GTK2-NG — Modern Community Fork of GTK+ 2.24

Unofficial, community-maintained fork keeping GTK2 alive and usable on modern 64-bit Linux systems.

This fork focuses on modern compatibility while preserving stability, performance, ABI compatibility, and original behavior as much as possible. X11-first, no forced Wayland migration.

Backed by the devuanusers.com community and The Lateral Tech Foundation.

Recent Development News

• Build scripts to automate local testing - https://git.devuan.org/greenjeans/gtk2-ng-test-scripts
• Testing iso (Daedalus) - https://sourceforge.net/projects/vuu-do/files/Vuu-do-5.03/5.03-gtk2ng-testing/
• Deb packages (Daedalus, Excalibur) - https://git.devuan.org/SteveM/gtk2-ng_debs
• Win32 build scripts - https://git.devuan.org/lmemsm/bldgtk
• Successfully built for EasyOS and KLV-Airedale - https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=171842#p171842
• EasyOS 7.4 released featuring gtk2-ng - https://distrowatch.com/?newsid=12874
• Available in the AUR for Archlinux - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/gtk2-ng-git
• The Lateral Tech Foundation formed - https://lateraltechfoundation.com/

Highlights

• Conservative GTK+ 2.24 maintenance with ABI compatibility as a priority
• Existing GTK2 applications should continue to run without recompilation
• X11-first approach with no forced Wayland migration
• Modern build-system cleanup for current Autoconf, Automake, Libtool and gtk-doc
• Compatibility fixes for current GCC and Clang versions
• Selected safe patches from AUR, BSDs, Gentoo, Fedora and GTK2 maintenance forks
• Internal Y2038-related time-handling improvements where ABI-safe
• Modernized private-data handling in many GTK/GDK classes
• Fixed many compiler and deprecation warnings without removing features
• Improved GtkFileChooser with optional icon view
• Classic list view remains available
• Better icon handling and reduced unnecessary overhead in the file chooser
• Preserved GTK2 theming, theme engines, input modules and print backends
• Preserved legacy configuration and module lookup behaviour
• Continued focus on performance, low overhead and responsiveness
• Community-driven maintenance backed by devuanusers.com and lateraltechfoundation.com

Roadmap

• Continue removing deprecated internal API usage where safe
• Improve file chooser responsiveness for large and network directories
• Add best-effort thumbnail generation and optional preview support
• Improve compatibility with traditional GTK2 themes and engines
• Add XDG-aware config, theme and icon lookup paths while keeping legacy paths
• Review Ardour's YTK GTK2 fork for portable, ABI-safe improvements
• Review further GTK2 maintenance forks for useful fixes
• Preserve CUPS/PPD printing workflows and add libppd support for newer CUPS
• Keep GTK2 useful on modern Unix-like systems without breaking existing apps
• Choose a better long-term project name

Build Instructions (Linux)

Safe test install (strongly recommended)

autoreconf -fvi
./configure --prefix=/tmp/gtk2-ng-test --with-xinput=yes
make -j$(nproc)
make install

Run apps against the test build

export GTK2_TESTDIR=/tmp/gtk2-ng-test

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$GTK2_TESTDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$GTK2_TESTDIR/lib/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH"
export GTK_EXE_PREFIX="$GTK2_TESTDIR"
export GTK_DATA_PREFIX="$GTK2_TESTDIR"
export GTK_PATH="$GTK2_TESTDIR/lib/gtk-2.0"

leafpad   # or any other GTK2 app

System-wide install

autoreconf -fvi
./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var --with-xinput=yes
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install

Dependencies (Debian/Devuan/Ubuntu)

sudo apt install \
  build-essential git \
  autoconf automake libtool pkg-config gtk-doc-tools gobject-introspection \
  libglib2.0-dev libpango1.0-dev libatk1.0-dev libcairo2-dev libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-dev \
  libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype-dev libharfbuzz-dev libfribidi-dev libpng-dev \
  libx11-dev libxext-dev libxrender-dev libxrandr-dev libxcursor-dev \
  libxinerama-dev libxi-dev libxfixes-dev libxcomposite-dev libxdamage-dev \
  libcups2-dev gettext autopoint

Dependencies (Arch/Artix/Manjaro)

sudo pacman -S --needed \
  base-devel git \
  autoconf automake libtool pkgconf make gcc binutils \
  gtk-doc gobject-introspection \
  glib2 glib2-devel \
  pango cairo atk gdk-pixbuf2 \
  fontconfig freetype2 harfbuzz fribidi libpng pixman \
  libx11 libxext libxrender libxrandr libxcursor libxinerama libxi libxfixes \
  libxcomposite libxdamage libxft \
  cups

Dependencies (Gentoo)

emerge --ask --oneshot \
  dev-vcs/git \
  sys-devel/gcc sys-devel/binutils dev-build/make \
  dev-build/autoconf dev-build/automake dev-build/libtool \
  dev-util/pkgconf dev-util/ccache \
  dev-util/gtk-doc dev-libs/gobject-introspection \
  dev-libs/glib dev-libs/atk \
  x11-libs/pango x11-libs/cairo x11-libs/gdk-pixbuf \
  media-libs/fontconfig media-libs/freetype \
  media-libs/harfbuzz dev-libs/fribidi media-libs/libpng x11-libs/pixman \
  x11-libs/libX11 x11-libs/libXext x11-libs/libXrender x11-libs/libXrandr \
  x11-libs/libXcursor x11-libs/libXinerama x11-libs/libXi x11-libs/libXfixes \
  net-print/cups

GTK2-ng requires Cairo with Xlib support. If configure reports that cairo-xlib is missing, enable the X USE flag for Cairo (Gentoo)

echo 'x11-libs/cairo X' >> /etc/portage/package.use/gtk2-ng
emerge --ask --oneshot x11-libs/cairo

If Pango or Freetype dependency resolution requires Harfbuzz support, enable it for Freetype: (Gentoo)

echo 'media-libs/freetype harfbuzz' >> /etc/portage/package.use/gtk2-ng
emerge --ask --oneshot media-libs/freetype x11-libs/pango

How to Contribute

Join the main discussion here:
https://devuanusers.com/thread-gtk2-revival-thread--80

Test apps, report issues, submit patches!

License

LGPL v2.1 or later (same as original GTK+)