I know that is possible wrote a absolute path starting from the user directory that will works whatever the user name may be

The question is : what the syntax ?
i will like a example...let say from home to the gimp plugin folder

Which OS?

Well ...i had in mind win
but i will like to know also for Linux (debian/ubuntu if this make a difference)

In GNU/Linux, when you are using an interactive command line, you can use a tilde ~ as a substitute for your personal user directory. This will not necessarily work from within a program or script, but $HOME should. Both of these forms are just abbreviations/alternate names for /home/user_name -- for example, /home/photocomics or /home/saul .

Examples,

~/.gimp-2.6/scripts ==> /home/saul/.gimp-2.6/scripts
$HOME/images ==> /home/saul/images

Also, the 'cd' (change directory) command will take you to your $HOME directory if executed without specifying a directory.

For Windows there are several environment variables as well, in particular USERPROFILE

So in Windows USERPROFILE/.gimp-2.6/scripts should do the trick ?

No i believe it is HOME/.gimp-2.6/scripts
As the HOME variable value in Windows XP is C:\Documents and Settings\YOURUSERFOLDER

i read again that tread before posting, because there was a hint about absolute path that could even start from a variable as home
But I thought was better start a new topic because there the point of home was not central, and in this case is not about the ShellOut script (well maybe could be applied to that, but i had other in mind )



I want to know if may edit the file that control the gimp preference, as example to make load what in .gimp/plug-ins/gap or gimp/plugins/mathmap and the alike

To be more clear the idea is GimpVideo a customized version of Gimp tailored for enhance capacity for edit/create animation and video

BUT and this is a central point and the main reason of the question, i wish all (or almost all) "customization" clearly separated from the gimp core
so i was thinking to edit the file that control the gimp preference for folders and to then to change (mostly at binary level) the content of the .gimp user folders:
But here to make easier a user update of the single components i would prefer them separated ,each in its own subfolder
(example ,
.gimp/plug-ins/file with inside the apng and swf plugins,
.gimp/plug-ins/gap,
.gimp/plug-ins/gmic,
.gimp/plug-ins/Liquid Rescale
.gimp/plug-ins/mathmap
and so on with this logic:
any plugin that is not included in a single file in its own subfolder: the others grouped for group, basically 2 groups,
1 for additional Load/save plugins
the other for plugin that may directly or indirectly (indirectly as the kaleidoscope plugin from wich depend 2 animation scripts ) be used for animation

and something similar for the script folder )

I believe something similar will work on the portable version :i did a quick test on Gimp 2.7.3-portable but without using subfolders,just using the plug-ins, script, gradient and pattern folder(the last 2 because a few animation scripts depend on extra patterns & gradients ),in what in the portable version correspond to the home directory of the standard version
(that is the .gimp-2.7.3 subfolder)

then i did copy the modded version from the laptop , pasted on my other PC a desktop, and everything went fine

But
1 ) without using subfolders , the user plugin folder looks too messy to my taste, and i fear user error in case of update of single component as gmic
2) I know that for some reason many don't like use the portable version, so i was looking if was possible how to do something similar based the "standard" gimp

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BTW a bit OT i would really appreciate help for "GimpVideo", i saw that JamesH already did something very close
(HERE viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2241 )

Main difference is that i would like the "customization" separated as much possible from the Gimp core, ( are other difference for the menu and forasome more animation scripts , but the central point for me is mantain separate the gimp core as much possible)

Such things are controlled by the 'gimprc' file. Any file can be selected as your 'gimprc' by specifying the "--gimprc filename" when starting GIMP (if you are using a desktop shortcut then edit the startup command in that shortcuts preferences).

By default, $GIMP2_DIRECTORY/gimprc is the file used for 'gimprc'. On Windows, I am guessing this would be specified as %GIMP2_DIRECTORY%\gimprc. However, if the environment variable GIMP2_DIRECTORY is not defined then it is assumed to be $HOME/.gimp-2.6.


This would be specified in your 'gimprc' file with a line such as:

The "${gimp_data_dir}" will be replaced by the GIMP system directory (on a typical GNU/Linux distribution this would be /usr/share/gimp/2.0/) and the "${gimp_dir} will be replaced by the appropriate location -- either the value of the environment variable $GIMP2_DIRECTORY or, if that is not defined, $HOME/.gimp-2.6.

This is all explained more completely in the gimprc manual.

Excellent tip and pointers ,i am reading now the manual
Thank it seems exactly what i was needing