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darthpenguin

Member

Registered: 2011-09-16

Posts: 113

[SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

Hi All,

I am running Cinnamon with the Arc-Dark GTK theme. I like the dark theme but I'd like some apps to use the lighter variant of the theme (oddly named Arc-Darker). I know that for GTK3 apps I can modify the *.desktop launcher and on the 'EXEC' line I can add something like

EXEC=env GTK_THEME=Arc-Darker <application> %U

or for GTK2 apps something like

EXEC=env GTK2_RC_FILES=/usr/share/themes/Arc-Darker/gtk-2.0/gtkrc <application>

However, this trick does not seem to be working for GIMP 2.10. When I set the theme in GIMP preferences for 'System' and then change the GTK_THEME in the launcher the theme in not changing from dark to light. But this is working for other applications.

Any thoughts on what could be the issue?

Thanks.

Last edited by darthpenguin (2019-01-24 21:54:08)

Ropid

Member

Registered: 2015-03-09

Posts: 1,069

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

I don't know about the "GTK_THEME=..." environment override, but choosing "System" as the theme in Gimp's preferences does correctly switch Gimp to my normal, light GTK theme.

EDIT:

After switching to the "System" theme in Gimp, I could switch the theme with GTK2_RC_FILES. I did the following as an experiment:

GTK2_RC_FILES=/usr/share/themes/Adwaita/gtk-2.0/gtkrc gimp

(it doesn't look good with Adwaita)

Last edited by Ropid (2019-01-12 00:34:59)

darthpenguin

Member

Registered: 2011-09-16

Posts: 113

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

No it doesn't look good with Adwaita or any other GTK2 theme I have tried including Arc-Darker. That's kind of what I mean when I say the it is not working. When you try to override the GTK2 theme for GIMP it just looks ugly. The theme is not applying properly. So I figured I am doing something wrong.

Ropid

Member

Registered: 2015-03-09

Posts: 1,069

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

I just tried setting my whole desktop to Adwaita, and then setting "System" in the Gimp preferences. When I do it like this, the theme looks much better, it doesn't look broken at all. It seems it's just that environment method being broken?

mountaineerbr

Banned

Registered: 2018-12-08

Posts: 48

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

There is that option under Edit > Preferences > themes, can't you just one of the default ones instead? Does it need be Arc-Darker?

Plus, darker refers to a theme that is darker than the light theme, but not darkly dark... It makes no sense at first hearing only... Cheers!

DeadMetaler

Member

Registered: 2016-03-16

Posts: 43

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

My example for gimp 2.10

env GTK2_RC_FILES=/home/user/.local/share/themes/Clearlooks/gtk-2.0/gtkrc GTK_DATA_PREFIX= gimp-2.10

ubone

Member

Registered: 2014-08-31

Posts: 47

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

Tip: gtkrc can also be a custom file in your home directory created by any of the #Configuration tools. See #Examples.

---

about fonts

darthpenguin

Member

Registered: 2011-09-16

Posts: 113

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

There is that option under Edit > Preferences > themes, can't you just one of the default ones instead? Does it need be Arc-Darker?

Plus, darker refers to a theme that is darker than the light theme, but not darkly dark... It makes no sense at first hearing only... Cheers!

Thanks for clearing that up.

darthpenguin

Member

Registered: 2011-09-16

Posts: 113

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

My example for gimp 2.10

env GTK2_RC_FILES=/home/user/.local/share/themes/Clearlooks/gtk-2.0/gtkrc GTK_DATA_PREFIX= gimp-2.10

I'll be good god damned. That is the fix. The critical missing component was the GTK_DATA_PREFIX variable. Couldn't find that anywhere in the wiki or forums or googling. Thank's friend.

burafino

Member

From: London

Registered: 2009-12-07

Posts: 19

Website

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

My example for gimp 2.10

env GTK2_RC_FILES=/home/user/.local/share/themes/Clearlooks/gtk-2.0/gtkrc GTK_DATA_PREFIX= gimp-2.10

That still works in 2021. But for me, even with this, GIMP still uses light titlebars. On top of Adwaita-dark. Weird.

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,648

Re: [SOLVED] How can I change the GTK theme applied to GIMP?

Closing this old solved topic.