Anybody Know...

[lennyd]

is there any plans for Gimp to set up a plugin set up to make it easier to download plugins that we might want to make it simple for us idiots. Apologise if this has been brought up in the past.

[Ofnuts]

(02-07-2022, 08:38 PM)lennyd Wrote: is there any plans for Gimp to set up a plugin set up to make it easier to download plugins that we might want to make it simple for us idiots. Apologise if this has been brought up in the past.

Yes, there is such a plan (well at least the idea has been floated among Gimp developers). However this opens a nice can of worms.

• Who pays for the infrastructure (because this requires a server, storage, and network)
  
• Who decides what is published there, on what criteria?
  
• Who is responsible if some plugin contains malware? Or who curates the plugins, considering that it requires a decent knowledge of three platforms (Win/OSX/Unix), and several programming languages?
  
• What guarantee is there that the plugins are adequately maintained (bugs, incompatibilities with newer Gimp versions)
  

So hell could become lukewarm before you see something.

[denzjos]

When I first installed Gimp I doesn't like the complicated way to handle plugins and scripts. But since I've been using this software for some while, I find it's an advantage to have full control over the place where the plugins and scripts are on my computer : 'organized' is the word. I also know over the years that I've been using software that freeware encourages the development of individual mind twists. As I've seen using PS and other software, most freeware disappeared, including the 'mind twisted ones' as a result of commercialization. Also with the automatically installed software, one loses overview where everything is and what other rubbish is installed on your computer. And there's the question of who will pay the bill ? I thank the programmers for their efforts and hope gimp and the extensions remains open source programs with free access. And no matter how weird or simple some extensions are, there is always someone who is lucky with them. So, totally agree with ofnuts.

[rich2005]

Ofnuts very valid point What guarantee is there that the plugins are adequately maintained

Times change, people move on / lose interest / abandon / just vanish and their project either stalls or disappears. Might be a single script or a whole website.

There have been bundles of scripts / plugins in the past that come with a menu for install/uninstall. Never seem to have that one plugin you want. example: https://code.google.com/archive/p/gimp-extensions/ (do not use / last updated 2015 / for Gimp 2.8)

Possibly the closest at the moment is the linux flatpak with a very limited range of plugins specifically for that format. FFT - FocusBlur - Resynthesizer - Lensfun - Gmic - BIMP - LiquidRescale . One procedure to download and install any of those.

[lennyd]

(02-07-2022, 09:25 PM)Ofnuts Wrote:

(02-07-2022, 08:38 PM)lennyd Wrote: is there any plans for Gimp to set up a plugin set up to make it easier to download plugins that we might want to make it simple for us idiots. Apologise if this has been brought up in the past.

Yes, there is such a plan (well at least the idea has been floated among Gimp developers). However this opens a nice can of worms.

• Who pays for the infrastructure (because this requires a server, storage, and network)
  
• Who decides what is published there, on what criteria?
  
• Who is responsible if some plugin contains malware? Or who curates the plugins, considering that it requires a decent knowledge of three platforms (Win/OSX/Unix), and several programming languages?
  
• What guarantee is there that the plugins are adequately maintained (bugs, incompatibilities with newer Gimp versions)
  

So hell could become lukewarm before you see something.

Thank you ofnut, look forward to all that in action...lol