PhotoGIMP: a Photoshop-style patch for GIMP 3

What PhotoGIMP actually changes, and who it is aimed at

PhotoGIMP targets one group: people who have used Adobe Photoshop and are now sitting in front of GIMP 3. The README describes it as a patch that makes GIMP look and feel more like Photoshop, and it lists four concrete changes. Tools are repositioned to mimic their Photoshop locations. Keyboard shortcuts follow Adobe's official documentation for the Windows version of Photoshop. Default settings are tuned so the canvas gets as much space as possible. A custom splash screen and a dedicated .desktop file give the application its own icon and name in the system menu.

That is the whole scope. It does not add adjustment layers, smart objects, Camera Raw, or anything else GIMP lacks. If you were hoping a patch would close the feature gap with Photoshop, this is not that. What it removes is the muscle-memory tax: the first week of hunting for the crop tool and pressing the wrong shortcut.

The project is GPL-3.0, written mainly in Python, and its last push to the repository was on 2026-10-25. Release 3.1 arrived on 2026-07-11, following 3.0 in March 2025 and a 2022 release labelled 2020.1. The gap between 1.1 and 3.0 is roughly three years, which tells you the project moves in bursts tied to GIMP's own major versions rather than on a fixed schedule.

A configuration overlay, not a plugin

The repository layout shows what PhotoGIMP is: a .config directory, a .local directory, an install.sh script, a scripts folder, and docs. There is no plugin binary, no GIMP extension, and nothing that registers itself inside the application. The Linux install method is extracting an archive and running the included install.sh, which copies the files into ~/.config and ~/.local. On Windows you copy everything inside the archive's 3.0 folder into GIMP's configuration folder under %APPDATA%\GIMP.

This design has a direct consequence. GIMP reads its configuration at startup, so PhotoGIMP works by replacing the files GIMP already wrote. That is why the requirements table insists you open GIMP once and close it before installing: the config folders have to exist before they can be overwritten. It is also why the installation section carries a warning to back up your GIMP settings first.

Because the patch lives in the user config directory rather than in the application itself, it is reversible in principle. Restore your backup and GIMP returns to its previous state. On Linux install.sh backs up your current configuration automatically, and the README gives manual backup steps; the backup is the rollback.

On Linux the documented path is the install.sh script in the release archive, which detects whether GIMP is a Flatpak or native install, backs up the current configuration, and copies the files to the right place.

Installing PhotoGIMP on Linux and taking a first look

Start by installing GIMP 3.0 or newer, either from gimp.org or from Flathub, then open it once and close it. This creates the config folder PhotoGIMP needs. If you plan to copy files by hand, back up your existing configuration first (install.sh does this automatically):

cp -r ~/.config/GIMP/<version> ~/GIMP-<version>-backup

Replace <version> with the folder that actually exists on your machine, for example 3.0. Then download PhotoGIMP-linux.zip from the latest release and extract it anywhere, for example your Downloads folder; it creates a PhotoGIMP-linux/ folder containing .config, .local and install.sh. Extracting it into your home folder does not install PhotoGIMP. From inside that folder run chmod +x install.sh and then ./install.sh, which detects whether your GIMP is a Flatpak or native install, backs up your configuration and copies the files to the right place. If you copy the files by hand instead, they must end up in ~/.config and ~/.local (Ctrl+H shows hidden folders), and the README says to choose Replace or Overwrite when prompted about existing files.

If you installed GIMP from your distribution's package manager instead of Flatpak, the README states the config folder is in the same place, ~/.config/GIMP/3.0, so the same steps apply as long as GIMP is 3.0 or newer.

Open GIMP. You should see the PhotoGIMP splash screen and the rearranged tool layout. If nothing changed, check that you ran install.sh: the README notes that extracting the .zip into your home folder only creates ~/PhotoGIMP-linux/.

Windows and macOS: same patch, different folders

On Windows, install GIMP from the official site, run it once, then close it. Download PhotoGIMP.zip and extract it to any folder. Open the extracted 3.0 folder and copy everything inside it; the README says the same files work on every GIMP 3.x release. Then press Windows+R and follow the README's remaining steps to paste them into GIMP's configuration folder under %APPDATA%\GIMP. Reopen GIMP to see the layout.

