GIMPBox gives stable versions of The GIMP single window mode

By , Published September 29, 2010

The latest development release of The Gimp image editor comes with a handy option single-window mode, but what if you’re sticking with the latest, floaty-palette stable release, like those available in the Ubuntu repositories, but would love such a feature? Can it be done?

Yes, it can thanks to a project called ‘Gimpbox’.

GIMPbox – single window mode for GIMP 2.6.10 and earlier

Gimpbox is not a fork or a depreciated build of GIMP but exists to provide a single window mode to users of the image editor on version 2.6.10 or earlier.

The main sell of the script is that it does not require users to install any extra development packages, compile any builds form source or even add a PPA – all you need is your already installed version of GIMP and the script does the rest!

GIMP 2.6.10 running GimpBox mode

Box your GIMP

Whether you’re a self-confessed command-line fiend or allergic to the terminal, the instructions for getting and installing the GIMPBox script should be too intimidating.

First up you need to ensure you have GIMP installed. Go to Applications > Graphics sub-menu and look for an entry called ‘GIMP Image Editor’. If it is there you’re good to go, if not then head over to the Ubuntu Software Centre and install it from the Graphics department.

Edit: If you’re having trouble running this do ensure you have python-wnck installed.

Get the script

This command will grab the GIMPBox script for running GIMP in single window mode and place it in your ‘bin’ folder. Contrary to the name this is not where trash goes but where files, scripts and other executables reside.

sudo wget http://gimpbox.googlecode.com/hg/gimpbox.py -O /usr/local/bin/gimpbox

Next we need to grant it permission to ‘run’. Be careful when doing this, make sure you enter the command exactly as you see it.

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gimpbox

Launching GIMPBox

To launch The GIMP in single window mode you can press ALT + F2 together and enter ‘gimpbox’ in the command field or by modifying your original GIMP menu entry like so:

  • Go to System > Preferences > Main Menu
  • Click on ‘Graphics’ in the left hand pane
  • Highlight ‘GIMP Image Editor’ and click on the ‘Properties’ button
  • Replace the word ‘gimp’ with ‘gimpbox’

{ GIMPBox, via Linuxundich.de }

No related posts.

Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
  • http://twitter.com/edltphoto Edward De la Torre

    Thanks! Only problem I see is that the menus don’t work with globalmenu.

    • http://twitter.com/randomgc Giulio Collura

      And Appmenu indicator too..:(

      • Anonymous

        And the layers-channels-pen etc menu doesnt work either.. (or is that the appmenu or global menu? I’m dutch… ;)

        • http://www.facebook.com/ethana2 Ethan Anderson

          They’re different implementations of the same thing. Any properly coded gnome application should Just Work with both.

      • Daniel Holm

        Same here…

    • http://twitter.com/luisdavim Luis Davim

      Same problem here!

  • http://noushi.org/ noushi

    ** (gimpbox:7514): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowState’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    ** (gimpbox:7514): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowActions’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    ** (gimpbox:7514): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowMoveResizeMask’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    and dies shortly after.

    • http://www.thebluemint.net/ TheBlueMint

      I get similar output when running:james@james-work:~$ gimpboxTraceback (most recent call last): File “/usr/local/bin/gimpbox”, line 15, in import wnckImportError: No module named wnck

      I’m assuming this is a GTK+ thing?

  • 1roxtar

    “by modifying your original GIMP menu entry/launcher, replacing ‘gimp’ with ‘gimpbox”

    How would I go about doing this. I’m still new to this.

    • http://twitter.com/fredjiles fredjiles

      System->Preferences->Main Menu find Gimp and click on properties

  • http://makariolewis.com Makario Lewis

    Is anyone else having a problem using shortcuts with this?

    • http://twitter.com/edltphoto Edward De la Torre

      Yep

      • Andrew McVearry

        Press tab.

      • Andrew McVearry

        Press tab.

  • http://twitter.com/HaDAk Hans Kokx

    Running GIMP 2.6.8 on Kubuntu 10.04, I get the following error:

    ** (gimpbox:17741): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowState’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Do you have python-wnck installed?

      • http://clean3d.wordpress.com Clean3d

        I have the same problem, and I also have python-wnck installed. Gimp 2.6.8 on Mint 9.

        • Protomank

          Same for me. Running it inside KDE

  • http://twitter.com/HaDAk Hans Kokx

    Running GIMP 2.6.8 on Kubuntu 10.04, I get the following error:

    ** (gimpbox:17741): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowState’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

  • http://jannah-wearecoming.blogspot.com/ Aditia A. Pratama

    shortcut seems not available in gimpbox…ugh :|

  • Guest

    I wished it was faster (I have to wait >2s for it to incorporate every new window)
    but it’s sooo great that it exists at all!!!

