Will there be an official Linux version of Tremulous 2 or will I have to use Wine?

There will be no Linux version.

Will there be an official Linux version of Tremulous 2 or will I have to use Wine?

That's one of te downsides of using Linux. But don't worry, Wine is your friend. 

what are the reasons for no linux build, seeing as valve are beginning to support linux, this means steam and many games on steam will run native in linux, this will be a MASSIVE boost for linux gaming, and by the time trem2 comes out in 2014 linux could be a large competition for windows and IOS for gaming, leaving trem2 only open to 1/2 the gaming audience it could be open to. To me it seems that if trem 2 doesn't run native in at least 1 linux distro, it could just be left behind. Besides, a large proportion of trem users do use linux, and many will be eager to play trem2 (such as myself) but there is a much smaller chance that they will buy it if it does not run natively ( i definitely will not pay for something that i am not sure will work).
        as far as I understand linux is easier to write for than windows and IOS, so it seems completely mad not to support just one distro...

This means twice as much coding, twice as much testing and patching, and twice as much effort to release an update, however.

Also, I'm not even sure UE3 supports Linux.  Porting an engine like that over would be a major feat, and possibly a license violation if it doesn't.

As far as mobile operating systems, sure... just as soon as they make phones with 700 GFLOP or better GPUs installed on them.  UE3 requires a massive amount of power to run smoothly.

what are the reasons for no linux build, seeing as valve are beginning to support linux, this means steam and many games on steam will run native in linux, this will be a MASSIVE boost for linux gaming, and by the time trem2 comes out in 2014 linux could be a large competition for windows and IOS for gaming, leaving trem2 only open to 1/2 the gaming audience it could be open to. To me it seems that if trem 2 doesn't run native in at least 1 linux distro, it could just be left behind. Besides, a large proportion of trem users do use linux, and many will be eager to play trem2 (such as myself) but there is a much smaller chance that they will buy it if it does not run natively ( i definitely will not pay for something that i am not sure will work).
        as far as I understand linux is easier to write for than windows and IOS, so it seems completely mad not to support just one distro...

Steam for linux is something different. We need engine with linux support and Unreal Engine does not support linux. There are more engines, for example Unity 3d engine with linux support, but our priority is to make best game with the best engine, not make game for many platforms as possible. Unity 3d can make nice results ( https://autoclubrevolution.com ), but Unreal Engine is still better.

Just wait for someone to get a Windows copy and hope they have some Linux installed on their machine. Then see what distro of Linux they're using and their settings and see if you want to match that. Otherwise, you'll have choose between Mac or Windows and get one. (For those that don't know the difference, Mac is a complex tank, but comparably more expensive. Windows is a nice and cheep humvee with 6 billion parts in the dashboard all blinking right in your face)

I do not understand why many things will support MAC's but not linux these days....
but with the potential thrive in linux gaming, i still don't see why there could not be an eventual plan to get trem2 on linux after its successfully released on windows/IOS, you would only have to make for 1 distro, so it wouldn't be twice the work, As for the engine, as far as i understand, there are linux clients for it....
besides, UE3 supports mac, so surely it would not be that difficult to make it linux compatable (as mac is linux based)?

even if severe mods are needed to the engine, i can't see why they would mind you making their engine linux compatible (if anything i would think that they may even encourage it) and it still seems to me that it would be worth the extra work to open trem2 to a 2 times larger audience...
  Gunther, like i said, i would never pay for anything that i am not 100% sure that it will work and there's no way im putting MS windows on my PC

he potential thrive in linux gaming

In fact the "potential" part of this is very true, for:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems

Windows takes 69% compared to 1,64% of linux. Find me the "thrive" part here

UE3 supports mac, so surely it would not be that difficult to make it linux compatable (as mac is linux based)?

Unreal Technology has deemed that there is insufficient market to warrant a Linux port of their entire game engine.  Especially when there are Windows bootstraps for Linux anyways.

Also, yes, it would be that difficult.  As I said, a huge amount of effort is required to create and maintain a third, much less second version of something.  Unreal engine probably has at least 300,000+ lines of code behind it in total.  Trem1.1 had around ~63,000+ if I recall.

seems to me that it would be worth the extra work to open trem2 to a 2 times larger audience

I think you need to check your statistics.

there's no way im putting MS windows on my PC

The term 'PC' was coined by Microsoft in the 1990's, and is mostly used today to describe Windows-based computers.

