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Getting Gnome 3.28 to run on Ubuntu 20.04.3

ng flag
Rob

I have a laptop and a desktop that both run Ubuntu.

Laptop: Ubuntu 20.04.3 & gnome 3.36.8
Desktop: Ubuntu 18.04.6 & gnome 3.28.2

The interface of gnome 3.36 really annoys me, so much that I decided to put off upgrading the desktop, but this has created a handful of syncing errors with certain applications. So far I've managed to work around each one, but I know eventually I'll have to upgrade the desktop-- if nothing else when 18.04 hits EOL which is admittedly many years away still (Apr 2028).

However, it would be nice to have both systems running the same OS. I could reinstall 18.04 on the laptop, but is there a way to get 20.04 to run gnome 3.28? I've been looking for a repository of old code but finding 3.28 specifically has been difficult. I've also looked at the GNOME community page but didn't see much that would help me. Any pointers would be appreciated.

guiverc avatar
cn flag
The GNOME desktop requires specific libraries/toolkits to be used (ie. GTK3 version), which means you'll need to downgrade all GTK3 apps as well unless you like them crashing a lot, or losing data.. The easiest way is to downgrade the whole OS to 18.04. Don't forget the GNOME Shell (real desktop) has *depends* requirements, and these differ greatly between 3.28 (18.04) & 3.36 (20.04).
Nmath avatar
ng flag
I wouldn't recommend it. There are a lot of dependencies and you'll likely encounter problems which will only grow in number the longer you cling to older package versions. Even if you downgrade to 18.04, you can't use it forever. There are options: you can adjust or configure the current version to resolve whatever issues you have, or you can use a different desktop environment. GNOME's design decisions do not appeal to everyone and there are several other [official flavours](https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours) to chose from.
N0rbert avatar
zw flag
It is possible, but very very difficult. While trying to implement such method in VM of 20.04 LTS I see that it requires manual installation of 156 packages from 18.04 LTS repository, including python3, glib, systemd, apt, dpkg; shows warnings about dash, many essential and many others; the method needs ~130 pinnings which will cause problems. IMHO being pragmatic I would recommend to say goodbye to this cool great glossy GNOMEs Hell and install normal traditional desktop like MATE and use it for next years on both 18.04 LTS and 20.04 LTS (and then 22.04 LTS) without unexpected obstacles.
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