  • lovinglinux

    All I get is an error:

    ImportError: No module named wnck

    • lovinglinux

      I had to install python-wnck to fix this, but then it crashes after launch.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R7TFX7KMZAZJVZPLFSDOKBIC2M mawst

    GimpShop already does this, and changes menu items to match a more Photoshop sounding setup. Just sayin.

    • http://claimid.com/el-bhm bhm

      Stable release 2.2.11 (based on GIMP 2.2.11) / May 17, 2006; 4 years ago

      Push pedal till you reach 88 mph

      • http://www.martinsmucker.com Michael Martin-Smucker

        Indeed, I remember getting really excited when I heard about GimpShop a couple years ago. That excitement lasted until I realized that it was missing many of Gimp’s newer features and wasn’t planning to make a release in the foreseeable future.

  • haden

    Takes a while to arrange the windows. But other than that, works great..

  • dbrenha

    only the tools and layers are inside, the main windows is outside.

    • Zé

      same here.
      which is a major problem, everytime you pick a tool, the main window falls to the background of gimpbox, becoming invisible.

      • daas88

        I use gimp from a ppa (I don’t know which ppa anymore because I wiped the sources after upgrading to maverick) and it works awesome, but I have to use a keyboard shortcut first to go to single window mode.

    • Anonymous

      Works fine for me with GIMP 2.6.7 on Karmic and 2.6.10 on Lucid.

    • Benoe

      I guess this is becouse of the localization.
      The script thinks that the main window’s name is “GNU GIMP” if it is different you need to edit the script at row 123 and 124 to match the beginning and the end of the window’s name

  • http://twitter.com/theorist_pl Marek Wyroba

    don’t want dock second toolbar for me

  • http://twitter.com/gruppler Craig Laparo

    “the instructions for getting and installing the GIMPBox script should be too intimidating.”

    O.o

    • Annonymoose ^^

      lulz

    • Anonymous

      FEAR IT

    • http://jdevelopthis.blogspot.com Jacky Alcine

      Lmfao, this made my day.

  • Jeanchernandez

    Don’t work form me, now i have a 4th window (gimpbox)

  • Anonymous

    i like having multiple windows which i can move. if i had multimons it would be on another monitor though

  • http://www.wpautomatic.com Dgill

    I think I should let the old gimp look still accompany to edit my images. It still differentiate gimp from photoshop

  • http://twitter.com/Notrox Raymond Terrific

    Anyone “allergic to the terminal” should not be using Ubuntu or any form of Linux.

    • Ragnar

      This is true to Windows, too. gpedit, regedit, regsvr32, dxdiag, the sysinternal-tools… Never needed them? Well, then the chances that you won’t need the terminal in Ubuntu are the same.

    • Ragnar

      This is true to Windows, too. gpedit, regedit, regsvr32, dxdiag, the sysinternal-tools… Never needed them? Well, then the chances that you won’t need the terminal in Ubuntu are the same.

    • http://www.martinsmucker.com Michael Martin-Smucker

      Nonsense. My parents and wife are using Ubuntu, and I doubt any of them will ever go near the terminal. Why would they (or 9/10 other users) need to? Sure, Linux is blessed with a really useful command line for power users, but Internet, email, word processing, basic photo editing, playing music, and watching videos all work just fine without ever touching the Terminal.

    • Rfraxford

      This is cobblers. Have you actually tried using Ubuntu? I suspect you have only heard the name. At more than seventy years of age I find Ubuntu far simpler to use and add programs than any version of Windows.

      • http://twitter.com/Notrox Raymond Terrific

        Burn! I never used Ubuntu… Scary scary Terminal. FEAR IT

        • http://www.google.com/profiles/harveycabaguio Harvey

          You hardly ever have to use the terminal anymore, and its not like you have to type anything while looking at guides, since its all copy and paste.

        • http://twitter.com/erickjohncuevas ErickJohnCuevas

          Fear is only a pigment of our imagination. My only fear is to face my face. lol…

    • http://www.facebook.com/ethana2 Ethan Anderson

      That’s utter nonsense. I have like 10 people in my family that use either Ubuntu or Android, and none of them use a command line, ever.

    • http://www.facebook.com/ethana2 Ethan Anderson

      That’s utter nonsense. I have like 10 people in my family that use either Ubuntu or Android, and none of them use a command line, ever.

    • http://twitter.com/erickjohncuevas ErickJohnCuevas

      hmmm. my son is just 6 years old. and he uses Ubuntu Linux.

  • Dylan C

    This is kinda stupid since the GIMP interface is officially being reworked anyway.

