Bug#1084489: gtk+3.0: Orca 47.0 version and stable Bookworm awailable gtk+3.0 3.24.38 version impossible use preferences dialog with speech synth and braille display

[Hammer Attila]

Source: gtk+3.0
Version: 3.24.38-2~deb12u2
Severity: important

Dear Maintainer,

*** Reporter, please consider answering these questions, where appropriate ***

   * What led up to the situation?
   My name is Attila Hammer, I am not an official Debian developer, but very old time using Debian distributions (since 1999).

I using the system with Orca screen reader, and because Debian stable ships with Orca 43.0 version the stable branch, I installed Orca from stable-backports repository.

Until 46.0 version from backports repository not have any incompatibility, but when 47.0 landed the stable-backports repository, Orca preferences dialog are begun not worked, when pressed INSERT+SPACE key in Orca and pressed a right arrow for example to jump the voice page, when I doed a tab keystroke to move between dialog controls, Orca is total silent.


I sent Joanmarie Diggs Orca upstream developer a full debug file and a recordmydesktop video to she seeing visually what happens when I not see any Braille or speech output.

In september 27 we get following notification from Joanmarie the Orca list:

„Hey all.

Orca v47 includes a change to no longer listen for the "focus:" event.
The "focus:" event was deprecated like 13 or 14 years ago. When I made
this change during the development cycle, we discovered that there was a
GTK3 bug that needed to be fixed. That bug was fixed in May and is
included in the GTk 3.24.42 release. The current stable version of GTk 3
is 3.24.43. So distros should hopefully pick this version up.

But I am starting to suspect distros are not doing so.

CCing Samuel since I received a private bug report from a Debian user
whose debug.out suggests missing "object:state-changed:focused" events
and reports GTK version 3.24.38.

--joanie”

   * What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
     ineffective)?
In october 1 I have more time, and looked upstream GTK repository the 3.24.42 branch what commit fixed this wrote upstream bug (I already tested a patched Gtk+3.0 stable package version local my Bookworm system with good result):

„commit 5147e95d1d6a02212b1f51c2cc0a61653425850a
Author: Michael Weghorn <m.weghorn at posteo.de>
Date:   Wed May 8 11:32:27 2024 +0200

    a11y: Port from deprecated atk_focus_tracker_notify
    
    Port `gail_focus_notify` from using the deprecated
    `atk_focus_tracker_notify` to notify about the new
    focus object. Notify of a state of the focused state
    instead, as suggested in the
    `atk_focus_tracker_notify` doc [1].
    
    Using the deprecated function e.g. resulted in
    the Orca screen reader no longer announcing
    initial focus on editable comboboxes in
    LibreOffice Writer's toolbars after Orca dropped
    support for the deprecated "focus" AT-SPI event
    in this commit [2]:
    
        commit 9e2902dd46c7e583a097e235dfd7e3c50b016383
        Author: Joanmarie Diggs <jdiggs at igalia.com>
        Date:   Wed May 1 12:14:07 2024 +0200
    
            Remove the on_focus handler for the LibreOffice script
    
            The "focus:" event was deprecated many years ago. If the expected
            "object:state-changed:focused" event is absent, that bug should
            be fixed.
    
    This commit makes the announcement work again.
    
    It also fixes the scenario described in [3].
    
    [1] https://docs.gtk.org/atk/func.focus_tracker_notify.html
    [2] https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/orca/-/commit/9e2902dd46c7e583a097e235dfd7e3c50b016383
    [3] https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/issues/454#note_2099344
    
    Fixes: #454”


Because the latest stable version (3.24.43 version I think) not compiled me my Bookworm system, I download actual awailable source package version source code, import the proper attached patch with quilt import command, and recompile the package source code.

After all required new packages are installed, Orca preferences dialog in 47.0 version works perfect again for me, I again hear correct speech output with all controls related and see all braille output my braille display again the Orca preferences dialog when I doing TAB and SHIFT+TAB keyboard navigation.

I attaching the patch the next command after bug report is sent.

I already consulted Samuel Thibault and sent he the patch, but because he longer time is busy, directed me to the GTK+3.0 Debian PKG GNOME maintainers list.
Is it possible to publish this patch officially in the GTK+3.0 version in the stable branch, or is it better to distribute this patch in the stable-backports branch? Is the attached patch sufficient for this purpose, or do you need a debdiff patch?
Unfortunately, I don't have package upload privileges, so the only thing I could do to solve the error was to find out which commit solves  this error since Gtk+3.42 version.

Sorry the lot of quotes, and excuse me if some time not good my english, only my secondary language the english language.

Kind regards, and hopefully this attached patch helps future resolve this incompatibility issue the Orca 47.0 version and available stable Gtk.3.38 version in Bookworm, testing and sid branches are not affected,

Attila
   * What was the outcome of this action?
   When I using the patched version, I hear right in Orca 47.0 with all required GTK visually widgets related informations, and see all required important informations my Braille display.
   
   * What outcome did you expect instead?
If I using the original STABLE Gtk+3.0 package version with awailable in Bookworm and using from backports repository the Orca screen reader 47.0 version, entire Orca preferences dialog are unusable with speech and Braille support (both speech and Braille support important with visually impaired users).

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-- System Information:
Debian Release: 12.7
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-25-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=hu_HU.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=hu_HU.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) (ignored: LC_ALL set to hu_HU.UTF-8), LANGUAGE=hu_HU.UTF-8
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled