Don’t hate me but I’ve some bad (if not entirely unsurprising) news for the Pop!_OS fans who plan to pounce on the presumed-to-be upcoming 22.10 release: you can’t.
Before anyone groans, I’m not about to deliver a trite “…cOz vAnILLa ‘bUnTu is beTtEr” punchline.
Sadly, I bring word that Pop!_OS 22.10 is not going to be released this autumn — heck, it’s not even in development.
System76’s software engineers want to take the time and effort prepping the next release would take and instead plough it in constructing their home-grown, Rust-based COSMIC desktop environment.
Confirming the news is Pop!_OS developer Micheal Murphy. In a Reddit comment he explains: “We are going to focus our development time onto the Rust implementation of COSMIC instead of 22.10.”
He adds: ”it takes a lot of effort to support multiple releases of Ubuntu, and the 6 month release cycle really eats into development time and stability of the product,” he adds.
While news that there won’t be a Pop!_OS 22.10 to this autumn is disappointing it’s worth remember that Pop!_OS 22.04 exists.
Pop!_OS 22.04 is a long-term support release, will receive new Linux kernels and updated MESA graphics drivers regularly, and Flatpak support is baked in so you won’t be shorn of access to the latest and greatest Linux software.
For now, there’s also a big glittery .gif of a question mark hanging over System76’s plans for the next two interim releases (Ubuntu 23.04 and 23.10). Murphy says any decision on whether Pop!_OS versions of those builds will appear ‘will be made when we get there’.
I’d imagine that will depend on how fast the new COSMIC experience comes together.
In short, this is (probably) the best decision in the long-term for Pop!_OS as a distro. A custom-built COSMIC stands to be a real differentiator amongst distros and is well-worth taking time to prepared.
If you’re a Pop!_OS user, do let me know what you think about this news down in the comments.