News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
After more than 4 years of development, GIMP image editor 3.0 finally goes stable!
GIMP 3.0 is a new major release! Here are the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu users in 3 different ways:
.deb package.
GIMP image editor announced the third release candidate for the next major 3.0 series yesterday, with dozens of bug-fixes, requests, and translation updates.
The new release fixed crash and stability issues when working on Wayland. The new GIMP running with most recent GTK 3.24.48 fixed freeze with certain actions on KDE/Wayland, and crash when dragging layers and text glitches in certain widgets with Right-To-Left languages.
GIMP image editor announced the second release candidate for the next major 3.0 release a day ago on Friday!
The new GIMP 3.0 RC2 fixed the issue migrating user’s 2.10 settings to GIMP 3.0. However, if you already used 3.0 RC1, then you need to delete those configurations first (backup of course), as otherwise RC2 won’t try to import the 2.10 preferences.
GIMP, the popular free open-source image editor, finally released new 3.0 stable version. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu using PPA.
So, what exactly is a “release candidate” (RC)? A release candidate is something that might be ready to be GIMP 3.0, but we want the larger community to test it first and report any problems they find.
According to the announcement, it’s time to try it out for those who are interested in the new release.
This tutorial shows how to install Inkscape, version 1.4 so far, in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 24.10.
Inkscape is a popular free open-source vector graphics editor, that works in Linux, Windows, and macOS. It uses SVG as default file format, and can also import/export various other file formats, including AI, EPS, PDF, PS and PNG.
The software is widely used for both artistic and technical illustrations such as cartoons, clip art, and logos. So far, the latest version is v1.4 that was released a week ago.
The popular free open-source digital painting software, Krita, released version 5.2.3 a few days ago.
The release rework the build system, so the CI can be built in all 4 platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android).
Besides that, Krita 5.2.3 fixed various bugs, including crash on saving webp images, crashes when inserting keyframe columns when there’s a transform mask, animation playback freezes when pausing past the end of audio, batch exporter python plugin does not respect trimming flag, and various fixes to tool canvas input shortcut behavior.
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GIMP image editor announced the new 2.99.18 development release today. It’s marked as the last dev release for the next major 3.0 version.
The new release has a new welcome dialog, with Personalize tab to set your favorite theme, icon and font scaling, and select program language, Contribute tab with a few links for who want to contribute to GIMP, and Create tab with quick buttons to create, open, open recent images. It as well has an option to enable on every start.
Krita, the free open-source digital painting software, released a new bug-fixes release for the 5.2 release series few days ago.
The new Krita 5.2.2 has various fixes to the Snap build. Ubuntu users can finally easily to install it from Ubuntu Software (or App Center).
Krita 5.2.2 in 23.10 App Center
Besides snap package update, the release also includes few dozen of bug-fixes and improvements. They include:
Option 1: Snap
As mentioned above, Ubuntu user can simply search for and install Krita as Snap package from either Ubuntu Software or App Center.
Option 2: Flatpak
Linux Mint 21 users can alternatively search & install Krita from Software Manager as Flatpak package.
Option 3: AppImage
Krita also provide non-install AppImage package, which is available to download at its website.
Option 4: Ubuntu PPA
For those who prefer the classic native .deb package format, I’ve made the new release package into this unofficial PPA.
So far, it supports Ubuntu 22.04 (amd64, arm64/armhf), Ubuntu 23.04 & 23.10 (amd64, armhf).
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/krita
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then, either launch Software Updater and upgrade the graphics editor from an old version:
or run the command below in terminal to install/upgrade it:
sudo apt install krita
NOTE: Linux Mint may have to run sudo apt update first.
For the Flatpak package, simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to remove it:
flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.kde.krita
Also, run flatpak uninstall --unused to free up some disk space by removing useless run-time libraries.
To remove the PPA as well as downgrade the Krita package to stock versions, run command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/krita
Or, open Software & Updates and remove the repository source line under “Other Software” tab (Linux Mint users go to Software Sources -> PPA).
And, remove Krita graphics editor .deb package by running command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove krita krita-data
That’s all. Enjoy!
GIMP image editor now is at version 3.0.x, and I’ve made a PPA for those who prefer the native .deb package format.
If somehow you need to install the old GIMP 2.10.38 in Ubuntu, then this tutorial may help!
First of all, GIMP 2.10.38 includes Windows Ink drivers support for better tablets support on Windows. It also backports some small features from GTK3 to GTK2, with some improvements for Windows users. They include:
Besides the improvements for Windows users, the release also includes various bug-fixes, including that GIMP crashes every time on exit in my case in Ubuntu 24.04. See release note for more about GIMP 2.10.38.
