MBF: Removal of GTK2 from forky

This is a MIME formatted message with attachments. Use a MIME-compliant client to view it properly.
--bzz_bzz__bzz__2rvsoej5nt519t8i3cd84l1w04j8fks
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

Hi all,

the Debian GNOME team has a goal of removing gtk+2.0 from Forky before
the release of Debian 14 in 2027.

Debian is not the only distro doing this. A few months ago, Arch Linux
removed GTK 2 from its official (non-AUR) repositories [1]. RHEL 10 was
released earlier in 2025 without GTK 2.

gtk3 was released 15 years ago. Debian has had the stable 3.24 series
[2] for more than 7 years.

Most affected packages [3] had bugs filed against them for this issue
in 2020. Some exceptions include packages that gained a gtk2 dependency
after that date or packages that weren't in Testing then (like openjdk-
8) or for input methods and themes. The list of currently affected
packages is less than 25% as long as the list was in 2020.

One blocker towards finishing this transition is that the graphical
Debian Installer still uses gtk2.

As mentioned in our 2020 MBF [4], besides being unmaintained for years,
GTK 2 does not support either HiDPI or native Wayland.

On behalf of the Debian GNOME team,


Matthias Geiger <werdahias>

PS: not subscribed to -devel, so please CC me for replies

References
----------
[1]
https://lists.archlinux.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/2BDHYLEFSYQBDTMUOZT5J6AFTA5M3FO6/
[2] https://blog.gtk.org/2018/06/23/a-gtk-3-update/
[3]
https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/bts-usertags.cgi?user=pkg-gnome-maintainers%40lists.alioth.debian.org&tag=gtk2
[4] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2020/04/msg00405.html

dd-list
-------
afterstep
amsynth
asunder
basilisk2
bfm
breeze-gtk
c-evo-dh
c-munipack
calf
castle-game-engine
castle-model-viewer
cdebconf
cdebconf-entropy
cdebconf-terminal
chemtool
cqrlog
crossfire-client
ddccontrol
dnssec-trigger
doublecmd
easychem
etw
euler
fcitx
fcitx5-gtk
fp-units-win
fpc
gbdfed
gbgoffice
gcin
gdpc
geg
gerbv
gexec
ghostess
gimp-plugin-registry
gkrellkam
gkrellm
gkrellm-leds
gkrellm-mailwatch
gkrellm-radio
gkrellm-reminder
gkrellm-thinkbat
gkrellm-tz
gkrellm-volume
gkrellm-xkb
gkrellm2-cpufreq
gkrellmoon
gkrellmwireless
gkrellshoot
gkrelltop
gkrelluim
gkrellweather
gmpc
gmpc-plugins
gnome-paint
gnome-themes-extra
gopchop
gr-framework
grig
groundhog
growl-for-linux
grpn
gtk-im-libthai
gtk2-engines
gtkmm2.4
gtkspell
guifications
gwaterfall
gwyddion
gxneur
hdate-applet
hexchat
hime
hspell-gui
ibus
ir.lv2
jack-keyboard
java-package
kcemu 
kluppe
lazarus
libgnomecanvas
linuxcnc
littlewizard
lmemory
ltrsift
mah-jong
mangler
matchbox-keyboard
matchbox-panel-manager
mhwaveedit
morserunner
mozc
mplayer
nabi
navit
nip2
nted
nvidia-settings-legacy-340xx 
opencfu
openjdk-8
openjfx
pidgin
pidgin-extprefs
pidgin-festival
pidgin-privacy-please
pinentry
purple-plugin-pack
qtcurve
qxw
rep-gtk
ripperx
rlvm
sane-frontends
sawfish
scim
seqtools
shogivar
skinedit
slurm-wlm
slurm-wlm-contrib
soundmodem
ssh-askpass-fullscreen
swami
sylph-searcher
sylpheed
tenace
tickr
tilem
tilp2
trayer
udm
uim
usermode
verbiste
vmg
vte
winff
wmauda
wordwarvi
xlog
xournal
xqf
xsane
xsunpinyin
xtrkcad
xzgv
z88

