How do I know whether I'm using GTK3 themes?

[bentHnau]

I had a problem with checkbox marks being invisible on web pages, and a Mozilla contributor told me to make sure I'm using GTK3 themes.

So I downloaded gtk-3 with apt. Now what? My DE is XFCE and nothing about the theme setting has changed (as far as I can see).

[cronoik]

Which version of Firefox do you use? Which package have you installed? Have you tried a different theme [1]?

[1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1262136

[bentHnau]

I have Firefox 55.0.2 (64-bit). I'm not sure how relevant that bug report is because my checkmarks (not checkboxes) are invisible. The same thing is happening when I change xfce themes in the Settings Manager.

I typed

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sudo apt-get install gtk-3.

A bunch of stuff was already installed, and a ton of new stuff got installed:

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The following extra packages will be installed:
  gir1.2-spice-client-glib-2.0 gir1.2-webkit2-3.0 libatk-bridge2.0-dev libatk1.0-dev
  libatk1.0-doc libatspi2.0-dev libcairo-script-interpreter2 libcairo2-dev libdbus-1-dev
  libdbus-glib-1-dev libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libgcj-bc libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev
  libglib2.0-dev libglib2.0-doc libharfbuzz-dev libice-dev libpango1.0-dev libpango1.0-doc
  libpcre3-dev libpcrecpp0 libpixman-1-dev libpng12-dev libpthread-stubs0-dev libsm-dev
  libsoup2.4-dev libspice-client-glib-2.0-8 libspice-client-glib-2.0-dev
  libspice-protocol-dev libspice-server-dev libspice-server1 libusbredirhost1
  libusbredirparser1 libwayland-dev libwebkitgtk-common-dev libx11-dev libx11-doc
  libxau-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-shm0-dev libxcb1-dev libxcomposite-dev
  libxcursor-dev libxdamage-dev libxdmcp-dev libxext-dev libxfixes-dev libxft-dev libxi-dev
  libxinerama-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxml2-dev libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev libxtst-dev
  spice-client-glib-usb-acl-helper x11proto-composite-dev x11proto-core-dev
  x11proto-damage-dev x11proto-fixes-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev
  x11proto-randr-dev x11proto-record-dev x11proto-render-dev x11proto-xext-dev
  x11proto-xinerama-dev xorg-sgml-doctools xtrans-dev
Suggested packages:
  libgtk2.0-doc devhelp libcairo2-doc libice-doc libsm-doc libsoup2.4-doc libxcb-doc
  libxext-doc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gir1.2-spice-client-glib-2.0 gir1.2-spice-client-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-webkit2-3.0
  gtk-3-examples libatk-bridge2.0-dev libatk1.0-dev libatk1.0-doc libatspi2.0-dev
  libcairo-script-interpreter2 libcairo2-dev libdbus-1-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev
  libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libgcj-bc libgdk-pixbuf2.0-dev libglib2.0-dev
  libglib2.0-doc libgtk-3-0-dbg libgtk-3-dev libgtk-3-doc libharfbuzz-dev libice-dev
  libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-0-dbg libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-bin libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-dev
  libpango1.0-dev libpango1.0-doc libpcre3-dev libpcrecpp0 libpixman-1-dev libpng12-dev
  libpthread-stubs0-dev libsm-dev libsoup2.4-dev libspice-client-glib-2.0-8
  libspice-client-glib-2.0-dev libspice-client-gtk-3.0-4 libspice-client-gtk-3.0-dev
  libspice-protocol-dev libspice-server-dev libspice-server1 libswt-cairo-gtk-3-jni
  libswt-glx-gtk-3-jni libswt-gnome-gtk-3-jni libswt-gtk-3-java libswt-gtk-3-java-gcj
  libswt-gtk-3-jni libswt-webkit-gtk-3-jni libusbredirhost1 libusbredirparser1
  libwayland-dev libwebkit2gtk-3.0-25 libwebkit2gtk-3.0-25-dbg libwebkit2gtk-3.0-dev
  libwebkitgtk-3.0-0-dbg libwebkitgtk-3.0-dev libwebkitgtk-common-dev libx11-dev libx11-doc
  libxau-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-shm0-dev libxcb1-dev libxcomposite-dev
  libxcursor-dev libxdamage-dev libxdmcp-dev libxext-dev libxfixes-dev libxft-dev libxi-dev
  libxinerama-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxml2-dev libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev libxtst-dev
  spice-client-glib-usb-acl-helper x11proto-composite-dev x11proto-core-dev
  x11proto-damage-dev x11proto-fixes-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev
  x11proto-randr-dev x11proto-record-dev x11proto-render-dev x11proto-xext-dev
  x11proto-xinerama-dev xorg-sgml-doctools xtrans-dev

