GIMP Manual Pages 1
Standards, Environments, and Macros GIMPRC(5)
NAME
gimprc - gimp configuration file
DESCRIPTION
The gimprc file is a configuration file read by GIMP when it
starts up. There are two of these: one system-wide one
stored in /etc/gimp/2.0/gimprc and a per-user $HOME/.gimp-
2.4/gimprc which may override system settings.
Comments are introduced by a hash sign (#), and continue
until the end of the line. Blank lines are ignored.
The gimprc file associates values with properties. These
properties may be set by lisp-like assignments of the form:
(property-name value)
where:
property-name
is one of the property names described below.
value is the value the property is to be set to.
Either spaces or tabs may be used to separate the name from
the value.
PROPERTIES
Valid properties and their default values are:
(temp-path "${gimpdir}/tmp")
Sets the folder for temporary storage. Files will
appear here during the course of running GIMP. Most
files will disappear when GIMP exits, but some files
are likely to remain, so it is best if this folder not
be one that is shared by other users. This is a single
folder.
(swap-path "${gimpdir}")
Sets the swap file location. GIMP uses a tile based
memory allocation scheme. The swap file is used to
quickly and easily swap tiles out to disk and back in.
Be aware that the swap file can easily get very large
if GIMP is used with large images. Also, things can get
horribly slow if the swap file is created on a folder
that is mounted over NFS. For these reasons, it may be
desirable to put your swap file in "/tmp". This is a
single folder.
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(num-processors 1)
Sets how many processors GIMP should try to use simul-
taneously. This is an integer value.
(tile-cache-size 1024M)
When the amount of pixel data exceeds this limit, GIMP
will start to swap tiles to disk. This is a lot slower
but it makes it possible to work on images that
wouldn't fit into memory otherwise. If you have a lot
of RAM, you may want to set this to a higher value.
The integer size can contain a suffix of 'B', 'K', 'M'
or 'G' which makes GIMP interpret the size as being
specified in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes.
If no suffix is specified the size defaults to being
specified in kilobytes.
(interpolation-type cubic)
Sets the level of interpolation used for scaling and
other transformations. Possible values are none,
linear, cubic and lanczos.
ins")
(plug-in-path "${gimpdir}/plug-
ins:${gimpplugindir}/plug-
Sets the plug-in search path. This is a colon-
separated list of folders to search.
(module-
path "${gimpdir}/modules:${gimpplugindir}/modules")
Sets the module search path. This is a colon-separated
list of folders to search.
"${gimpdir}/interpreters:${gimpplugindir}/interpreters")
(interpreter-path
Sets the interpreter search path. This is a colon-
separated list of folders to search.
(environ-
path "${gimpdir}/environ:${gimpplugindir}/environ")
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Sets the environ search path. This is a colon-
separated list of folders to search.
(brush-path "${gimpdir}/brushes:${gimpdatadir}/brushes")
Sets the brush search path. This is a colon-separated
list of folders to search.
(brush-path-writable "${gimpdir}/brushes")
This is a colon-separated list of folders to search.
(pattern-
path "${gimpdir}/patterns:${gimpdatadir}/patterns")
Sets the pattern search path. This is a colon-
separated list of folders to search.
(pattern-path-writable "${gimpdir}/patterns")
This is a colon-separated list of folders to search.
(palette-
path "${gimpdir}/palettes:${gimpdatadir}/palettes")
Sets the palette search path. This is a colon-
separated list of folders to search.
(palette-path-writable "${gimpdir}/palettes")
This is a colon-separated list of folders to search.
"${gimpdir}/gradients:${gimpdatadir}/gradients")
(gradient-path
Sets the gradient search path. This is a colon-
separated list of folders to search.
(gradient-path-writable "${gimpdir}/gradients")
This is a colon-separated list of folders to search.
(font-path "${gimpdir}/fonts:${gimpdatadir}/fonts")
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Where to look for fonts in addition to the system-wide
installed fonts. This is a colon-separated list of
folders to search.
(default-brush "Circle (11)")
Specify a default brush. The brush is searched for in
the specified brush path. This is a string value.
(default-pattern "Pine")
Specify a default pattern. This is a string value.
(default-palette "Default")
Specify a default palette. This is a string value.