Abou Al Montacir <[email protected]>
   c-evo-dh (U)
   castle-game-engine (U)
   castle-model-viewer (U)
   doublecmd (U)
   fp-units-win (U)
   fpc (U)
   lazarus (U)

Adi Zaimi <[email protected]>
   gkrelltop

Adrian Bunk <[email protected]>
   gkrellm-tz
   gkrellmoon
   gkrellshoot
   libgnomecanvas

Adrian Knoth <[email protected]>
   calf (U)
   mhwaveedit (U)

Alessio Treglia <[email protected]>
   amsynth (U)
   ghostess (U)
   ir.lv2 (U)
   jack-keyboard (U)
   mhwaveedit (U)

Alexander GQ Gerasiov <[email protected]>
   gxneur

Andreas B. Mundt <[email protected]>
   skinedit (U)
   tilem (U)
   tilp2 (U)

Andreas Beckmann <[email protected]>
   nvidia-settings-legacy-340xx (U)

Andreas Metzler <[email protected]>
   pinentry (U)

Andreas Tille  <[email protected]>
   pidgin-festival (U)

Andreas Tille <[email protected]>
   gdpc (U)
   gkrellm-volume (U)
   gwyddion (U)
   littlewizard (U)
   opencfu (U)
   seqtools (U)

Andrej Shadura <[email protected]>
   gbdfed

Andy Pugh <[email protected]>
   linuxcnc (U)

Antoine Beaupré <[email protected]>
   gmpc (U)
   gmpc-plugins (U)

Ari Pollak <[email protected]>
   gtkspell

Aron Xu <[email protected]>
   fcitx (U)
   gnome-paint
   ibus (U)

Aurélien COUDERC <[email protected]>
   breeze-gtk (U)

Axel Beckert <[email protected]>
   ssh-askpass-fullscreen

Barak A. Pearlmutter <[email protected]>
   ddccontrol
   xournal (U)

Benda Xu <[email protected]>
   scim (U)

Bernd Zeimetz <[email protected]>
   gimp-plugin-registry (U)

Boris Pek <[email protected]>
   qtcurve (U)

Boyuan Yang <[email protected]>
   fcitx5-gtk (U)

Carlo Segre <[email protected]>
   xournal

Carsten Schoenert <[email protected]>
   gerbv (U)

Changwoo Ryu <[email protected]>
   ibus (U)
   nabi (U)

ChangZhuo Chen (陳昌倬) <[email protected]>
   gcin (U)
   hime (U)

Christoph Berg <[email protected]>
   morserunner (U)
   tenace

Christoph Biedl <[email protected]>
   gkrellkam (U)
   gkrellm-leds
   gkrellm-mailwatch
   gkrellm-radio
   gkrellmwireless

Chrysostomos Nanakos <[email protected]>
   xlog (U)

Colin Watson <[email protected]>
   cdebconf (U)
   cdebconf-entropy (U)
   cdebconf-terminal (U)

Cyril Brulebois <[email protected]>
   cdebconf (U)

Cédric Pineau <[email protected]>
   java-package (U)

Damyan Ivanov <[email protected]>
   gbgoffice

Daniel E. Markle <[email protected]>
   xtrkcad (U)

Daniel Kahn Gillmor <[email protected]>
   pinentry (U)

Daniel Leidert <[email protected]>
   chemtool (U)
   easychem (U)

Debian Accessibility Team <[email protected]>
   vmg

Debian Astronomy Team
<[email protected]>
   c-munipack
   udm

Debian Electronics Team <[email protected]>
   gerbv

Debian Fonts Task Force <[email protected]>
   gwaterfall

Debian Games Team <[email protected]>
   c-evo-dh (U)
   etw
   lmemory
   qxw
   wordwarvi

Debian GNOME Maintainers
<[email protected]>
   gnome-themes-extra
   gtk2-engines
   gtkmm2.4
   vte

Debian GnuPG Maintainers <[email protected]>
   pinentry

Debian Hamradio Maintainers <[email protected]>
   cqrlog
   grig
   morserunner
   soundmodem
   xlog

