06-17-2024, 04:53 PM
This does seem to explain my experience and provide some valuable clarification about how plugins work.
I've NOT been aware of the idea that there is a version of the GMIC Plugin for GIMP (GPFG) in a standard installation of GIMP. I have searched my copied version of the standard "GIMP 2" directory and cannot find anything when searching for "gmic". I can go back and try that on a freshly installed version but that will take some time.
However, on my portable version of GIMP Version 3.10.36 I tried setting the GIMP2_PLUGINDIR environment variable and noticed something interesting. When I specify "GIMP2_PLUGINDIR = D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313" a folder named "D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313\plug-ins" now appears in "Preferences>Folders>Plugins" (i.e., GIMP appended "plugins" to the name I provided). My folder named "V313" contains Version 3.1.3 of GPFG with a single sub-folder named "gmic_gimp_qt". Furthermore, the value for the environment variable replaced the folder named "D:\MyWin\GIMP\Ver21036\GIMP 2\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins" which, I think based on this discussion, is the folder that contains the GIMP builtin plugins. I can confirm that there are NO entries in the list provided for choosing which format to use when exporting an image file. My take-away from this is that the environment variable named "GIMP2_PLUGINDIR" is only useful if you want to relocate the standard builtin plugins included in GIMP.
When I add the folder named "D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313" to Preferences>Folders>Plugins then the GMIC Version 3.1.3 of GPFG appears at the bottom of the Filters menu item. Note: The folder named V313 contains only a single sub-folder name "gmic_gimp_qt". There is no sub-folder named "plugins" to be found anywhere in the path to GPFG.
I also tested the idea of including a sub-folder named "plugins" in the path (i.e., "GIMP2_PLUGINDIR = D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313\plugins" to GPFP (i.e., relocate GPFG to "D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313\plugins\gmic_gimp_qt") but there was no GPFG to found in the Filters drop down menu. This leads me to believe that the environment variable named "GIMP2_PLUGINDIR" cannot be used to locate a plugin like GPFG.
I've NOT been aware of the idea that there is a version of the GMIC Plugin for GIMP (GPFG) in a standard installation of GIMP. I have searched my copied version of the standard "GIMP 2" directory and cannot find anything when searching for "gmic". I can go back and try that on a freshly installed version but that will take some time.
However, on my portable version of GIMP Version 3.10.36 I tried setting the GIMP2_PLUGINDIR environment variable and noticed something interesting. When I specify "GIMP2_PLUGINDIR = D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313" a folder named "D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313\plug-ins" now appears in "Preferences>Folders>Plugins" (i.e., GIMP appended "plugins" to the name I provided). My folder named "V313" contains Version 3.1.3 of GPFG with a single sub-folder named "gmic_gimp_qt". Furthermore, the value for the environment variable replaced the folder named "D:\MyWin\GIMP\Ver21036\GIMP 2\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins" which, I think based on this discussion, is the folder that contains the GIMP builtin plugins. I can confirm that there are NO entries in the list provided for choosing which format to use when exporting an image file. My take-away from this is that the environment variable named "GIMP2_PLUGINDIR" is only useful if you want to relocate the standard builtin plugins included in GIMP.
When I add the folder named "D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313" to Preferences>Folders>Plugins then the GMIC Version 3.1.3 of GPFG appears at the bottom of the Filters menu item. Note: The folder named V313 contains only a single sub-folder name "gmic_gimp_qt". There is no sub-folder named "plugins" to be found anywhere in the path to GPFG.
I also tested the idea of including a sub-folder named "plugins" in the path (i.e., "GIMP2_PLUGINDIR = D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313\plugins" to GPFP (i.e., relocate GPFG to "D:\MyWin\GIMP\GMICplugin\V313\plugins\gmic_gimp_qt") but there was no GPFG to found in the Filters drop down menu. This leads me to believe that the environment variable named "GIMP2_PLUGINDIR" cannot be used to locate a plugin like GPFG.