[Slackbuilds-users] deprecation of webkit2gtk

[Bob Funk]

My original plan was to just leave all the packages that are stuck with
dependency on webkit2gtk4.0/libsoup2 (basically anything out of the gnome
41.x tree), and then was hoping to mass upgrade all that to newer gnome
versions once we have the next Slackware release as our target on
slackbuilds.org. This would include the goa/evolution-data-server/evolution
stack. As the years pass on, I'm not so sure anymore because I am holding
goa & evolution back with version requirements, but it's been the least
intrusive. This is why I asked if webkit2gtk truly needed to be dropped, or
if it can be kept around for legacy reasons.

We could also split off a few "legacy" packages that use the
webkit2gtk4.0/libsoup2 dependencies to support the older packages, and then
upgrade the rest to webkit2gtk4.1. Would that be a better alternative? It
would mean adding more packages to the repo that just get removed at next
release, but then a newer goa/evolution stack could be upgraded, which I am
currently holding back from being upgraded with this libsoup*/webkit2gtk*
mess.

It's unfortunate the slackware-15.0 release (freezing things like glib2 and
gtk) landed right in the middle of gnome's changeover from libsoup2 to
libsoup3 and webkit2gtk moving on to 4.1 and 6.0 (and webkit2gtk5.0, which
was a short lived development version used in the gnome-43 branch, which
I'm also trying to avoid). It's been a problem I knew would be coming
eventually and here we are.

I'm happy to provide support for either way you want to take this issue.
I'd be fine removing gnome-control-center and breaking the desktop
experience, as I can easily use other desktops like kde or xfce with gnome
applications. I just don't know who else might use the gnome desktop from
those packages that this might bother. I'm also fine with adding on some
legacy type packages to support old stuff while moving what we can onward,
or just sitting on webkit2gtk4.0/libsoup2 till Slackware 16.0 is here.

Bob







On Sat, Sep 12, 2026 at 12:45 PM Willy Sudiarto Raharjo <
willysr at slackbuilds.org> wrote:

> >Now with gnome-online-accounts bumped and put on the
> webkit2gtk4.1/libsoup3
> >dependency chain, the following packages are broken:
> >
> >gnome-control-center   -   crashes immediately at runtime due to mixed
> >libsoup2 and libsoup3 symbols. This basically kneecaps the entire gnome
> >desktop environment, making gnome-shell fairly useless as a desktop
> >environment for users. gnome-shell can still be installed and used to run
> >gdm, but if a user tries launching a gnome-shell based desktop from gdm as
> >that combination is intended to do, they wont have a functional control
> >panel in that desktop environment.
> >
> >I think the gnome-control-center package will have to be removed until the
> >next release where slackware has newer glib2/gtk/gjs/etc libraries that
> can
> >support the gnome desktop environment stack again. I'll have to update my
> >build queue repo's readmes and LQ posts with warning messages about the
> >breakage. There's other options/repos out there to install the gnome
> >desktop now anyway so I could just point others to use that now.
> >
> >evolution-data-server   -   This fails to build at its current version,
> >citing a missing webkit2gtk4.0 package. This webkit2gtk4.0 dependency was
> >previously pulled into the build order via gnome-online-accounts being at
> >the older version. With the newer version of gnome-online-accounts, this
> >build is broken, which will break all further builds with
> >evolution-data-server in their dependency chain.
> >
> >I managed to build evolution-data-server version 3.46.4, which had
> >webkit2gtk4.1 supported, but had to switch off some now unsupported
> options
> >in the slackbuild to do that. Then I used that package to continue testing
> >against other builds I have that depend on evolution-data-server. I hope
> >Ozan is reading this because it's his package and it also will fall
> through
> >to the evolution package he maintains.
> >
> > I only looked at my builds that need evolution-data-server which are:
> >  gnome-maps        <--- still breaks, even with upgrading
> >evolution-data-server, need to look if newer version is possible
> >  gnome-contacts   <--- runs okay with newer evolution-data-server
> >  gnome-calendar   <--- build is broken against newer
> evolution-data-server
> >due to libsoup2/libsoup3, need to look if newer version is possible
> >  gnome-shell         <--- builds and runs against the newer
> >evolution-data-server, but control panel is broken if used as a regular
> >desktop environment, as mentioned earlier
> >  gdm                      <--- builds and runs as expected with newer
> >evolution-data-server
> >  gnome-terminal    <--- builds and runs as expected with newer
> >evolution-data-server
> >
> >So there is a mix of success and failure there. I was keeping those
> >packages in the same older gnome versions to keep everything at libsoup2
> >dependent versions. Now that gnome-control-center is broken, there's not
> >much point to trying to maintain a functional desktop experience and I'll
> >look further into if these individual applications can just be bumped to
> >newer versions.
> >
> >The rest of my builds that depend on gnome-online-accounts seem to build
> >and run okay with the newer version on webkit2gtk4.1.
> >
> >To recap what is broken by the gnome-online-accounts changeover, even if
> >evolution-data-server gets an update:
> >  gnome-control-center
> >  gnome-maps
> >  gnome-calendar
> >Which I'd suggest removal of for now.
> >
> >Also, regarding gnome-builder:
> >The gnome-builder 42.x versions are the latest we can build on slackware
> >15.0. Anything newer wants a higher glib2 version, and/or more deps as
> well
> >like needing libdex, which is also version stuck because of glib2's age in
> >slackware 15.0. If you are wanting to remove webkit2gtk (4.0), then maybe
> >remove this too. I don't use it, I just took over maintenance of a number
> >of gnome builds when the prior maintainer left. If someone wants to use it
> >in the next slackware version, they will be able to easily build newer
> >gnome-builder versions in the next release and can submit the build again
> >then.
> >
> >So that's my findings from this morning's testing against this
> >webkit2gtk4.0 deprecation.
>
>
> Thanks for the thorough investigation on this issue Bob
>
> We hoped that the impact would be minimal, but it turns out worse than
> what we
> expected.
>
> I would suggest to revert goa update back to webkit2gtk, keep
> gnome-builder as
> it is with webkit2gtk and keep gnome-boxes update only since it's still
> working
> well with webkit2gtk4.1.
>
> At least we shrink the number of packages that still depends on webkit2gtk
> to a
> minimum number. We can take a look back on those during development cycle
> for
> next SBo repository.
>
> What do you think?
>
>
> --
> Willy Sudiarto Raharjo
>
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