It’s not a question of whether I personally want to use systemd or gvfs or Red 
Hat's tools, or even what conspiracies that  billion-dollar corporation may be 
involved with. But as an independent FM developer using GTK as my GUI, I want 
my software to be able to run on a wide variety of systems, not just Gnome (and 
not just Gnome's very latest, since they have no respect for backwards compat). 
MANY users go out of their way to avoid DEs, systemd, gvfs, dbus, etc. - Linux 
is full of options.  Further, many FM devs HATE gvfs and udisks, including the 
ones that use them.  I had so many problems with udisks support that I wrote 
udevil to replace it, which quieted the problems immediately.

SpaceFM has only gtk, glib, and udev as core dependencies (very unusual for a 
file manager), allowing it to run almost anywhere with any set of system tools 
in use, and this took work to achieve. If they connect gtk to gvfs with a hard 
dependency, or claim systemd must be in use, then my users have to install all 
of Gnome just to use my app, similar to how you have to install KDE and all its 
crap to use krusader.  If you want to use both, you have all these extraneous 
daemons and packages installed and running.  That’s how corporations think they 
achieve dominance - by forcing people to install their whole DE. But that just 
causes devs and users to drop GTK.  And it's ridiculous for my app to care what 
init system a user or distro has selected - that's their business.  My app and 
it's GUI toolkit shouldn't care.

If they were smart, they’d realize that making a very smart GUI toolkit with 
minimal dependencies and good backwards compat would ensure GTK’s long life and 
wide adoption. Perhaps they just try to keep it for Gnome-only’s use, viewing 
it in a competitive way and being hostile to use by others, hostile to 3rd 
party theming which users greatly enjoy and prioritize, etc, or they’re 
deliberately running it into the ground to destroy GTK and ensure Qt’s adoption 
(which they’re certainly achieving).

GTK is being abandoned at a phenomenal rate primarily due to Red Hat's agenda 
and conflicts of interest.  If you genuinely support the toolkit, you may wish 
to take notice of that, and its reasons.

As for who agrees with me and who doesn't, outside of fanboy lists and such, 
most people I encounter are QUITE unhappy with GTK 3, and often ask why I use 
it at all.  And many devs I know have left it, even when it required large 
amounts of rewriting their apps.

Were I to select a new GUI toolkit for a new app (Gnome or not), I would not 
select GTK, largely because of the obnoxious and arrogant behavior of Red Hat 
employees and stooges involved in the development and bugtrackers, as well as 
their lack of respect for minimal dependencies, project separation, and 
community involvement.
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