Canonical shuttering some of its legacy chat channels
Canonical is winding down two of Ubuntu's older community tools, having closed the Ubuntu Pastebin at the end of June and now moving to demote the official IRC channels. The changes push users towards Matrix as the sanctioned way to chat with Canonical staff, continuing a pattern of retiring legacy infrastructure that echoes the company's deprecation of the Bazaar revision control system last year.
The Pastebin closure was announced by Canonical's Aaron Prisk in May, while a further comment from Aaron Rainbolt confirmed IRC channels would follow. The IRC channels, hosted on Libera Chat, will likely stay technically accessible for now but lose official status, meaning no guaranteed staff presence for support or moderation. Users are directed to join Ubuntu's space on Matrix instead, mirroring a similar move made by Linux Mint a couple of years ago; alternatives to the old Pastebin include services such as Pastebin.com, GitHub Gists, CloakBin and self-hosted options like PrivateBin.
In short
- Canonical closed Ubuntu Pastebin in June, IRC channels next.
- Matrix becomes the official channel for Ubuntu community chat.
- IRC servers stay online but lose official staff support/moderation.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Retiring official IRC channels can help Canonical focus limited staff and moderation resources on Matrix, giving users a clearer, consistently supported place to seek help. Consolidating community services may also make support easier to maintain as older tools become harder to integrate with current workflows.
The case against
IRC remains familiar, lightweight and accessible to many long-time Ubuntu users, while Matrix may not suit everyone or offer the same established community networks. Removing official status could weaken support and moderation where those users already gather, and shifting infrastructure can impose friction without guaranteeing that the replacement serves them as well.
Explained simply
Ubuntu is a free operating system developed by Canonical, a software company. Its community has long used online tools such as pastebins, which let people share snippets of text, and IRC, a form of live group chat.
Canonical staff and Ubuntu volunteers have used IRC channels on Libera Chat to discuss the system and help users. Matrix is a newer messaging platform where Ubuntu also has a community space; the shift reflects Canonical’s move towards newer tools for community conversations and support.