Management tools

This section contains tools that don't produce graphic effects but help you manage your script ennvironment.

addon-manager

This is an improved version of the Sean Bogie/MareroQ add-on manager. The enhancements are:
  • One single Python file to handle all managers.
  • No need to edit the Python file, all user changes are handled with a configuration file.
  • The standard defaults are usable as is, you may not even need a configuration file.
  • On platforms that support it, the activation is performed with symlinks instead of file copies, which is much faster.
  • Add-ons can be kept in their own subfolders, allowing filtering on the collection name in the Gimp lists.

Usage

This plugin lets you quickly activate or deactivate collections of add-ons. This reduces clutter in the add-ons lists and improves Gimp performance by reducing the number of add-ons it needs to cache. To do so:

  • For each add-on type, there is a "storage" folder (ie, one for brushes, one for palettes...).
  • This storage folder will in turn contain:
    • Child directories with one or more add-ons (each such folder is an individually selectable set).
    • ZIP files with one or more addons (each such ZIP is an individually selectable set).

To activate a collection, the manager makes the add-ons appear in one of the folders that Gimp uses for active add-ons (see Edit/Preferences->Folders):

  • On Linux and OSX systems, and with collection in directories, the collection folder is merely linked in the active add-ons folder.
  • With ZIP files or on Windows system, the add-ons from the collection are copied to a subfolder of the active add-ons folder.

By default, the folders Gimp uses for add-ons are in the user's Gimp profile (see sidebar), for instance, for brushes:

  • On Linux: /home/{user's_id}/.gimp-2.8/brushes
  • On Windows XP: c:\Documents and Settings\{user's_id}\.gimp-2.8\brushes
  • On Windows Vista/Seven/8: c:\Users\{user's_id}\.gimp-2.8\brushes

Also by default, the manager uses folders that are siblings of the default active add-on folders, named by suffixing their names "_storage":

  • On Linux: /home/{user's_id}/.gimp-2.8/brushes_storage
  • On Windows XP: c:\Documents and Settings\{user's_id}\.gimp-2.8\brushes_storage
  • On Vista/Seven: c:\Users\{user's_id}\.gimp-2.8\brushes_storage

Configuration file

If used, the configuration file should be named addonCollectionManager.ini and should be in the standard user's plugin folder, which is the "plugin-ins" child folder of the Gimp user profile (see sidebar).

There is a section for each of the managed add-on types (brushes, patterns...). A section starts with its name between brackets: [section]

There is also an [all] section for general settings and for settings that have a common value across several sections (unless overriden by a specific setting in other sections).

The configurable items so far are:

  • In [all]:
    • enable: the list of enabled addon managers
  • In add-on types sections (or [all]):
    • addons_active: the folder for active add-ons (where Gimp looks for them, typically in your Gimp profile)
    • addons_stored: the folder for managed add-ons (where the manager looks for them)
    • use_subdirectory: [yes|no]: copy/link the addons in a subdirectory of the active addon directory (this allows filtering in the list)
    • use_link: [yes|no]: use symbolic links instead of copy when the operating system allows it.
    • menu_location: the location in the Gimp menus for the menu entry to start the add-on manager.
    • menu_entry: the label on the menu entry for the add-on manager.
    • menu_description: the description that pops up when you hower the mouse above the menu entry.
    • dialog_title: the title of the add-on manager dialog.
    • extensions: the extensions considered for the add-ons (files with other extensions are ignored). Extensions are case-sensitive, JPG and jpg are different.

For all these items, some speficic names enclosed in braces are dynamically replaced when reading the configuration:

  • {UserHome}: the user's home folder (the parent of the Gimp profile)
  • {GimpUser}: the user's Gimp profile folder
  • {GimpData}: the global Gimp data folder (in the Gimp installation tree, in Linux: /usr/share/gimp/2.0/)
  • {GimpPlugin}: the plugins folder in the Gimp profile
  • {type}: the lower case name of the add-on types: "brushes"
  • {Type}: the capitalized name of the add-on types: "Brushes"

These last two items can be used for menu locations and directories.

The default settings correspond to the following configuration:

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[all]
enable:brushes dynamics fonts gradients palettes patterns scripts
addons_active:{GimpUser}/{type}
addons_stored:{GimpUser}/{type}_storage
menu_location:{}
menu_entry:{Type} sets...
menu_description:Manage {type} sets...
dialog_title:{Type} sets manager
use_subdirectory:yes
use_link: {depends on OS capablities: yes for Unixish ones, no for Windows}

[brushes]
extensions:.gbr .vbr .gih .abr .GBR .VBR .GIH
[dynamics]
extensions:.gdyn .GDYN
[fonts]
extensions:.ttf .otf .TTF .OTF
[gradients]
extensions:.ggr .GGR
[palettes]
extensions:.pal .PAL
[patterns]
extensions:.png .pat .PNG .PAT
[scripts]
menu_location:/Help
extensions:.scm .SCM
use_subdirectory:no
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the end, the directory structure should look like this:

c:\users\your_id\.gimp-2.8
  |
  +--plugins
  |     |
  |     +--addonCollectionManager.py
  |     +--addonCollectionManager.ini (optional)
  |
  +--brushes (existing)
  |     |
  |     +--permanent-brush1.gbr
  |     +--permanent-brush2.gbr
  |
  +--brushes_storage (to be created)
  |     |
  |     +--brush_collection1 (to be created, with a more descriptive name)
  |     |     |
  |     |     +-- collection1-brush1.gbr
  |     |     +-- collection1-brush2.gbr
  |     |
  |     +--brush_collection2 (to be created, with a more descriptive name)
  |           |
  |           +-- collection2-brush1.gbr
  |           +-- collection2-brush2.gbr
  |
  +--fonts
  |
  +--fonts_storage (etc...)

Notes

Registration

Gimp updates the registration data for the plugins only when it notices a new plugin executable, or when an already registered executable changes (according to the file change date). Changing the menu-related configuration items above requires Gimp to update its registration data, but since the plugin file hasn't changed it won't notice it.

You can force Gimp to re-acquire the registration data using one the three methods below:

  • Editing the 'pluginrc' file in the Gimp profile, locating the line starting with '(plug-in-def' that bears the plugin file name, and delete the file contents from that line up to and not including the next '(plug-in-def'.
  • Deleting the pluginrc file, but this makes Gimp re-run all the plugins for registration the next time it starts.
  • Renaming the plugin file. Gimp will delete the registration data obtained under its previous name, and make that new plugin register itself.

settings-cleaner

This utility is superseded by ofn-settings-cleaner. The documentation is included in the ZIP package file.