4 ms·

Bigger issue here is they're removing everything that depends on gtk2.

pamcake 8mo ago
Well that's a bummer. There's a whole generation of barely-if-at-all-maintained but still perfectly working utils that will probably be forever lost to obscurity with that. Recently I wish Debian was more Debian.
- stonogo 8mo ago
  With the possible exception of Hexchat, I'd wager any such tools were already lost to obscurity.
curt15 8mo ago
Does gtk2 still have Debian maintainers? Whatever is in Debian's official repository is effectively endorsed by Debian. If they don't have enough capacity it's wiser to drop support than to sign off on something of unknown quality.
- dmz73 8mo ago
  I hate losing access to software just because it is "unmaintained". If module is "endorsed" now, since it is included in current version, and there is no maintenance, so no changes made to it, why is it suddenly not good enough to "endorse" in the future? No, security issues do not count as they don't magically appear, either they are in there now and debian is fine with distributing "insecure" code or they don't matter. Debian is fine with shipping broken version of software for years as long as they consider it "stable" so why drop working "stable" software just because no one is making changes to it?
  - awakeasleep 8mo ago
    Losing access or losing convenient access that other people do work to maintain for you?
  - BoredPositron 7mo ago
    the source is still there...
  - dvfjsdhgfv 7mo ago
    It's not only about security (although that's extremely important) but also making the changes necessary to adapt to the changing ecosystem. Unmaintained means there is nobody responsible, nobody you can even contact to make the changes needed. If there is anyone, even an aging OS developer as in the case of many packages, it's so much better than none.
canistel 8mo ago
- GTK2 is only one of the supported widget sets for Lazarus. It supports Qt5 & 6 too. I feel Lazarus should switch to Qt5 or 6 until GTK3 is mature. - Hexchat IRC client is another popular application that is still stuck with GTK2.
- presbyterian 8mo ago
  Considering we're on GTK 4, I think GTK 3 is as mature as it's gonna get.
  - hulitu 8mo ago
    Mature ? I would say obsolete. Just wait for GTK5 or GTK6.
kvemkon 8mo ago
This has been reported here but got not enough attention: "Debian GNOME team announces intent to remove GTK 2 in Debian 14" (08.01.2026) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46548257 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46548257 P.S. Still hope GNOME maintainers let other volunteers maintain GTK 2.
- rlpb 8mo ago
  > P.S. Still hope GNOME maintainers let other volunteers maintain GTK 2. They already said this is fine: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00146.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00146.html
account42 8mo ago
It seems no distro is safe from deletionists.
- kjs3 8mo ago
  You can step up and be the maintainer of GTK2 (or anything else that would keep the 'deletionists' at bay) any time you want. Go on...I'm sure you have unlimited time and resources like all the other Debian maintainers.
  - rurban 8mo ago
    Nonsense. You just need to make building the gtk2 unit optional, so that the distros can still build it. Almost no one needs gtk2, just Lazarus. Usually debian maintainers are happy to patch the build system to do that. They got a bad one. The harder part is to upgrade Lazarus to qt6. Until that happens, Lazarus needs to be shipped as snap, flatpack or appimage with the gtk2 so's.
    - kjs3 8mo ago
      Until that happens Exactly. "Let me explain how some else needs to do this thing, and how easy it is, and how that someone else needs to get right on that for my convenience". Because you're here to condescend, not to actually do anything.
    - irishcoffee 8mo ago
      This doesn't answer the mail: https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Qt6_Interface https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Qt6_Interface ?
- rlpb 8mo ago
  The maintainer driving this in Debian explicitly said: > That being said I would not object if someone wants to take over the maintenance of GTK2, though I believe keeping it for beyond duke is beating a dead horse. Source: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00146.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00146.html
hulitu 8mo ago
I'm sure they can be easily ported to GTK3, GTK4 and then GTK5 /s

Well that's a bummer. There's a whole generation of barely-if-at-all-maintained but still perfectly working utils that will probably be forever lost to obscurity with that. Recently I wish Debian was more Debian.

stonogo 8mo ago
With the possible exception of Hexchat, I'd wager any such tools were already lost to obscurity.

curt15 8mo ago

Does gtk2 still have Debian maintainers? Whatever is in Debian's official repository is effectively endorsed by Debian. If they don't have enough capacity it's wiser to drop support than to sign off on something of unknown quality.

dmz73 8mo ago
I hate losing access to software just because it is "unmaintained". If module is "endorsed" now, since it is included in current version, and there is no maintenance, so no changes made to it, why is it suddenly not good enough to "endorse" in the future? No, security issues do not count as they don't magically appear, either they are in there now and debian is fine with distributing "insecure" code or they don't matter. Debian is fine with shipping broken version of software for years as long as they consider it "stable" so why drop working "stable" software just because no one is making changes to it?
- awakeasleep 8mo ago
  Losing access or losing convenient access that other people do work to maintain for you?
- BoredPositron 7mo ago
  the source is still there...
- dvfjsdhgfv 7mo ago
  It's not only about security (although that's extremely important) but also making the changes necessary to adapt to the changing ecosystem. Unmaintained means there is nobody responsible, nobody you can even contact to make the changes needed. If there is anyone, even an aging OS developer as in the case of many packages, it's so much better than none.

canistel 8mo ago

- GTK2 is only one of the supported widget sets for Lazarus. It supports Qt5 & 6 too. I feel Lazarus should switch to Qt5 or 6 until GTK3 is mature. - Hexchat IRC client is another popular application that is still stuck with GTK2.

presbyterian 8mo ago
Considering we're on GTK 4, I think GTK 3 is as mature as it's gonna get.
- hulitu 8mo ago
  Mature ? I would say obsolete. Just wait for GTK5 or GTK6.

kvemkon 8mo ago

This has been reported here but got not enough attention: "Debian GNOME team announces intent to remove GTK 2 in Debian 14" (08.01.2026) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46548257 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46548257 P.S. Still hope GNOME maintainers let other volunteers maintain GTK 2.

rlpb 8mo ago
> P.S. Still hope GNOME maintainers let other volunteers maintain GTK 2. They already said this is fine: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00146.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00146.html

account42 8mo ago

It seems no distro is safe from deletionists.

kjs3 8mo ago
You can step up and be the maintainer of GTK2 (or anything else that would keep the 'deletionists' at bay) any time you want. Go on...I'm sure you have unlimited time and resources like all the other Debian maintainers.
- rurban 8mo ago
  Nonsense. You just need to make building the gtk2 unit optional, so that the distros can still build it. Almost no one needs gtk2, just Lazarus. Usually debian maintainers are happy to patch the build system to do that. They got a bad one. The harder part is to upgrade Lazarus to qt6. Until that happens, Lazarus needs to be shipped as snap, flatpack or appimage with the gtk2 so's.
  - kjs3 8mo ago
    Until that happens Exactly. "Let me explain how some else needs to do this thing, and how easy it is, and how that someone else needs to get right on that for my convenience". Because you're here to condescend, not to actually do anything.
  - irishcoffee 8mo ago
    This doesn't answer the mail: https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Qt6_Interface https://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Qt6_Interface ?
rlpb 8mo ago
The maintainer driving this in Debian explicitly said: > That being said I would not object if someone wants to take over the maintenance of GTK2, though I believe keeping it for beyond duke is beating a dead horse. Source: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00146.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00146.html

hulitu 8mo ago

I'm sure they can be easily ported to GTK3, GTK4 and then GTK5 /s