GTK-ngl (new default backend) rendering issues with the nvidia 470 driver

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli]

[ Impact ]

When the Nvidia 470 driver is used GTK 4 fails to render most text labels.

[ Workaround ]

Install a newer Nvidia driver using the 'Additional Drivers' app if you can. Otherwise add GSK_RENDERER=gl (or GSK_RENDERER=vulkan) to /etc/environment and reboot.

[ Test Plan ]

1. Install the Nvidia 470 driver on a system that supports it, being careful to ensure that Nvidia is the PRIMARY GPU of the system. So usually a desktop.

2. Open the Settings app and verify that all the icons in the side menu are visible.

3. Open Nautilus and verify that no file icons are missing their text labels.

[ Where problems could occur ]

Anywhere else in the rendering of GTK 4 apps.

[ Additional information ]

With nvidia driver, all GTK4 applications have label rendering issues.

They are not refresh until passing the cursor over them, giving blank windows. The corner are white and not themed. Passing from one app scren to another one reproduces the issue.

gnome-control-center or files, for instance, are blank by default.

As suggested by seb128, exporting GSK_RENDERER=gl fixes the issue.

Related upstream bugs and discussions are:
- https://blog.gtk.org/2024/01/28/new-renderers-for-gtk/
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/6574
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/6411
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/6542

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
Package: libgtk-4-1 4.14.1+ds-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.8.0-11.11-generic 6.8.0-rc4
Uname: Linux 6.8.0-11-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia zfs
ApportVersion: 2.28.0-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Fri Apr 12 09:47:05 2024
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-04-24 (1449 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 TERM=xterm-256color
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
SourcePackage: gtk4
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Confirmed on Nvidia 470. The newer drivers 535 and 545 however do not have the bug. I couldn't test 550 due to bug 2061738.

Please also be aware of bug 2059847.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

Confirming that it’s fixed on the same machine with 550.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Here's a workaround/fix.