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The environment variable was disabled because of a bug report on reddit that it was causing other issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/gnome/comments/vhij0o/gtk_use

The environment variable was disabled because of a bug report on reddit that it was causing other issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/gnome/comments/vhij0o/gtk_use_portal1_environment_variable_causes_gnome/ https://www.reddit.com/r/gnome/comments/vhij0o/gtk_use_porta... In this case, the arch wiki was actively telling users to do things that could break their system. It was a debug flag that was only intended to be used by developers and causes a number of other side effects. So it is no surprise that they changed it. Technically it was not removed, it was only moved into a flag that is only available in debug builds.

kuschku 4y ago
So why don't they add a proper flag? I'm now running debug builds of gnome to get that functionality back. I wish everyone would abandone GTK and instead switch to Qt, but as long as that hasn't happened yet, I'll have to use such environment variables to get GTK apps to look and work consistently on a Qt desktop.
- Crysstalis 4y ago
  The short answer is because any flag will break other things. There is another suggestion to not require any flag, but it probably will not be implemented because of this: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/5026 https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/5026 It is not possible in open source to force everyone to use one toolkit, in my opinion you are wasting your time by wishing for that. There are dozens of toolkits to choose from and the number seems to be growing. The fragmentation has only gotten stronger over the last 25 years, if Qt was the clear winner the proliferation would have stopped long ago. Now there is pretty much no chance that you will be able to hack every toolkit to get all of them to look and work consistently. In particular, the way an app works is decided by the HIG it follows, not the theme. This is reflected in the entire design of the app, to change it requires redesigning the whole app. It cannot be changed just by setting some environment variables.
  - kuschku 4y ago
    It’s mostly an issue with games or java apps or electron using Gtk dialogs. Those apps don’t feel native anyway, but the areas where they interact with the OS at least should feel native. I don’t care about Gtk apps themselves, because I just don’t use any proper Gtk apps (I want my apps to be customizable, after all, and I build my own programs to be customizable too). Why is it always Gnome developers and fans who hate any attempt to make Gnome apps look and feel more like other toolkits? No one expects Gnome apps to work 1:1 like Qt apps, but it feels like every step in the right direction is met with constant hate and objections.
seba_dos1 4y ago
Isn't the only actual "gotcha" there that you need to ensure that GTK portal implementation doesn't end up trying to use portals by itself?

kuschku 4y ago

So why don't they add a proper flag? I'm now running debug builds of gnome to get that functionality back. I wish everyone would abandone GTK and instead switch to Qt, but as long as that hasn't happened yet, I'll have to use such environment variables to get GTK apps to look and work consistently on a Qt desktop.

Crysstalis 4y ago
The short answer is because any flag will break other things. There is another suggestion to not require any flag, but it probably will not be implemented because of this: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/5026 https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/5026 It is not possible in open source to force everyone to use one toolkit, in my opinion you are wasting your time by wishing for that. There are dozens of toolkits to choose from and the number seems to be growing. The fragmentation has only gotten stronger over the last 25 years, if Qt was the clear winner the proliferation would have stopped long ago. Now there is pretty much no chance that you will be able to hack every toolkit to get all of them to look and work consistently. In particular, the way an app works is decided by the HIG it follows, not the theme. This is reflected in the entire design of the app, to change it requires redesigning the whole app. It cannot be changed just by setting some environment variables.
- kuschku 4y ago
  It’s mostly an issue with games or java apps or electron using Gtk dialogs. Those apps don’t feel native anyway, but the areas where they interact with the OS at least should feel native. I don’t care about Gtk apps themselves, because I just don’t use any proper Gtk apps (I want my apps to be customizable, after all, and I build my own programs to be customizable too). Why is it always Gnome developers and fans who hate any attempt to make Gnome apps look and feel more like other toolkits? No one expects Gnome apps to work 1:1 like Qt apps, but it feels like every step in the right direction is met with constant hate and objections.

seba_dos1 4y ago

Isn't the only actual "gotcha" there that you need to ensure that GTK portal implementation doesn't end up trying to use portals by itself?