# Gimp as a snap ⋅ no thumbnails for .xcf files in Nemo, gThumb…
**URL:** https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799
**Category:** General
**Created:** [June 11, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799 "2020-06-11T02:20:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/1 "2020-06-11T02:20:52Z")
Hi,
references :
⋅ [https://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?id=2053949](https://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?id=2053949) [french]
⋅ [https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/gimp-and-thumbnails-for-xcf-files/18131](https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/gimp-and-thumbnails-for-xcf-files/18131) [english, more or less]
**tl;dr**
when using Gimp as a snap, you’ll see thumbnails for .xcf files only « inside » Gimp and nowhere else ( Nemo, Nautilus, gThumb… )
I did a messy workaround for .xcf thumbnails to appear anywhere expected : I put all of my user’s thumbnails into `~/snap/gimp/common/.cache/thumbnails/` and now `~/.cache/thumbnails/` is a symlink targeting the first.
**You’d agree it’s absolutely a bad idea to store all of an user’s thumbnails into a particular subfolder of a particular snap**.
So any suggestion to achieve that in a better way is welcome 😉
**⋅ how tell my session to look for thumbnails not only in `~/.cache/thumbnails/` but also in any thumbnails folder inside `~/snap/` ?**
_Snap… see, I try to use them but it’s not painless._
* * *
later :
```auto
django@ASGARD:~$ sudo snap connect gimp:thumbnailer-service
erreur : snap "gimp" has no plug named "thumbnailer-service"
django@ASGARD:~$
```
---
### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/2 "2020-06-14T21:38:52Z")
@bashfulrobot ⋅ is `personal-files` interface of any help in this situation ?
I just don’t understand if I can set it myself, and how, or if it needs first be enabled package’s side ?
> **[The personal-files interface | Snapcraft documentation](https://snapcraft.io/docs/personal-files-interface)**
>
> Snaps are containerised software packages that are simple to create and install. They auto-update and are safe to run. And because they bundle their dependencies, they work on all major Linux systems without modification.
…then gimp-snap may use `~/.cache/thumbnails` instead of `~/snap/gimp/…` for storing the thumbnails it generates ?
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### Author:  [@bashfulrobot](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/bashfulrobot)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/3 "2020-06-14T21:45:56Z")
This is something that the snap author has to define. Then you actually apply to use the interface (post on the forum) due to the security implications. And testing, etc.
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### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 11:42pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/4 "2020-06-14T23:42:01Z")
Ok now I understand, thanks.
So best way would be an answer to :
**⋅ how tell my session to look for thumbnails not only in `~/.cache/thumbnails/` but also in any thumbnails folder inside `~/snap/` ?**
Then it would solve this issue, and for any snap generating thumbnails.
---
### Author:  [@bashfulrobot](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/bashfulrobot)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2020, 11:44pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/5 "2020-06-14T23:44:04Z")
If I follow you correctly, any location or file that you want to access needs to be defined within the interface. And they can be defined as read only or read and write.
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### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/6 "2020-06-15T02:28:18Z")
> **[GiMP and thumbnails for .xcf files](https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/gimp-and-thumbnails-for-xcf-files/18131/5?u=coeur-noir)**
>
> It’s unlikely that it would be granted. If it was safe to give strict confined applications to the user’s thumbnail cache, then we’d probably grant that access through the desktop interface. Some examples of why include: Each of the PNG...
Errr… I was meaning without modifying anything snap side. Some system settings regarding how thumbnails are searched.
Isn’t it surprising that _any_ app looks **only** in `~/.cache/thumbnails` ?
Is there a way to « expand » that search to either :
⋅ any folder named _thumbnails_ inside `~/` including therefore those in `~/snap`
⋅ or defining many paths like `~/.cache/thumbnails` + `~/snap/gimp/common/.cache/thumbnails/` + `others` if needed ?
Where does Ubuntu define paths for thumbnails folders ? And how « aggregate » those ?
Another trick maybe… automatically add to `~/.cache/thumbnails` the files found in `~/snap/gimp/common/.cache/thumbnails/` as soon as they’re created or modified ?
I can’t do that with a symlink… The fusion of 2 folders, sort of.
---
### Author:  [@bashfulrobot](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/bashfulrobot)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/7 "2020-06-15T19:31:53Z")
Ah - if the behaviour of the application (search paths, functionality, etc) needs to be changed - that would be outside the packaging and in the source code itself upstream.
If an app does only look in `~/.cache/thumbnails`, there could be a reason the author decided to do that - be it a standard or anything else…
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### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2020, 10:52pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/8 "2020-06-15T22:52:29Z")
Well I think the reason is any _lib-thumbnailer_ sends its .png to `~/.cache/thumbnails` which is good.
Now can’t it be a kind of $PATH to « concatenate » many thumbnails folders ?
This only because some snap app’s will never send their .png thumbnails to `~/.cache/thumbnails`
it’s Gimp here but maybe there could be others… Gimp as deb sends its thumbnails to the ↑ usual place.
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### Author:  [@zilexa](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/zilexa)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/10 "2020-08-02T00:13:12Z")
Perhaps offtopic, but why would you want to use the snap version of Gimp?
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### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/11 "2020-08-02T01:48:29Z")
Because snap is 2.10.20 and will keep improving as soon as possible.
In APT repo it’s 2.10.18 for Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04.
