Does GIMP 2.10 find third-party plugins installed for 2.8?
It seems like it does not in my case: Ubuntu 17.10, I installed GIMP 2.10 from the official flatpak install, and installed the distribution package gimp-plugin-registry.
I saw that the location of plugins has changed in 2.10 (to something like ~/.var/app…). I did not see that documented in the GIMP 2.10 release notes. Anyway, in GIMP 2.10, I changed Edit>Preferences>Folders>Plugins and added paths to the old locations (something like /usr/local/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins, which is unique to Ubuntu?) and restarted GIMP, but it still did not seem to find the plugins I expected (specifically, resynthesizer set of .py plugins.)
I also built resynthesizer from source and installed it. Still GIMP 2.10 failed to find it. I suspect the build scripts need to be updated to the new install locations for GIMP plugins. But shouldn’t my changes to the preferences mean 2.10 would find the plugins for earlier versions of GIMP? Maybe I made a silly mistake.
Also, anyone have notes on building plugins for 2.10 using the old automake scripts for the gimp plugin template, e.g. do I need a new libgimp2.0 as well as changing the scripts to define a new install location?
The flatpak install will never see the distribution installed gimp-plugin-registry. The flatpak is sandboxed. ~/.var/app is flatpak’s directory for settings, so it doesn’t interfere with system installed applications.
I’d recommend that you just add the 2.8 plugin path to the 2.10 flatpak. You can do that in the settings.
You can certainly add plugins to the flatpak - this using Kubuntu 16.04 and Gimp 2.10.2
Where to put them. Sorry to have to refer to screenshots and your installation might have installed differently but…
The flatpak profile /home/rich/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP/2.10/ was created (originally with gimp 2.10.0) but was empty, why I do not know.
The more regular profile /home/rich/.config/GIMP/2.10/plug-ins/ is there, but I can not remember if I had to add to the Edit → Preferences → Folders → Plug-ins section.
What I did add was a more convenient place for resources, scripts, brushes, plug-ins as shown.
Plugins:
Python plugins will work.
Compiled plugins are another matter. Resynthesizer will work without problems. Other compiled plugins might/will have dependencies which because of the flatpak ‘sandboxing’ need to be added.
So at the moment my plug-ins look like this, and all of them work. Some of them I do compile in a 'buntu 16.04 VM. Resynthesizer / nufraw / gmic-gtk for example but many of the old Gimp 2.8 plugins work.
I tried again to use Edit>Preferences>…>Folders to point to the location of existing plugin-ins (/usr/local/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins on Ubuntu). Restarted GIMP 2.10 failed to show the plugin in the Filters menu. Yet when I copied a .py from that directory to the sandbox location, the plugin appeared in GIMP.
Maybe it has something to do with the sandbox, because what I briefly read about Flatpak, the app must ask permission to access files out of the sandbox, and maybe GIMP is failing to ask permission, a bug in GIMP? I still don’t understand it. A learning curve with flatpak that I must get past.
FYI to start GIMP in a terminal (to see whether it prints errors about plug-ins) the command is: flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP . More traditional ways to find and run the GIMP executable didn’t work for me.
I suppose if GIMP is going to flatpak, then third-party plugins themselves should be packaged as flatpaks?
IMHO your ‘third party’ plugins should be nowhere near /usr/local/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins
The correct place is ~/.config/GIMP/2.10/plug-ins or some other folder you designate.
Starting the flatpak from a terminal is ok for a checking missing dependencies but…
The syntax for starting gimp is a bit strange. I do know a Mint user where the correct launcher was added straight into the menu system.
I made one myself, this is the command, straight from the gimp.desktop file included in the flatpak
/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=gimp-2.10 --file-forwarding org.gimp.GIMP @@u %U @@
Nothing complicated apart from that line, this is my kubuntu menu manager. (sorry another screenshot)
I quite like the flatpak, it is quick to open and stable. Only wish the org.gnome.Platform package was a bit more comprehensive.
AFAIK, /usr/local/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins is unique to a plugin built and installed using automake tools on an Ubuntu platform. Yes, it is non ordinary, but Ubuntu sometimes does things a little out of the ordinary. And maybe that will change after Ubuntu starts distributing 2.10.
AFAIK, before 2.10, the usual place to install third-party plugins was ~/.gimp2.x/plug-ins, not ~/.config/… Because I think that path was one of the default plugin paths in GIMP. Do you know when that changed?
I don’t understand why any of the older “usual” paths for third-party plug-ins is not one of the default plugin paths in GIMP (in Edit>Preferences>Folders>Plugins). When I installed GIMP 2.10 one of the paths is to the sandbox (/home/foo/.var/…) and the other was to /app/lib/gimp/2.0/plugins. I don’t understand the latter. There is no /app directory on my machine. Maybe that is the intended location of third party plugins, and that anyone that uses flatpak will have that directory and that Ubuntu will start supporting flatpak by creating that directory. That path name “…/gimp/2.0/…” makes more sense than the old path …/gimp2.x/…" since most plugins are mostly dependent only on libgimp2.0 and not any specific features of any GIMP version e.g. 2.7 vs. 2.8. But I haven’t yet found any official documentation about this change in GIMP.
It doesn’t matter what the exact location is, if a user adds a path to the preference, GIMP should look there.
