Chapitre 2. Starting GIMP

Table des matières

1. Lancer GIMP
1.1. Changing the Language
1.2. Les arguments de la ligne de commande
1.3. Configuration Folders
1.4. Tips and Tricks

1. Lancer GIMP

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.

1.1. Changing the Language

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: EditPreferences, 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:

Sous Linux

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.

Under Windows

Control PanelSystemAdvancedEnvironment button in « System Variables » area: Add button: Enter LANG for Name and fr, de, etc. for Value. Watch out! You have to click OK 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.

Under Apple macOS

From System Settings, click General in the sidebar. Then select Language & Region. The desired language should be the first in the list.

Another GIMP Instance

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.

1.2. Les arguments de la ligne de commande

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.

-?, ,-h, --help

Display a list of all command line options.

--help-all

Afficher toutes les options d’aide

--help-gegl

Show all GEGL options.

--help-gtk

Afficher les options GTK+

-v, --version

Affiche la version de GIMP utilisée et quitte.

--license

Afficher les informations sur la licence et sortir

--verbose

Affiche les messages de démarrage détaillés.

-n, --new-instance

Démarrer une nouvelle instance GIMP

-a, --as-new

Ouvrir les images en tant que nouvelles

-i, --no-interface

Lancer sans interface utilisateur

-d, --no-data

Ne charge ni motifs, ni dégradés, ni palettes, ni brosses. Souvent utile dans les situations non interactives quand le temps de démarrage doit être optimisé.

-f, --no-fonts

Ne charge aucune police de caractères. Cette option peut être utile pour accélérer le démarrage de GIMP, pour les scripts qui n’utilisent pas de police, ou pour résoudre les problèmes de police malformée qui peuvent bloquer GIMP.

-s, --no-splash

N’affiche pas l’écran de démarrage.

--no-shm

Do not use shared memory between GIMP and plug-ins.

--no-cpu-accel

Ne pas utiliser les fonctions spéciales d’accélération du microprocesseur. Utile pour détecter et désactiver les fonctions ou matériels accélérés bogués.

--session = name

Use a different sessionrc file for this GIMP session. The given session name is appended to the default sessionrc filename.

-g, --gimprc=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.

--system-gimprc = filename

Use an alternate system gimprc file.

-b, --batch = 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.

--batch-interpreter = proc

Procédure à utiliser pour élaborer les commandes batch. La procédure par défaut est Scrip-Fu.

--quit

Quit immediately after performing requested actions

-c, --console-messages

Do not display dialog boxes on errors or warnings. Print the messages on the console instead.

--pdb-compat-mode = mode

Mode de compatibilité PDB (off|on|warn).

--stack-trace-mode = mode

Déboguer en cas de plantage (never|query|always)

--debug-handlers

Active les routines de débogage des signaux non fatals. Utile pour le débogage.

--g-fatal-warnings

Make all warnings fatal. Useful for debugging.

--dump-gimprc

Génère un fichier gimprc avec les valeurs par défaut. Utile si vous avez détérioré le fichier gimprc.

--show-playground

Show a preferences page with experimental features.

--display = display

Utilise l’affichage spécifié du serveur X (ne fonctionne évidemment pas sous Windows)

1.3. Configuration Folders

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:

Sous Linux

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME (defaulting to $HOME/.config);

Under Windows

%APPDATA% (usually c:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\GIMP\3.0\);

Under Apple macOS

NSApplicationSupportDirectory (usually ~/Library/Application Support).

1.4. Tips and Tricks

Just a couple of suggestions before you start:

  • GIMP can provide tips you can read at any time using the menu command HelpTip of the Day. 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.