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Pinta

DESIGN
Velocity0.0

Simple open source drawing and image editing program

pinta-project.com ↗

Pinta is still paying down the GTK4 port while shipping real features on top of it.

image-editinggtk4desktop-linuxtoolkit-churncross-platform-packaging
◆Current state
Pinta runs two tracks at once. One is a steady stream of 3.0.x and 3.1.x patches fixing icons that stop rendering, crashes, and packaging problems — most of them traceable to the GTK4 and libadwaita port and to GNOME versions moving underneath it. The other is genuine feature work: 3.1 brought an axonometric grid, a polygon selection mode for the Lasso tool, gradient handles, a layer context menu, a Cells effect and a Windows ARM64 installer, on top of a rewritten canvas widget.
◆Where it's heading
The pattern is a small team absorbing the cost of a large architectural move. Every few months a GTK or GNOME release breaks icon loading or a pixbuf path, and Pinta ships a patch; meanwhile the feature list keeps growing at a rate that suggests the port has stopped consuming all the oxygen. The dependency floor rising to GTK 4.18 and libadwaita 1.7 in 3.1 shows the project has chosen to track the toolkit closely rather than pin behind it, which is why the breakage keeps arriving and also why it keeps getting fixed quickly.
◆Prediction
Expect the alternating rhythm to continue — a feature-carrying minor release followed by patches cleaning up toolkit and packaging fallout — with the next round of breakage most likely arriving with the following GNOME cycle.

◆Recent moves

  1. 4mo ago

    Pinta 3.1.2

    A patch clearing several genuine crashes — right-clicking a layer, setting gamma to zero in Levels — along with icons failing to load on certain GTK versions and the gradient tool polluting the history stack. More of the GTK-version fallout that has followed the 3.x line throughout.

    View source ↗
  2. 6mo ago

    Pinta 3.1.1

    Adds a non-administrative install mode to the Windows installer, repairs a release tarball missing required files, and fixes a selection-tool performance regression on large images caused by 3.1's canvas widget rewrite. The regression fix is the notable one: it is the direct cost of that rewrite showing up in use.

    View source ↗
  3. 7mo ago

    Pinta 3.1

    The first substantial feature release since the GTK4 port: an axonometric canvas grid, a polygon mode for Lasso Select, adjustable gradient handles, a layer right-click menu, a Cells effect, controllable random seeds for effects, animated selection outlines and a Windows ARM64 installer, over a rewritten canvas widget aimed at zoomed-in performance. It also raises the floor to GTK 4.18 and libadwaita 1.7.

    View source ↗
  4. 8mo ago

    Pinta 3.0.5

    A single-issue patch restoring icons that stopped displaying under GNOME 49. The third release in this feed whose entire content is icons breaking against a new toolkit version.

    View source ↗
  5. 10mo ago

    Pinta 3.0.4

    Fixes errors saving JPEG files through the glycin pixbuf loader, plus SVG icons misrendering on GTK 4.20. A broken save path for the most common export format is more serious than the patch number suggests.

    View source ↗
  6. 10mo ago

    Pinta 3.1 Beta 1

    A beta build put out for testing ahead of 3.1, with no changes described in the announcement itself — it points at the changelog instead. Marks the start of the 3.1 stabilization window.

    View source ↗