(default-gradient "FG to BG (RGB)")
Specify a default gradient. This is a string value.
(default-font "Sans")
Specify a default font. This is a string value.
(global-brush yes)
When enabled, the selected brush will be used for all
tools. Possible values are yes and no.
(global-pattern yes)
When enabled, the selected pattern will be used for all
tools. Possible values are yes and no.
(global-palette yes)
When enabled, the selected palette will be used for all
tools. Possible values are yes and no.
(global-gradient yes)
When enabled, the selected gradient will be used for
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all tools. Possible values are yes and no.
(global-font yes)
When enabled, the selected font will be used for all
tools. Possible values are yes and no.
(default-image
(width 420)
(height 300)
(unit pixels)
(xresolution 72.000000)
(yresolution 72.000000)
(resolution-unit inches)
(image-type rgb)
(fill-type background-fill)
(comment "Created with GIMP"))
Sets the default image in the "File/New" dialog. This
is a parameter list.
(default-grid
(style intersections)
(fgcolor (color-rgba 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
1.000000))
(bgcolor (color-rgba 1.000000 1.000000 1.000000
1.000000))
(xspacing 32.000000)
(yspacing 32.000000)
(spacing-unit inches)
(xoffset 0.000000)
(yoffset 0.000000)
(offset-unit inches))
Specify a default image grid. This is a parameter
list.
(undo-levels 5)
Sets the minimal number of operations that can be
undone. More undo levels are kept available until the
undo-size limit is reached. This is an integer value.
(undo-size 64M)
Sets an upper limit to the memory that is used per
image to keep operations on the undo stack. Regardless
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of this setting, at least as many undo-levels as con-
figured can be undone. The integer size can contain a
suffix of 'B', 'K', 'M' or 'G' which makes GIMP inter-
pret the size as being specified in bytes, kilobytes,
megabytes or gigabytes. If no suffix is specified the
size defaults to being specified in kilobytes.
(undo-preview-size large)
Sets the size of the previews in the Undo History.
Possible values are tiny, extra-small, small, medium,
large, extra-large, huge, enormous and gigantic.
(plug-in-history-size 10)
How many recently used plug-ins to keep on the Filters
menu. This is an integer value.
(pluginrc-path "${gimpdir}/pluginrc")
Sets the pluginrc search path. This is a single
filename.
(layer-previews yes)
Sets whether GIMP should create previews of layers and
channels. Previews in the layers and channels dialog
are nice to have but they can slow things down when
working with large images. Possible values are yes and
no.
(layer-preview-size medium)
Sets the preview size used for layers and channel pre-
views in newly created dialogs. Possible values are
tiny, extra-small, small, medium, large, extra-large,
huge, enormous and gigantic.
(thumbnail-size normal)
Sets the size of the thumbnail shown in the Open dia-
log. Possible values are none, normal and large.
(thumbnail-filesize-limit 4M)
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The thumbnail in the Open dialog will be automatically
updated if the file being previewed is smaller than the
size set here. The integer size can contain a suffix
of 'B', 'K', 'M' or 'G' which makes GIMP interpret the
size as being specified in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes
or gigabytes. If no suffix is specified the size
defaults to being specified in kilobytes.
(install-colormap no)
Install a private colormap; might be useful on 8-bit
(256 colors) displays. Possible values are yes and no.
(min-colors 144)
Generally only a concern for 8-bit displays, this sets
the minimum number of system colors allocated for GIMP.
This is an integer value.
(color-management
(mode display)
(display-profile-from-gdk no)
(display-rendering-intent perceptual)
(simulation-rendering-intent perceptual)
(simulation-gamut-check no)
(out-of-gamut-color (color-rgb 0.501961 0.501961
0.501961))
(display-module "CdisplayLcms"))
Defines the color management behavior. This is a
parameter list.
(color-profile-policy ask)
How to handle embedded color profiles when opening a
file. Possible values are ask, keep and convert.
(save-document-history yes)
Add all opened and saved files to the document history
on disk. Possible values are yes and no.
(transparency-size medium-checks)
Sets the size of the checkerboard used to display tran-
sparency. Possible values are small-checks, medium-
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checks and large-checks.
(transparency-type gray-checks)
Sets the manner in which transparency is displayed in
images. Possible values are light-checks, gray-checks,
dark-checks, white-only, gray-only and black-only.
