Reviving GTK2: Devuan Developer's GTK2-ng Project

GTK2, the older version of the popular GTK toolkit, still powers countless legacy applications. A Devuan developer has initiated 'gtk2-ng'—a project to modernize GTK2 with essential fixes and improvements, ensuring its continued viability without dependency on systemd. This Q&A explores the motivations, technical goals, and implications of this revival effort.

What is the GTK2-ng project and who is behind it?

GTK2-ng is a community-led effort to update and enhance the aging GTK2 toolkit. The project is primarily driven by a developer associated with Devuan, a Debian derivative that eschews systemd. The aim is to apply modern patches and optimizations to GTK2, addressing security vulnerabilities, compatibility with current display servers, and performance bottlenecks. Unlike the official GTK2 which is in maintenance mode, gtk2-ng seeks to breathe new life into the toolkit, making it more suitable for ongoing use in legacy applications and lightweight desktop environments.

Why is a Devuan developer interested in reviving GTK2?

Devuan is built on the philosophy of avoiding systemd dependencies. Many existing GTK2-based applications remain critical for users who prefer alternatives to systemd. By updating GTK2, the developer ensures that these applications can run smoothly on modern systems without requiring systemd libraries. Additionally, GTK2's smaller footprint appeals to minimalistic setups typical in Devuan environments. This revival aligns with Devuan's goal of maintaining compatibility with a wide range of software while giving users more control over their system components.

What specific modern fixes does gtk2-ng implement?

GTK2-ng incorporates several modern patches, such as support for newer versions of fontconfig, cairo, and Pango. It addresses rendering issues on Wayland compositors by backporting relevant fixes from GTK3. Security patches for format string vulnerabilities and memory leaks are also applied. Performance improvements include better handling of multi-monitor setups and HiDPI scaling through backported changes. The project also aims to reduce compilation warnings and improve compatibility with modern compilers like GCC 12+.

How does gtk2-ng differ from the official GTK2 maintenance?

The official GTK2 is essentially frozen—only critical security fixes are backported. GTK2-ng actively merges improvements from other branches, including selected commits from GTK3 and even GTK4 when appropriate. It also incorporates non-critical enhancements that make development easier, such as updated autotools configuration and CI integration. While official releases are rare, gtk2-ng plans to provide regular point releases with cumulative updates.

Will gtk2-ng be compatible with existing GTK2 applications?

Full ABI compatibility is a primary goal. GTK2-ng strives to preserve the same API and binary interface as standard GTK2, so existing applications compiled against GTK2 will work without recompilation. However, some very old or exotic applications that bypass the standard API may encounter issues. The project maintains a test suite to verify compatibility with popular GTK2 software like GIMP (older versions), Inkscape (pre-1.0), and many Xfce components.

How does this relate to the systemd dependency issue?

Many GTK2 installations on modern Linux distributions pull in systemd via dependencies like logind or udev. GTK2-ng can be built without those dependencies, making it ideal for Devuan, antiX, and other systemd-free distributions. The project explicitly avoids adding any systemd-related code, ensuring that users on OpenRC, runit, or busybox init systems can benefit from updated GTK2 without bloat.

What is the future roadmap for gtk2-ng?

The immediate goal is to produce a stable release that passes all compatibility tests and includes the most critical modern fixes. Future plans may involve optional support for Wayland, extended accessibility features, and possibly a lightweight theme engine. The developer invites community contributions via a Git repository hosted on a Devuan-related platform. Long-term maintenance is expected as long as demand exists for legacy GTK2 applications.