DevelopmentCodeNames
Ubuntu is known for having the funkiest release code names around. From time to time users suggest potential names, so if you have a magical idea, please add it to the table at the bottom of this page.
Release Naming Scheme
The official name of an Ubuntu release is "Ubuntu X.YY" with X representing the year (minus 2000) and YY representing the month of eventual release within in that year. Ubuntu's first release, made in 2004 October (10th month) was Ubuntu 4.10. Since the actual release date is not known until it's ready and humans tend to prefer names rather than numbers, a set of codenames are used by developers and testers during the buildup to a release:
Adjective |
Animal |
Version |
Description |
Warty |
Warthog |
4.10 |
The first "hog" |
Hoary |
Hedgehog |
5.04 |
Meaning "covered with hair", or "mature/old/wise" |
Breezy |
Badger |
5.10 |
was going to be "Bendy Badger"... |
Dapper |
Drake |
6.06 |
Polished, with 5 years of support! |
Edgy |
Eft |
6.10 |
Fire up the crackpipes! (?!) |
Feisty |
Fawn |
7.04 |
Courage and restlessness |
Gutsy |
Gibbon |
7.10 |
Go Ape! |
Hardy |
Heron |
8.04 |
Hardy Heron with 5 years of support! Most people wanted Happy/Hungry Hippo |
Intrepid |
Ibex |
8.10 |
Released October 2008 |
Jaunty |
Jackalope |
9.04 |
Released April 2009 |
Karmic |
Koala |
9.10 |
Released October 2009 |
Lucid |
Lynx |
10.04 |
|
The development codename of a release takes the form "Adjective Animal". So for example: Warty Warthog (Ubuntu 4.10), Hoary Hedgehog (Ubuntu 5.04), Breezy Badger (Ubuntu 5.10), are the first three releases of Ubuntu. In general, people refer to the release using the adjective, like "warty" or "breezy". The names live on in one hidden location---the archive release name in /etc/apt/sources.list and seen on the download mirror network.
History
MarkShuttleworth said the following with regard to where the naming scheme originally came from:
So, what's with the "Funky Fairy" naming system? Many sensible people have wondered why we chose this naming scheme. It came about as a joke on a ferry between Circular Quay and somewhere else, in Sydney, Australia:
lifeless: how long before we make a first release? sabdfl: it would need to be punchy. six months max. lifeless: six months! thats not a lot of time for polish. sabdfl: so we'll have to nickname it the warty warthog release.
And voila, the name stuck. The first mailing list for the Ubuntu team was called "warthogs", and we used to hang out on #warthogs on irc.freenode.net. For subsequent releases we wanted to stick with the "hog" names, so we had Hoary Hedgehog, and Grumpy Groundhog. But "Grumpy" just didn't sound right, for a release that was looking really good, and had fantastic community participation. So we looked around and came up with "Breezy Badger". We will still use "Grumpy Groundhog", but those plans are still a surprise to be announced... For those of you who think the chosen names could be improved, you might be relieved to know that the "Breezy Badger" was originally going to be the "Bendy Badger" (I still think that rocked). There were others... For all of our sanity we are going to try to keep these names alphabetical after Breezy. We might skip a few letters, and we'll have to wrap eventually. But the naming convention is here for a while longer, at least. The possibilities are endless. Gregarious Gnu? Antsy Aardvark? Phlegmatic Pheasant? You send 'em, we'll consider 'em.
lifeless is Robert Collins. sabdfl is Mark Shuttleworth.
Code Name Suggestions
If you think of a really good one future name, save it here rather than keeping it hidden away inside your brain and you never know, you may even see a release named after allowing you to feel happy inside knowing that you've contributed in a very special and unique way to an Ubuntu release!
This is not a competition, but a way for people to work together!
Suggestions for Ubuntu 10.10
10.10: Mighty Mouse.
10.10: Myriad Marmot.
10.10: Mad Marsupilami.
10.10: Majestic Mammoth.
10.10: Mysterious Monkey.
10.10: Magical Mouse.
10.10: Muonic Martin The explanation would only undermine the possibilities.
10.10: Magic Mammoth. 10.10 is a magic number, and this version will kill other distribs because of the combo : new color + new way of using a computer with tags, journal, activites. I hope mammoth will not be synonymous of old and slow.
10.10: Magic Mongoose. Because mongoose is speed, reprensts predators (it kills snakes)
10.10: Marauding Macaque.
How about Majestic Manatee?
10.10: Majestic Moose?
Suggestion for version 10.10: Merry Meerkat. This name comes from a Slashdot comment in reply to the announcement of the first Ubuntu release in 2004. The post states, "I want the 'Merry Muircat'[sic] edition. It would be faster and lighter than the warthog."
10.10: Mystic Meerkat.
10.10: Modest Mouse. Like the band
10.10: Maudlin Manatee. Weakly and effusively sentimental.
10.10: Magnificent Mara: That's a name. I like Moonlight Mara more.
10.10: Mysterious Mockingbird. A bit on the corny side, but sounds so mysterious!
10.10 Mutinous Mouse. Little, but unruly.
10.10: Mighty Mara
10.10: Munchy Mammoth
10.10: Mingling Mink or Molecular Manta. First for the community, second for the cloud. Heh.
