| Chapter 2. Starting GIMP | ||
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Part I. Getting Started |  |
| Chapter 2. Starting GIMP | ||
|---|---|---|
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|
Part I. Getting Started | |
Table of Contents
Usually you start GIMP either by clicking GIMP's icon on your desktop (if available), selecting it from a menu, or by typing gimp on a command line. If you have multiple versions of GIMP installed, you may need to add the exact version number: gimp-3.0.
You can, if you want, provide a list of image file names on the command line after the program name so that GIMP automatically opens those files after it starts. It is also possible to open files from within GIMP once it is running using the Open Image Dialog.
Most operating systems support file associations, which associates a class of files (as determined by their filename extension, such as .jpg) with a corresponding application (such as GIMP). When image files are properly “associated” with GIMP, you can double click an image in your file browser to open it in GIMP.
If you installed the Flatpak version of GIMP from flathub.org, you start GIMP either by clicking an icon, or by typing flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP//stable on a command line.
GIMP automatically detects and uses the system language. In the unlikely event that language detection fails, or if you want to use a different language, the easiest way is to change the language used in the Interface Preferences: → , then go to the Interface section; Language can be set at the top.
If you prefer to change language by setting environment variables, you can use:
In LINUX: in console mode,
type LANGUAGE=en gimp or
LANG=en gimp
replacing en with fr, de, etc. according to the language you
want. Background: Using LANGUAGE=en
sets an environment variable for the executed
program gimp.
→ → → button in “System Variables” area: button: Enter LANG for Name and fr, de, etc. for Value. Watch out! You have to click three successive times to validate your choice.
If you change languages often, you can create a batch file to change the language. Open NotePad. Type the following commands (for French for instance):
set lang=fr
start gimp-3.0.exe
Save this file as GIMP-FR.BAT (or another
name, but always with a
.BAT extension). Create
a shortcut and drag it to your desktop.
From System Settings, click General in the sidebar. Then select Language & Region. The desired language should be the first in the list.
You can use command line parameter -n to run
multiple instances of GIMP. For example,
gimp-3.0 starts GIMP in the
default system language, and
LANGUAGE=en gimp-3.0 -n starts
another instance of GIMP in English. This can be
very useful for translators.
Although command line arguments are not required when starting
GIMP, they can be useful in certain situations.
On a Unix system, you can use
man gimp for a complete list.
These arguments must be added to the command line that you use to start GIMP as gimp-3.0 [OPTION...] [FILE|URI...], where “OPTION...” can be one or more of the arguments listed below, followed by one or more file names.
Display a list of all command line options.
Show all help options.
Show all GEGL options.
Show GTK+ Options.
Print the GIMP version and exit.
Show license information and exit.
Show detailed start-up messages.
Start a new GIMP instance.
Open images as new.
Run without a user interface.
Do not load patterns, gradients, palettes, or brushes. Often useful in non-interactive situations where start-up time is to be minimized.
Do not load any fonts. This is useful to load GIMP faster for scripts that do not use fonts, or to find problems related to malformed fonts that hang GIMP.
Do not show the splash screen while starting.
Do not use shared memory between GIMP and plug-ins.
Do not use special CPU acceleration functions. Useful for finding or disabling buggy accelerated hardware or functions.
name
Use a different sessionrc file for this
GIMP session.
The given session name is appended to the default
sessionrc filename.
filename
Use an alternative gimprc file instead of the
default one. The gimprc file contains a
record of your preferences. Useful in cases where plug-in paths
or machine specs may be different.
filename
Use an alternate system gimprc file.
commands
Execute the set of commands non-interactively. The set of commands
is typically in the form of a script that can be executed by one
of the GIMP scripting interpreters.
When the command is -, commands
are read from standard input.
proc
Specify the procedure to use to process batch commands. The default procedure is Script-Fu.
Quit immediately after performing requested actions
Do not display dialog boxes on errors or warnings. Print the messages on the console instead.
mode
PDB compatibility mode (off|on|warn).
mode
Debug in case of a crash (never|query|always).
Enable non-fatal debugging signal handlers. Useful for GIMP debugging.
Make all warnings fatal. Useful for debugging.
Output a gimprc file with default settings. Useful if you messed up the gimprc file.
Show a preferences page with experimental features.
display
Use the designated X display (does not apply to all platforms).
When first run, GIMP performs a series of steps to
configure options and directories. The configuration process creates a
user-writable configuration directory named
GIMP, with a per-version
subdirectory, i.e.
GIMP/3.0.
All of the configuration information is stored in this directory. If you
remove or rename the directory, GIMP repeats the
initial configuration process, creating a new
GIMP/3.0 directory.
You can use this capability to explore different configuration
options without deleting your existing installation, or to recover if
your configuration files are damaged.
Where your configuration folder will be stored, depends on your Operating System:
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME (defaulting to
$HOME/.config);
%APPDATA% (usually
c:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\GIMP\3.0\);
NSApplicationSupportDirectory (usually
~/Library/Application Support).
Just a couple of suggestions before you start:
GIMP can provide tips you can read at any time using the menu command → . The tips provide information that is considered useful, but not easy to learn by experimenting; so they are worth reading. Please consider reading the tips when you have the time.
If at some point you are trying to do something, and GIMP seems to have suddenly stopped functioning, the Getting Unstuck section may be able to help you out.
Don't forget to check out the Preferences Dialog. GIMP is very customizable. There are a lot of settings that you can adjust to your personal preferences.
