A group of independent developers for Linux applications has written an open letter, asking the Gnome community to stop using themes in their applications.
The letter is addressed to the maintainers of distributions that integrate their own GTK and icon themes instead of the standard ones. Many well-known distributions use their themes and icon sets to give the system a unified style, highlight their brand, and provide users with a unique experience. However, sometimes this comes with unexpected bugs and strange behaviors in applications.
The developers acknowledge that the need to 'stand out' is good, but this goal should be achieved in other ways.
The main technical issue with GTK 'theming' is that there is no API for GTK themes, only hacks and user style sheets—there's no guarantee that any particular theme won't break something.
"We are tired of having to do extra work for configurations that we never intended to support," the letter states.
Additionally, the developers question why 'theming' isn't done for all other applications.
"You don't do the same with Blender, Atom, Telegram, or other third-party applications. The fact that our applications use GTK doesn't mean we agree to have them replaced without our consent," the letter continues.
In conclusion, the developers ask that their applications not be altered by third-party themes.
"That is why we respectfully ask the Gnome community not to embed third-party themes into our applications. They were created and tested for the original style sheets, icons, and fonts of Gnome, and that is how they should appear in user distributions."
Will the Gnome community heed the developers' words? Only time will tell.
Source: linux.org.ru
