Edit Images Externally With Linux Mint My Linux Mint version is 18.3 Cinnamon (64) bit

I'm using Blender 2.79b (Cycles)

This is the path where Gimp.desktop is located:

/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.gimp.GIMP/current/active/export/share/applications/org.gimp.GIMP.desktop

However, when I use the function Edit Images Externally in Blender I get the following error message:


  Image editor could not be launched, please ensure that the path in
  User Preferences > File is valid, and Blender has rights to launch it


Please note:


I've already saved the image to edit externally.
I verified the path where Gimp is located.
I accessed Gimp as root and changed all access values to: READ &amp; WRITE. The execute box is also checked.
I also saved the User Preferences in Blender.


This is not a duplicate because the similar question asked is about Windows whose OS is completely different from Linux.



To discover the real path where Gimp executable is, I was told by the Gimp Team that I must right click Gimp.desktop with a text editor.
Typically, you should be able to leave User Preferences > File > Image Editor blank - as Blender will attempt to find 'gimp' on the system path. The 'Image Editor' preference is there as a means of selecting an alternative Image Editor or specifying where to find it if it isn't already on the path.

Note also that the '.desktop' file is a means of your window manager opening an application - Blender should not be using that as it will invoke 'gimp' directly. However, if you open the '.desktop' file then it will tell you what command clicking the 'Gimp' desktop icon will invoke (ie, where Gimp is installed if it isn't on your path).

Firstly, ensure that 'gimp' is on the path. You can do this by opening a 'terminal' window (I'm not too familiar with Mint but it should be something like 'Terminal', 'XTerm', 'Term', 'Command Window' or something similar) to get a command prompt. Then enter 'type gimp'. This should come back with something like :

gimp is hashed (/usr/bin/gimp)


This tells you that Gimp is available in /usr/bin/gimp and is on the system path.

If this is the case then you should simply be able to leave the 'Image Editor' in the File preferences blank - Blender will find it.

If gimp cannot be found (the 'type' command didn't locate it) then you'll need to specify the full path to 'gimp' (not the '.desktop' file). Locate it on your system and set the 'Image Editor' to that full path - so if 'gimp' is located at /usr/local/myversionofgimp/gimp then set the Image Editor to the full path to your 'gimp' executable (ie, '/usr/local/myversionofgimp/gimp').