Question: what to do with Debian removing gtk2 and python2?

[Member Xecure]

Debian is planning on removing all gtk2 and python2 libraries and packages from Bullseye.
From https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2018/11/msg00570.html

It’s been several months since the last update from the Debian GNOME
team on our efforts to remove unmaintained libraries from Debian. We
have made significant progress in this goal and the removal of
libgnome is within reach. See the charts later in this email.
[…]
gtk2 mass bug filing
—————————–
For Bullseye, we are serious about our intention to remove libglade2,
libgtk2-perl, and pygtk. This is part of a larger effort to reduce
gtk2 use as much as possible. This is a massive project as over 600
packages in unstable are using gtk2 now.

And from https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2019/11/msg00000.html

Hi,
We are aiming to remove Python 2 for the bullseye release, or at least
remove as many Python 2 related packages as possible. Python 2 is
discontinued upstream, but crucially, more and more providers of Python
modules don’t support Python 2 in either the current or future upstream
version.

I cannot understand the move when so many project (no longer updated but still used) need python2/gtk2 to work. Couldn’t they just rename the packages to “packagename-legacy” and hint that building for python/gtk-legacy is not recommended?

Now, the question:
Is it worth it (will they listen) if I ask the MX Linux team to keep the python2/gtk2 packages on their repo for legacy/compatibility?
As they are a bigger team, it may be worth it for them to consider (doable).
Some antiX programs (including the control centre, which is built using gtkdialog) will die once gtk2 and/or python2 dependencies are gone. People who are on testing/sid have already experienced this (as seen in this post).
If no-one is interested, will we need a major effort to check and update all antiX specific programs to use newer python3 and/or gtk+3 libraries?

I am not trying to put pressure on the antiX dev team. I want to help if possible. I wanted to move some of the script to yad, but multi-tab (notebook) is badly implemented in yad (RAM consumption goes up), so I will probably need to learn python to help migrate these programs.
I suggest asking on the MX Linux forum only if you believe they are interested in this endeavor. If you already know the answer, it is stupid if I waste my and their time trying to convince them of something they don’t want.

Thanks for reading and for your time.

Note: I have rewritten a draft for this post many times. It included links and explanations and a lot of reasons I found were just my desire/opinion. I have opted now for this smaller text trying to expose what I think will be a problem with next Debian release Bullseye (current Debian testing).

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member Xaver]

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This problem is already present in sid.
In some cases it should work, if the latest versions of the needed python2 packages are kept in the antiX repo.
But you will get problems with programs, which depend on ‘python’, i.e. obmenu:

python-pkg-resources
Depends: python2:any (>= 2.7~)
python2.7:any
python-numpy-abi9
python:any

Right now ‘python’ depends on the standard version of python2.
After the removal of python2 the package ‘python’ will depend on the standard version of python3.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Xaver.

[Member sybok]

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* Py-2 removal:
I am surprised of the enforced removal as well.

* Py-2 dedicated (sub-)repository:
Perhaps/Hopefully, someone else will feel the need and create an extra Debian/*buntu repository for legacy Py-2 with an obligatory disclaimer that Py-2 is legacy and unmaintained/unsupported and use at your own risk.
This would solve the issue for many other distributions though it would put them at the mercy of the repository maintainer.

* Py-2->3 code migration:
I could assist/help to migrate some of the scripts to Py-3 in my free time.
But hardly GTK2->3 [no experience] though I could try that as well…
There seem to be “only” 13 repositories with antiX + Python based on my quick GitHub search.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by sybok.

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