The second RC development release for the GIMP image editor 3.2 is out!

The new release introduced less features compare to the last RC1, but focused on improvements to performance and existing features and vulnerability fixes.

First, for user with a stylus pen, the MyPaint Brushes tool now support barrel rotation when relevant to the specific brush selected. The feature however is not tested because the developers don’t have a stylus to try it out.

Unfortunately I can’t test as we don’t have any stylus with such barrel rotation feature (and unfortunately this hardware feature is discontinued and getting a stylus with this is extra-hard now), but that should work. And at the very least, it does match with MyPaint’s implementation.

This RC also improved the Paint Select support. It’s an experimental feature introduced since version 3.0. User may try the feature by starting GIMP with --show-playground option, then go to preferences -> playground to enable it. Though, the gegl library needs to be compiled with workshop enabled.

In the release, it added progression feedback and improved local region computation to this experimental feature. And, it now processes more events, reset the scribbles at every stroke.

GIMP 3.2 RC2 also removed the restriction that prevented saving and exporting when no drawables are selected, raised the clipboard brush and pattern max size limit to 8192 for 64-bit processors, while it stays 1024 on 32-bit architecture, and it greatly improved the speed for initial font loading.

It now has a much more robust path importing from SVG by latest C-based librsvg code, and uses opaque path IDs for the ‘id’ attribute for SVG exporting, but not the GUI-visible path name anymore, to match the SVG specs.

To prevent infinite loops with cycling links, it also added a few safety checks when creating new link layers and when loading XCF files with link layers.

Other changes include:

• New startup splash.
• Set default PS/EPS export unit to millimiter instead of inch.
• Import legacy PSD Outer Glow layer style.
• Add Bash completion for the command line interface.
• Vulnerability fixes: ZDI-CAN-28311, ZDI-CAN-28273, ZDI-CAN-28158.
• Other fixes and build updates.

Get GIMP 3.2 RC2

The new RC2 is not announced at the moment of writing, though you may keep an eye on its news page for announcement.

For the source tarball, as well as the official packages for Linux, Windows, and macOS, they are available to download via the link below:

For Linux, select download the AppImage for either x86_64 (AMD/Intel) or aarch64 (for e.g., RasPi or SnapDragon X processors), then run to launch the image editor after adding executable permission.

Though, Ubuntu since 22.04 needs to install libfuse2 package for being able to run AppImage:

sudo apt install libfuse2

For those who prefer the Flatpak package, it’s also available to install via:

flatpak install --user https://flathub.org/beta-repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref

And, users who already installed the package can update it via command:

flatpak update org.gimp.GIMP//beta

Scribus, the free open-source desktop publishing software, released new 1.6.5 version few hours ago.

It’s been 8 months since the last point release, and the new 1.6.5 is also a maintenance release that contains only bug-fixes and improvements.

First, the new version added negative values support for the rotation in the properties palette. For example, you may input “-30” to automatically get “330” when hitting enter or leaving the properties.

For scripters, it added the document for scribus.ImageExport: transparentBckgnd, which corresponds to the ‘No Background’ checkmark in the ‘Save as Image’ dialogue, and, the function getBoundingBox() which was missing from HTML docs. And, it fixed that unknown/misspelled named parameter in API call crashed Scribus instead of giving an error message.

It also updated the print dialog, which fixed the inconsistency between output filename extension and printing language, and crop marks not present in output if it’s the only option selected in the “Marks”.

For fonts, the Additional Font Path Setting was cleared if any other setting is modified and saved while one document is open in Scribus. And, font rendering with non-integer font sizes (e.g., 9.90pt) went different after PDF export. Now, both the issues are fixed in the new 1.6.5 release.

The users who prefer dark color scheme, the new release fixed the poor menu appearance, though 3rd level menus are still in-visible in my case in Ubuntu with kvantum-dark theme.

menus were not looking good in dark color scheme

Other fixes in the release include:

• NTLM hash leak.
• Crash when loading a .sla file created by v1.4.6.
• Crashes when exporting PDF with PDF-Push-Button or other PDF-thingy via Python.
• Color picker (eyedropper) always returns “black”.
• Layer disappears after editing inline object.
• Documents become partially invisible when zooming or scrolling.
• Not able to set “line spacing mode” for sub-style.

For more, see the Changelog file in source tarball (see the link below).

Install Scribus 1.6.5

The source tarball as well as installers for Linux, Windows, and macOS are available to download in sourceforge via the link below:

For Linux on AMD/Intel platform, it’s an AppImage that can be run directly to launch the software, after adding executable permission.

For Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Zorin OS users who prefer the classic .deb package format, I’ve uploaded the new release package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 25.04 and 25.10.

Simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the 3 commands below one by one to add PPA, refresh cache, and install the package:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/scribus
sudo apt update
sudo apt install scribus

Also, there’s a community maintained Flatpak package for most Linux, though it’s still at v1.6.4 at the moment of writing.