Re: wish: application-specific initialization failed: unknown color name BACKGROUND
Reply #7 –
I don't think this is specific to MATE, but without further investigation we can't be sure. OP's problem definitely is not tied to not setting things correctly in /etc/X11/Xresources, because I have a working wish from the package world/tk 8.6.11.1-1, and I don't have that file. I do have my personal ~/.Xresources, but I still don't think it might be relevant. Here it is:
Sxiv.foreground: rgb:77/aa/77
Sxiv.background: rgb:00/00/00
Sxiv.font: xos4 Terminus:style=Bold:size=10
Xcursor.theme: Breeze-Adapta-Cursor
About MATE, from what I could find about its history it was created in response to the negative reception of GNOME 3 UI, so it is "reactionary" by its very nature. By the way, its Wikipedia page states that it supports GTK 3?
Anyway, many users put the blame on s6, OpenRC or runit, or a specific DE, when more often than not the issue is either due to misconfiguration or package-specific.