Where are preferences being stored?

[ajax]

This question pertains to Windows installations in general.  I'm having a problem when running different versions of GIMP on the same Windows computer.  It appears to me that the same Preferences are being used no matter what version of GIMP I might choose to run.  This is causing a problem when I might want to have different preferences apply to different versions of GIMP.  For example, when using plugins it is desired to associate the plugin version being used with the version of GIMP being used but that does NOT seem to happen.

On Windows one might expect that storing Preferences in the registry rather GIMP specific files would have this affect.  However, I haven't been able to find anything in the registry that looks like GIMP preferences.  Same applies to standard file locations such as those located within the AppData folder.

[rich2005]

Quote:....On Windows one might expect that storing Preferences in the registry

Until recently, Gimp put very little in the Windows Registry, uninstall information, then the devs added a load of file type associations for some reason. Remember that Gimp comes from linux where settings are typically kept in text files. All those xxxxxrc files.

How many different versions of Windows Gimp are you running ?
If only two you might consider running a portable Gimp alongside a regular installation, however

If you look in C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\etc\gimp\2.0\gimprc that is where the global setting are held. see https://www.gimp.org/man/gimprc.html You can change the gimprc location using a command line switch.

Ofnuts has already given an answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7215...evelopment

Command Line switches & Environmental Variables see: https://www.gimp.org/man/gimp.html (I wonder when the devs will change 2.6 to 2.10 ? Maybe just waiting for Gimp 3 )

[ajax]

With respect to the question about how many instances of GIMP I'm running, the answer is I try to stay up-to-date and mostly use the latest version.  There are 2 primary reasons for preferring my portable installation method.  One is you can install it once then take it to other computers.  I have several but I could also take it to other peoples computers which would be a rare occurrence.  Second, it is quite normal for new versions to exhibit new problems NOT previously experienced.  It is very desirable to only have to close the one causing problems and start a prior version that works correctly.  I started doing this more than 10 years ago and have just about every version of GIMP starting with 2.8 available.  Should disk space become a problem I'd probably be happy to delete all but the last 3 or 4.

I've done some more review, including the referenced links, and I think there might be a simple answer to my question.  It looks to me like there is a file named "gimprc".  Apparently there are 2 instances of this file.  One is located in the main folder where the GIMP package is installed called "GIMP 2/etc/gimp/2.0" which is considered a system wide version.  Then there is another one intended for each individual user.  It is NOT clear to me how this one is normally created.  On the computer where GIMP was installed there is one in "C:/Users/AppData/Roaming/GIMP/2.10" but NOT for every user.  My guess is that it may have been created by the Installer (i.e., for the user who performed the installation).  There is No such file on either other computers (i.e., other than the computer used to install GIMP) or for other users (i.e., other than the user who installed GIMP on the computer where GIMP was installed).

As it turns out, I have been setting the environment variable called "GIMP2_Directory" in the scripts I use for starting GIMP which I think overrides or replaces the version of the file named "gimprc" which pertains to individual users.  I have been sharing this file between different versions of GIMP which, I think, would explain how "Preferences" are being shared between my different instances of GIMP.  Not having to reset preferences when installing a new version of GIMP is something that I find desirable and, at least up to now, has worked well.  Insofar as I'm only guessing that it might contribute to this problem that I'm experiencing with the GMIC Plugin I won't be making a change without knowing it is causing a problem.

[Ofnuts]

Your preferences are stored in your "Gimp profile". As far as I know the actual directory depends on the Gimp version (2.8, 2.10...), so if you run different versions you should be fine. But of course by default the various patch levels (2.10.24, 2.10.32...) all run with the same profile.

You can however make Gimp use a specific directory for the profile by setting the environment variable GIMP2_DIRECTORY before starting Gimp. In some OS/desktop environments it can be done directly in the shortcut/launcher definition, in others it requires to write a short script to set the environment variable before starting the executable.