Doesn't start on Arch Linux, removed gtk2 support

Posts: 4 · obi-juan 3 Nov 2025, 05:28

Recently arch linux removed gtk2 support which is needed for FFS to start, is it possible to use gtk3 instead?

Posts: 7523 · Zenju 3 Nov 2025, 08:26

Isn't is possible to install GTK2 manually via apt-get?

Posts: 4 · obi-juan 3 Nov 2025, 10:57

Sadly no, apt-get only works for debian based distributions. Arch removed gtk2 from the official repos recently and more distributions will surely follow, since it reached end of life 5 years ago. There's a way to install gtk2 using AUR but it is not recommended. Is there a way to use FreeFileSync using gtk3 instead?

Posts: 7523 · Zenju 3 Nov 2025, 13:55

You're right, but the following should work, no?

sudo pacman -S gtk2

Posts: 4 · obi-juan 3 Nov 2025, 14:29

No, gtk2 was removed from the repos, it no longer exists. Only gtk3 and gtk4 now.

Posts: 5 · DragonFox 14 Nov 2025, 17:04

Rebuild from source/regular aur, not the "bin" aur
Then it seems to work.

The freefilesync-bin aur package does not resolve gtk2 to https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/any/gtk2-compat/

Posts: 7523 · Zenju 15 Nov 2025, 20:20

Here's a build based on GTK3. Any issues with it? Perhaps it's time to give GTK3 another chance. I can't reproduce the issues from last time (viewtopic.php?t=10103). Perhaps wxWidgets has implemented fixes since then:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/ka95dx682a8cs6v/FreeFileSync_14.6_beta_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz

Posts: 4 · obi-juan 16 Nov 2025, 02:41

Yes, it works perfectly for me. Will report back if i find any issues with it.