And once you worked some xcf files in 2.10.x you can NOT go back to 2.8.x - no backward compatibility (!) if I had known…
so easier way to install 2.10.x also in Ubuntu16.04 is snap ( no ppa / AppImage and FlatPak do not fit well with Unity ).
Yeah at work I still rely on 16.04 - actually no DE beats Unity ( dual monitors ) and I don’t know yet what I’ll do in April '21.
And these last months, each new version of Gimp brought some little or big new things or fixes I happen to need or appreciate…
I guess Gimp’s dev’s prefer FlatPak over Snap, but I do prefer « global menu » rather than stacking horizontal bars on top of my screen. Only Snap handles it.
Beside these reasons I really think both Snap and FlatPak are a pain to manage for « average » users. There’s a lack of fancy full-featured graphical tool to manage them. There’s a lack of self-explanatory « prompts » to guide users towards sane settings and a lack of features discoverability ( saved snapshots / versions )…
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### Author:  [@zilexa](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/zilexa)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 6:46am UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/12 "2020-08-02T06:46:31Z")
Oh I thought there was an AppImage for it.
I install AppImageLauncher. It integrates AppImages like DigiKam automatically (and moves them to an app folder) and works fine with Panel, Icon Task List.
I thought everything you install via Snap is very slow to start up… and I thought Snap would die soon…
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### Author:  [@Jason](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Jason)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/13 "2020-08-02T12:34:42Z")
Is this security also an issue for the flatpak GIMP I have installed? When I went to the GIMP download page, it specifically listed flatpak as the top choice for install, and I currently have 2.10.20 _(unlike macOS, stuck at 2.10.14…grrrr!)_ I’m going to look into it right now 🙂
OH, you’re right the Global menu doesn’t integrate, why did I not see that?
Nemo does show an .xcf file on the desktop, but only as a generic image with a faint Gp on it. Same as .kra files from my flatpak Krita - heeey! What the heck? I guess flatpak devs just figure you should know where your stuff gets saved to?
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### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/14 "2020-08-02T15:47:35Z")
> [@zilexa](#):
>
> works fine with Panel, Icon Task List.
Indeed there’s an AppImage for Gimp …but it does not send menu to global-menu applet in Budgie or Unity. And not sure that Gimp-AppImage will warn me when a newer version is available ( I know some AppImage do ).
> [@zilexa](#):
>
> everything you install via Snap is very slow to start up
I can’t speak for every thing 😉 but on my machines gimp-snap starts fast. I mean fast enough for me not needing to compare with .deb or other package.
My system / + my personal ( hidden ) config’ files are on the same partition of SSD.
Only my personal ( non-hidden ) files are on another HDD.
Snap-slowness may be related to `/home/$USER` treated as a separate partition on a slower disc than the root system. Personal config’s for snap-app’s are stored in `~/snap` so I guess it’s better to keep those on the fastest disc ???
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### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/15 "2020-08-02T15:54:19Z")
Probably the same joke in Flatpak as in Snap :
thumbnails generated by krita-flatpak or gimp-flatpak can’t be written down to
`~/.cache/thumbnails/normal`
because of sandboxing / confinement, and then are rather stored in
`~/.var/app//cache/thumbnails/…` ???
The symbolic-link trick might also work, let us know 😉
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### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [November 1, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/16 "2020-11-01T15:59:13Z")
I have finally ended up with binding both « thumbnails » folders through _fstab_ adding those lines :
```auto
# .xcf thumbnails from gimp snap for anyone
/home/user_1/.cache/thumbnails/ /home/user_1/snap/gimp/common/.cache/thumbnails/ none bind 0 0
/home/user_2/.cache/thumbnails/ /home/user_2/snap/gimp/common/.cache/thumbnails/ none bind 0 0
/home/user_3/.cache/thumbnails/ /home/user_3/snap/gimp/common/.cache/thumbnails/ none bind 0 0
```
This way, Gimp-snap actually writes its thumbnails there and then Nemo and Nautilus accordingly displays thumbnails for .xcf files.
gThumb though still shows empty frames for .xcf files - but my main concern was the file explorer.
Hence that question : **is gThumb able to show .xcf files ?**
Thanks to [https://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?pid=22362050#p22362050](https://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?pid=22362050#p22362050)
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### Author:  [@bashfulrobot](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/bashfulrobot)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/17 "2020-11-02T18:23:37Z")
Did you by chance bring this up in the snapcraft forum? It would be good to let the snap author know, in case there is something they can do to improve the user experience. Just an idea. 👍
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### Author:  [@Coeur-Noir](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/Coeur-Noir)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/18 "2020-11-02T21:41:29Z")
Did it 5 months ago, and updated since. Link is in the first post. Answers there look complicated for such a simple feature that used to be the default behavior for years.
I don’t know who is the snap author.
Following your suggestion I have ended up here : [https://github.com/snapcrafters/gimp/issues/125](https://github.com/snapcrafters/gimp/issues/125)
---
### Author:  [@bashfulrobot](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/u/bashfulrobot)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/gimp-as-a-snap-no-thumbnails-for-xcf-files-in-nemo-gthumb/3799/19 "2020-11-02T21:56:08Z")
On the page for the snap in the snapstore, usually (if the author set it up properly), there is a link for how to get support.
> **[Install GNU Image Manipulation Program for Linux using the Snap Store |...](https://snapcraft.io/gimp)**
>
> Get the latest version of GNU Image Manipulation Program for Linux - GNU Image Manipulation Program
Now just reading your previous message, it looks like you found the right spot!