Coexisting GIMP 2.10 and 3.0 in flatpak

Software GIMP
1

Hi,

I have successfully made 2.10 and 3.0 coexist in flatpak using the following method in Kubuntu.

Assumptions:
You have already installed 2.10 with flatpack in system mode.

1) Install 3.0 in user mode

flatpak remote-add --user flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

flatpak --user install org.gimp.GIMP

2) Create desktop file for 2.10

Create GIMP-2.10.desktop in .local/share/applications.
The content of this desktop file is as follows.

ｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰ
[Desktop Entry]
Version=2.10.38
Type=Application
Categories=Graphics;
Name=GIMP-2.10
Comment=
Exec=flatpak --system run org.gimp.GIMP
Icon=org.gimp.GIMP
Path=/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.gimp.GIMP/
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false

ｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰ

20250319111813
202503191118131920×1200 122 KB

1 Like
2

After further investigation, it seems that to avoid an unintended update, it is preferable to install ver. 2.10 in user mode and ver. 3.0 in system mode. In this case, the following steps are required.

1. install ver. 2.10 in user mode

Add the flathub repository to user mode

$ flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Install GIMP

$ flatpak --user install org.gimp.GIMP

Downgrade GIMP

$ flatpak --user update --commit=dc9f60dce7f8ee883fc6a771fb4eb4678b732b1c6d9f0559998a226b114ad4f4 org.gimp.GIMP

Prevent 2.10 update

$ flatpak –-user mask org.gimp.GIMP

2. Update existing GIMP 2.10 to 3.0 in system mode

$ flatpak --system update org.gimp.GIMP

3. Create a desktop file for 3.0

In ~/.local/share/applications/ , create “GIMP3.desktop” with the following contents.

[Desktop Entry]
Version=3.0
Type=Application
Categories=Graphics;
Name=GIMP3
Comment=
Exec=flatpak --system run org.gimp.GIMP
Icon=org.gimp.GIMP
Path=/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.gimp.GIMP/
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false