As Gnome 40’s UX design is solidifyed, many Gnome users(including myself) seem to prefer the current design more than the new one.
Similarly to Budgie, Mate or Cinnamon, would anyone be interested in helping me Fork and Maintain Gnome 3.38’s UI as a standalone Desktop?
I’m quite the beginner when it comes to development in general, and maintaining and developing a new Desktop will be difficult, but I think this could be a greate learning experience for myself and many others.
At the worst this becomes a time wasting fun side project, and at best this results in a new Desktop being born.
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I am also a newbie at development or maintaining a software; but do have interest for learning. I neither use gnome as my primary DE.
But if there is scope for some help from a newbie like me, I’ll be there. I’m watching this thread if something favourable pops up.
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Thanks, mate. I have zero clue of what I’m doing but I’ve just ported it to a private GitHub repo for now.
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My schedule is messed up for the upcoming week. I’ll get more idea about Gnome and the basic stuff meanwhile. It is be difficult for me to be “dedicated” if I don’t see value in a project. That being said, if you want to take up the project, I’ll be there.
At the very least, I think I’ll need to know that why we should maintain ver 3.38. Does the new version introduce some major changes that would leave out a portion of users? I’ll install Gnome desktop to be more familiarized with it.
Even the worst is a very good outcome for me. I’ve taken up multiple projects in the past only to waste time and fail, but I did learn new things. 
So just to assure you, I am not afraid of a project failing. 
(Yes it also tells that I’m a big quitter, but I’d rather blame it on my lack of experience and the lack “coder-friends”)
I chose 3.38 because it the latest release version. No other thought was given to this.
This would be my first large project.
Additionally, it may be better to simply make a gnome-shell extension does this. Apparently, this is what the gnome devs want.
So for now, at least until gnome 40 is released, we can stay put and perhaps work on an extension instead.
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So let me gather what I understand by reading about the upcoming release and what you seem to say:
You intend to preserve the Gnome 3.38 UI because the newer version has some major changes. And you want to work on this because many users prefer the older design. Right?
Seems like a good idea, which I’ll happily contribute to. I would suggest that first let’s be clear if we want to fork and maintain ver3.38 or work on a shell extension. I don’t think it will be easy migrating from one form to another. (or am I wrong, because I don’t yet have good knowledge about how Gnome works).
If you suggest, I might start with this https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/GnomeShell/Extensions/StepByStepTutorial
Have you got any other idea about where to start?
Yes indeed that is exactly what I want to do. I don’t think we will know what to do until gnome 40 officially releases. From there, we’ll see if an extension is sufficient to preserve the current UI. If not, then we fork it.
I too will read on Gnome shell extensions and C development in the mean time. See you then.
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Okay thanks for your confirmation. 
I already know some C++ from my high school course. 
I’ll also get started with Gnome extensions, and start tracking their DE development.