GIMP Version: 2.9.5
Operating System: Linux
OS Version: 16.10
GIMP Experience: Intermediate Level
URL or Image link: http://lacinato.com/pub/gimp_menu_items.png

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Howdy -- tried to google this and came up empty...

I've been using the 2.9.x pre-releases and loving them (from Otto Meier repo). Recently either a new version of gimp or an update in KDE/Kubuntu caused all drop-down menu items to start appearing invisibly (see attached image link).

I haven't adjusted anything in my theme settings (in KDE or GIMP). In GIMP I use the 04-Darker theme, but it happens with all themes. I've tried different themes in the KDE -> System Settings -> Application Style -> GNOME Application Style (GTK) window, and if I change GTK2 theme it can have an effect on the solid color in the drop-down menus, but doesn't make the text visible. (The text of the menu is visible if I open the drop-down menu, just not by default, which makes things really difficult).

Any clues for a fix? Is it a known issue? Should I somehow tweak the GTK2 theme to make it work? Am I the only one seeing this?

Thanks for any ideas!

(I've also tried enabling/disabling the "Apply colors to non-Qt applications" options to no avail.)

You seem to have tried all the options? Which KDE theme are you using?

FWIW, this is my laptop, Kubuntu 16.04 / Gimp 2.9.5 with the darker (ugh) theme in place, showing system settings.
http://imgur.com/JXXBCua

From memory, even 2.9.5 tries to pick up existing Gimp settings. Is there/was there a Gimp 2.8.x profile ~./gimp-2.8 ?

Clutching at straws, disable ~./gimp-2.8 by re-naming. Go into ~./config and disable the Gimp 2.9.5 profile ~./config/GIMP/ by renaming.

Start up gimp 2.9.5 and let it make a new default profile. Might make a difference.

As an even longer straw, you could try a Gimp 2.9.5 appimage, a linux portable application. This should run independent of any screwed up libraries.

Since the available versions are a little out of date, I started making my own. This allows me to run both Gimp 2.8 and Gimp 2.9

Since it is self contained, if it works, it might point to an updated library issue. If it does not work all you wasted is a download (73 MB) and a bit of time

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/105 ... 95.bin.zip latest 2.9.5 'autumn leaves'

Unzip, check permission is set to executable, run it. It will run (or not as the case may be) from your home partition.

Although it is portable, it does still use the gimp 2.9.5 profile folder ./config/GIMP/2.9

Thanks! I renamed both .gimp-2.8 and the .config/GIMP directories and gimp started without any remembered settings, as expected, but the problem remains.

I mimicked your desktop settings/colors/etc and the problem remains... No combination of desktop settings seems to make the drop-down menus visible. (I'm using Breeze (or Breeze Dark) Look and Feel and Desktop Themes, Colors are set to Breeze Dark, but it doesn't matter which I choose, the issue persists across all of them.)

I tried your portable version (after also renaming .gimp-2.8 and .config/GIMP) and get the same results.

To be clear, though, I'm not talking about the application menus (File, Edit, Select, etc) I'm talking about what I'm calling "drop-down menus" (e.g. in the image I posted above, the "Template" setting) e.g. when making a new file, or the overlay modes in the layers palette, etc.

I just realized that I was getting these errors on the CLI when starting GIMP:



...so, following a forum thread I found, I installed the gnome-themes-standard package, and all those errors are now gone, but... the problem remains. :-)

I am still seeing "gimp_display_shell_profile_update" three times on the CLI, in case that means anything.

Anything else to try? Thanks for help!

Wait a sec -- i think i got it! If I go to System Settings -> Application Style -> Gnome Application Style (GTK) and choose the GTK2 theme ...

I mentioned above that this changes the drop-down menus but they are still invisible. I was getting thrown by the fact that the "Template" field is supposed to be empty when that dialog opens, and wasn't noticing that the units drop-down was actually working. If I change to the "Breeze Dark" GTK2 theme, everything is looking good.

Sorry for the run-around... hopefully this will help someone else. :-)

Ok, so here's the next problem -- I can't leave the GTK2 theme set to "Breeze Dark" because Thunderbird becomes a mess when that is enabled (not GIMP's fault, I know.)

If GTK2 theme is set to Breeze, the drop-down menus in GIMP are all Breeze colored, which is ugly compared to my gimp theme choice, but I can live with that -- but that in turn makes them invisible.

So apparently GIMP is using the system GTK2 template setting to style the drop-down widgets, but it's setting the text color of the drop-down menu based on it's GIMP theme setting, which is causing this clash. If I set GIMP theme to "Darker", it renders the foreground text in white, which means using the Breeze GTK2 theme makes the drop-down menus invisible.

Is this a bug? Shouldn't GIMP leave the foreground text color of the drop-down menus alone, since every other aspect of the drop-down menu is styled by the GTK2-theme?

Or is the correct answer "Thunderbird should be able to handle the GTK2 theme without disaster"?