gtk3-classic

This repository contains patches to restore GTK 3's look & feel reminiscent to earlier versions. With many enhancements such as disabled CSD headers, traditional dialog boxes and file browser improvements.

These are designed to work on non-GNOME desktops (such as XFCE and MATE) and any other environment where GTK applications are used. Running on GNOME desktops is not recommended!

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About

Once known as gtk3-mushrooms, this repository is a collection of patches that apply on top of the GTK 3 source code. It's not a fork of GTK 3.

This repository acts as a central hub for these patches and will keep rolling if there's a new GTK 3 release. The patches aim to bring a bit of reminiscence to GTK 2 and GTK 3's early days (hence, "classic")

This repository is provided as-is, with no warranty or guaranteed support. While the patched installation should just work, you are entering unsupported tertiary.

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• Arch Linux
• Gentoo
• Ubuntu (LTS)

Arch Linux

Available from the AUR under gtk3-classic (previously gtk3-mushrooms)

Based on the official gtk3 package with some changes to make the package more lightweight:

• Demos, examples and tests excluded.
• Some dependencies made optional:
  • adwaita-icon-theme - default icon theme
  • cantarell-fonts - default font
  • dconf - default GSettings backend
  • colord - color management support
  • libcups - enable printers in print dialog

There's a few ways to install:

• The release notes contains a package built autonomously by GitHub Actions for your convenience.

  sudo pacman -U ./*.tar.zst
  

• Use an AUR helper, such as yay:

  yay -S gtk3-classic
  

  The AUR's PKGBUILD follows this repository's latest release as its source.

• Build from source:

  git clone https://github.com/lah7/gtk3-classic
  cd gtk3-classic
  makepkg -s
  

  This repository's PKGBUILD allows for selectively choosing patches.

Ubuntu

Only available for LTS releases (starting from 20.04)

These packages are based on the original gtk+3.0 package, with the version suffixed with ~classic. These packages are rarely updated, as they are patched against the GTK 3 version originally used for that release.

To install, add the repository and upgrade your packages:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lah7/gtk3-classic
sudo apt dist-upgrade

To restore the original GTK 3, use ppa-purge to restore the packages from Ubuntu's repository:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:lah7/gtk3-classic

This works for stock Ubuntu. If you're using an Ubuntu derivative (like Linux Mint), you may need to manually downgrade packages instead.

Gentoo

A Gentoo ebuild is available as x11-libs/gtk3-classic-patches in the khoverlay overlay. Rather than providing a patched x11-libs/gtk+:3 ebuild directly, this ebuild installs user patches which will be applied on subsequent builds of GTK 3. This way, the latest official Gentoo GTK 3 ebuild can always be used.

To install, first add the overlay and accept the package's testing status:

sudo eselect repository enable khoverlay
sudo emerge --sync khoverlay
echo 'x11-libs/gtk3-classic-patches::khoverlay' | sudo tee -a /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords

Then install the patches and rebuild GTK 3:

sudo emerge -av gtk3-classic-patches
sudo emerge -av1 gtk+:3

To revert to standard GTK 3, remove the patches and rebuild GTK 3:

sudo emerge -cav gtk3-classic-patches
sudo emerge -av1 gtk+:3

Patches

Client Side Decorations (only on Xorg)

• CSDs are disabled by default
  • Allows the window manager to decorate windows instead of the application.
  • This does not work for all (usually, newer) GTK applications (#32)
  • If the app looks broken, set the environment variable GTK_CSD=0 per app (or in your desktop environment) to restore CSDs.
  • It is possible to set GTK_CSD=1 to force CSDs on each GTK 3 window.
• Client side shadows of windows, menus and tooltips are disabled by default.
  • You can enable shadows by setting GTK_CSD=1 environment variable.
• Minimize, maximize and close buttons, window title and subtitle are removed from headerbar.

File chooser

• Typeahead feature is restored.
  • Recursive file search will not be ran automatically when you start typing.
  • You can still search recursively by Left Alt + S shortcut. See https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/issues/839.
• "Other locations" button is removed from Places sidebar.
  • All mounted devices and drives are accessible directly.
  • "Networks" button is added for browsing network shares.
• Trash and XDG user directories (like Pictures, Downloads, Documents) are removed from Places sidebar.
  • These can be added as bookmarks.
• File System button in Places sidebar is labeled as "File System" instead of "Computer".
• The eject button in the Places sidebar can be hidden by setting gtk-file-chooser-eject-button=false in settings.ini.