Gunther, like i said, i would never pay for anything that i am not 100% sure that it will work and there's no way im putting MS windows on my PC

That's why I said SOMEONE, not you. Someone will of course, buy the Windows, and then it's not a problem to install Linux and test it out on Wine.
That, or buy a Mac, and dual-boot.

dual-boot

The simplest solution.

Indeed.

he potential thrive in linux gaming

In fact the "potential" part of this is very true, for:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems

Windows takes 69% compared to 1,64% of linux. Find me the "thrive" part here

You do realise the 1.64% is today, not in 2014 when trem2 is to be released, by then the statistics could even be reversed, as i have said before, with the big players such as steam moving to linux, by 2014, linux could be bigger than windows for gaming especially as windows is a dying piece of software. people are likely to start to move to linux as they eventually realise that a company can never provide the same quality and security as such a huge open source project as linux is.
If you read down on that page you gave a link for, look at the PC's of the future (supercomputer section). By 2014 it is entirely plausible that a "standard" PC will match these specs as these computers are obviously the future, look at the software uses for those future computers...
linux, 92.4%
Ms windows, 0.4%
As this technology developed in these computers will be carried forward into commercial use, it is entirely plausible that when this technology becomes commercially available, they will all be sold running linux as that is how they were optimised to work.

PC, (personal computer), the term has nothing to do with whether the PC has MS windows on it... if you use it to describe a computer only with MS windows on it, you are using the term incorrectly.

once again im looking forward, NOT NOW. if trem 2 were to be released soon (a few months), then yes a linux version would be pointless but its being released in 2014. you have to think in the time when it will be used by the public. This is a HUGE time gap in software terms,  microsoft could not even be around any more in 2 years for all we know (worst case scenario of course), It seems as if its taking a huge risk and putting all your eggs in one basket.

Still withe the engine issues, OSX is ,linux based, so i cant see it being as difficult as you are making it out to be. there is already a strong starting point with the mac version, and as it is linux based it shouldn't be nearly as difficult as rewriting the engine which is what you seem to be implying (as far as i understand the memory management is the same) ... 
there may be 300000 lines of code, but you would have to change very little of it. The only things changing would be parts of the interface between the software and the game, which would not be too difficult. I assume you are not thinking of re-writing the entire engine (that would be pointless  )?

Unreal technology? If Valve are moving to linux, the rest are going to follow one day soon, or they will simply be left behind...

it seems stupid that by the time the game is released, a significant proportion of the audience could have to dual boot their PC's or use WINE... if you are going to charge for this game you have to provide proper support.

by then the statistics could even be reversed

Doubtful.  The world runs on Windows, that fact is not likely to change, unless Linux develops a better operating system than Windows for your average computer illiterate.

windows is a dying piece of software

Cite your sources.

If you read down on that page you gave a link for, look at the PC's of the future (supercomputer section). By 2014 it is entirely plausible that a "standard" PC will match these specs as these computers are obviously the future, look at the software uses for those future computers...
linux, 92.4%
Ms windows, 0.4%

I honestly have no idea what you just said there.

PC, (personal computer), the term has nothing to do with whether the PC has MS windows on it... if you use it to describe a computer only with MS windows on it, you are using the term incorrectly.

Then 85% of the world uses it incorrectly.

once again im looking forward, NOT NOW.

So did the doomsday preppers for Y2K and 2012/21/12.  Look how their predictions turned out.

microsoft could not even be around any more in 2 years for all we know

One of the most financially powerful entities in the world is going to vanish in two years?  Not when Steve Jobs has enough money to keep the lights on for the next decade without making any profits.

Valve are moving to linux

And I'm not, along with most people that have a life.

it seems stupid that by the time the game is released, a significant proportion of the audience could have to dual boot their PC's or use WINE...

A significant portion of the audience barely has enough money for a decent computer.

if you are going to charge for this game you have to provide proper support.

AAA-Games will provide support... for Windows 7 or better.

If you can convince Unreal Technology to write a stable, fully Linux-compatible port of UE3, then there's a 5~10% chance there might be a Linux-T2.

You can live with Linux, and everything it entails.  I'm sticking with the more popular solution: not fixing what isn't broken.