App depends on Debian Testing version of libgtk

[dg1727]

I'm upgrading to LMDE 2 from a previous Debian-derived Linux distro. I had been using Ukopp for my backups:

• http://www.kornelix.net/ukopp/ukopp.html
• http://www.kornelix.net/downloads/downloads.html

Some reasons I'd been using this program:

• Can copy files verbatim to a FAT-format jump drive so I can give the files to non-Linux users at a moment's notice, or edit/print files myself on someone else's non-Linux computer if needed. -- Some backup programs make only compressed backups.
• Lists all files that were changed since the previous backup; in some situations, this info is important. -- Many backup programs don't seem to do this.
• The backup definition (jobfile) has "include" & "exclude" specifications together -- instead of in 2 different GUI windows as in at least one other backup program I recently considered.

I have a 2nd backup method in mind, for compressed backups to a Linux-format external drive; I plan to add this backup method once I have Ukopp working. The 2nd backup method involves a script which I started developing to add features to a well-known Linux backup program. So there could be some effort in getting this to work; plus, this backup program may not have the Ukopp features mentioned above (it didn't when I was first developing the script). Therefore I prefer to get Ukopp running first.

I really think I should be able to run Ukopp on LMDE just like I had done on the previous distro.

The Ukopp version in Debian Jessie is 4.9. It is giving me an error with apparently every file once it gets to the verify phase of the backup operation. Nothing obvious has changed since my previous distro to cause these errors (same /home partition, and old version of Ukopp was 4.8 I think - the source code's changelog says that only GTK+ changes were made in Ukopp from v4.8 to v4.9).

I'd like to upgrade to the current upstream version of Ukopp so that, if I want to ask the upstream developer for support in any way (or possibly offer patches), things will be more convenient for him.

Upstream is Ukopp 6.2. I try to compile the source locally and it fails. The code seems to use some GTK+3 functions that exist only from GTK+ 3.16.

GTK+ in Debian Jessie is 3.14.5.
The upstream stable release of GTK+ is 3.22.7, and is in Debian Testing.

I assume that having this version of GTK+ on my computer, if it could be done, would be more straightforward than either:

• trying to get enhancements made to other backup programs, or
• asking the Ukopp developer to support the Debian Jessie version of GTK+, or even
• evaluating other backup programs (all over again) to find out if any of them have the features I like in Ukopp.

Would it be suggested to install libgtk-3-0 from Debian Testing as outlined in viewtopic.php?f=241&t=212502 ? This package has a lot of dependencies.
I am a bit twitchy about this kind of thing for now, since compilation dependencies (um, causing things to break -- did I say that out loud?) are what prompted me to upgrade to a current distro (LMDE 2) in the first place.

Thanks in advance for comment.

[Fred Barclay]

Would it be suggested to install libgtk-3-0 from Debian Testing as outlined in viewtopic.php?f=241&t=212502 ?

I'm afraid not. Here's why:

This package has a lot of dependencies.

Most likely at least one (and probably several) of those packages will end up crippling your MATE or Cinnamon desktop. Both of these DEs rely pretty heavily on gtk and I'd be highly surprised if installing libgkt-3-0 from Testing didn't break 'em.

That being said, this is only an educated guess and I don't know for certain what would happen.

[dg1727]

Thanks for your reply, Fred. I am using Cinnamon BTW.

Since there are downgrade instructions in the mentioned reference topic (about installing packages from Debian Testing), I'm likely to try the libgtk-3-0 upgrade unless I think of a better solution soon.