    • http://www.facebook.com/ethana2 Ethan Anderson

      The last time *we* got a beta was frigging 3 *months* ago. That’s not good enough.

      • Monkey Steve

        Entitlement much?

    • http://www.facebook.com/ethana2 Ethan Anderson

      The last time *we* got a beta was frigging 3 *months* ago. That’s not good enough.

  • ninjapirate89

    Thanks! Its working fine here. For me it opens like normal plus an extra window, then after a second it all comes together. Whenever I open more than one image, it does the same, it will open the image in its own window, then after a second will add itself to the list at the bottom.

  • http://twitter.com/Afrodiseum N.C. Weber

    Awesome. Now, I don’t have to worry about using 2.71 to get this great feature. This works great for the most part. Though I had to redo the favorites icon in the netbook launcher after I updated the Graphics icon. Minor quibble. Also, docking features is not intuitive in the least. How does one stack them instead of adding them as tabs?

  • http://mastropino.deviantart.com/ MastroPino

    appmenu doesn’t work! :’(

    • http://www.facebook.com/ethana2 Ethan Anderson

      DEAL. BREAKER. Particularly with such a menu-intensive app. …what about Pinta? Does the AppMenu work with Pinta?

    • http://www.facebook.com/ethana2 Ethan Anderson

      DEAL. BREAKER. Particularly with such a menu-intensive app. …what about Pinta? Does the AppMenu work with Pinta?

  • http://www.facebook.com/ultysagar SAM

    Anyway to reflect this change in right-click menu?

  • Guest

    You need to create the directories because they seem not to exist by default.
    sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin
    sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin/gimpbox
    Then apply the commands from above ;-)

  • Anonymous

    Amen, the multi window madness finally ended!

    ps On dual screen, multi-window GUI seems more functional.
    But on a single screen it just sucks.

  • hh

    Would this also work with GIMPshop?

    • http://www.google.com/profiles/harveycabaguio Harvey

      Didn’t they stop updating GIMPshop ages ago? If so, then its probably not supported.

  • MathUHenry

    Thank you, this is wonderful.

  • MathUHenry

    Thank you, this is wonderful.

  • Pingback: Gimp läuft mit Gimpbox in einem Fenster | Ubuntuxx

  • http://www.google.com/profiles/harveycabaguio Harvey

    The only thing I don’t like with this is there’s no zoom on the statusbar.

  • http://twitter.com/conorsulli Conor O Sullivan

    worked for me, EXCEPT!!! keyboard shortcuts! deal braker no??

    • Anonymous

      Definitely, I can’t get keyboard shortcuts to work either.

    • http://twitter.com/wolterh Wolter Hellmund

      Yeah, same here :^S
      I bet most people commented about the joy of having gimpbox before noticing this PROBLEM heh

    • http://twitter.com/sebuky sebas bermeo

      anyone has a hack yet?

    • http://twitter.com/sebuky sebas bermeo

      anyone has a hack yet?

    • http://twitter.com/emilywind Emily Wind

      Deal breaker indeed. It totally kills work flow, especially when using a drawing tablet. Hopefully they fix such things at some point. ;o

    • http://twitter.com/emilywind Emily Wind

      Deal breaker indeed. It totally kills work flow, especially when using a drawing tablet. Hopefully they fix such things at some point. ;o

    • http://aaaq.myopenid.com/ aaaq

      Simply pressing the TAB key seems to solve all shortcut problems, at least for me.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LNGX423OJMTZIFNHJVC5JQLGYQ philip t

    I can’t seem to get more than one window to dock on either side. I can add tabs but dragging it over there just doesn’t work and If I remove one tab the whole side disappears on me so I just get left with floaty boxes. Any suggestions?

  • Monkey Steve

    Technically, this is actually a rather impressive hack (use wnck to search for the remote window XID and repack it in a gtk.Socket).

    However, I think it is irresponsible to post it here.

    • dRewsus

      With a comment like that, you are obligated to elaborate. Please do.

  • http://twitter.com/holmythegr8 Shawn holmes

    Thank you, Thank you and oh yeah~ THANK YOU!!

  • Seth Kriticos

    Works fine on my Lucid machine too. Awesome hack, I think I use it until 2.8 is out, as I do use GIMP more often lately. Thanks!

  • Anonymous

    it shutdown it self every time i open it using GIMP 2.6.8

    • http://thunderror.com thunderror

      Yup..Wonder if it works only with other versions?

    • http://profiles.google.com/phoinx Ricardo Roehe

      metacity seems to have problems with gimpBox.