Appearance

• Alternating row colours in treeviews are restored. (requires additional step)
• Message dialogs have traditional appearance with left-aligned texts and right-aligned buttons.
• Some GTK stock icons on buttons and context menus are restored.
• Regular colorized icons instead of symbolic icons are used in file chooser dialog.
• Appearance of print dialog is less "gnomish", natural margins are restored.
• Backdrop CSS state is disabled.
  • Inactive windows don't look differently.
  • You can restore backdrop state by setting GTK_CSD=1 or GTK_BACKDROP=1 environment variable.
• Status bars are smaller regardless of used theme.
• File chooser dialog, places sidebar and color chooser dialog use a traditional context menu instead of popover.

Default Settings

• Scrollbars are always visible.
  • You can enable invisible scrollbars by GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING=1 environment variable.
• Current working directory is opened by default in file chooser dialog instead recently used files.
• Atril instead of Evince is set as default previewer in printing dialog.

Other

• The underline while typing dead keys is removed.
• Delay before showing mnemonics is removed. You don't have to wait when you press Alt.
• "Insert emoji" context menu item of entry fields is hidden.
  • You can restore it by setting GTKM_INSERT_EMOJI environment variable.
• Default Adwaita theme has smaller controls (buttons, fields, tabs, etc.).

Fixes

• Reinstate the ability to switch between standard tabs by scrolling over them, similar to GTK 2.
  • This can be disabled by setting GTK_NO_TAB_SCROLL environment variable.
• Menu bars are no longer covered by too high popup menus. (patch broken)
  • See https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/issues/1016.
• Labels are wrapped similarly to GTK 2. This patch fixes too wide windows in applications improperly ported from GTK 2.
• Allows windows to be transparent whenever a compositor is enabled.
  • To enable, set the GTK_RELAX_RGBA environment variable.
  • See https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/3105
• Remove hardcoded "gtk-dialogs-use-header" setting under Wayland (#93)
• The primary selection is no longer cleared when deselecting text.
  • This refers to an X.org feature that lets you middle click to paste the last highlighted text at the mouse pointer's position. This is separate from your main clipboard (CTRL+C, CTRL+V).
  • This makes GTK consistent with other toolkits.
  • See https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/317

Build time

• atk-bridge can be optionally disabled. (#101)
  • Similar to how you could build with --without-atk-bridge over a decade ago.
  • This would remove support for accessibility features; some apps could break.
  • Allows for D-Bus to be an optional dependency. (#40)
  • To build without this feature, set meson option atk_bridge to false (default: true) and remove the dependencies from your package accordingly.
    • For Arch, here's a reference of PKGBUILD changes to make. The ATK packages are only used as build dependencies, but can be uninstalled afterwards.

Problems?

These patches are for your own pleasure. They are not supported by GTK developers, your distribution or application developers. Please don't send bug reports to them because of this patched GTK 3 installation.

If you are having trouble with an application or theme, try:

• Setting GTK_CSD=0 environment variable, then run the application.
• Revert to the original gtk3 to confirm these patches caused the problem.

If a patch is at fault, Arch and Gentoo users for instance can comment out (#) patches in series until they find the one causing it.

Arch users can use the included scripts/test-exclude-each-patch.sh script. It'll exclude one patch at a time and create builds using the PKGBUILD in this repository.

Contributing

We're not writing new patches — only maintaining what we've got.

You are welcome to open a pull request with a new patch or fix if:

• It does not break GTK 3 or any GTK applications.
• Offers "classic" functionality remensiant of GTK 2 or early versions of GTK 3.
• Optional behind an environment variable if it introduces a significant change.

Patches should be added using the quilt system.

How to use quilt

Our primary packaging and testing happens on Arch. Checksums in PKGBUILD need to be updated to pass the automated checks. On an Arch system, these can be regenerated automatically:

updpkgsums

(Provided in pacman-contrib)

If you're not using Arch Linux, don't worry! When you create the pull request and automated checks run, it'll fail ❌ and present a patch of required changes.

Community

The Discussions tab is where you can find curated tips, chat, support and introductions from other users.

XFCE users might be interested in this additional patch for the file chooser:

• https://github.com/lah7/gtk3-classic/pull/94/files
• https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/gtk3-classic-xfce (for Arch Linux users)

License

Patches follow the same license as GTK 3, which is LGPLv2.