Can I build a GEGL plug-in without building GIMP?

Applications
1

I’d like to start learning how to write GEGL plug-ins. However, if I have to build GIMP every time I make a change to my code (and I expect to have to make many, as I’ll also be re-learning C after many years past an intro course), I’d expect it to take weeks even to get much past a hello world.

If I ever succeed in my coding and want to submit it to the GIMP project for consideration, I’d have to ensure it builds with GIMP. But for now, I just want to be able to experiment quickly.

Is a local plug-in only build that I save to ~/Library/Application Support/gegl-0.4/plug-ins doable?

2

You absolutely don’t have to build GIMP to create GEGL plug-ins. Hell, you don’t even have to build GEGL for this!

This is the whole point of plug-ins. They are separate programs.

You may be interested by this tutorial: How to write a filter – GIMP Developer

3

Thank you, @Jehan ! Actually, it was that article that led me to post here.

I’ve just filed Improve instructions for building third-party plug-ins and filters based on your response.

4

There is a guy called Linux Beaver who has done a lot of GEGL plugins. He has a github repo here: LinuxBeaver · GitHub . Maybe that’s of interest for you, too.