Is MATE fading away?

[ironfoot]

Hi, @Newhere!

@Newhere

Wimpress decided in 2021 that he is no longer interested in Mate

Why are you saying this? From UM 22.10 release notes:

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• I’m not stepping away from Ubuntu or Ubuntu MATE. I will continue to use and develop Ubuntu MATE
• I’ve closely collaborated with the MATE packaging team for Debian for over 8 years
• Making the MATE experience in Debian and Ubuntu consistent makes maintenance easier for all involved
• Ubuntu MATE offers some modernisation of MATE via home-grown apps such as MATE Tweak and Ayatana Indicators. We want Debian users to benefit from those improvements too
• We’re hopeful the MATE spin in Debian 12 will offer the same (or extremely similar) experience Ubuntu MATE users have enjoyed for some time

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This doesn't look like he was not interested.

@Newhere

In 2023, Wimpress decided to cut the connection completely and left the UM team.

Again, what is the source of this info? He has authored the latest release notes. He is listed as MATE Desktop core team member. He is a member of the Debian and Ubuntu MATE Packaging Team. I believe, he is still investing his time and experience into the project. The major part of the work is packaging the MATE desktop for Debian. From Debian repositories, packages are coming into Ubuntu repositories. Linux Mint is using Ubuntu repos as well.

@Newhere

That's why the MATE Menu was dropped in UM22.04 and the Redmond layout used the installed Brisk menu.

Both Brisk menu and MATE Menu are NOT part of the MATE desktop. They provide similar functionality and are offered as a more modern version of the system menu. The main difference from the classic MATE menu applets is a working search bar. Yes, MATE Menu has been removed from default installations, we have already discussed the reasons:

What do you want?

I am not implying anything. In this video, they clearly and honestly say why: the software is poorly designed and is difficult to maintain, and no team member is willing to maintain it. Now, 2 years later, it still has no maintainer. It is abandoned and remains in repositories AS IS. If you have mate-menu package installed in 20.04, it will remain installed after upgrade to 22.04. It is not installed by default in fresh installations.

The MATE Menu remains in Ubuntu repositories for 24.04. I have the UM 24.04 installation in virtual machine. I have installed the mate-menu package, and it just works.