(snap-distance 8)
This is the distance in pixels where Guide and Grid
snapping activates. This is an integer value.
(marching-ants-speed 200)
Speed of marching ants in the selection outline. This
value is in milliseconds (less time indicates faster
marching). This is an integer value.
(resize-windows-on-zoom no)
When enabled, the image window will automatically
resize itself when zooming into and out of images.
Possible values are yes and no.
(resize-windows-on-resize no)
When enabled, the image window will automatically
resize itself whenever the physical image size changes.
Possible values are yes and no.
(default-dot-for-dot yes)
When enabled, this will ensure that each pixel of an
image gets mapped to a pixel on the screen. Possible
values are yes and no.
(initial-zoom-to-fit yes)
When enabled, this will ensure that the full image is
visible after a file is opened, otherwise it will be
displayed with a scale of 1:1. Possible values are yes
and no.
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(perfect-mouse yes)
When enabled, the X server is queried for the mouse's
current position on each motion event, rather than
relying on the position hint. This means painting with
large brushes should be more accurate, but it may be
slower. Perversely, on some X servers enabling this
option results in faster painting. Possible values are
yes and no.
(cursor-mode tool-icon)
Sets the type of mouse pointers to use. Possible
values are tool-icon, tool-crosshair and crosshair.
(cursor-updating yes)
Context-dependent mouse pointers are helpful. They are
enabled by default. However, they require overhead that
you may want to do without. Possible values are yes
and no.
(show-brush-outline yes)
When enabled, all paint tools will show a preview of
the current brush's outline. Possible values are yes
and no.
(show-paint-tool-cursor yes)
When enabled, the mouse pointer will be shown over the
image while using a paint tool. Possible values are
yes and no.
(image-title-format "%D*%f-%p.%i (%t, %L) %wx%h")
Sets the text to appear in image window titles. This
is a format string; certain % character sequences are
recognised and expanded as follows:
%% literal percent sign
%f bare filename, or "Untitled"
%F full path to file, or "Untitled"
%p PDB image id
%i view instance number
%t image type (RGB, grayscale, indexed)
%z zoom factor as a percentage
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%s source scale factor
%d destination scale factor
%Dx expands to x if the image is dirty, the empty
string otherwise
%Cx expands to x if the image is clean, the empty
string otherwise
%B expands to (modified) if the image is dirty, the
empty string otherwise
%A expands to (clean) if the image is clean, the empty
string otherwise
%l the number of layers
%L the number of layers (long form)
%m memory used by the image
%n the name of the active layer/channel
%P the PDB id of the active layer/channel
%w image width in pixels
%W image width in real-world units
%h image height in pixels
%H image height in real-world units
%u unit symbol
%U unit abbreviation
(image-status-format "%n (%m)")
Sets the text to appear in image window status bars.
This is a format string; certain % character sequences
are recognised and expanded as follows:
%% literal percent sign
%f bare filename, or "Untitled"
%F full path to file, or "Untitled"
%p PDB image id
%i view instance number
%t image type (RGB, grayscale, indexed)
%z zoom factor as a percentage
%s source scale factor
%d destination scale factor
%Dx expands to x if the image is dirty, the empty
string otherwise
%Cx expands to x if the image is clean, the empty
string otherwise
%B expands to (modified) if the image is dirty, the
empty string otherwise
%A expands to (clean) if the image is clean, the empty
string otherwise
%l the number of layers
%L the number of layers (long form)
%m memory used by the image
%n the name of the active layer/channel
%P the PDB id of the active layer/channel
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%w image width in pixels
%W image width in real-world units
%h image height in pixels
%H image height in real-world units
%u unit symbol
%U unit abbreviation
(confirm-on-close yes)
Ask for confirmation before closing an image without
saving. Possible values are yes and no.
(monitor-xresolution 96.000000)
Sets the monitor's horizontal resolution, in dots per
inch. If set to 0, forces the X server to be queried
for both horizontal and vertical resolution informa-
tion. This is a float value.
(monitor-yresolution 96.000000)
Sets the monitor's vertical resolution, in dots per
inch. If set to 0, forces the X server to be queried
for both horizontal and vertical resolution informa-
tion. This is a float value.
