To discuss features, tips, tricks or contribute to development, the
below discussion channels are available.
Note that we only list spaces moderated by the GIMP team.
Our project encourages community process so many community-led spaces
exist to discuss about GIMP as well (forums, chat systems…) without our supervision.
In any of the official channels, you are expected to follow our code of
conduct.
⚠️ Warning: mailing lists are publicly available and archived for
anyone to read. In some cases they are even archived in places
outside of our control. Other discussions channels are not necessarily
centrally archived, yet many users store every discussion happening.
Don’t send any private or sensitive information! ⚠️
IRC / Matrix
The official GIMP IRC channels are on GIMPNet
(irc.gimp.org) and have existed for more than 20
years. Many channels related to GTK+ and
GNOME are also on GIMPNet.
Matrix bridges are available.
- irc://irc.gimp.org/#gimp-users (alt: Matrix bridge)
- Main support channel for GIMP users.
- irc://irc.gimp.org/#gimp (alt: Matrix bridge)
- Original channel, created in early 1997 for users and developers.
Discussions often focus on GIMP development.
- irc://irc.gimp.org/#gimp-web (alt: Matrix bridge)
- Channel devoted to this web site and related GIMP sites.
Mailing Lists
- GIMP User
- Main list for questions about using GIMP.
Archives: GNOME,
mail-archive,
spinics / Old Archives:
mail-archive
- GIMP Developer
- GIMP developer list. For plug-in developers and core program
developers; discussion about the source code.
Archives: GNOME,
mail-archive /
Old Archives:
mail-archive
- GEGL Developer
- GEGL developer list. For developers interested in contributing to GEGL, the new architecture for image
processing.
Archives: GNOME,
mail-archive /
Old Archives: mail-archive
- GIMP GUI
- GIMP GUI list. For discussions around UI/UX.
Archives: GNOME,
mail-archive
- GIMP Web
- GIMP web list. For discussions about contents and structure of this
web site.
Archives: GNOME,
mail-archive
- GIMP Docs
- GIMP documentation list. For discussions about the GIMP User Manual and all derivative
works.
Archives: GNOME,
mail-archive /
Old Archives:
mail-archive
Forum
A forum to discuss GIMP topics is
hosted at pixls.us, the community for Free/Open Source Photography.
Discord
A Discord server (another real-time
discussion channel) is also available. Supports Chat, Voice and Video streaming.
Code of Conduct
Communication channels between contributors and users of GIMP are
important. Therefore we urge you to follow the following common
etiquette rules. Failure to observe these or instructions from the
moderators may be grounds for reprimand, probation, or removal.
- Be considerate and respectful. Every email in our most popular
mailing lists may be read by thousands of subscribers and then
aggregated to be seen by an even larger audience. Other channels
usually have dozens or hundreds of subscribers. Please make sure that
you add value to the discussion, avoid repetitive arguments,
flamewars, trolling, and personal attacks.
- Write in English. While the GIMP community is multinational, we
need a lingua franca for communication which happens to be
English. It’s OK to have bad English skills as long as you do your
best. Nobody will mock your English (this would go against the first
rule of being respectful).
- Do basic research. Chances are that your questions, feature
requests, or bug reports have already been thoroughly documented and
discussed. See the list of sources for reference below.
- Be specific. When describing a problem, please always mention:
operating system and its version, architecture (32bit, 64bit…), exact
version of GIMP (use
Help->About for reference).
- For mailing-lists specifically:
- Stick to plain text. Please don’t send emails in HTML.
- Keep it short. When replying long threads, please trim
unnecessary content and write your replies inline instead of “top posting”.
- For real-time channels (IRC, Discord) specifically:
- Be patient. IRC offers real-time communication, but be aware
that there may be long periods of silence in the channels when other
people are busy or away from their keyboards. Receiving answers
after a few hours is not unheard of. Therefore asking, then doing
something else while leaving the window opened and checking from
time to time if there are answers is not considered rude
because everyone is aware that others have lives too.
- Don’t ask to ask, just ask. Questions like “May I ask a
question?” are redundant. Questions like “Can someone help me?”
cannot be answered until you have described your problem. Be
polite yet direct and describe your problem or question immediately.
- Don’t expect to be greeted. You are free to say hello but
receiving no answers does not mean anything bad. Talking directly or
just listening is perfectly acceptable behavior too.
List of sources to check for information on
the project, roadmap, feature requests, bug reports etc. before asking
questions:
- Your favorite web search engine.
- Documentation.
- Bug tracker. Useful for checking bug reports and feature requests.
- FAQ. Some frequently asked questions we already replied.
- Roadmap. Where some of the plans are outlined.
- Usability. Ongoing work to improve user experience of GIMP.
- Development. If you wish to contribute, please check the wiki for basic information for developers.
We also suggest checking archives of the mailing lists for existing discussions.