Debian Hebrew Packaging Team <[email protected]>
   hdate-applet
   hspell-gui

Debian HPC Team <[email protected]>
   slurm-wlm

Debian Input Method Team <[email protected]>
   fcitx
   fcitx5-gtk
   gcin
   hime
   ibus
   xsunpinyin

Debian Install System Team <[email protected]>
   cdebconf
   cdebconf-entropy
   cdebconf-terminal

Debian Java Maintainers <[email protected]>
   java-package
   openjfx

Debian Junior <[email protected]>
   littlewizard

Debian KDE Extras Team <[email protected]>
   qtcurve

Debian Korean L10N <[email protected]>
   nabi

Debian Med Packaging Team
<[email protected]>
   gdpc
   gwyddion
   ltrsift
   opencfu
   seqtools

Debian Multimedia Maintainers <[email protected]>
   amsynth
   calf
   ghostess
   ir.lv2
   jack-keyboard
   kluppe
   mhwaveedit
   swami

Debian NVIDIA Maintainers <[email protected]>
   nvidia-settings-legacy-340xx

Debian QA Group <[email protected]>
   gkrellm-thinkbat
   gkrellm-xkb
   gkrelluim
   pidgin-extprefs
   pidgin-privacy-please
   purple-plugin-pack

Debian Qt/KDE Maintainers <[email protected]>
   breeze-gtk

Debian Science Maintainers
<[email protected]>
   geg
   gr-framework
   skinedit
   tilem
   tilp2
   z88

Debian Window Maker Team <[email protected]>
   wmauda

Debichem Team <[email protected]>
   chemtool
   easychem

Dennis Braun <[email protected]>
   ir.lv2 (U)
   jack-keyboard (U)
   swami (U)

Dennis Braun <[email protected]>
   amsynth (U)
   calf (U)

Diane Trout <[email protected]>
   dnssec-trigger (U)

Dmitry Shachnev <[email protected]>
   gnome-themes-extra (U)

dnssec-trigger packagers <[email protected]>
   dnssec-trigger

Doug Torrance <[email protected]>
   wmauda (U)

Emilio Pozuelo Monfort <[email protected]>
   gnome-themes-extra (U)
   gtk2-engines (U)
   gtkmm2.4 (U)
   openjdk-8 (U)

Emmanuel Bourg <[email protected]>
   openjfx (U)

Emmanuel Thomas-Maurin <[email protected]>
   tickr

Ervin Hegedus <[email protected]>
   grig (U)

Etienne Millon <[email protected]>
   gmpc (U)
   gmpc-plugins (U)

Free Ekanayaka <[email protected]>
   amsynth (U)
   mhwaveedit (U)

GengYu Rao <[email protected]>
   xsunpinyin (U)

Gennaro Oliva <[email protected]>
   slurm-wlm (U)
   slurm-wlm-contrib

George Danchev <[email protected]>
   gbgoffice (U)

Georges Khaznadar <[email protected]>
   geg (U)

Gilles Filippini <[email protected]>
   navit
   nted

Giulio Paci <[email protected]>
   basilisk2 (U)

Graham Inggs <[email protected]>
   doublecmd (U)

gregor herrmann <[email protected]>
   gopchop (U)
   ripperx (U)

Gudjon I. Gudjonsson <[email protected]>
   gerbv (U)

HAYASHI Kentaro <[email protected]>
   sylph-searcher (U)

Hideki Yamane <[email protected]>
   sylph-searcher
   sylpheed (U)

IOhannes m zmölnig (Debian/GNU) <[email protected]>
   kluppe (U)

Jaromír Mikeš <[email protected]>
   calf (U)
   ir.lv2 (U)
   swami (U)

Java Maintenance <[email protected]>
   openjdk-8

Jeff Epler <[email protected]>
   linuxcnc (U)

Jeremy Bicha <[email protected]>
   gtk2-engines (U)

Jeremy Bícha <[email protected]>
   gtkmm2.4 (U)