(monitor-resolution-from-windowing-system yes)
When enabled, GIMP will use the monitor resolution from
the windowing system. Possible values are yes and no.
(navigation-preview-size medium)
Sets the size of the navigation preview available in
the lower right corner of the image window. Possible
values are tiny, extra-small, small, medium, large,
extra-large, huge, enormous and gigantic.
(default-view
(show-menubar yes)
(show-rulers yes)
(show-scrollbars yes)
(show-statusbar yes)
(show-selection yes)
(show-layer-boundary yes)
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(show-guides yes)
(show-grid no)
(show-sample-points yes)
(padding-mode default)
(padding-color (color-rgb 1.000000 1.000000
1.000000)))
Sets the default settings for the image view. This is
a parameter list.
(default-fullscreen-view
(show-menubar yes)
(show-rulers yes)
(show-scrollbars yes)
(show-statusbar yes)
(show-selection yes)
(show-layer-boundary yes)
(show-guides yes)
(show-grid no)
(show-sample-points yes)
(padding-mode default)
(padding-color (color-rgb 1.000000 1.000000
1.000000)))
Sets the default settings used when an image is viewed
in fullscreen mode. This is a parameter list.
(activate-on-focus yes)
When enabled, an image will become the active image
when its image window receives the focus. This is use-
ful for window managers using "click to focus".
Possible values are yes and no.
(space-bar-action pan)
What to do when the space bar is pressed in the image
window. Possible values are none, pan and move.
(xor-color (color-rgb 0.501961 1.000000 0.501961))
Sets the color that is used for XOR drawing. This set-
ting only exists as a workaround for buggy display
drivers. If lines on the canvas are not correctly
undrawn, try to set this to white. The color is speci-
fied in the form (color-rgb red green blue) with chan-
nel values as floats in the range of 0.0 to 1.0.
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(zoom-quality high)
There's a tradeoff between speed and quality of the
zoomed-out display. Possible values are low and high.
(default-threshold 15)
Tools such as fuzzy-select and bucket fill find regions
based on a seed-fill algorithm. The seed fill starts
at the initially selected pixel and progresses in all
directions until the difference of pixel intensity from
the original is greater than a specified threshold.
This value represents the default threshold. This is
an integer value.
(move-tool-changes-active no)
If enabled, the move tool sets the edited layer or path
as active. This used to be the default behaviour in
older versions. Possible values are yes and no.
(trust-dirty-flag no)
When enabled, GIMP will not save an image if it has not
been changed since it was opened. Possible values are
yes and no.
(save-device-status no)
Remember the current tool, pattern, color, and brush
across GIMP sessions. Possible values are yes and no.
(save-session-info yes)
Save the positions and sizes of the main dialogs when
GIMP exits. Possible values are yes and no.
(restore-session yes)
Let GIMP try to restore your last saved session on each
startup. Possible values are yes and no.
(save-tool-options no)
Save the tool options when GIMP exits. Possible values
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are yes and no.
(show-tips yes)
Enable displaying a handy GIMP tip on startup. Possi-
ble values are yes and no.
(show-tooltips yes)
Show a tooltip when the pointer hovers over an item.
Possible values are yes and no.
(tearoff-menus yes)
When enabled, menus can be torn off. Possible values
are yes and no.
(can-change-accels no)
When enabled, you can change keyboard shortcuts for
menu items by hitting a key combination while the menu
item is highlighted. Possible values are yes and no.
(save-accels yes)
Save changed keyboard shortcuts when GIMP exits. Pos-
sible values are yes and no.
(restore-accels yes)
Restore saved keyboard shortcuts on each GIMP startup.
Possible values are yes and no.
(menu-mnemonics yes)
When enabled, GIMP will show mnemonics in menus. Pos-
sible values are yes and no.
(last-opened-size 10)
How many recently opened image filenames to keep on the
File menu. This is an integer value.
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(max-new-image-size 128M)
GIMP will warn the user if an attempt is made to create
an image that would take more memory than the size
specified here. The integer size can contain a suffix
of 'B', 'K', 'M' or 'G' which makes GIMP interpret the
size as being specified in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes
or gigabytes. If no suffix is specified the size
defaults to being specified in kilobytes.
(toolbox-color-area yes)
The toolbox-color-area property has no description.
