Gimp 3
After more than 5 years, the latest version 3 of the open-source image-editing program GIMP was released in March. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this version because it works with Darktable again.
As usual, GIMP is available for various operating systems and can be downloaded here.
Collaboration with Darktable
Here's how the integration works:
As soon as a RAW file is opened in GIMP, Darktable launches, allowing you to apply development settings to the RAW file as usual.
After closing Darktable, the file—along with all development settings—is transferred back to GIMP, where you can then apply the final touches.
The following issues and solutions apply to GIMP and Darktable on Linux Mint 22.1.
AppImage and Flatpak
GIMP primarily relies on Flatpak, but also offers an AppImage. There is also an "unofficial" PPA; I've had excellent results with GIMP 2.10 from there.
Darktable primarily relies on an AppImage, but you can also easily install the latest version via a PPA using the OBS (Open Build Service).
In general, Flatpaks are a good thing because you don't have to worry about missing dependencies. Just install the Flatpak, and the program is ready to go.
The downside: Flatpaks run in a sandbox and therefore generally cannot see other programs.
This is exactly what becomes a problem when used with Darktable.
Problems
For Darktable, I initially used AppImage—more on that later.
Because of this, I couldn't get the GIMP Flatpak to work with Darktable—no matter how I configured it.
So, for now, I'm ruling out the Flatpak.
Now I tried the GIMP AppImage, but it can't find the Darktable AppImage either.
So I installed Darktable via PPA using the Open Build Service, and lo and behold:
GIMP can find Darktable, and everything seems to be working fine at first glance.
However, I opened the RAW file in GIMP using the “Recently Opened Files” dialog. The “File > Open” dialog in the AppImage gives me the unpleasant surprise that GIMP closes without any error message.
It seems that some other users are having this problem as well.
So I ended up installing GIMP via this PPA. As mentioned above, I had already used the Ubuntu Handbook PPA for version 2.10.
Solutions
To my surprise, the GIMP AppImage runs without crashing as soon as GIMP is installed via the PPA. Apparently, the AppImage expects certain files that aren't installed by default on Linux Mint—but are installed along with GIMP when it's installed via the PPA.
This assumption is supported by the fact that after uninstalling the PPA, the AppImage continues to run until “Autoremove” removes the files that are no longer in use.
You could now check which of the files listed by Autoremove is responsible for allowing files to be opened via the AppImage using the standard dialog.
However, I don’t have the time for that right now—I may provide that information later.
For now, I've decided on the following setup:
Darktable installed via the Open Build Service and GIMP via the PPA mentioned above.
Final Notes
You'll notice that GIMP 3 has significantly fewer plugins (whether Flatpak, AppImage, or PPA) than GIMP 2.10 did.
If you find yourself needing some of them repeatedly, the link below provides AppImages of the previous version, including plugins:
AppImages with Plugins
Personally, I've only used two plugins with GIMP.
There are (some unofficial) versions of both for version 3:
Resynthesizer
At the bottom of the forum page, you'll find the attached version for GIMP 3
GMic
The version for Debian Trixie available there (as of April 12, 2025) works flawlessly with GIMP 3 on my system.
The plugins go in the following directory:
/home/YourUsername/.config/GIMP/3.0/plug-ins/
Create subdirectories there with the same names as the plugins themselves.
The GMic plugin is named "gmic_gimp_qt"—so you must create a subdirectory named "gmic_gimp_qt" in the plug-ins directory mentioned above. Place the plugin file inside that subdirectory.
It doesn’t hurt to check the file properties afterward to make sure the plugin file is executable.
Have fun editing your photos :-)
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