Jeremy Sowden <[email protected]>
   wmauda (U)

Joerg Jaspert <[email protected]>
   gkrellm-reminder (U)

John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <[email protected]>
   gkrellm2-cpufreq
   kcemu

John R. Hogerhuis <[email protected]>
   gopchop

Jonas Smedegaard <[email protected]>
   basilisk2
   usermode

Jordi Mallach <[email protected]>
   vte (U)
   xqf

Jose M Calhariz <[email protected]>
   rep-gtk

Jose M Calhariz <[email protected]>
   sawfish

Joseph Nahmias <[email protected]>
   wordwarvi (U)

Josue Ortega <[email protected]>
   euler

Jérémy Bobbio <[email protected]>
   cdebconf-entropy (U)
   cdebconf-terminal (U)

Jérémy Lal <[email protected]>
   basilisk2 (U)

Jörg Frings-Fürst <[email protected]>
   sane-frontends
   xsane
   xtrkcad

Kamal Mostafa <[email protected]>
   soundmodem (U)
   xlog (U)

Kari Pahula <[email protected]>
   crossfire-client

Kentaro Hayashi <[email protected]>
   sylpheed (U)

Kentaro HAYASHI <[email protected]>
   gr-framework (U)

Kentaro Hayashi <[email protected]>
   growl-for-linux

Laszlo Boszormenyi (GCS) <[email protected]>
   nip2

Laurent Bigonville <[email protected]>
   gnome-themes-extra (U)

LinuxCNC Developers <[email protected]>
   linuxcnc

Lior Kaplan <[email protected]>
   hdate-applet (U)
   hspell-gui (U)

Luca Boccassi <[email protected]>
   nvidia-settings-legacy-340xx (U)

Mark Owen <[email protected]>
   qxw (U)

Markus Koschany <[email protected]>
   etw (U)
   lmemory (U)

Matteo F. Vescovi <[email protected]>
   z88 (U)

Mattia Rizzolo <[email protected]>
   hexchat

Max Vozeler <[email protected]>
   cdebconf-entropy (U)

Mazen Neifer <[email protected]>
   lazarus (U)

Mehdi Dogguy <[email protected]>
   slurm-wlm (U)

Michael Banck <[email protected]>
   chemtool (U)
   easychem (U)

Michael Biebl <[email protected]>
   vte (U)

Mika Matsuzaki <[email protected]>
   bfm

Mike Gabriel <[email protected]>
   xtrkcad (U)

Miriam Ruiz <[email protected]>
   lmemory (U)

Moray Allan <[email protected]>
   matchbox-keyboard
   matchbox-panel-manager

mpd maintainers <[email protected]>
   gmpc
   gmpc-plugins

Nick Andrik <[email protected]>
   guifications (U)

Nick Morrott <[email protected]>
   qxw (U)

Nobuhiro Iwamatsu <[email protected]>
   mozc

NOKUBI Takatsugu <[email protected]>
   uim

Norbert Veber <[email protected]>
   gkrellweather (U)

Ognyan Kulev <[email protected]>
   gwaterfall (U)

Ola Lundqvist <[email protected]>
   bfm (U)

Ondřej Surý <[email protected]>
   dnssec-trigger (U)

Osamu Aoki <[email protected]>
   ibus (U)

Package Salvaging Team <[email protected]>
   gkrellm-reminder
   gkrellm-volume
   gkrellweather
   guifications

Pascal Packaging Team <[email protected]>
   castle-game-engine
   castle-model-viewer
   doublecmd
   fp-units-win
   fpc
   lazarus
   winff

Patrick Franz <[email protected]>
   breeze-gtk (U)

Paul Brossier <[email protected]>
   kluppe (U)

paul cannon <[email protected]>
   gkrellkam

Paul Gevers <[email protected]>
   castle-game-engine (U)
   castle-model-viewer (U)
   fp-units-win (U)
   fpc (U)
   lazarus (U)

Peter Blackman <[email protected]>
   asunder
   c-evo-dh
   castle-model-viewer (U)
   winff (U)

