GIMP Version: 2.8.4
Operating System: OSX
OS Version: Mountain Lion 10.8.3
GIMP Experience: Basic Level

List any relevant plug-ins or scripts:
None

List any ERROR messages you received:
None

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Hi guys

I'm a n00b to the GimpChat forum but not to Gimp.

Currently running 2.8.4 on Mac OSX 10.8.3. If I open Gimp from the dock or Applications, it loads fine. No problems.

However, I have it set up as one of my external editors within Photo Mechanic (v5) and if I call Gimp from there (right-click > Edit with...) there's a problem with program text. All letters are replaced by squares in dialogue boxes, tooltips, even the splash screen. The menu bars are fine but dialogue boxes called after a menu bar choice are unintelligible - all letters are replaced by boxes.

This happens on a Mac Mini and is exactly the same on my MacBook Pro.

I'm awaiting mod approval to get onto the Photo Mechanic Forum and will post the same question on there when I'm allowed in.

Any ideas? I've obviously done an interwebz search and a GimpChat forum search but can't find a reference to this problem (well, I can find one post on Sourceforge from 2011 that hasn't been answered).

I'm not sure if this applies to Macs, but perhaps you should try running 'fc-cache -f' to update your font cache (you will probably need to run this as root).

If that doesn't fix things, could you post the output of running 'locale'?

Thanks Saul. "fc-cache -f" is not recognised as a command in the Mac Terminal (I did run it as root) but I have a utility that does the same thing, so I ran that instead (as root). But the problem persists, I'm afraid.

Locale output is --

LANG="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_CTYPE="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_GB.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

Your locale output appears kosher. I wonder if there might be a problem with the locale not being set properly when invoked from your Photo Mechanic program.

When you set up GIMP as an external editor, is it possible to set environment variables? For example, instead of just using the 'gimp' command, use a command such as 'LC_CTYPE="en_GB.UTF-8" && gimp' or 'LANG="en_GB" && gimp'.

If this is unsuccessful then I will leave you to await assistance from someone more knowledgeable about the ways of Mac.

Unfortunately, it's just a choice of which external editor to use, rather than allowing any environment variable configuration.

But thanks for your help with this, Saul.

Unfortunately (again), the Photo Mechanic developers can't help me either other than confirming that PM doesn't alter Locale when invoking external editors from within Photo Mechanic.

They told me that PM5 uses Apple's Launch Services to send files to applications as is standard for MacOS, so nothing unusual there. They went on to suggest that for some reason, it appears that under these circumstances, Gimp can't find its files, possibly because of a working directory issue.

I've checked permissions and so on and all is in order there.

Any ideas?

I wonder if you changed the font style in your gtkrc file it would work?
Believe it was Saulgoode that showed me this trick to change font size and type for tutorial clarity.


This is mine ( the numeral 10 is the interface font size ) "comic sans ms" is the exact name of the installed font.


Not sure if it will work to force Gimp to use a different font but it's worth a try.

Thanks Rod. I changed edited gtkrc as you suggested.

The font change is reflected if I open Gimp as normal but I still get the rectangles if I call Gimp from within Photo Mechanic.