Gimp - 2.4 Guía Del Usuario
GNU Image Manipulation Program
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Caution
Plugins have been a feature of GIMP for many versions. However, plugins written for one version of GIMP can hardly
ever be used successfully with other versions. They need to be ported: sometimes this is easy, sometimes not. Many
plugins are already available in several versions. Bottom line: before trying to install a plugin, make sure that it is written
for your version of GIMP.
Plugins have been a feature of GIMP for many versions. However, plugins written for one version of GIMP can hardly
ever be used successfully with other versions. They need to be ported: sometimes this is easy, sometimes not. Many
plugins are already available in several versions. Bottom line: before trying to install a plugin, make sure that it is written
for your version of GIMP.
11.1.2
Using Plugins
For the most part you can use a plugin like any other GIMP tool, without needing to be aware that it is a plugin. But there are a
few things about plugins that are useful to understand.
few things about plugins that are useful to understand.
One is that plugins are generally not as robust as the GIMP core. When GIMP crashes, it is considered a very serious thing: it
can cost the user a lot of trouble and headache. When a plugin crashes, the consequences are usually not so serious. In most
cases you can just continuing working without worrying about it.
can cost the user a lot of trouble and headache. When a plugin crashes, the consequences are usually not so serious. In most
cases you can just continuing working without worrying about it.
Note
Because plugins are separate programs, they communicate with the GIMP core in a special way: The GIMP developers
call it ‘talking over a wire’. When a plugin crashes, the communication breaks down, and you will see an error message
about a ‘wire read error’.
Because plugins are separate programs, they communicate with the GIMP core in a special way: The GIMP developers
call it ‘talking over a wire’. When a plugin crashes, the communication breaks down, and you will see an error message
about a ‘wire read error’.
Tip
When a plugin crashes, GIMP gives you a very ominous-looking message telling you that the plugin may have left GIMP
in a corrupted state, and you should consider saving your images and exiting. Strictly speaking, this is quite correct,
because plugins have the power to alter almost anything in GIMP, but for practical purposes, experience has shown
that corruption is actually quite rare, and many users just continue working and don’t worry about it. Our advice is that
you simply think about how much trouble it would cause you if something went wrong, and weigh it against the odds.
When a plugin crashes, GIMP gives you a very ominous-looking message telling you that the plugin may have left GIMP
in a corrupted state, and you should consider saving your images and exiting. Strictly speaking, this is quite correct,
because plugins have the power to alter almost anything in GIMP, but for practical purposes, experience has shown
that corruption is actually quite rare, and many users just continue working and don’t worry about it. Our advice is that
you simply think about how much trouble it would cause you if something went wrong, and weigh it against the odds.
Because of the way plugins communicate with GIMP, they do not have any mechanism for being informed about changes you
make to an image after the plugin has been started. If you start a plugin, and then alter the image using some other tool, the
plugin will often crash, and when it doesn’t will usually give a bogus result. You should avoid running more than one plugin at
a time on an image, and avoid doing anything to the image until the plugin has finished working on it. If you ignore this advice,
not only will you probably screw up the image, you will probably screw up the undo system as well, so that you won’t even be
able to recover from your foolishness.
make to an image after the plugin has been started. If you start a plugin, and then alter the image using some other tool, the
plugin will often crash, and when it doesn’t will usually give a bogus result. You should avoid running more than one plugin at
a time on an image, and avoid doing anything to the image until the plugin has finished working on it. If you ignore this advice,
not only will you probably screw up the image, you will probably screw up the undo system as well, so that you won’t even be
able to recover from your foolishness.
11.1.3
Installing New Plugins
The plugins that are distributed with GIMP don’t require any special installation. Plugins that you download yourself do. There
are several scenarios, depending on what OS you are using and how the plugin is structured. In Linux it is usually pretty easy to
install a new plugin; in Windows, it is either easy or very hard. In any case, the two are best considered separately.
are several scenarios, depending on what OS you are using and how the plugin is structured. In Linux it is usually pretty easy to
install a new plugin; in Windows, it is either easy or very hard. In any case, the two are best considered separately.
11.1.3.1
Linux
Most plugins fall into two categories: small ones whose source code is distributed as a single .c file, and larger ones whose source
code is distributed as a directory containing multiple files including a Makefile.
code is distributed as a directory containing multiple files including a Makefile.
For a simple one-file plugin, call it borker.c, installing it is just a matter of running the command gimptool-2.0 --install
borker.c. This command compiles the plugin and installs it in your personal plugin directory, ~/gimp-2.2/plugins unless
you have changed it. This will cause it to be loaded automatically the next time you start GIMP. You don’t need to be root to do
these things; in fact, you shouldn’t be. If the plugin fails to compile, well, be creative.
borker.c. This command compiles the plugin and installs it in your personal plugin directory, ~/gimp-2.2/plugins unless
you have changed it. This will cause it to be loaded automatically the next time you start GIMP. You don’t need to be root to do
these things; in fact, you shouldn’t be. If the plugin fails to compile, well, be creative.
Once you have installed the plugin, how do you activate it? The menu path is determined by the plugin itself, so to answer
this you need to either look at the documentation for the plugin (if there is any), or launch the Plugin Description dialog (from
this you need to either look at the documentation for the plugin (if there is any), or launch the Plugin Description dialog (from