Preferences/Folders shows incorrect locations on Linux Mint 22.1

[programmer_ceds]

Using GIMP V3.0.2 flatpak on Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon I have 'incorrect' locations shown for the user scripts and plug-ins folders.

The user scripts folder is shown as:

  /home/richard/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP/3.0/scripts

and on clicking on "Open a file selector to browse your files" shows that the expected scripts are there even though they
are actually in:

/home/richard/.config/GIMP/3.0/scripts

(If I add the actual folder and delete the .var one GIMP seems happy but when restarted it has reverted to the folder in .var not .config)

The plug-ins folder is similar.

This isn't a problem to me as I know where my scripts are but as the GIMP documentation says to look as Edit/Preferences/Folders/scripts to find out where to put user scripts it would confuse the average/new user.

When I run GIMP it does create the folder /home/richard/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP but it is empty.

Am I missing the obvious? Can somebody else using Linux see what folder is shown on their system please?

[Ofnuts]

flatpak and snap applications live in virtual file systems. They will often map existing file system locations in strange ways, when they don't replace them by their own. The application itself has little influence on this, since it is defined at packaging time.

[rich2005]

(Yesterday, 09:38 PM)programmer_ceds Wrote: When I run GIMP it does create the folder /home/richard/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP but it is empty.

Am I missing the obvious? Can somebody else using Linux see what folder is shown on their system please?

Used to be, and it might still be the case.

Install a new Gimp, say Gimp 3 when an existing Gimp 2.10 is already installed and Gimp tries to migrate some settings to the Gimp 3.0 user profile.  This has the effect of making a flatpak install a User profile folder ~/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP that is empty.

You could try: rename the existing Gimp user profiles ~/.config/GIMP/ to ~/.config/GIMP/backup Then delete the flatpak User profile ~/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP

Start the flatpak Gimp 3.0 and (hopefully) it creates a new default User profile populated with all the required files and folders.  Then you can undo  ~/.config/GIMP/backup 

I have not done this recently, but the most you can lose is a bit of your time.
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Edit: Do not bother, just tried with a Mint 21 (VM) with an existing Gimp 2.10 and now a Gimp 3.0.2 flatpak. Stubbornly refuses to populate the .var folder but does create a full ~/.config/GIMP/3.0 folder as you found.

A bit strange, going through Edit -> Preferences -> Folders only the .var paths show and you can get to a non-existent folder from there.

You could copy the whole of ~/.config/GIMP replacing the empty ~/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP
Looks like a bug with the whole flatpak .var philosophy
A practical alternative, make your own easy to find Gimp3 folder for resources and add the path(s) in Edit -> Preferences -> Folders as required. or go through the whole of the entries fixing the paths.

[MrsP-from-C]

There was a discussion about the folders to be used here:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/issues/5331

[programmer_ceds]

(11 hours ago)rich2005 Wrote: You could copy the whole of ~/.config/GIMP  replacing the empty ~/.var/app/org.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP
Looks like a bug with the whole flatpak .var philosophy
A practical alternative, make your own easy to find Gimp3 folder for resources and add the path(s) in Edit -> Preferences -> Folders as required. or go through the whole of the entries fixing the paths.

I'm not bothered for myself, I know to put the scripts/plug-ins in the ~/.config folders, it just strikes me as wrong that the folder shown in the Preferences dialog isn't the one it uses - in fact if I put a script into the ~/.var sub-folder it isn't detected by GIMP. This isn't very helpful to newer users. I will read the issue linked in post #4 and then perhaps raise another issue. If GIMP is going to use the .config folders then it ought to show that this is what it is doing - which average user really cares where the scripts are provided that GIMP tells them where to find them?

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(10 hours ago)MrsP-from-C Wrote: There was a discussion about the folders to be used here:
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/issues/5331

Thank you - I did check the GIMP gitlab issues (open and closed) but obviously didn't use the correct search words :-)

I will read what was said in the above issue and then decide whether to create another issue - to the effect that wherever the scripts are GIMP should tell the user!