Peter Blackman <[email protected]>
   lazarus (U)

Peter Michael Green <[email protected]>
   fp-units-win (U)
   fpc (U)

Petr Hlozek <[email protected]>
   cqrlog (U)

Quentin Geissmann <[email protected]>
   opencfu (U)

Ricardo Mones <[email protected]>
   gkrellm-reminder (U)
   sylph-searcher (U)
   sylpheed

Richard Laager <[email protected]>
   pidgin

Robert Luberda <[email protected]>
   afterstep

Roberto C. Sánchez <[email protected]>
   openjdk-8 (U)

Rolf Leggewie <[email protected]>
   scim

Rosea Grammostola <[email protected]>
   ghostess (U)
   jack-keyboard (U)

Ross Gammon <[email protected]>
   calf (U)

Rémi Palancher <[email protected]>
   slurm-wlm (U)

Samuel Thibault <[email protected]>
   vmg (U)

Sandro Tosi <[email protected]>
   gkrellm

Sascha Steinbiss <[email protected]>
   ltrsift (U)

Scarlett Moore <[email protected]>
   breeze-gtk (U)

Sebastian Kuzminsky <[email protected]>
   linuxcnc (U)

Seunghun Han <[email protected]>
   gexec

Shachar Shemesh <[email protected]>
   hdate-applet (U)
   hspell-gui (U)

Shih-Yuan Lee (FourDollars) <[email protected]>
   gcin (U)
   hime (U)

Simon McVittie <[email protected]>
   gmpc (U)

Sjoerd Simons <[email protected]>
   gkrellm-volume (U)

Stefan Kangas <[email protected]>
   trayer

Stephen Kitt <[email protected]>
   basilisk2 (U)

Theodore Y. Ts'o <[email protected]>
   xzgv

Theppitak Karoonboonyanan <[email protected]>
   gtk-im-libthai

Thibaut GIRKA <[email protected]>
   matchbox-keyboard (U)

Thorsten Alteholz <[email protected]>
   c-munipack (U)
   udm (U)

Thorsten Glaser <[email protected]>
   openjdk-8 (U)

Tiago Bortoletto Vaz <[email protected]>
   amsynth (U)
   calf (U)

Tomasz Buchert <[email protected]>
   verbiste

tony mancill <[email protected]>
   gopchop (U)
   ripperx
   xlog (U)

Tz-Huan Huang <[email protected]>
   scim (U)

Tzafrir Cohen <[email protected]>
   hdate-applet (U)
   hspell-gui (U)

Varun Hiremath <[email protected]>
   pidgin-festival

Vincent Cheng <[email protected]>
   mangler

Wartan Hachaturow <[email protected]>
   grpn

xiao sheng wen <[email protected]>
   mah-jong

Yann Dirson <[email protected]>
   shogivar

Yao Wei (魏銘廷) <[email protected]>
   hime (U)

Yao Wei (魏銘廷) <[email protected]>
   gcin (U)

Yaroslav Halchenko <[email protected]>
   gkrelltop (U)

Ying-Chun Liu (PaulLiu) <[email protected]>
   gimp-plugin-registry
   groundhog
   rlvm

YunQiang Su <[email protected]>
   fcitx (U)
   xsunpinyin (U)

Étienne Mollier <[email protected]>
   gdpc (U)
   gwyddion (U)

--bzz_bzz__bzz__2rvsoej5nt519t8i3cd84l1w04j8fks
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; charset="utf-8"; name="signature.asc"
Content-Description: Digital signature
Content-Disposition: inline

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iHUEABYKAB0WIQQUWTv/Sl6/b+DpcW7svtu2B7myvgUCaV59bQAKCRDsvtu2B7my
vnOrAP4pMf8sPZKr1pc5ogiqMt6smsBLxiBDSJdMV1LJb107mAD+JwVwEVfNNLGY
+kc4EECVjgcsLi/Db6ZSb+9z08aI1wI=
=j+Qa
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--bzz_bzz__bzz__2rvsoej5nt519t8i3cd84l1w04j8fks--