GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 785152
The default GIMP brush should not be a clipboard brush
Last modified: 2017-08-28 20:11:23 UTC
As of GIMP 2.9.5 commit 894d85f64a, updated July 19, 2017, the clipboard brush is the default brush, that is, it's the brush that's preselected if the user hasn't ever selected a different brush, plus made appropriate changes in Preferences so that some other brush becomes the default upon starting GIMP. Clipboard brushes are very useful. But having the clipboard be the default brush leads to situations where new users (and sometimes even people who've used GIMP for quite a long time now :) ) make the entirely logically conclusion that none of GIMP's paint tools are working: http://discuss.pixls.us/t/gimp-2-9-5-appimage/1959/418 Also see this discussion about not having the clipboard brush be the default brush: http://www.gimpusers.com/forums/gimp-user/12945-gimp-2-6-s-clipboard-brush-disable-possible There are other reasons why paint tools might not be painting anything, for example having an invisible selection and trying to paint outside the selected region. So "Oh, it's the clipboard brush again" isn't necessarily one's first thought when the paint tools seem to not be working. It would be nice if the default "nothing-else-has-been-chosen-via-Preferences" GIMP brush were something other than a clipboard brush. This would eliminate a source of confusion for new users and a source of irritation for anyone not expecting to see the clipboard brush pop up again as the default after "something else" has happened such as config files being overwritten. One of the vbr brushes would make a good default brush.
This seems to happen occasionally in 2.8, and iirc no specific trigger has been identified by the users who've encountered it.
(In reply to Michael Schumacher from comment #1) > This seems to happen occasionally in 2.8, and iirc no specific trigger has > been identified by the users who've encountered it. It happens very reliably in 2.9 after doing one of the following: Delete or rename the current configuration folder so the default configuration is used when GIMP is restarted. Or else make a fresh install that replaces the current configuration folder with the default configuration folder. After a fresh install of GIMP, or if the existing config folder is deleted/renamed, then upon starting GIMP the clipboard brush is the preselected brush until such time as the user takes both of the following steps: 1. Start GIMP and choose another brush. 2. Also go into preferences and specify to either save the current configuration, or else to always save the current configuration upon closing GIMP.
The default brush name was referring to a brush (Round Fuzzy) that was removed a while ago, by commit bcb35382c63b7d02998b061e979f9e2230a98098. The fact that Hardness 050 was nevertheless the default brush was a coincidence: it was used by the Airbrush tool preset, which got activated at startup due to being the first preset alphabetically. The new crop tool presets, added by commit 36316e20b911b427065f4ef622d215ad700ca09f, pushed it down the list, since they start with a digit, so this no longer happened; this is also why the crop tool is now the default tool in a vanilla setup. This could also happen before the said commit, including in 2.8, if the user created a preset which precedes Airbrush alphabetically. In fact, since "Airbrush" is a translated string, this could probably also happen when using a different locale. Fixed in master by updating the default brush name: commit 494d18941daa9d758f52610707d6315717c29020 Author: Ell <ell_se@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Aug 28 15:34:35 2017 -0400 Bug 785152 - The default GIMP brush should not be a clipboard brush Fix the default brush name -- "Round Fuzzy" was gone for a while :P The fact that "Hardness 050" was the default brush regardless is a conincidence; see the bug report for more details. app/config/gimpcoreconfig.c | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) and in gimp-2-8: commit 4bfe4ea49fb9692cb06450f7d5590a697c5b50e0 Author: Ell <ell_se@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Aug 28 15:34:35 2017 -0400 Bug 785152 - The default GIMP brush should not be a clipboard brush Fix the default brush name -- "Round Fuzzy" was gone for a while :P The fact that "Hardness 050" was the default brush regardless is a conincidence; see the bug report for more details. (cherry picked from commit 494d18941daa9d758f52610707d6315717c29020) app/config/gimpcoreconfig.c | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) The fact that the tool preset that happens to be alphabetically first dictates the default tool, and potentially the default brush/gradient/etc., is probably something we should also fix.