways that you can help test the release, including trying out the various live session and installation test cases from the ISO tracker, which take less than 30 minutes to complete (example 1, example 2, example 3 below). If you find a bug, you’ll need a Launchpad account to file it against the package the app is bundled in, which you can find by watching this Easy Bug Reporting By Example video. If the bug is found in the installer, you can file it against ubiquity, or you can file it against the linux package, if your hardware isn’t working.

Please test apps that you regularly use, so you can identify bugs and regressions that should be reported, especially as the recently released Xfce 4.16 is bundled in this release. You can learn about what else is new in this release in the Release Notes. New ISO files are built everyday, and you should always test with the most up-to-date ISO. It is easier and faster to update an existing daily ISO file on Linux with the command below (you’ll need to run it in the terminal from within the folder with the ISO file).

$ zsync http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/daily-live/current/hirsute-desktop-amd64.iso.zsync

We look forward to you joining us to make Xubuntu 21.04 an even bigger success, and hope that you will also test out the other Ubuntu flavours. The success of the previous event was mentioned by the former Ubuntu Desktop Lead Martin Wimpress (aka Wimpy) in the Ubuntu Podcast Season 13 Episode 03 at 20:21 where he said,

“… It is definitely paying dividends. In the nicest way possible, they made members of the Desktop Team cry today. We had our weekly team meeting where we go through all the bug reports to triage them and usually there are some, and there were pages of them and we didn’t get through them all. So we are scheduling another bug triage meeting later this week in order to pick up where we left off from. But this is great because we are actually getting decent bug reports that we can work with and [take] action [on] and improve what will be the final release in 3 weeks time. So for all the tears that were shed, it was definitely a worthwhile endeavor because these are bugs that other people would encounter when they install 20.04 for the first time. So thank you everyone that was involved in that effort. It was much appreciated.”

You are welcome to chat with us live in our dedicated telegram groups ( Ubuntu Testers, Xubuntu Development ) or IRC channel ( #ubuntu-quality on freenode ). In order to assist you in your testing efforts, we encourage you to also read our Quality Assurance (QA) guide and new testers wiki. We look forward to your contributions, your live chatting, and hopefully your participation in  future testing sessions. Follow the #UbuntuTestingWeek hashtag on twitter and facebook for the latest news. Happy bug hunting and don’t forget to spread the word!

The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 21.04.

Xubuntu 21.04, codenamed Hirsute Hippo, is a regular release and will be supported for 9 months, until January 2022. If you need a stable environment with longer support time we recommend that you use Xubuntu 20.04 LTS instead.

The final release images are available as torrents and direct downloads from xubuntu.org/download/.

As the main server might be busy in the first few days after the release, we recommend using the torrents if possible.

Xubuntu Core, our minimal ISO edition, is available to download from unit193.net/xubuntu/core/ [torrent, magnet]. Find out more about Xubuntu Core here.

We’d like to thank everybody who contributed to this release of Xubuntu!

Highlights and Known Issues

Highlights

• Xfce 4.16: This is Xubuntu’s first release with the new Gtk3-only Xfce 4.16, which features a year’s worth of updates and fixes.
• New Software: Xubuntu now comes pre-installed with HexChat and Synaptic to provide easy IRC communication and advanced package management.
• Minimal Install: You can now install a minimal version of the Xubuntu desktop through the ubiquity installer.
• UX Tweaks: A number of User Experience (UX) tweaks were made on the desktop, application menu, panel, keyboard shortcuts and file manager.

Known Issues

• The boot decryption password prompt is sometimes not displayed. Press Escape twice to reveal the prompt (1917062).

For more obscure known issues, information on affecting bugs, bug fixes, and a list of new package versions, please refer to the Xubuntu Release Notes.

The main Ubuntu Release Notes cover both many of the other packages we carry and more generic issues.

Support

For support with the release, navigate to Help & Support for a complete list of methods to get help.

The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 21.10.

Xubuntu 21.10, codenamed Impish Indri, is a regular release and will be supported for 9 months, until June 2022. If you need a stable environment with longer support time we recommend that you use Xubuntu 20.04 LTS instead.

The final release images are available as torrents and direct downloads from xubuntu.org/download/.

As the main server might be busy in the first few days after the release, we recommend using the torrents if possible.

Xubuntu Core, our minimal ISO edition, is available to download from unit193.net/xubuntu/core/ [torrent]. Find out more about Xubuntu Core here.

We’d like to thank everybody who contributed to this release of Xubuntu!