  • Anonymous

    lol running it terminal gave me same issue like others :
    ** (gimpbox:2571): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowState’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    ** (gimpbox:2571): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowActions’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    ** (gimpbox:2571): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowMoveResizeMask’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

  • crash123

    Automatically shuts down as soon as I open it. I get the same error in my terminal that the guy below stated below:

    ** (gimpbox:2320): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowState’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    ** (gimpbox:2320): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowActions’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    ** (gimpbox:2320): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowMoveResizeMask’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

  • crash123

    Automatically shuts down as soon as I open it. I get the same error in my terminal that the guy below stated below:

    ** (gimpbox:2320): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowState’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    ** (gimpbox:2320): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowActions’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

    ** (gimpbox:2320): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype ‘WnckWindowMoveResizeMask’ as enum when in fact it is of type ‘GFlags’

  • Dels

    too bad doesn’t work with globalmenu applet

  • Dels

    too bad doesn’t work with globalmenu applet

  • dGo

    nice…
    the only thing that really bothers me is that the shortcut and access keys don’t function anymore…
    any hack to get this going ?

    thanks a lot though !!

  • dRewsus

    Looks great, but keystrokes dont seem to be recognized. (ctrl+z, del, etc)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5DPQF5EVWT5AI4JMGVGDNYIU4U Σεραφείμ

    When I open a file with right click–>open with–>Gimp, the gimpbox opens but can’t load the image! What may I do?? Or if there is not a way to fix this, how can I remove gimpbox and come back to gimp?

    • http://twitter.com/erickjohncuevas ErickJohnCuevas

      I have a same problem with you and in addition you cant undo you work.

  • http://twitter.com/orpriest Or Cohen

    I prefer putting stuff like these on ~/bin which is included in the PATH by default.
    That way, if you move your home folder, it moves with you and most importantly you don’t put stuff that the package manager won’t know about.

  • Anonymous

    Boo! You moved the comment box to the bottom… D:Anywho, “the instructions for getting and installing the GIMPBox script should not be too intimidating.“#corrections

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5DPQF5EVWT5AI4JMGVGDNYIU4U Σεραφείμ

    How can I uninstall gimpbox? When I select a file and open it from the right click menu, it opens gimpbox but the image is not loaded. It’s too annoying! I want to came back to classic gimp until this get fixed. Please help me: How can I remove gimpbox??

  • http://twitter.com/iwilkomirsky Igor Wilkomirsky

    I’ve been waiting for this for a looong time…!

  • http://twitter.com/adibizuddin Adib

    I have problem , there is not toolbar File…Edit and stuffs.
    it seems that the global menu didnt manage to link with the gimp box. anyone knows how to deal with this? or else , I think I might go back to the original gimp .

  • Anonymous

    I just uninstalled it. What I disliked was that it wouldn’t allow me to open more than one image at a time.

  • http://twitter.com/jean_cheto Jean Hernández

    WOW!, GREAT!!!!, really THANKYOU!!!

  • http://twitter.com/kirtash1197 Alvaro Ortiz

    Thanks! It’s very good.

  • http://mark-y-a.myopenid.com/ Mark

    I think it just froze my desktop. Thank god for Alt+F* keys. I was able to kill it. But Gimp looks great with just one window! A little more polish (such as give us back the darn shortcurs) and it would be awesome!

  • Anonymous

    If anyone has a problem with gimpBox crashing, try using a different window manager, metacity seems to have problems with gimpBox.

  • Anonymous

    You really shouldn’t advise people to install this without mentioning that it disables keyboard shortcuts.

    This is like trading my arms in for a better haircut.

  • http://profiles.google.com/braamsviper braam de moyer

    Hello,
    Thanks for gimpbox had a lot of fun with it.

    I have a bug i don’t know if someone else had the same ?
    When i select an area to delete, i can’t .
    I found something to work around but this thing is anoying.

    To work around:
    one’s selected i click on the layer to rename it and hit cancel and now i can delete :-)

  • Anonymous

    No go with Gimp 2.6.11 on Ubuntu 11.04. Loads and crashes instantly.

    (gimp:10900): GLib-WARNING **: /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.28.6/./glib/goption.c:2132: ignoring no-arg, optional-arg or filename flags (8) on option of type 0

    (gimp:10900): Gimp-Widgets-WARNING **: gimp_dialog_factory_dispose: stale non-toplevel entries in factory->open_dialogs

  • Anonymous

    Hi very nice blog….Hat excitement lasted until I realized that it was missing many of Gimp’s newer features and wasn’t planning to make a release in the foreseeable future.

  • Anonymous

    Hi very nice blog….Hat excitement lasted until I realized that it was missing many of Gimp’s newer features and wasn’t planning to make a release in the foreseeable future.

  • Anonymous

    F**k u allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

 
AppHow To