How To Install GIMP in Ubuntu (10.04/10.10 and 11.04 Natty Narwhal) ?

GIMP or the GNU Image Manipulation Program is one of the oldest and "major parts" of the GNU project. GIMP in a way is the father of GTK/+ tool-kit (which is again one of the most important applications of GNU and almost all Gnome based application GUIs are written using it,) since it was first created for the sole purpose of creating the GIMP GUI!.

Anyhow almost all the major GNU/Linux distributions used to come pre-installed GIMP with them because for GNU/Linux community it is one of the apps that has the ability to replace Adobe Photoshop dominance in MS Windows. So, if you have recently switched to GNU/Linux as a graphic designer who used to use Photoshop, then GIMP is certainly capable of saving your talent :).

Canonical announced that they'll be releasing Ubuntu OS without GIMP pre-installed, starting with Ubuntu 10.04 version. I'm not criticizing them or anything, they must've done some sort of a research and found out that most Ubuntu users don't use it that much or something like that... so, no judgments passed, yet if you're a graphic designer without an internet connection (highly unlikely though), who used to love Ubuntu for simplicity and GIMP for its excellent usability, well my friend, then you're certainly in trouble :).

But this does not mean that they've decided to stop supporting it or anything. It's just that, that 700MB CD's space was replaced by something other than GIMP. Anyhow after installing Ubuntu 10.04 or later versions, if you have an Internet connection, then you can easily install GIMP by using a single command in Terminal nonetheless.

So, if you want to install GIMP 2.6 (current version) in Ubuntu 10.04/10.10 or in the 11.04 Natty Narwhal, open your Terminal and use the below command to get it back!.

apt-get install gimp

Or if you prefer a PPA channel, then please use the below one instead.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:matthaeus123/mrw-gimp-svn
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gimp gimp-data gimp-plugin-registry gimp-data-extras

If you want to install the deviantart-plugin which allows you to directly upload images to "deviantart" website within the GIMP GUI itself, then please enter the below command as well.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:doctormo/deviantart-plugins
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gimp-plugin-dastash inkscape-extension-dastash  

That's it, enjoy!.