gtk3-classic

(Previously known as gtk3-mushrooms)

This repository contains patches to restore GTK3'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!

View Screenshots

Arch Linux

Available from the AUR under gtk3-classic, which is based on the official gtk3 package with some slight changes:

• These dependencies are now 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
• Excludes demos, examples and tests.

Any variant of this package found in the wild is not supported.

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
  

• Build from source, like so:

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

If you've previously installed gtk3-mushrooms, switch to this new package.

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.

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 GTK3, use ppa-purge to restore the packages from Ubuntu's repository:

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

Gentoo

An unofficial 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 GTK3. This way, the latest official Gentoo GTK3 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 GTK3:

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

To revert to standard GTK3, remove the patches and rebuild GTK3:

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

Patches

Client Side Decorations (only on Xorg)

• CSDs are disabled by default.
  • All windows are decorated only by window manager.
  • You can enable CSDs by setting GTK_CSD=0 environment variable (or GTK_CSD=1 to force CSDs on each GTK3 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 GTK2.
  • 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 GTK2. This patch fixes too wide windows in applications improperly ported from GTK2.
• 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)

Problems?

These patches are unofficial and are not supported by GTK developers, your distribution or any applications. If you are having trouble with an application or theme, try reverting to the original gtk3 to confirm it's definitely a problem with these patches.

Use Arch? Try isolating the problematic patch by excluding them in your PKGBUILD and rebuilding. The included scripts/test-exclude-each-patch.sh script can help with this.

See Support Discussions | View Issues

Contributing

Our knowledge in C is limited, so we'd appreciate any help in fixing open bugs.

Patches should:

• Not break GTK3 or any GTK applications.
• Offer "classic" functionality remensiant of GTK2 or early versions of GTK3.

Patches are managed using quilt.

How to use quilt | View Open Issues

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)

Community

Drop by our Discussions tab, where you can find curated tips, chat and introductions from other classic users. There is also a category for help & support, if you need help getting GTK related stuff working.

XFCE users might be interested in these additional patches:

• https://github.com/simplejack-src/gtk3-classic-xfce

License

Patches follow the same license as GTK3, which is LGPL.