[bentHnau]

I just tried changing the gtk themes with something called gtk-theme-switcher2. Checkmarks still weren't visible after I first changed the theme this way, and the utility froze my computer the second time. I don't know which version of gtk it is for.

I also tried to edit ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini, but that file doesn't exist.

[stevepusser]

i have to suspect the answer is going to be related to what Debian you're running and how you got Firefox 55.0.2 installed. A normal deb package will pull in what the program needs to run--in Firefox's case, libgtk-3-0 provides the runtime library it uses.

[bentHnau]

I'm running Jessie. Some time ago I downloaded the Firefox archive from the Mozilla website, I run the executable, and I've been letting the browser update itself. I had this problem even when I was using Iceweasel.

[debiman]

something smells fishy.
please post the ouptut of these commands:

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cat /etc/*release*
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -s upgrade

[bentHnau]

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cat /etc/*release*
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="8"
VERSION="8 (jessie)"
ID=debian
HOME_URL="http://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

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sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for dk: 
Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for dk: 
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie InRelease
Get:1 https://packages.microsoft.com stable InRelease [2,802 B]                             
Get:2 http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie-updates InRelease [145 kB]                            
Get:3 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates InRelease [63.1 kB]                         
Get:4 https://typora.io ./linux/ InRelease [758 B]                                          
Ign http://download.opensuse.org  InRelease                                                 
Get:5 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main amd64 Packages [22.5 kB]                   
Get:6 https://typora.io ./linux/ Packages [4,776 B]                                         
Get:7 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en_US [178 B]                  
Get:8 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en_US [160 B]                           
Get:9 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en [178 B]                     
Get:10 http://download.opensuse.org  Release.gpg [481 B]                                    
Get:11 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en_US [178 B]                 
Get:12 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en [160 B]                                    
Get:13 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en [178 B]                    
Get:14 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en_US [160 B]                                 
Get:15 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en_US [178 B]                 
Get:16 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en [160 B]                                    
Get:17 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en [178 B]                    
Get:18 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en_US [178 B]                 
Get:19 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en_US [160 B]                                 
Get:20 http://security.debian.org jessie/updates/main Sources [219 kB]                      
Get:21 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en [178 B]                    
Get:22 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en [160 B]                                    
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie Release.gpg                                             
Hit http://download.opensuse.org  Release                                                   
Ign http://download.opensuse.org  Release                                                   
Get:23 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en_US [178 B]                 
Ign https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en_US                            
Get:24 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en_US [160 B]                                 
Get:25 https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en [178 B]                    
Ign https://packages.microsoft.com stable/main Translation-en                               
Get:26 http://http.debian.net jessie-backports InRelease [166 kB]                           
Get:27 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en [160 B]                                    
Get:28 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en_US [160 B]                                 
Ign https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en_US                                            
Ign http://download.opensuse.org  Packages/DiffIndex                                        
Get:29 https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en [160 B]                                    
Ign https://typora.io ./linux/ Translation-en                                               
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie Release                                                 
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie-updates/main Sources                                    
Get:30 http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie/main Sources [7,054 kB]                              
Hit http://security.debian.org jessie/updates/contrib Sources                   
Ign http://download.opensuse.org  Translation-en_US                             
Ign http://download.opensuse.org  Translation-en
Hit http://download.opensuse.org  Packages
Get:31 http://ftp.us.debian.org jessie/contrib Sources [50.4 kB]                            
Fetched 7,728 kB in 13s (570 kB/s)                                                          
W: Conflicting distribution: https://typora.io ./linux/ InRelease (expected ./linux but got )
W: GPG error: http://download.opensuse.org  Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 0FAD31CA8719FCE4
W: Failed to fetch http://security.debian.org/dists/jessie/updates/InRelease  Unable to find expected entry 'main/binary-1386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie-updates/InRelease  Unable to find expected entry 'main/binary-1386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

