{"id":49053,"date":"2025-06-10T02:41:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T02:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/?p=49053"},"modified":"2025-06-10T02:41:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T02:41:59","slug":"gimp-respect-system-color-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/2025\/06\/gimp-respect-system-color-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Make GIMP 3.0.x Flatpak Follow System Color Scheme (Light or Dark)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As you may know, GIMP provides official Linux packages through Flatpak and AppImage. The Flatpak package however does NOT automatically switch app color to light or dark depends on system color scheme.<\/p>\n

That’s because Flatpak is running in sandbox environment. The sandbox isolation enhances security and makes easy to distribute newer software releases without worrying about dependency issue. However, it has limited access to host resources causing issues, including theming.<\/p>\n

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To workaround the issue, xdg-desktop-portal<\/a> was created as a portal to allow Flatpak apps to securely access resources from outside sandbox. And, the portal has started exposing a color-scheme<\/code> property in the latest versions.<\/p>\n

GIMP has merged the request<\/a> to respect system color scheme preference on Linux. So, it will finally automatically switch between light and dark accordingly in v3.1.2<\/b>, the development release for next major 3.2. Not only for Linux, it will also implement the feature for Windows users.<\/p>\n

How to Make GIMP 3.0.x Follow System Color Scheme<\/h3>\n

For current GIMP 3.0.x, besides using AppImage or native .deb<\/code>\/.rpm<\/code> packages, there’s an extension that can do the job to automatically change app color scheme to light or dark accordingly.<\/p>\n

NOTE 1: GIMP Flatpak in Manjaro Linux respects system color theme out-of-box as it has the extension pre-installed!<\/b><\/p>\n

NOTE 2: This tutorial is for GNOME desktop only, so far from v42 to 48.<\/b><\/p>\n

Step 1: Install the GTK3 Theme & Dark Variant<\/h4>\n

As Flatpak runs in sandbox, you also need to install the GTK3 theme and its dark variant as Flatpak package.<\/p>\n

For Ubuntu with default Yaru themes<\/b>, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run commands below one by one:<\/p>\n