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I have this question here:

Does SECURE BOOT need to be disabled on the Nexus 5 before I can install UBPort's Ubuntu Phone Image?

I subsequently created new tags for UBPorts, and one of its core devices, the Nexus-5

Question is:

Is UBPorts within the scope of AskUbuntu?

And to that,

  • Is UBPorts an Ubuntu Project?

  • Does UBPorts Consider themselvses as part of Ubuntu?

  • Does UBPorts fit within the Ubuntu Governance Model?

  • Does UBPorts answer to Ubuntu's Technical Board and Community Council?

  • Do we know if UBPorts has the blessing of Canonical to use any of their trademarks?

  • Does it matter that Ubuntu Touch is more or less a dropped project from Canonical?

  • What official statements have come down from Canonical in context to UBPorts?

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    Is UBPorts an Ubuntu project? Ubuntu Touch was being developed inside Ubuntu: all the code landed as packages in the Ubuntu archive, and images were built from the Ubuntu archive. I'm not sure UBPorts is doing that. As far as I'm aware, they've forked out of Ubuntu, and maintain their code outside, without any effort to merge it back in.
    – Robie Basak
    Commented Jul 28, 2017 at 8:28
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    It's also perhaps worth asking if they consider themselves part of Ubuntu. For example: do they fit into the Ubuntu governance model? Do they answer to Ubuntu's Technical Board and Community Council? I think that whether UBPorts is part of the Ubuntu project is relevant to any answer, but it may be that even if it isn't, AskUbuntu may still want to consider them within scope.
    – Robie Basak
    Commented Jul 28, 2017 at 8:31
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    UBports does follow and enforce the CoC in its community. I don't think they officially answer to the TB or CC though. I think there are some aspects there still which make this a bit untenable, due to the nature of what distributing Ubuntu on phones is actually like technically, versus distributing an ISO for PC installs. The rules for official flavors and such are very strictly geared for the latter case. Perhaps it's time to bring this up with TB and CC, to change the rules a bit, or add additional clarification, so that UBports could fit within that realm better.
    – dobey
    Commented Feb 26, 2018 at 16:11

2 Answers 2

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I would say that UBports questions are on topic. It is not an Ubuntu project in the way Kubuntu or Lubuntu might be, but Canonical wrote the vast majority of software that makes up what UBports is, still owns all that Copyright, and is allowing UBports to use the Ubuntu trademark.

The requirements for being an official flavor are untenable for a mobile phone distribution like UBports. Even for the 3-4 years while Canonical was actively developing Ubuntu on phones, it never was able to meet all the requirements of being an official flavor of Ubuntu.

Even if UBports managed to build an ISO install for traditional PCs, and comply with all requirements for becoming an official flavor, the fact remains that the phone builds never could achieve this, simply because they cannot use the Ubuntu kernels. This would mean UBports (and Ubuntu for phones/tablets, aka ubuntu-touch) will never be on topic here, and never was (despite it being so simply because it was an official thing from Canonical).

IMO, the rules for being on topic are going to have to change for situations like this. I would also argue that Plasma Mobile questions should be on topic, as it's being developed by Kubuntu and technically should be considered a derivative of Ubuntu for phones (ubuntu-touch, ubports).

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  • While I like the concept of an Ubuntu sponsored mobile OS, I got the feeling it sort of crashed and burned due to not being able to support anywhere near the amount of hardware out there (I wouldn't want that job either, that's not venom - it's just fact). So, accepting those questions would be asking for a lot of "unanswerable questions".
    – RobotHumans
    Commented Jul 30, 2018 at 13:59
  • Well this isn't about your feelings and the project is not dead. If a device you want to see support for is not supported, the way to fix that is to get involved with the project, not complain in comments on Ask Ubuntu about it. There are literally thousands of "unanswerable" questions on here which have nothing to do with phones. I'd suggest maybe you could concentrate on answering them if you think they are not, rather than wasting time digging on a project because it doesn't support your hardware and guessing about why Canonical stopped developing it directly.
    – dobey
    Commented Jul 30, 2018 at 14:12
  • Sorry if it felt like I was digging. I wasn't. I was a big fan of the project and bought a nexus 7 just to use it (bought something I thought would surely be specifically supported).
    – RobotHumans
    Commented Jul 30, 2018 at 14:17
  • Nexus 7 2013 WiFi is supported.
    – dobey
    Commented Jul 30, 2018 at 14:55
  • Exactly. It is why I bought it.
    – RobotHumans
    Commented Jul 30, 2018 at 14:56
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Is UBPorts an Ubuntu Project?

No. It is a private project from Marius Gripsgard.

There is no relation to Ubuntu nor to Canonical so off-topic. As shown on their website:

"This site is maintained by The UBports Team and is not an any way endorsed by or affiliated with Ubuntu or Canonical. Ubuntu and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd."

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