Isn’t Ubuntu already distributing 2.10? I run Kubuntu 17.10. I struggled forever trying to figure out how to compile more recent versions of the Gimp. One day, 2.10 magically appeared after a sudo apt update && upgrade command. I’m now running 2.10.2 which I got the same way.
I am pretty sure that I never added any private PPAs.
I think that is true if typ. using make && install but do you really want your ‘bespoke’ plugin in with all the rest of the default gimp plugins. Although it is a matter of choice.
That changed with the dev Gimp 2.9.x so it has been around a while. Feel sorry for Windows users who have to cope with C:\Users.…id…\Appdata\Roaming\GIMP\2.10
That is very true and I do not understand why it does not work for you.
FWIW where the gimp flatpak files are.
/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.gimp.GIMP/x86_64/stable/24…some-long-string-1108/
and the library files
/var/lib/flatpak/runtime/org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/3.28
It is worth looking in the folder that gets installed in home
~/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/
fontconfig / thumbnails / even gmic settings.
but for the gimp config files and users resource folders back to ~/.config/GIMP/2.10
I am still on (k)ubuntu 16.04 on the basis that I do not want to reinstall every 9 months or so.
Using 'buntu 17.10 / 18.04 then the place for Gimp 2.10 is the ppa
Your resynthesizer compiled without problem. (edit: that is a bit ambiguous - in a 'buntu 16.04 VM with Gimp 2.9.9)
Yes, you’re right, 3rd party, bespoke plugins should probably not install with official plugins. For one thing, it requires sudo (on the other hand, is it safe to not require sudo?)
Also yes, the resynthesizer documentation describes an obsolete location for bespoke plugins, as you say, it changed circa 2.9 to ~/.config/…
Germane discussion at //github.com/flatpak/flatpak/issues/328 . One thing it says is that GIMP installation migrates bespoke plugins say from ~/.gimp2.8/plug-ins to ~/.config/GIMP/2.10. I suppose my installation of 2.10 did not find the existing resynthesizer precisely because resynthesizer was in a strange location. Another reason to install bespoke plugins in ~/.config/…
I still don’t understand why Preferences>Folders>Plugins does not list ~/.config/GIMP/2.10/plug-ins
I think the fix for resynthesizer build scripts will be to make the plugin installation directory a command line option, with a default different from what is now is.
Not sure if this is the right place to post this as you are talking about Flatpaks etc. Please let me know if I should post it elsewhere.
My question is about 3rd party plugins in GIMP 2.10.28
i have installed Redfield Plugins using pspi.exe and they do show up as a separate Redfield section in the GIMP Filters menu.
However, I think PSPI is a 32 bit thing and not so compatible with my 64 bit GIMP and 64 bit plugins.
Is there a replacement for PSPI?
My plugins work, but every time I start GIMP PSPI has an error message that says “Redfield\Fractalius2(X64).8bf: %1 is not a valid Win32 application”.
I’m using Windows 10 64 bit and the Redfield Plugins have both 32 and 64 bit options. Should I uninstall them and reinstall them using the 32 bit option?
While the Windows Gimp 2.10 supports both 64 and 32 bit plugins and PSPI.exe is 32 bit , PSPI only recognises 32 bit .8bf plugins (and not all of those)
Using the 32 fractillius.8bf should work. My advice is make a dedicated folder for .8bf PS plugins and put them there. PSPI goes in the regular Gimp user profile plug-ins folder C:\Users"yourname"\AppData\Roaming\GIMP\2.10\plug-ins.
Looks like this. (It is an older fractillius.8bf from about 2007)
Hi Rich2005,
Thank you for such clear and understandable instructions. I appreciated the layman’s terms.
I have a dedicated fold for my .8bf plugins. I had the PSPI in that folder too but have copied it to the location you advised and it still works.
I had both the 32 and 64 bit Fractalius versions in my dedicated plugins folder. So I removed the 64 bit versions and the error message doesn’t appear any more and the plugins work just fine.
Oh, I use G’MIC all the time. I love it! I just learned recently that the Rodillius Filter is similar to the Fractalius Filter and it was already in my Favourites List.
I’ve been using Redfield Filters since about 2008, way before I knew about GIMP. I used them with PhotoFiltre. Now I use GIMP and G’MIC as my main editors. My favourite is Dream Smoothing.
Again thank you for your instructions. They were easy to follow.
This image is made using both G’MIC and Redfield Filters.
Hi Tobias,
Thank you for the reference to G’MIC’s Rodlilius filter.
I had just recently learned it is similar to the Fractalius Filters.
I’ve been using the Redfield Filters since I began creating digital art, so they are old friends, whereas GIMP and I have only been friends for about 10 years and I am still learning all of it’s in’s and out’s.
Have a good day.
Angel
Hi Rich2005,
I wonder if you could help me out again? I had such fun playing with my Redfield plugins after you helped me set them up.
Due to tens’ of crashes daily HP rebuilt my Windows 10 laptop and now I can’t get my Redfield plugins to work again.
I still have PSPI in the Gimp plugins folder. And I have pointed it in Gimp to my dedicated 8bf’s plugins (which is in my Dropbox folder as before).
I get messages like this
pspi: LoadLibrary() failed for C:\Users\HP\Dropbox\ART Program Tools\Plugins- Plugins - DO NOT MOVE\Redfield\Fractalius2(X32).8bf: The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.
