According to reports, the Lubuntu Linux distribution will become an official Ubuntu derivative. As a fully supported release, its desktop packages will be made available in the Ubuntu repositories for anyone to install – other official derivatives include Kubuntu and Xubuntu.

In a session at the Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS), which is currently taking place in Budapest, Shuttleworth and Ubuntu Devleoper Colin Watson discussed the details of integrating Lubuntu into the Ubuntu ecosystem with project member Julien Lavergne. Topics ranged from ISO building to Ubuntu One and a global menu.

The news comes just a few weeks after Canonical founder and former CEO Mark Shuttleworth thanked the Lubuntu community for its "great work and progress" building Lubuntu over the last two years. At the time, he also said that, as the project is "now 100% in the archive, and using PPAs and other tools effectively", it was now possible "to consider recognising Lubuntu as an official part of the (Ubuntu) project".

In February 2009, Shuttleworth invited the LXDE Project to become a self-maintained project and, in August, the first test version of Lubuntu was released as a LiveCD ISO using the lightweight LXDE desktop environment; this allows it to run well on lower-spec PCs, such as those with limited amounts of memory or older CPUs. By comparison, Canonical's Ubuntu (which formerly used GNOME) now includes Unity as its default desktop, while Kubuntu instead opts for KDE and Xubuntu uses Xfce.

An official announcement is expected to take place later today at the Ubuntu Developer Summit and on the Ubuntu development mailing list. The first officially supported version is expected to be Lubuntu 11.10. The latest stable version of Lubuntu is 11.04, based on the recent Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" release.

See also:

(crve)