GIMP 2.9.8, a new unstable release, an intermediate state on the way to the next GIMP 2.10, was released.
GIMP 2.9.8 introduces on-canvas gradient editing and various enhancements while focusing on bugfixing and stability.
- Blend tool now features on-canvas gradient editing: adding, shifting, removing color stops, shifting midpoints and converting them to color stops, assignging colors to color stops, changing blending type for midpoints.
Faster color library - ‘Clip Warning’ in Display Filters
- The default brush is now “Hardness 050”.
- OpenCL disabled by default
- Statusbar will blink on warnings, errors
- Screenshot for KDE/Wayland has been implemented
- Color Picker now works on KDE/Wayland.
- For more details, see the News page.
How to Install GIMP 2.9.x in Ubuntu:
There’s a PPA repository contains the latest development GIMP packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and Ubuntu 17.10.
1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for it from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp-edge
Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it asks and hit Enter.
2. Then upgrade GIMP from an existing release via Software Updater utility:
or simply run commands to check updates and install GIMP:
sudo apt update sudo apt install gimp
How to Restore:
You can easily restore GIMP image editor to the stock version (distribution build) in your Ubuntu by purging the PPA via command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp-edge
And if you want to re-install the latest stable GIMP (2.8.22 so far), see this tutorial after purging the previous PPA.