When and if an Ubuntu Serif counterpart happens depends on who comes forward with plans and finds the skilled font designers/engineers who can make an Ubuntu Serif! See more discussion on:
- Bug #720332 Expansion: Ubuntu Serif font style (comment #2)
The initial focus has been on building a firm foundation for the Ubuntu Font Family (style, quality, coverage). For the "bootstrapping" phase, Dalton Maag have been taking the lead with the initial drawing and engineering. The result will hopefully be a beautiful, highly-readable set of screen-optimised fonts, covering:
- Five scripts: Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin
- Thirteen fonts: Ubuntu (×4), Ubuntu Mono (×4), Ubuntu Light/Medium (×4), Ubuntu Condensed (×1)
With this foundation built we can hopefully all transition the project over to being "drawn by everyone". If you'd like to contribute a script, style, or font to the project please find a local skilled type designer and start working with them on it, it may also be possible to arrange some internships if you know a budding student! The philosophy behind Ubuntu is that "everyone should be able to use Ubuntu in their native language" and that includes excellent font coverage for their own language too!
Making a font (let alone thirteen!) takes a very, very long time so it's worth getting started on making connections. The end result will be seen and used by tens of millions of people, making each of their lives easier in the process:
- Find a type designer who is interested
- Work with them to make a beautiful, complementary and hinted expansion
This shouldn't be about just about making an Ubuntu Serif typeface "for the sake of it". The result is definitely worth doing if it will be truly better than the libre/open fonts that are already out there, or shipping in K/Ubuntu already!
Ubuntu has no one license - every file may have a different license.
That shouldn't be a problem for you as long as you don't (re)distribute the files. As long as the binaries are supplied by Ubuntu (Canonical) the license conditions apply to them, not you.
I am not a lawyer, so I couldn't comment on what happens when you simply pass along the files, but I suggest you either do find the legal answer to that, or else have your customers install the OS themselves.
In the case of GPL and LGPL software, your obligations include providing an offer to produce source code when asked (for a limited time). In practice, it would be sufficient to point your customers at the Ubuntu source provisions, but to be absolutely sure, you would have to ensure that you had your own copy (I mean, what happens if Ubuntu's servers vanished? Also, remember that their time limit dates from when they gave the files to you, but yours would date from when you passed them along, some time later.)
Best Answer
On the Ubuntu font site, there is
this file. And you can read in the Preamble: