GIMP Window Changes Size on Any Action

[Jeremy_Ray]

GIMP is 3.0.6, OS is Kubuntu 24.04

Here is how it is supposed to look, crammed into the screen space of my little Cintiq 12WX - 





Any action at all causes the main window to shrink down like this - 





What could be causing it to do this?  

Incidentally, I tried the option to merge the GIMP menu bar with the system menu bar.  I then turned it off, which didn't turn it off.  I then reset the preferences, which didn't turn it off.  I then uninstalled GIMP (using snap, which I installed GIMP with), shut down the computer, turned the computer back on and reinstalled GIMP.  That didn't restore the system menu bar either.  I don't know if that has anything to do with this problem or not. 

Incidentally, the rulers and status bar should be turned off, but they've stuck around anyway.

[rich2005]

(01-18-2026, 06:35 PM)Jeremy_Ray Wrote: GIMP is 3.0.6, OS is Kubuntu 24.04
...snip....

What could be causing it to do this?  

Incidentally, I tried the option to merge the GIMP menu bar with the system menu bar.  I then turned it off, which didn't turn it off.  I then reset the preferences, which didn't turn it off.  I then uninstalled GIMP (using snap, which I installed GIMP with), shut down the computer, turned the computer back on and reinstalled GIMP.  That didn't restore the system menu bar either.  I don't know if that has anything to do with this problem or not. 

Incidentally, the rulers and status bar should be turned off, but they've stuck around anyway.

I am using kubuntu 24.04 on a laptop display 1920x1080  

(1) Merging the menu bar Edit -> Preferences -> Image Windows should toggle on and off, it does for me. If it is stuck you might have to delete your user profile and start from new.

(2) I know nothing about your Cintiq 12WX  except it has a 1280 x 800 display.  KDE has all sorts of options.  One is fixing window sizes, I have my Gimp (s) set to 1280 x 720 for video capture but I do not know if that is reflected in the Cintiq 12WX.

You could try it with Gimp in multi window mode: It is a right click in the Gimp Title bar and follow the menus. Looks like this:

   

One snag for Gimp multi windows mode, it only really applies to one window.  might be worth a try.

[Jeremy_Ray]

What user profile would I have to delete?

I tried switching back to single window mode, and that didn't solve the problem either.

Perhaps the problem is a setting in KDE, but I wouldn't know where to look.

Or the problem with the window reducing could be unrelated. I remember seeing this before, on a different OS install. I can't remember how I fixed it. I seem to remember it going away on its own, but that probably isn't how it actually happened.

[rich2005]

A regular Gimp linux profile is ~/.config/GIMP/3.0/  (~ is linux for your home folder)  Since you are using a SNAP look for something like ~/snap/gimp/380/.config/GIMP/3.0/   I do not use anything SNAP so not sure how it works these days. EDIT: Any version Gimp. The gimp user profile remains between installs. All your settings are held there which is why reinstalling rarely changes anything.

That screenshot you posted just defines how an image is displayed, dot-for-dot = one image pixel per display pixel Turn that off and the image displays as the real world size.  For editing keep it on.

I am assuming that your Cintiq 12WX  is effectively a second monitor  and you probably have already done this in Edit -> Preferences.

   

Just a note on Gimp installation options:  For kubuntu 24.04 there is a regular installation from a PPA
see: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntuhandbook1/+...ntu/gimp-3  Got to be better than a SNAP

[Jeremy_Ray]

I use Linux, but I'm far from a developer level of knowledge.  All this snap, apt, flatpack stuff - it seems like there's a new one every day.  I've got too many other things going to keep track of it.  I was hoping the issues with snap were solved by now.  

Is this error message a real problem?

Code:

Reading package lists... Done
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock. It is held by process 3120 (packagekitd)
N: Be aware that removing the lock file is not a solution and may break your system.
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/

I got it after sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp-3 and sudo apt update.

[Jeremy_Ray]

Found the problem - it wasn't in GIMP, it was in System Settings>Window Management>Window Rules>Window settings for GIMP. I added a bunch to make GIMP work better in multi-window mode.