Open Source & Engineering Leadership Update — July 2026

Welcome to this month’s open source and engineering leadership update.

For several years, these monthly posts have focused primarily on Xubuntu development. That will remain the foundation, but my work increasingly spans Xubuntu, Xfce, FOSS governance, sponsorship, and engineering leadership. This updated format gives me room to share more of that work in one place while continuing to highlight the project updates you expect.

Let’s start with Xubuntu.

Xubuntu Development

Current Development Status

Xubuntu 26.04 “Resolute Raccoon” was released in April, and work on 26.10 “Stonking Stingray” kicked off shortly afterward. The work I previously did to track daily changes on the Xubuntu ISO was ready for the first 26.10 ISO images. On May 21st, the first Stonking images were published and captured. Since then, we’ve captured the changes included on each daily update. Notable package updates include:

• Atril 1.28.2 → 1.28.4
• Ayatana Indicators 22.2.0 → 26.06.0
• Baobab 49.1 → 50.0
• GIMP 3.2.2 → 3.2.4
• GNOME Character Map 16.0.2 → 17.0.2
• GNOME Font Viewer 49.0 → 50.0
• LibreOffice 26.2.2 → 26.2.4
• Onboard 1.4.3 → 1.4.4.3
• Ristretto 0.13.4 → 0.14.0
• Thunar 4.20.7 → 4.20.8
• Transmission 4.1.1 → 4.1.2
• Xfce Screensaver 4.20.1 → 4.20.2
• Xfce Screenshooter 1.11.1 → 1.11.3
• Xfce Terminal 1.1.5 → 1.2.0

You can check xubuntu-manifest at any time during the development cycle to see what’s changed since 26.04.

Upcoming Schedule

The Ubuntu 26.10 release schedule captures the key milestones this development cycle.

• August 20, 2026: Feature Freeze & Debian Import Freeze
• August 27, 2026: Ubuntu 24.04.5 & 26.04.1 Point Releases
• September 10, 2026: User Interface Freeze
• September 21, 2026: Beta Freeze
• September 24, 2026: Beta Release
• October 8, 2026: Final Freeze
• October 12, 2026: Release Candidate
• October 15, 2026: Final Release

Server Updates

Pasi and Lyz have been working on replacing our aging server infrastructure. Our static assets are being moved to another server, and the old project tracker at dev.xubuntu.org is being decommissioned. I’ve also been working on a replacement for our DokuWiki-based wiki.xubuntu.org. More on that next.

Xubuntu Wiki Replacement

A few months ago, I kicked off a project to replace the current Xubuntu Wiki with a low-maintenance, accessible solution. The current Xubuntu Wiki contains 115 distinct pages, while the broader Ubuntu Wiki contains hundreds of additional Xubuntu-related pages, meeting logs, and other pieces of the project’s 20-year history.

I migrated this content into a new custom Hugo-powered, Git-backed wiki. With this system, contributors will be able to submit changes via Git pull requests, browse change history, and work with the content using familiar open source development workflows. Before building this custom solution, I tested GitHub Wikis, but found the system too limiting and the content discovery weaker than I wanted.

There is still some polish work left before the new wiki can launch, but expect more updates in the coming weeks.

Wayland (xfwl4)

In January 2026, the Xfce project announced development of xfwl4, a new Wayland compositor for Xfce, written in Rust. The first release, version 4.21.0 was published just over a week ago.

Debian and Xubuntu users excited to try it will likely need to wait a while longer. Packaging a new Rust-based compositor introduces additional complexity to the Xfce packaging stack, and additional Debian Rust packaging experience would be very helpful here. If you have that experience and want to help bring xfwl4 to Debian and downstream distributions, this would be a valuable place to contribute. If you’re interested, reach out to the Debian Xfce Group.

Community & Governance

On June 20, 2026, I was elected to the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Board of Directors. I’m honored to bring more than a decade of leadership experience from Xubuntu and Xfce to LPI’s mission of promoting open source software, skills, and professional development around the world. I look forward to working alongside many longtime leaders in the open source community, exchanging ideas, and helping to strengthen open source’s impact globally and locally.

I hope to bring a fresh perspective to this work while continuing to grow as a contributor, mentor, and advocate for open source communities.

Sponsorship Updates

I’ve recently updated my GitHub Sponsors and Patreon membership options to better reflect the work I’m doing across Xubuntu, Xfce, FOSS infrastructure, documentation, and open source leadership.

Sponsorship helps make this work more sustainable by offsetting server and subscription costs, development hardware, testing devices, documentation work, contributor mentorship, and ongoing community infrastructure. The updated tiers include new recognition options, monthly development updates, sponsor badge snippets, a private sponsors-only Discord for informal discussion, and limited consulting options at the highest tier.

Sponsorship supports the work; it does not replace community governance or project decision-making. The projects I contribute to remain community-driven, with decisions made through their normal processes.

I also try to pay that support forward when I can. In the past, I’ve redistributed a portion of contributions to FOSS fundraising efforts, including KDE’s 2025 donation campaign and GNOME’s 2019 Patent Troll Defense Fund.

Leadership Note

As my work increasingly spans open source governance, community infrastructure, and professional engineering leadership, I’ve been thinking a lot about what healthy technical teams have in common.

I’ve received feedback over the years that changed how I lead, just as I’ve had opportunities to help others grow. Those conversations have reinforced my belief that leadership is less about authority and more about creating the conditions in which others can contribute, grow, and succeed.

The same principles apply whether you’re building an engineering team or maintaining an open source project. Healthy communities are built through thoughtful feedback, open discussion, and a willingness to invest in people. Good feedback isn’t simply about evaluating past work; it’s about helping someone reach the next stage of their growth or find their way. Likewise, mentorship isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about asking good questions, sharing experience, and helping others develop confidence in their own judgment.

The strongest teams I’ve been part of didn’t depend on a single leader. They were made up of individuals who took ownership, challenged ideas respectfully, shared knowledge freely, and viewed each success as something to multiply rather than protect. Those are the kinds of communities I hope to help build, whether within an organization or in the open source ecosystem.

I’d love to hear your experiences. What has helped your team or community become healthier? Where have you seen mentorship, thoughtful feedback, or shared ownership change the way people work together?

What’s Next?

July begins with my first board meeting with LPI. I’m excited to begin serving in this new role and to bring my background in open source development, community leadership, and engineering management to that work.

I also hope to put the finishing touches on the new Xubuntu Wiki. Once we have a more accessible and discoverable platform in place, the Xubuntu community can begin expanding and reinforcing our documentation, improving the experience for both new users and new contributors.

Thank you to everyone contributing to Xubuntu, Xfce, and the broader open source world. Special thanks as well to those who have supported me over the years through donations, mentorship, collaboration, and encouragement.