So far, the collection of Ubuntu’s official flavors included representatives of all major desktop environments, including Kubuntu (KDE Plasma Desktop), Xubuntu (Xfce Desktop), Lubuntu (LXQt Desktop), Ubuntu MATE (MATE Desktop), and Ubuntu Budgie (Budgie Desktop). The big missing one was Cinnamon. Well, as of today, that’s no longer the case.
Ubuntu Cinnamon Has Been Approved as an Official Ubuntu Flavor
With an announcement on the official Ubuntu mailing list, Łukasz Zemczak, Interim Manager at Canonical, announced the inclusion of Ubuntu Cinnamon to the family of official Ubuntu flavors.
I’m happy to inform you that, per the Technical Board votes seen above (and confirmed on today’s TB meeting), Ubuntu Cinnamon has become an official Ubuntu flavor!
Welcome to the family!
Łukasz Zemczak, Canonical’s Interim Manager for the Software/Tools squad
Canonical has strict criteria and requirements for distros that want to join and be recognized as official Ubuntu flavors. The last one approved was Ubuntu Unity. Ubuntu Cinnamon also has met all the requirements, and the efforts made in this direction over the last three years have paid off. So, the only thing we can add is – congratulations to the team behind the distribution!
What does this mean? Starting with the next Ubuntu 23.04 release scheduled for April 20, 2023, Ubuntu Cinnamon will debut with its first release as an official member of the Ubuntu family. So what can we expect from it?
First, we must clarify that Cinnamon is a desktop environment developed and primarily associated with Linux Mint. There it shines in all its glory and power, with the Ubuntu Cinnamon implementation not on the same level. What do I mean?
The overall sense of precise attention to every detail and pixel is absent here. Moreover, Ubuntu Cinnamon users don’t get any of the tools characteristic and distinctive of Mint’s Cinnamon implementation either. Instead, they have been replaced with Ubuntu-specific ones, as Yaru is the default GTK and icon theme. Overall, it feels a bit strange.
At the same time, it should not be forgotten that joining Ubuntu Cinnamon as an official Ubuntu flavor means that the distribution automatically joins the “voluntary decision” to offer Snap by default to its users at the expense of Flatpak.
But regardless, if you are a die-hard Ubuntu fan, we strongly advise you to try the Cinnamon flavor. It could be the desktop you’ve been looking for. We’re also optimistic that the distribution will continue to improve and that many details will be fine-tuned.
So, if you enjoy the taste of cinnamon with a touch of Snap, you can visit the project website or get the daily build installation images here.
While this is great for Ubuntu users who want to experiment and use a Cinnamon desktop, I would still recommend Linux Mint for new users as it looks and feels a lot better, and doesn’t have snap installed.