files in my Gimp/plugins user folder

Grits · **Joined:** Feb 23, 2011 **Posts:** 71

GIMP Version: 2.8.10
Operating System: Windows
GIMP Experience: Intermediate Level

I have some files in my user/gimp/plugins folder that I don't know if I need.
There are some are exe files for plugins there, so i know they're okay. The ones I am not sure about are:
jpeg62.dll
libgsl.dll
libgslblas.dll
libjpeg-7.dll
libpng3.dll
libpng15-15.dll
libpthread-2,dll
libtiff-3.dll
pthreadGC2.dll
us.stackdump

Could some of these be old, obsolete G'mic files? Anyone have any idea what these are for?

*UPDATE: I have moved them to a desktop folder and have been able to start gimp and g'mic. I did not get any error popups when gimp was loading. I guess I will keep them just in case something requests them in the future. I did try putting the g'mic files in a subfolder to neaten things up, but then it wasn't showing up in my gimp. Too bad there isn't a way to use a subfolder to keep things neat.

ofnuts · **Joined:** Oct 25, 2010 **Posts:** 4812

The DLLs may be used by some of your EXEs (even if some could possibly be duplicates of others coming with Gimp) . The stackdump file can be erased.

Grits · **Joined:** Feb 23, 2011 **Posts:** 71

Thanks, ofnuts!

I was curious as to how the files are named, and wondering if 2 files with the same name could accidentally have different purposes- another reason to have them designed to be in subfolders in the plugins folder.

ofnuts · **Joined:** Oct 25, 2010 **Posts:** 4812

A DLL is a "dynamic link library", in other words a collection of functions that an EXE can use. When building the EXE you often have the choice between adding a copy of the function in the EXE or getting in from the DLL. The first choice make an autonomous .EXE but it can be quite big (DLLs are typically shared across several EXEs) and in case of updates in the libraries you would have to redeliver the whole EXE.

Those that are called lib-something have a Unix/Linux origin.

Grits · **Joined:** Feb 23, 2011 **Posts:** 71

Thank you. I understood part of that, lol.

I will try to not worry about such things now that I know that those plugin creators have control of the situation.

Graechan · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:35 pm **(#6)**

Grits as a rule never delete or add files to your Gimp to add files use the folders inside User/username/ .gimp-2.8

Grits · **Joined:** Feb 23, 2011 **Posts:** 71

Graechan, these files are in my user files in the plugins folder. They are not in my program files.