Highlights and Known Issues

Highlights

• New Software: Xubuntu now comes pre-installed with GNOME Disk Analyzer, GNOME Disk Utility, and Rhythmbox. Disk Analyzer and Disk Utility make it easier to monitor and manage your partitions. Rhythmbox enables music playback with a dedicated media library.
• Pipewire: Pipewire is now included in Xubuntu, and is used in conjunction with PulseAudio to improve audio playback and hardware support in Linux.
• Keyboard Shortcuts: The Super (Windows) key will now reveal the applications menu. Existing Super+ keyboard shortcuts are unaffected.

Known Issues

• The shutdown prompt may not be displayed at the end of the installation. Instead you might just see a Xubuntu logo, a black screen with an underscore in the upper left hand corner, or just a black screen. Press Enter and the system will reboot into the installed environment. (LP: #1944519)

For more obscure known issues, information on affecting bugs, bug fixes, and a list of new package versions, please refer to the Xubuntu Release Notes.

The main Ubuntu Release Notes cover many of the other packages we carry and more generic issues.

Support

For support with the release, navigate to Help & Support for a complete list of methods to get help.

We’re on our way to the 22.04 LTS release and it’s time for another community wallpaper contest!

How to participate?

For a chance to win, submit your submission at contest.xubuntu.org.

Important dates

• Start of submissions: Immediately
• Submission deadline: March 12th, 2022
• Announcement of selections: Late March

All dates are in UTC.

Contest terms

All submissions must adhere to the Terms and Guidelines, including specifics about subject matter, image resolution and attribution.

After the submission deadline, the Xubuntu team will pick 6 winners from all submissions for inclusion on the Xubuntu 22.04 ISO, and will also be available to other Xubuntu version users as a xubuntu-community-wallpaper package. The winners will also receive some Xubuntu stickers.

Any questions?

Please join #xubuntu-devel on Libera for assistance or email the Xubuntu developer mailing list if you have any problems with your submission.

The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the results of the 22.04 community wallpaper contest!

As always, we’d like to send out a huge thanks to every contestant. The Xubuntu Community Wallpaper Contest gives us a unique chance to interact with the community and get contributions from members who may otherwise not have had the opportunity to join in before. With around 130 submissions, the contest garnered less interest this time around, but we still had a lot of great work to pick from. All of the submissions are browsable on the 22.04 contest page at contest.xubuntu.org.

Without further ado, here are the winners:

From left to right, top to bottom. Click on the links for full-size image versions.

• “Kanchanjunga Peaks” by Pushkar Deshpande (CC-BY-4.0)
• “Journey home” by Juliette Taka (CC-BY-4.0)
• “Field” by Tibor Mokánszki (CC-BY-4.0)
• Untitled by Dagat (CC-BY-4.0)
• “Dolomites” by Felix Hartlieb (CC-BY-4.0)
• Untitled by Mathias Hüber (CC-BY-4.0)

Congratulations, and thanks for your wonderful contributions!

The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 22.04.

Xubuntu 22.04, codenamed Jammy Jellyfish, is a long-term support (LTS) release and will be supported for 3 years, until 2025.

The Xubuntu and Xfce development teams have made great strides in usability, expanded features, and additional applications in the last two years. Users coming from 20.04 will be delighted with improvements found in Xfce 4.16 and our expanded application set. 21.10 users will appreciate the added stability that comes from the numerous maintenance releases that landed this cycle.

The final release images are available as torrents and direct downloads from xubuntu.org/download/.

As the main server might be busy in the first few days after the release, we recommend using the torrents if possible.

Xubuntu Core, our minimal ISO edition, is available to download from unit193.net/xubuntu/core/ [torrent]. Find out more about Xubuntu Core here.

We’d like to thank everybody who contributed to this release of Xubuntu!

Highlights and Known Issues

Highlights

• Mousepad 0.5.8, our text editor, broadens its feature set with the addition of session backup and restore, plugin support, and a new gspell plugin.
• Ristretto 0.12.2, the versatile image viewer, improves thumbnail support and features numerous performance improvements.
• Whisker Menu Plugin 2.7.1 expands customization options with several new preferences and CSS classes for theme developers.
• Firefox is now included as a Snap package.
• Refreshed user documentation, available on the ISO and online.
• Six new wallpapers from the 22.04 Community Wallpaper Contest.

Known Issues

• The shutdown prompt may not be displayed at the end of the installation. Instead you might just see a Xubuntu logo, a black screen with an underscore in the upper left hand corner, or just a black screen. Press Enter and the system will reboot into the installed environment. (LP: #1944519)
• The Firefox Snap is not currently able to open the locally-installed Xubuntu Docs. (LP: #1967109)

For more obscure known issues, information on affecting bugs, bug fixes, and a list of new package versions, please refer to the Xubuntu Release Notes.

