[split] GIMP crashes randomly

[rickk]

What I have found somewhat surprising, the thing that really helped my "path on large image" problem, more than anything else,  is to first make a selection large enough to contain the path to be plotted, copy that and paste as a new layer. Then plot the path on the layer rather than the base image, then once done, merge the layer back into the base image. It's remarkable how much system responsiveness and stability improve.   I'm speculating that working off the selection allows Gimp to do it's business without having to base everything off of pixel 1,1 of the large base image?

For example note in the following, I made a 3200 x 2000  floating layer (shaded red just for emphasis), and then plotted the path on that layer.   This same strategy also speeds up bucket fill operations on a large base image.