Check GTK Version on Linux

GTK is a widely used toolkit for building graphical user interfaces on Linux systems. Many desktop environments and applications rely on it, including GNOME-based software. Determining the installed GTK version can help verify compatibility or confirm available features. This tutorial explains how to check GTK version on Linux.

For GTK 3, the gtk-launch command can display the installed version:

gtk-launch  --version

Output example:

3.24.33

Systems using GTK 4 can use the gtk4-launch command instead:

gtk4-launch  --version

Output example:

4.6.9

The commands have been tested on Ubuntu system. Some Linux distributions may not include the gtk-launch or gtk4-launch commands by default. In such cases, the related GTK packages or development tools may need to be installed before the commands become available.