Summary of GTK Conflict Analysis for Anaconda Developers

Feedback Bugs & Issues
1

Regarding GTK : unable to launch applications from anaconda-navigator

Here is a summary of the analysis regarding the GTK conflict issue observed on Ubuntu systems when using Anaconda Navigator and related applications. This summary includes the root causes and suggested improvements for Anaconda developers.

Issue Description

Users on Ubuntu (and potentially other Linux distributions) are experiencing critical conflicts where launching applications via Anaconda Navigator (e.g., Jupyter Notebook) or even running core Ubuntu system applications (e.g., Thunderbird, Software Center) results in crashes or unexpected behavior (e.g., launching the wrong application).

Root Causes

The core issue is a fundamental incompatibility in Linux when mixing GTK 2 and GTK 3 libraries within the same process address space, often highlighted by the error message:

GTK+ 2.x symbols detected. Using GTK+ 2.x and GTK+ 3 in the same process is not supported.

Specifically:

  1. Library Path Manipulation (LD_LIBRARY_PATH): Anaconda modifies the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to prioritize its own shipped libraries over system-installed libraries.
  2. Incompatible Dependencies: When users install various Python packages (like certain GUI toolkits, pyqt, matplotlib backends, or older gtk2 bindings) into the base conda environment, incompatible versions of GTK 2 and GTK 3 are introduced.
  3. buntu’s Snap Integration: Ubuntu heavily uses Snap packages for core applications (Thunderbird, Software Center). Snaps operate in isolated environments and are highly sensitive to external manipulation of system library paths. When a conflicting Anaconda environment is active, the Snap apps fail to load correctly.
  4. Generic Errors Masking the Cause: The immediate errors seen by users (HTTPError, JSONDecodeError, or generic global_exception_logger messages) often mask the underlying library conflict.

Suggested Improvements for Anaconda Developers

To mitigate these conflicts and improve the user experience on Linux systems, the following actions are recommended:

1. Enhance Dependency Management and Packaging

Proactive Conflict Resolution: Improve the conda dependency solver to specifically flag and prevent installations that introduce both GTK 2 and GTK 3 dependencies into a single environment.

Encapsulated GUI Packages: Ensure that GUI-related packages are self-contained or explicitly rely on a single, modern GTK version (preferably GTK 3+ or Qt with modern bindings) to avoid relying on unpredictable host system libraries.

Deprecation of GTK 2: Migrate all default packages away from GTK 2 dependencies and quarantine older GTK 2-dependent packages in a legacy channel.

2. Improve User Guidance and Documentation

Prominent Best Practices: Strongly encourage the use of isolated, project-specific conda environments instead of loading all packages into the base environment. This should be a core tenet of the Anaconda documentation and potentially a prompt within the Navigator UI.

Clear Warning Messages: Implement more descriptive error logging within Anaconda Navigator. Instead of generic “Expecting value” errors, the logs should clearly point to potential library conflicts or specific network URLs that failed to load.

Documentation on Snap/Ubuntu: Provide specific documentation for Ubuntu users explaining the conflict between LD_LIBRARY_PATH manipulation and Snap packages, suggesting terminal usage as a workaround for GUI instability.

3. Navigator/Platform Enhancements

  1. Robust Error Handling: Improve the Navigator’s resilience to external library conflicts so that core functionalities (like launching apps or fetching advertisements) don’t crash the entire application when a system library issue arises.
  2. Alternative Launch Methods: Provide an easier, documented way for users to launch applications (like Jupyter) without going through the Navigator GUI layer, thus avoiding the GUI-related library conflicts entirely.

Google AI. (2025, 5. November).