Every GTK2 theme but Mint-X/-Metal broken for some apps

[UnrealMiniMe]

I'm using a new installation of LMDE x86_64. For some reason, every GTK2 theme except Mint-X and Mint-X-Metal is broken for certain applications, including:

• gnome-terminal
• gnome-system-monitor
• gcalctool
• gucharmap
• gdebi-gtk
• seahorse

I just checked, and it turns out this problem even affects the current LMDE Live CD, at least for x86_64.

The default Mint-X-Metal and Mint-X both work perfectly with everything (interesting considering their fanciness), but the widgets (and sometimes colors) fall back to the ugly defaults for every other included theme in the aforementioned programs (at least). Even the venerable and time-tested Clearlooks theme falls victim to this. Note that the broken themes work perfectly with most programs, but they're broken in the six programs I mentioned and maybe others (I checked only the programs with launchers on the Live CD applications menu).

Has anyone else come across this issue (surely they have, since it affects the default installation), or is there any known way to debug it? Could there be a bug in the current version of a common engine, or are additional packages required? Does anyone know what the above six programs have in common that most do not?

I've tried loading the affected programs with the terminal, but no errors are specified. I've also tried loading gnome-appearance-properties with the terminal to see if any errors come up while switching themes, but that didn't happen either. Certain errors do come up while loading gnome-appearance-properties, but they don't seem relevant:

Code: Select all

gnome-appearance-properties

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 68 character 64: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.84" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 69 character 66: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.80" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 70 character 67: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.78" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 71 character 60: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.88" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 72 character 63: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/1.12" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 73 character 60: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.56" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 75 character 66: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.76" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 76 character 64: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.81" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 68 character 64: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.84" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 69 character 66: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.80" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 70 character 67: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.78" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 71 character 60: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.88" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 72 character 63: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/1.12" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 73 character 60: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.56" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 75 character 66: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.76" as an integer

(gnome-appearance-properties:5052): GLib-WARNING **: GError set over the top of a previous GError or uninitialized memory.
This indicates a bug in someone's code. You must ensure an error is NULL before it's set.
The overwriting error message was: Line 76 character 64: Could not parse "shade/gtk:bg[NORMAL]/0.81" as an integer
/usr/share/themes/Murrina-Blue/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:59: Murrine configuration option "scrollbar_color" is no longer supported and will be ignored.
/usr/share/themes/Shiki-Wine/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:126: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.
/usr/share/themes/Shiki-Illustrious/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:126: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.
/usr/share/themes/Shiki-Brave/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:126: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.
/usr/share/themes/Shiki-Noble/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:126: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.
/usr/share/themes/Shiki-Wise/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:126: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.
/usr/share/themes/Shiki-Dust/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:126: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.
/usr/share/themes/Shiki-Human/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:126: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.
/usr/share/themes/Felicia/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:79: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.

[proxima_centauri]

GTK3 apps are streaming into Debian testing.
The apps you have listed as broken are now GTK3 and no longer work with GTK2 themes.

[GeneC]

Have a look here
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 68&start=0

Some suggested themes that will work.

[proxima_centauri]

My favourite gtk2/3 compatible theme is Zukitwo

[karashata]

To further proxima-centauri's comment about Zukitwo, yes it's a very nice GTK2/GTK3 compatible theme, however it (currently) requires GTK3.2 and version 1.0.1 of the Unico GTK3 engine from Ubuntu, making it somewhat impractical for LMDE users to download and install it.

That said, there is an older version of Unico that is compatible with LMDE (0.1.0 r69).

32-bit: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/73692261/ ... 1_i386.deb
64-bit: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/73692259/ ... _amd64.deb

I could package a slightly modified version of Zukitwo that's been updated with the newest version of the Shell (modified to use Droid Sans at 10pt instead of Trebuchet MS at 8pt, and reverting the application view icons to the larger size), GTK2 and Metacity themes with the older GTK3 theme. If someone has an unmodified older version of Zukitwo on their LMDE setup they might upload it instead.

[UnrealMiniMe]

Thanks for the explanation, guys! It's a shame about my poor, beloved Darklooks, but Atolm and Zukitwo-Dark may just fill the void.

[GeneC]

To further proxima-centauri's comment about Zukitwo, yes it's a very nice GTK2/GTK3 compatible theme, however it (currently) requires GTK3.2 and version 1.0.1 of the Unico GTK3 engine from Ubuntu, making it somewhat impractical for LMDE users to download and install it.

That said, there is an older version of Unico that is compatible with LMDE (0.1.0 r69).

32-bit: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/73692261/ ... 1_i386.deb
64-bit: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/73692259/ ... _amd64.deb
----------------.

karashata

I finally got your Zukitwo themes to work on 'LMDE-SID-Gnome3.0'. The Unico GTK3 engine you gave a link to, plus 'libgtk-3-0 ver. 3.2.1-1' from experimental let them work. Very nice themes. Thanks.

[karashata]

Heh. Updating to GTK 3.2 would allow you to install Unico 1.0.1 which may add a few missing features to the Unico engine that the older version I linked to doesn't have, though exactly what and whether my themes (and Zukitwo) use them I do not know.

Unico 1.0.1 can be downloaded here: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/78722175/ ... _amd64.deb (64-bit) or http://launchpadlibrarian.net/78722177/ ... 1_i386.deb (32-bit)

[GeneC]

Earlier today I looked at updating to 3.2 from experimental as 'autocrosser' referenced..
It would remove about 2/3rds of my current Gnome stuff with few replacements..
I think I will wait a bit. Just went through all the themes, and they all look great.

Thanks again.

[karashata]

You should be able to update to GTK 3.2 without removing anything serious (and without updating the rest of GNOME to 3.2), the rest of GNOME 3.2 might not quite be ready yet. I had already updated GTK to 3.2 a few times before I decided I didn't like what it did to nautilus and reverted it back to 3.0.

In any case, I've got a little tinkering to do (updates and such) on my Ubuntu-based Mint setup and a quick backup to make of Mint Debian before I switch back and push in as many of the GNOME 3.2 updates (including GTK 3.2 again) as I feasibly can to test things out.