Gimp Portable and file-jpeg

0

I have just installed GIMPPortable 2.8.22 (32-bit) on a Windows 7 Pro (64-bit) machine.

I cannot open or save JPEG files. It seems there is something wrong GIMP trying to load the file-jpeg.exe file, but I see no specific errors. All I get is unknown file type when trying to open a jpeg directly. And if attempting to export an xcf image, JPEG is not listed as an option. I can use PNG and other file types fine.

When I look at the plug-ins folder in Edit > Preferences, these two folder are listed:

I:\apps\GIMPPortable-2.8.22\Data\.gimp\plug-ins
I:\apps\GIMPPortable-2.8.22\App\gimp\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins

The first folder does not exist. The file-jpeg.exe file can be found in the 2nd folder (the installer put it there), along with all the other standard plugin files.

On a whim, I created the first folder and copied file-jpeg.exe there...and GIMP then worked w/JPEG images as expected! Thinking to make file management easier, I then moved ALL the plugins to that folder..but then GIMP would fail again, as before.

I have noticed that the "file-jpeg" is NOT listed in the pluginrc file upon initial install. The pluginrc file is located here:

I:\apps\GIMPPortable-2.8.22\Data\.gimp\pluginrc

Once I copied file-jpeg.exe to the 2nd folder and re-started GIMP, that entry was then found in the pluginrc file.

I have attempted to create and use the file GIMPPortable.ini, containing a modified PATH statement (a supposed fix to this issue), but that did not work.

So copying file-jpeg.exe to the first plug-ins folder has got it working...but it is very hacky, and I'm sure I'm missing out on other plugins TBD later. So my specific questions are:

Why is this specific problem happening?

In general, is there a way to view error messages in GIMP?

Thanks.

atreyu

Posted 2018-01-16T17:35:46.453

Reputation: 302

1

Gimp has an error console. This info is probably output to a log file somewhere, as well. You'll probably need to look at those errors in detail to answer your other question

– jpaugh – 2018-01-16T19:25:54.537

@jpaugh, thanks for mentioning error console and providing the link. I checked it out. Unfortunately, it provided no more information than the graphical error dialog box that pops up. I tried having it write the errors to file, but that contained no additional output either. That made me think to look for a "verbosity" flag, though...details in solution. Thanks! – atreyu – 2018-01-17T15:23:27.693

Answers

1

Based on jpaugh's suggestion to use the error console, I found the --verbose command line parameter. This, coupled with --console-messages (both referenced here), I was able to get a better look at what was going on at GIMP start-up.

Googling the errors I found in the error console led me to this thread, which recommended putting my G'MIC plugin files/folders in its own folder, and adding that folder to the list of plug-in folders under Edit > Preferences.

I am still not sure exactly what is going on (the verbose console doesn't mention anything specific that I can see), but clearly there is a conflict with the G'MIC plug-in files and file-jpeg.exe...but I'll stop here, as this is a reasonable solution.

I can now use GIMPPortable with JPEG support, and use the G'MIC plugin. Hurray!

atreyu

Posted 2018-01-16T17:35:46.453

Reputation: 302