W: Failed to fetch http://http.debian.net/debian/dists/jessie-backports/InRelease  Unable to find expected entry 'main/binary-1386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/jessie/Release  Unable to find expected entry 'main/binary-1386/Packages' in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file)

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

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sudo apt-get -s upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  code typora
2 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Inst code [1.14.2-1500506907] (1.15.1-1502903936 vscode stable:stable [amd64])
Inst typora [0.9.29-1] (0.9.33-1 Typora:typora.io [amd64])
Conf code (1.15.1-1502903936 vscode stable:stable [amd64])
Conf typora (0.9.33-1 Typora:typora.io [amd64])

[deborah-and-ian]

Frankendebian!

[stevepusser]

Do any checkboxes show up when you are looking at settings in the Firefox preferences?

[stevepusser]

Frankendebian!

Not necessarily, though the use of the "stable" in there is worrying me. You'd probably run away screaming at the site of my list, though it's perfectly sane, with most of them being my own backport creations.

[bentHnau]

Do any checkboxes show up when you are looking at settings in the Firefox preferences?

I can see all checkboxes. The problem is that I can't see the checkmarks in the checkboxes on web pages. But I can see the checkmarks in Firefox preferences.

[bentHnau]

I ran firefox from the command line

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GTK_THEME=Adwaita firefox

and the problem was fixed. So now I need to figure out how to switch to GTK3 Adwaita permanently. Adwaita was already selected in the XFCE Settings Manager, so that's no help.

[ruffwoof]

I ran firefox from the command line

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GTK_THEME=Adwaita firefox

and the problem was fixed. So now I need to figure out how to switch to GTK3 Adwaita permanently. Adwaita was already selected in the XFCE Settings Manager, so that's no help.

I believe Adwaita is the inbuilt default theme for GTK3 (for GTK2 the inbuilt default theme is Raleigh), so setting ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini to something like

[Settings]
gtk-theme-name=

will use that inbuilt theme. In Stretch you can also install gtk2 and qt4/qt5 adwaita theme's ... and have a consistent look and feel. Not sure with Jessie, IIRC I had qt4 theme set to use gtk3 theme and created my own gtk2 theme that had a adwaita look-n-feel.

i.e. in ~/.config/Trolltech.conf have a section something like

[Qt]
style=GTK+
font="Sans Serif,13,-1,5,50,0,0,0,0,0"

(add that at the bottom of the file if [Qt] section doesn't already exist)

so it uses the gtk3 theme (style).

To set gtk2 theme perhaps install/use something like lxappearance if you don't already have a theme setting tool installed/available and pick the one closest to a common look-n-feel.

Libre office, leafpad, pcmanfm ... are I believe gtk2 so one of those could be opened to see the visuals. galculator is gtk3, kcheckers is qt ... just a matter of becoming familiar with which programs are which so you can open them up and compare.

[stevepusser]

You could also try creating a .desktop program launcher for Firefox, or edit the existing one, and use that command in the Exec= line. Or just write a script that launches Firefox with that theme, and have the .desktop file use that.