The main Ubuntu Release Notes cover many of the other packages we carry and more generic issues.

Support

For support with the release, navigate to Help & Support for a complete list of methods to get help.

The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 22.10.

Xubuntu 22.10, codenamed Kinetic Kudu, is a regular release and will be supported for 9 months, until July 2023.

Xubuntu 22.10 features the latest updates from Xfce 4.17, GNOME 43, and MATE 1.26. The “bleeding edge” Xfce 4.17 components are included as an early preview to the upcoming Xfce 4.18, expected later this year. You’ll find that Xfce 4.17 includes many new features and usability improvements while using Xubuntu 22.10. While we’ve tested each component shipped in Xubuntu, new bugs and regressions are expected. Please be sure to report any bugs you find.

The final release images are available as torrents and direct downloads from xubuntu.org/download/.

As the main server might be busy in the first few days after the release, we recommend using the torrents if possible.

Xubuntu Core, our minimal ISO edition, is available to download from unit193.net/xubuntu/core/ [torrent]. Find out more about Xubuntu Core here.

We’d like to thank everybody who contributed to this release of Xubuntu!

Highlights and Known Issues

Highlights

• Mousepad 0.5.10, our text editor, introduces search history and automatic reloading of files modified externally.
• Thunar 4.17.9, the Xfce file manager, now includes built-in, recursive file search. If you need more advanced search parameters, Catfish is a click away.
• Xfce PulseAudio Plugin 0.4.5 now displays an indicator when an application is recording audio. The microphone icon is displayed next to the existing audio level icon.

Known Issues

• The shutdown prompt may not be displayed at the end of the installation. Instead you might just see a Xubuntu logo, a black screen with an underscore in the upper left hand corner, or just a black screen. Press Enter and the system will reboot into the installed environment. (LP: #1944519)

For more obscure known issues, information on affecting bugs, bug fixes, and a list of new package versions, please refer to the Xubuntu Release Notes.

The main Ubuntu Release Notes cover many of the other packages we carry and more generic issues.

Support

For support with the release, navigate to Help & Support for a complete list of methods to get help.

The Xubuntu team is happy to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 23.04.

Xubuntu 23.04, codenamed Lunar Lobster, is a regular release and will be supported for 9 months, until January 2024.

Xubuntu 23.04 features the latest Xfce 4.18. Xfce 4.18 delivers a stable desktop environment with a number of performance improvements and new features to enjoy. In particular, the Thunar file manager benefits from a new image preview feature, undo and redo functionality, file highlights, and recursive search. Check out the Xfce 4.18 tour for more details!

Xubuntu 23.04 also welcomes Xubuntu Minimal as an official subproject. Xubuntu Minimal is a slimmed down version of Xubuntu that only includes the bare essentials: the desktop, a few Xfce components, and the Xubuntu look and feel. Longtime Xubuntu fans may better know this as Xubuntu Core. After nearly eight years of being a supported, but community-built project, we’re happy to finally publish downloads along with the main Xubuntu version. Many thanks to the community for keeping the dream alive all these years!

The final release images are available as torrents and direct downloads from xubuntu.org/download/.

As the main server might be busy in the first few days after the release, we recommend using the torrents if possible.

We’d like to thank everybody who contributed to this release of Xubuntu!

Highlights and Known Issues

Highlights

• Xfce 4.18, released in December 2022, is included in Xubuntu 23.04.
• Xubuntu Minimal is included as an officially supported subproject.
• Pipewire (and wireplumber) are now included in Xubuntu.

Known Issues

• The shutdown prompt may not be displayed at the end of the installation. Instead you might just see a Xubuntu logo, a black screen with an underscore in the upper left hand corner, or just a black screen. Press Enter and the system will reboot into the installed environment. (LP: #1944519)
• The screensaver unlock dialog crashes after unlocking. The session can still be locked and unlocked after this crash. We’re working on a fix and hope to publish it in the next few weeks. (LP: #2012795)
• Xorg crashes and the user is logged out after logging in or switching users on some virtual machines, including GNOME Boxes. (LP: #1861609)

For more obscure known issues, information on affecting bugs, bug fixes, and a list of new package versions, please refer to the Xubuntu Release Notes.

The main Ubuntu Release Notes cover many of the other packages we carry and more generic issues.

Support

For support with the release, navigate to Help & Support for a complete list of methods to get help.