This package has Build-Depends on GTK 2 (libgtk2.0-dev), or produces
binary packages with a Depends on GTK 2.

GTK 2 was superseded by GTK 3 in 2011 (see
<https://bugs.debian.org/947713>). It no longer receives any significant
upstream maintenance, and in particular does not get feature development
for new features like UI scaling on high-pixel-density displays (HiDPI)
and native Wayland support. GTK 3 is in maintenance mode and GTK 4 is
approaching release, so it seems like a good time to be thinking about
minimizing the amount of GTK 2 in the archive.

GTK 2 is used by some important productivity applications like GIMP, and
has also historically been a popular UI toolkit for proprietary software
that we can't change, so perhaps removing GTK 2 from Debian will never be
feasible. However, it has reached the point where a dependency on it is
a bug - not a release-critical bug, and not a bug that can necessarily
be fixed quickly, but a piece of technical debt that maintainers should
be aware of.

A porting guide is provided in the GTK 3 documentation:
https://developer.gnome.org/gtk3/stable/migrating.html

Some libraries (for example libgtkspell0) expose GTK as part of their
API/ABI, in which case removing the deprecated dependency requires
breaking API/ABI. For these libraries, in many cases there will already
be a corresponding GTK 3 version (for example libgtkspell3-3-0), in which
case the GTK 2-based library should probably be deprecated or removed
itself. If there is no GTK 3 equivalent, of a GTK 2-based library,
maintainers should talk to the dependent library's upstream developers
about whether the dependent library should break API/ABI and switch
to GTK 3, or whether the dependent library should itself be deprecated
or removed.

A few packages extend GTK 2 by providing plugins (theme engines, input
methods, etc.) or themes, for example ibus and mate-themes. If these
packages deliberately support GTK 2 even though it is deprecated, and
they also support GTK 3, then it is appropriate to mark this mass-filed
bug as wontfix for now. I have tried to exclude these packages from
the mass-bug-filing, but I probably missed some of them.

Regards,
    smcv

Since grimripper is in testing and unstable this can be resolved ; grimripper is the gtk3 fork of asunder and there is no reason keeping asunder for the next release imho. I tested both and I didn't run into any issues.
regards,

---
Matthias Geiger (werdahias)

Peter, I see you are packaging the new version 3.
This is not ported to gtk3 either.
I suggest to make the package a transitional package to grimripper.

Hi Matthias, Bastian,

I'd prefer to retain asunder for the time being.
If bugs are reported in grimripper that I can't reproduce,
it would be very helpful to ask the reporter if the same problem happens with asunder.
That will be problematic if its been removed from the archive.


I'd also like to see a much wider take-up, freedom from bugs, and more upstream support,
before burning the boats with respect to asunder.

Currently, there are no other official grimripper packages in the 'nix world.
https://repology.org/project/grimripper/versions

This CTD bug reported in May, is still not fixed upstream.
https://gitlab.gnome.org/Salamandar/GrimRipper/-/issues/8
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1040980


Asunder is seeing some upstream activity now,
so there is still a possibility of a switch to gtk3, before gtk2 is removed from Debian


Cheers,
Peter

As announced [1], we are trying to remove gtk2 from forky. Therefore,
I am raising the severity of this issue.

[1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00090.html

On behalf of the Debian GNOME team,
Jeremy Bícha

Should we make the asunder package a transitional package to grimripper
(which is asunder ported to GTK3)?

See the upstream asunder bug which this is forwarded to - I forwarded
the information that Debian is about to remove GTK2, and the asunder
developer didn't seem to be too interested in porting to GTK3.

This was some time ago (2022), and since then (there seems to have been
someone who actually has a GTK3 port of asunder, but asunder developers
hasn't done more than link it in their BTS "so it doesn't get lost".

/Andreas

Hi Andreas,

my plan is to package asunder-gtk3 and make asunder a transitional package to that.
asunder-gtk3 is slightly better supported upstream, and IMHO a better conversion
(column sizing works better) than grimripper.

https://github.com/rizalmart/asunder-gtk3

Cheers,
Peter

Oh, thanks for the info - that sounds great. If you don't mind, I'll
gladly help out with asunder-gtk3 when it's time for it. I was starting
to have doubts about grimripper, not seeing much development there.

best
/Andreas
gusnan@debian.org