Description
It is extremely disappointing to witness the current state of the LDTP (Linux Desktop Testing Project) framework, which has clearly been abandoned both by its original authors and the community that once supported it. The last official release, v3.5.0, dates back over 12 years ago—a staggering amount of time in the world of software development. Since then, there has been absolutely no meaningful update, patch, or even an attempt to modernize the framework to meet the evolving demands of current Linux desktop environments.
With the recent versions of Ubuntu and other modern Linux distributions adopting Python 3.10.x and above, LDTP has become practically unusable. It is shackled to a collection of deprecated, obsolete Python libraries that are no longer supported in current Python environments. Attempting to enable and configure LDTP on a current system is not just a challenge—it’s a frustrating and futile exercise in fighting with broken dependencies, outdated APIs, and a complete absence of documentation or community help.
What’s more concerning is the abysmal state of support—both from the original developers and the wider community. There is no forum activity, no patch releases, and no assistance whatsoever for basic installation or build issues. For a tool that once positioned itself as a reliable solution for GUI automation on Linux, this level of neglect is unacceptable.
It’s not just a case of technical obsolescence—it’s a clear failure of software stewardship. LDTP has gone from being a once-promising project to a deadweight in any modern automation stack. If the maintainers or former contributors have no intention of reviving or maintaining it, the professional and responsible course of action would be to formally deprecate the project, archive the repositories, and communicate its end-of-life status to the broader user base.
Until then, LDTP stands as a cautionary tale of what happens when open-source projects are left to rot—alienating users, wasting time and effort, and ultimately becoming a liability rather than a tool.
Regards
Naveen