Gimp works on Big Sur, barely. Slow, laggy and almost unusable. A shame, since it worked so well on Mojave. Unfortunately, the boards say that the only Mac developer for Gimp is MIA, so we are probably at the end of life for that program on MacOs. I guess Pixelmator Pro is a replacement if all you have are Macs, but I have a high end Debian box that runs it fine. It will serve me for my few drawing needs for a long time.
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Looks like GIMP is part of the collateral damage of Big Sur
- Thread starter romanof
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Shame to hear this. Being open source, I hope someone comes along sooner rather than later to update it for Big Sur for the sake of those who use it.
I found few multiplatform, open source things have lost their maintainers. About 10 years ago, I used to use some of the printer drivers from https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/openprinting/macosx/ for some HP inkjet printers at work as the drivers from HP didn't work. When the maintainers left and Mac OS X kept progressing, the open source drivers stopped working. We eventually got rid of those printers, too, but I hate how perfectly useful software (and by extension hardware) goes by the wayside when the developers leave.
Open source is both its own best friend and worst enemy. Back in the day, just developing a good utility was recompense in itself. I did that a few times, and the reward was the interest and use by others for the code. But, it brought up a generation or two of techies who expected software to be free (as in beer) and just couldn't be convinced to purchase a program. Borland had a Unix/Linux clone of their excellent Delphi suite, called Kylix, but couldn't even sell enough to pay for a website to support it. Scrivener had one also, giving up for the same reason, I would wager. And those are not the only two by a long shot.
After a while, even an enthusiastic developer wants to move on, especially after fielding demands and complaints from users who expect a top-of-the-line Photoshop or Office suite for nothing, and bug reports to be acted on instantly.
I expect the situation to get worse, given the increasing complexity and security needs of the future.
A shame. I used, learned with, and modified a lot of good, free software in my time.
After a while, even an enthusiastic developer wants to move on, especially after fielding demands and complaints from users who expect a top-of-the-line Photoshop or Office suite for nothing, and bug reports to be acted on instantly.
I expect the situation to get worse, given the increasing complexity and security needs of the future.
A shame. I used, learned with, and modified a lot of good, free software in my time.
Sadly, this is not news. GIMP for Mac has stagnated for over a year while the Windows version gets prompt updates.
Either Pixelmator (regular or Pro) or Affinity Photo are the ways to go for Mac users. Both are payware but at least they aren't on a subscription model like Big A.
This is an example of one of the weak points of FOSS especially for the Mac environment since the audience is so small.
Either Pixelmator (regular or Pro) or Affinity Photo are the ways to go for Mac users. Both are payware but at least they aren't on a subscription model like Big A.
This is an example of one of the weak points of FOSS especially for the Mac environment since the audience is so small.
Can't you build it from source? It is after all open source. Maybe Mac users are lazy and ant point-and-click installs.
Certainly, but you would get the same source that has built the current Mac version and have the same problems. You can't take the source from the Linux build tree and expect it to work on a Mac.
But, if you want to download the Mac source, and modify it to work on Big Sur, then that would be welcomed by many. You would, in fact, become the replacement for the Mac guy who has moved on from the project.
An update. My M1 Air came in ahead of the M1 Mini for some reason, and I loaded GIMP (latest version from website) and it works about the same as on Mojave on my 2017 iMac 27". Responsive, no drag, no delays. Don't know if it is the speed of the M1 or just the way the emulation works, but it is definitely usable. Not with the snappiness of Pixelmator Pro, which absolutely flies, but usable for sure.
From a working standpoint, that is. I wouldn't use an Air for any real picture making. Screen is too small and I can't draw with a trackpad worth a flip.
Another update: 12/16/2020 I downloaded Gimp 2.10 to a new 16gb M1 mini, and it works fine. Running in emulation mode, obviously, but it is very responsive - fast even. Maybe we have a few years left, or the Gimp organization will find a new MacOS volunteer.
From a working standpoint, that is. I wouldn't use an Air for any real picture making. Screen is too small and I can't draw with a trackpad worth a flip.
Another update: 12/16/2020 I downloaded Gimp 2.10 to a new 16gb M1 mini, and it works fine. Running in emulation mode, obviously, but it is very responsive - fast even. Maybe we have a few years left, or the Gimp organization will find a new MacOS volunteer.
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GIMP for Mac is back from the dead. The GIMP team apparently has a new Mac maintainer and 2.10.22 has finally been released.
This release apparently still has some rather serious M1 problems according to them.
This release apparently still has some rather serious M1 problems according to them.
Somebody fixed something. GIMP works really well now on 11.3.1, but...
Affinity Photo works far better, I hate to say. I am pro-open source, but I can complete a job in AP in a fraction of the time that it takes for GIMP. And that is with all of about three weeks experience with Affinity and fifteen years with GIMP.
Just saying.
Affinity Photo works far better, I hate to say. I am pro-open source, but I can complete a job in AP in a fraction of the time that it takes for GIMP. And that is with all of about three weeks experience with Affinity and fifteen years with GIMP.
Just saying.
GIMP has finally been fixed for macOS 11 or later users! Not being able to see the selection outlines had severely crippled my ability to use GIMP, but now that's FINALLY fixed (along with some other issues, apprently, but ones that didn't affect me).
www.gimp.org
GIMP - GIMP 2.99.8 macOS package now available
The current development version of GIMP is finally available as a macOS package!
Hooray. Finally.GIMP has finally been fixed for macOS 11 or later users! Not being able to see the selection outlines had severely crippled my ability to use GIMP, but now that's FINALLY fixed (along with some other issues, apprently, but ones that didn't affect me).
GIMP - GIMP 2.99.8 macOS package now available
The current development version of GIMP is finally available as a macOS package!