Possible values are yes and no.
(toolbox-foo-area no)
The toolbox-foo-area property has no description. Pos-
sible values are yes and no.
(toolbox-image-area no)
The toolbox-image-area property has no description.
Possible values are yes and no.
(theme-path "${gimpdir}/themes:${gimpdatadir}/themes")
Sets the theme search path. This is a colon-separated
list of folders to search.
(theme "Default")
The name of the theme to use. This is a string value.
(use-help yes)
When enabled, pressing F1 will open the help browser.
Possible values are yes and no.
(show-help-button yes)
When enabled, dialogs will show a help button that
gives access to the related help page. Without this
button, the help page can still be reached by pressing
F1. Possible values are yes and no.
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(help-locales "")
Specifies the language preferences used by the help
system. This is a colon-separated list of language
identifiers with decreasing priority. If empty, the
language is taken from the user's locale setting. This
is a string value.
(help-browser gimp)
Sets the browser used by the help system. Possible
values are gimp and web-browser.
(web-browser "firefox %s")
Sets the external web browser to be used. This can be
an absolute path or the name of an executable to search
for in the user's PATH. If the command contains '%s' it
will be replaced with the URL, else the URL will be
appended to the command with a space separating the
two. This is a single filename.
(toolbox-window-hint normal)
The window type hint that is set on the toolbox. This
may affect how your window manager decorates and han-
dles the toolbox window. Possible values are normal,
utility and keep-above.
(dock-window-hint normal)
The window type hint that is set on dock windows. This
may affect the way your window manager decorates and
handles dock windows. Possible values are normal,
utility and keep-above.
(transient-docks no)
When enabled, dock windows (the toolbox and palettes)
are set to be transient to the active image window.
Most window managers will keep the dock windows above
the image window then, but it may also have other
effects. Possible values are yes and no.
(cursor-format pixbuf)
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Sets the pixel format to use for mouse pointers. Pos-
sible values are bitmap and pixbuf.
"${gimpdir}/fractalexplorer:${gimpdatadir}/fractalexplorer")
(fractalexplorer-path
Where to search for fractals used by the Fractal
Explorer plug-in. This is a colon-separated list of
folders to search.
(gfig-path "${gimpdir}/gfig:${gimpdatadir}/gfig")
Where to search for Gfig figures used by the Gfig
plug-in. This is a colon-separated list of folders to
search.
(gflare-path "${gimpdir}/gflare:${gimpdatadir}/gflare")
Where to search for gflares used by the GFlare plug-in.
This is a colon-separated list of folders to search.
"${gimpdir}/gimpressionist:${gimpdatadir}/gimpressionist")
(gimpressionist-path
Where to search for data used by the Gimpressionist
plug-in. This is a colon-separated list of folders to
search.
(script-fu-
path "${gimpdir}/scripts:${gimpdatadir}/scripts")
This path will be searched for scripts when the
Script-Fu plug-in is run. This is a colon-separated
list of folders to search.
PATH EXPANSION
Strings of type PATH are expanded in a manner similar to
bash(1). Specifically: tilde (~) is expanded to the user's
home directory. Note that the bash feature of being able to
refer to other user's home directories by writing ~userid/
is not valid in this file.
${variable} is expanded to the current value of an environ-
ment variable. There are a few variables that are pre-
defined:
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gimpdir
The personal gimp directory which is set to the value
of the environment variable GIMP2DIRECTORY or to
~/.gimp-2.4.
gimpdatadir
Base for paths to shareable data, which is set to the
value of the environment variable GIMP2DATADIR or to
the compiled-in default value ${datarootdir}/gimp/2.0.
gimpplugindir
Base to paths for architecture-specific plugins and
modules, which is set to the value of the environment
variable GIMP2PLUGINDIR or to the compiled-in default
value /usr/lib/gimp/2.0.
gimpsysconfdir
Path to configuration files, which is set to the value
of the environment variable GIMP2SYSCONFDIR or to the
compiled-in default value /etc/gimp/2.0.
FILES
/etc/gimp/2.0/gimprc
System-wide configuration file
$HOME/.gimp-2.4/gimprc
Per-user configuration file
SEE ALSO
gimp(1), gimptool(1), gimp-remote(1)
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