10.10: Mighty Mantis
10.10: Manic Mammoth
10.10: Moody Moose
10.10: Moody Marlin aka Exit 315 on I-35 in Texas.
10.10: Magnetic Monkey, from as written in my user page
10.10: Mouthy Mule
10.10: Mythical Mandrill
10.10: Musky Moose
10.10 Mammoth Mammoth . . . the repositories keep getting larger, the project keeps growing, and it is no DSL (tuxradar liked it)
10.10: Mad Macaco
10.10: Merry Moose
10.10: Merciless Marsupilami
10.10: Magnificent Mongoose
10.10: Muscled Mosquito - Strong and fast
10.10: Minty Maggots
10.10: Mighty Mustang
10.10: Mystic Mantis
10.10: Melodious Mongoose or Moose - I really like mongoose and moose. Whatever adjective is chosen, the animal has to be a mongoose or moose.
10.10: Mellow Mantis - Gentle, relaxing and graceful
10.10: Moldable Mustelidae - A reincarnation of the original Bendy Badger, flexible and strong.
10.10: Manic Mongoose
10.10: Moony Mumakil
10.10: Mystical Moa (Extinct NZ bird)
10.10: Micro Mole - Undermining the Micro
Debian Special Name Coordination
It was suggested in an April post on MarkShuttleworth's blog that 10.10 might be a target for a coordinated release alongside Debian. If this ends up happening, I suggest, for this singular occasion, breaking with the alphabetical ordering for the extra-special opportunity of referencing penguins with both the Debian release name wheezy (the adjectival penguin from Toy Story) and the Ubuntu release Wheezy Waitaha (a Waitaha is an extinct species of penguin from New Zealand with a name approximating what somebody would say when coordinating the simultaneous release of 2 distros). (In this scenario it would probably be better to use "waitaha" as the distinguishing word for the Ubuntu release.)
Suggestions for Ubuntu 11.04
11.04: Noble Narwhal.
11.04: Nimble Nymph?
11.04: Nocturnal Nightelf
11.04: Nerdy Nymph seems appropriate to me: Both intelligent and sleekly attractive.
11.04: Nefarious Newt - My mom thought of this combination.
11.04: Nimble Newt Fast and sleek.
11.04: Naughty Newt if file sharing sites are integrated into the desktop
11.04: Needy Nematode if bitter Debian contributors could name it
11.04: Nagging Nag if more pop-up reminders are added to the desktop
Suggestions for later versions of Ubuntu
11.10
11.10: Oscillating Owl. Sounds good?
Also, Observing Opossum
If 11.10 has a major artwork update, Opulent Oryx (or some other animal) would seem fitting.
12.04
12.04: Pretty Pig it's funny This name remember "Patty the Pretty Pig", it's a good idea for a 'pink' ubuntu release to meet more female users... :P and an opportunity for male users to approach more ubuntu girls! ihihihi
I like "Perverse Penguin"... Imagine the logo
Also, "Prodigious Penguin" or "Pragmatic Penguin"
I like Phobic Phoenix for 12.04. Or, as a friend suggested when I pumped him for good PH adjectives, "acidic".
I like "Peaceful Parrot" One definition of peace is (freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquillity; serenity.) that describes Ubuntu well....Not annoying, but beatifully colored
I like "Phoenix", but "Phobic" sounds rather negative. What about Persistent Phoenix or Prestigious Phoenix?
How about Pyrophobic Phoenix I like the idiosyncrasy?
Perhaps Pensive Phoenix or Prodigious Phoenix? I like how it sounds.
Perky Piwakawaka (NZ bird, common name is Fantail)
12.10
Quixotic Quail for 12.10 (as suggested on #kubuntu-devel Sept 20th, 2009)
13.04
Radiant Robin - Has a nice tune to it. A lovely release is soon to come.
13.10
I Think that Super Salamander is a wicked codename!!!
14.04
Twirling Tui (NZ bird) or maybe Tough or Tricky Tui
15.04
Suggestion for 15.10 : Whacky Worm.
17.04
And what will be then after 17.04 codenamed with Zarthy Zorthy
18.04
Potentially 18.04: Ballsy Baboon.
18.10
Chocolate Chapulín.
List of Adjectives and Animals
A |
|
Able |
Aardvark |
B |
|
Ballsy |
Baboon |
C |
|
Calculating |
Camel |
D |
|
Dapper |
Deer |
E |
|
Eager |
Eagle |
F |
|
Fair |
Falcon |
G |
|
Gaia |
Galah |
H |
|
Happy |
Hamster |
I |
|
Interstellar |
Ibex |
J |
|
Jabbering |
|
K |
|
Katie |
Kittie |
L |
|
Lampooning |
Labrador |
M |
|
Mad |
Macaque |
N |
|
Nano |
Naiad |
O |
|
Oblivious |
Ocelot |
P |
|
Acidic (PH, get it?) |
Pegasus |
Q |
|
Quaint |
Quagga |
R |
|
Rabid |
Rabbit |
S |
|
Sage |
Sabretooth |
T |
|
Tabby |
Tahr |
U |
|
Ubuntu |
Uakari |
V |
|
Valiant |
Velociraptor |
W |
|
Wandering |
Wallaby |
X |
|
Xanthic |
Xebu |
Y |
|
Yakkity |
Yaffle |
Z |
|
Zany |
Zealot |