Post by @weston@techhub.social

2026-05-04 16:46 UTC

If I wanted to make a Linux desktop app, what is a good tech stack that will not require hundreds of libraries of dependencies? I want something light, and compatible with Wayland. I was thinking rust, but it seems to not be super straight-forward to get rust libs installed all the time. GTK or QT better? I am coming from mobile dev so I am in need of education. #linux #programming

Replies (8)

@aeriavelocity@tech.lgbt 2026-05-04 16:49

@weston I personally find GTK wayyyy easier

Open ##2095237
@tragivictoria@mastodon.catgirl.cloud 2026-05-04 17:19

@weston Best toolkit is the one you like the most

Open ##2095238
@mhkohne@mastodon.social 2026-05-04 17:24

@weston I have no experience with GTK, but I can say QT has been getting more and more bloated over the years, to the point that my employer has stopped using it for internal utilities - we'd rather deal with command line stuff than fool with trying to get all the QT stuff to work out.

Open ##2095239
@sleepless@social.lol 2026-05-04 17:59

@weston If you're up for something different, cross-platform .NET development with Avalonia has been a joy.

Open ##2095242
@DG1JAN@radiosocial.de 2026-05-04 18:05

@weston python with TK?

Open ##2095243
@prma@chaos.social 2026-05-04 20:47

@weston @jwarlander I have heard good things about relm4 in rust. But I have not worked with it myself.

Open ##2095244
@zstg@fedia.social 2026-05-05 01:32

@weston it's not easy to get Rust libraries installedWhat do you mean?

Open ##2095245
@lethal_guitar@mastodon.social 2026-05-05 07:54

@weston Dear ImGui & SDL, it's very lightweight, SDL is a well established platform abstraction library that should be available everywhere, supports Wayland too. Dear ImGui is a small library with no extra dependencies.

Open ##2095248