Got GIMP? Popular Open Source Photoshop Rival Runs On OS X

by , 1:00 PM EDT, April 3rd, 2001

Mac, Unix, and Linux users alike have long been wondering if and how traditional Unix and Linux applications will run on Mac OS X. Results have been seemingly mixed at this early stage, but one of the open source community's crown jewels, GIMP, has been successfully compiled to run on Apple's new OS.

Chris Turkel has posted instructions and a screen shot of Gimp running under Mac OS X 10.0. The process of getting GIMP running under X is not for the faint of heart, or those that fear the command line interface. It is certainly not, however, the most complex process and will give OS X users access to one of the most powerful image editing programs on the planet. According to Mr. Turkel:

My most recent project is getting The Gimp working on Mac OS X. The Gimp is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, like Photoshop only Free and much better in almost any respect. Since Adobe has no plans for a Mac OS X version of Photoshop anytime soon I took it upon myself to get The Gimp working--kinda. It does work but it lacks many features. Use at your own risk. Your mileage may vary. The captain has turned off the Seat Belt sign.

Several people have pointed out that Adobe does plan on a Mac OS X version of Photoshop. I screwed up. Sorry!

Before you begin, this what you'll need:

• XTools, free until September, from Tenon.
• gnome-libs, GTK+, LibJepg, also from Tenon.
• Mac OS X GM, 4k78 or Final.
• Developer Tools installed.

You can find the full instructions for compiling GIMP to run on Mac OS X at Mr. Turkel's Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This is truly outstanding! While Mr. Turkle admits that it is not a perfect solution, and some features of GIMP do not totally work, it is amazing to see how easy it is to get one of the most popular, and powerful, open source applications running under X. Adobe might be MIA on X apps, but The Gimp can definitely handle some heavy duty tasks for those who don't want to run Classic image apps.

Hopefully this bodes well for feature complete ports of other open source apps to OS X in the near future. While there may not be a huge selection of OS X native software at this time, there are thousands of Linux/Unix apps just waiting to be ported to the latest and greatest OS. GIMP is a great place to start.

Chris Turkel