If you use Chocolatey, the README points to a package maintained by André Augusto:

choco install photogimp

The README does not state which GIMP version that package targets, so verify it against your installed GIMP before relying on it. There is also an optional photogimp.ico you can apply to the Start Menu shortcut under %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\GIMP 3.0.0 via Properties, Change Icon.

On macOS, the backup route is Finder, Cmd+Shift+G, ~/Library/Application Support/GIMP, then copy the GIMP folder somewhere safe. Confirm the extraction target against the README's macOS section and the release archive before overwriting anything.

Where PhotoGIMP is the wrong tool

The largest limitation is the one the project itself advertises: PhotoGIMP overwrites GIMP's configuration files. Anyone with a curated set of brushes, tool presets, custom shortcuts or a theme they have tuned over years will lose that arrangement unless they back it up first and merge selectively. The README offers a backup command but no merge strategy, so restoring means going back to plain GIMP wholesale.

The version coupling is the second constraint. PhotoGIMP requires GIMP 3.0 or newer, and the Windows instructions show that the folder inside the archive is version-numbered. The README says the files in the archive's 3.0 folder work on every GIMP 3.x release. Anyone still on GIMP 2.10 is out of scope entirely.

The third point is conceptual. PhotoGIMP changes where things are, not what they do. It does not make GIMP behave like Photoshop for non-destructive editing, layer styles, or the filter ecosystem. A user whose real friction is missing features will install PhotoGIMP, feel at home for a day, and then hit the same wall. The patch is a transition aid, not a compatibility layer.

PhotoGIMP vs GIMP, and vs staying on Photoshop

PhotoGIMP versus stock GIMP is not really a comparison of two applications. It is the same application with a different default configuration. The README's own framing is that GIMP can do most of what Photoshop does and PhotoGIMP just makes it look and feel more like Photoshop. So the honest difference is familiarity: stock GIMP gives you GIMP's own tool arrangement and GIMP's own shortcuts; PhotoGIMP gives you Photoshop's positions and Adobe's documented Windows shortcut map. If you have never used Photoshop, PhotoGIMP's main selling point does not apply to you, and you are better off learning GIMP's defaults rather than a translation layer you will have to explain to anyone helping you.

Versus staying on Photoshop, the difference is licensing and cost, not layout. GIMP is free and open source, available for Linux, macOS and Windows, and PhotoGIMP is GPL-3.0. Adobe's application is commercial. PhotoGIMP cannot change that trade: it narrows the habit gap, but the feature gap and the file-format workflows around Photoshop remain where they were. If your work depends on Photoshop-specific features, a layout patch will not change that calculation.

A third option deserves mention: simply remapping shortcuts and rearranging docks inside GIMP by hand. GIMP exposes both. PhotoGIMP's value is that someone already did the work and packaged it, which is worth more than it sounds if you have never used GIMP's preferences dialog.

Maintenance, upgrades and the GPL-3.0 licence

The repository was not archived and its last push was on 2026-10-25, with release 3.1 on 2026-07-11. That is a healthy sign for a patch project, but the release history also shows long quiet periods: 1.1 landed in 2022 and 3.0 only in March 2025. Expect activity to follow GIMP's own release cadence rather than a steady drip.

Upgrade cost is low but not zero. Because PhotoGIMP is a set of files in your config directory, upgrading means installing a new release over the old one, which again overwrites whatever GIMP has written since. If you have made your own tweaks on top of PhotoGIMP, you will redo them. There is no package manager path on Linux and no documented update command; the README's install instructions are the update instructions. On Windows the Chocolatey package offers an upgrade path, but its GIMP version target is not stated.

On licensing: PhotoGIMP is GPL-3.0, and the LICENSE file sits at the top level of the repository. The patch ships GIMP configuration files and assets such as icons and splash screens. Redistributing a modified build carries GPL obligations, and the Adobe-derived shortcut map is a separate question that the README does not address. That is a matter for your own legal review, not something this article can settle.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt PhotoGIMP if you are moving to GIMP 3 from Photoshop and want the tool layout and Windows shortcut map you already know. Skip it if you have a tuned GIMP configuration, if you depend on GIMP 2.10, or if you dislike the idea of a patch that copies files over your config directory. Before installing, run GIMP once so the config folder exists, copy ~/.config/GIMP/3.0 somewhere safe, and note that the README says the files in the archive's 3.0 folder work on every GIMP 3.x release.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Diolinux/PhotoGIMP on GitHub
2. Issues
3. License: GPL-3.0
4. README
5. Releases