(Old content for GIMP 2.10.36) The new release also has some new features. They include Adobe Swatch Exchange (ASE) and Adobe Color Book (ACB) palettes support.
Gradient Tool now has an “FG to Transparent (Hardedge)” option, to generate a gradient from the foreground color to transparency, with hard-edge transitions between the 2 colors. Which, as well includes a “Repeat” option to alternate repetitive colored shapes.
Other changes in GIMP 2.10.36 include:
GIMP provides official Linux package through Flatpak. For choices, they are Snap package and Ubuntu PPAs (.deb) maintained by contributors.
Flatpak is an universal package format that can be installed in most Linux, though it runs in sandbox.
To install GIMP Flatpak package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run the 2 commands below one by one:
sudo apt install flatpak
flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref
If you already installed an old version of the Flatpak package, try to update it by running command:
flatpak update org.gimp.GIMP
UPDATE: The Flatpak now updated to GIMP 3.0.x! If you do need GIMP 2.10.38, try the command below to downgrade the Flatpack:
sudo flatpak update org.gimp.GIMP --commit=83b335255cc239e223ada842f99107d1d6ce51b511a8ae2a278005c2e2809242
As time goes on, the old commit will be removed! At that time, this command will no longer work.
Like Flatpak, Snap is also an universal Linux package format runs in sandbox environment. It’s easy to install by simply search & click installing in App Center (or Ubuntu Software for 22.04 & earlier).
NOTE: The Snap package now is updated to GIMP 3.0.x!!!
For those who prefer native .deb package format, this unofficial PPA contains GIMP 2.10.38 for Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 23.10, with amd64, arm64 and armhf support.
1. First, open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Linux Mint users need to manually refresh system package cache, though, it’s done automatically in Ubuntu while adding PPA. To do so, run command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, run command to install GIMP 2.10.38:
sudo apt install gimp gegl libgexiv2-2
NOTE: If you’ve GIMP 3.0.x installed, first remove it via the command under “Uninstall GIMP” section, then use the command below instead to install GIMP 2.10.x from this PPA:
sudo apt install -t "o=LP-PPA-ubuntuhandbook1-gimp" gimp libbabl-0.1-0 gegl libgexiv2-2
apt GIMP via specified source
If you installed GIMP via the official Flatpak package, run command below in terminal to uninstall it:
flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.gimp.GIMP
Also run flatpak uninstall --unused to remove useless runtimes.
For the Snap package, simply use Ubuntu Software or App Center to uninstall it.
For the PPA package, either run command to purge PPA and downgrade to the stock version:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp
Or, remove the image editor directly by running command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove gimp gimp-data libgegl-0.4-0* libgimp2.0 libbabl-0.1-0
Then, remove the PPA either via command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp
or ‘Software & Updates’ tool under Other Software tab by removing the source line.
Krita announced the new major 5.2.11 release few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 25.04 via PPA.
Krita 5.2.0 introduced some exciting new features, such as synchronized audio playback, FFmpeg bundle, new text layout engine, new Wide Gamut Color Selector, new actions, CMYK for JEPG-XL, and various tool updates. See the official release note for details.
Krita provides official Linux package through AppImage, which is available to download at the link below:
Once you got the package, just right-click on it and go file ‘Properties’, then enable “Allow executing file as program” under Permissions tab. Finally, right-click and select “Run” to launch the painter.
Krita is also available as Snap (can be installed from Ubuntu Software or App Center) and Flatpak packages, though they both run in sandbox environment.
For users who prefer the native .deb package format, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 25.04 on modern Intel/AMD, and ARM devices.
NOTE 1: This is an unofficial package built with Debian upstream rules. It seems working good, but without well testing!
NOTE 2: For Ubuntu 22.04, the PPA also contains a few updated version of dependency libraries, that MIGHT cause conflict to other packages in your system!
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/krita
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then, either launch Software Updater and upgrade the graphics editor from an old version:
or run the command below in terminal to install/upgrade it:
sudo apt install krita
NOTE: Linux Mint may have to run sudo apt update first to refresh cache.
To remove the PPA as well as downgrade the Krita package to stock version, run command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/krita
Or, open Software & Updates and remove the repository source line under “Other Software” tab (Linux Mint users go to Software Sources -> PPA).
And, remove Krita graphics editor via command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove krita krita-data
That’s all. Enjoy!
