Man they're ahead of schedule, GTK3 isn't even obsolete yet
this post was submitted on 06 May 2024
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They're not yet switching to GTK3. They're backporting GTK3 features to GTK2.
year of the Linux desktop before gimp 3
I don't want to sound ungrateful to their earnest effort, but at this point, GIMP3 is like the running joke of the open source world.
Not sure why the downvotes. The good news is that we should be very close to the end of that with GIMP 3 out very soon.
Earlier in the year they announced that it was expected in July or so. I hold out hope that they at least get it out this year. Once it is out, all will be forgieven. Let’s hope that we do not see as long of a delay next time.
I've read the exact same comment a year ago, and the year before, and probably the year before that tbh.
So I'll say what I always say; I'll believe it when I see it.
https://www.gimp.org/news/2024/05/05/gimp-2-10-38-released/
This (possibly last) GIMP 2 stable release brings much-requested backports from GTK3, including improved support for tablets on Windows. A number of bug fixes and minor improvements are also included in this release.
If the release says that this is possibly the last GIMP2 stable release, it feels like GIMP3 is actually on its way. I understand your cynicism, but I'd be more optimistic this time around.
They've been mentioning GTK 3 since like the last decade tho...
I didn't downvote but for a lot of the time the core devs were mostly 1-2 ppl working some evenings because they have dayjobs/lives. They released many updates to 2.10, and they're often feature releases not just bugfix releases. At the same time they almost completely rewrote the backend to use a new graphics library GEGL, which they also wrote from scratch. As for GIMP 3 they have also redone a lot under the hood to allow for easier development of new features moving forward and custom old GTK widgets updating to GTK3 required rearchitecturing as they work fundamentally differently from modern GTK3/4 versions.
So that's why I don't joke, there's also nothing to forgive. Let's hope that GIMP 3 will get more interest from devs with its more modern and capable architecture.
~~The "running joke" used by millions for serious and playful projects? [edited for punctuation]~~
I was talking specifically about v3, which is not out (yet?).
Oooooh, okay, I misread. Apologies.
What even is GTK2 and GTK3?
GTK is a UI toolkit, i.e. a piece of software that draws uniform-looking buttons and scrollbars and the like.
GTK used to stand for "GIMP toolkit" but GTK and GIMP development are now entirely separate, so much so, in fact, that 13 years after the release of GTK 3 and 3 years after the release of GTK 4, GIMP still hasn't upgraded to either.
GIMP's GTK3 port was finished several months ago. What remains to be done for GIMP 3.0 is bug-fixing and porting to the new Plug-in API.
The best way to upgrade to GTK4 is to upgrade to GTK3 first. There was some talk about working on GTK4 soon after GIMP 3.0 is out, but whether that will happen or not is uncertain.
Wait what’s the point of backporting to GTK2 then? And why should I as an end user care? Will it make the UI nicer?
GIMP has been releasing two versions for several years. First, the Stable release, which is the 2.10.x series. Second, the development release, which is the 2.99.x series, which is where the GTK3 work has been done. The work from the development release will culminate in the Stable release reaching 3.0. GIMP will continue to support 2.10.x for some time after 3.0 becomes stable, but eventually they will stop supporting it.
Most of the work right now is focused on the development release and getting GIMP 3.0 stable and ready for release, but they're still doing a little more work to tide users over until 3.0 is out. If you're curious how work on 3.0 is going: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/milestones/27#tab-issues
GTK3 brings Wayland support among other features and yes, it looks nicer. GTK3 is still maintained while GTK2 has been obsoleted, which means bug fixes are still landing. Once they're at GTK3, that makes it much easier to move to GTK4, which brings even better Wayland support (i.e. color management will actually be possible) and a much better UI in my opinion.
13 years, damn...
Because it doesn't need anything in GTK 3 and 4. They're either cosmetic changes or UX changes and Gimp has no reason to adopt either.
Not true. There are tons of things like Wayland support that are only good in GTK3, and even then likely not complete
When the widget toolkit needs explicit and direct support for the graphics server you're doing something very wrong.
The way I see it, GTK is really a framework for building cross-platform GUI apps. Then handling display server compatibility makes perfect sense to me.
If this was meant to be a dig at Wayland, I'm pretty sure GTK also needs explicit and direct support for X11, Windows and MacOS. It just already exists.
It's not a dig at Wayland. You really don't want to have to add specific support for the OS directly in your widget library. There should be an abstraction layer in-between that deals with that. If that layer had been there they wouldn't have to rewrite the whole thing.
GIMP has had a GTK 3 port in development for years. They just lack the developer bandwidth to finish it. And in general, using EOLed libraries for your very popular application is not great, not for security, not for usability, and not for compatibility with modern systems.
Gtk 2 is old, Gtk 3 current and Gtk 4 is new.
Different versions of the Gnome Took Kit: https://www.gtk.org/
Ahem the GIMP Toolkit.
I thought they have renamed it one day from GTK+ Gimp Tool Kit to Gnome Tool Kit, but I do not find this anymore. Imho Gnome Toolkit would be at least much more appropriate…
They renamed it to GTK, dropping the initialism. It was always intended as a generic toolkit. At least until v4.
I pretty much avoid GIMP now. It became a pity download years ago, but now I'm just not bothering to wait for them to bring the software to the current decade.
Alternatives exist like Photopea, which even with a quarter of the screen covered in ads is way more performant, let alone productive.
Not to blame the maintainers, it seems like they've been left with a mess of spaghetti and no one is willing to help out. I can't say I'm surprised it's taken so long.
At this point im just happy when it doesnt crash while changing text color..