gimp-help apparently broken unless local help file is installed

[ken@…]

For a few years I've been using the online gimp help via gvfs, to be sure what I had was up to date (although the online 2.10 files seem not to have been updated since 2.10.18), and I had my preferences set to use firefox for the help.

What happened up to and including blfs-11.1 was that clicking on help would move firefox, if already running, to the desktop where gimp was open, open a new tab, and display the help in that.

The move to gvfs-1.50 without libsoup3 means that gvfs cannot open the help (we specifically disable that to allow gvfs to build without libsoup3) - it provides a dialog saying it cannot open the help.

I have tried reverting to gvfs-1.48 with libsoup2, but something else must have changed - it opens a new instance of firefox on firefox's home page, without any tab for the help and without any error message.

By not building gvfs and instead building the local help (needs -j1 on the haswell where I tried that) clicking on help opens the help in firefox on the same desktop as gimp, moving firefox to that desktop - i.e. the old behaviour.

Maybe this is something weird in my own setup, but certainly current gvfs (1.50+) without libsoup3 cannot open the online help. I suggest that this needs to be reviewed when 11.2 is released.

xry111 wondered if a glib breakage which also affects Pierre might be involved, ​https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/glib/-/issues/2639

[Bruce Dubbs]

Try building gvfs-1.5.1 with libsoup3 (it can be installed along side libsoup2). There is a patch for gvfs needed though:

​https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gvfs/-/commit/0c89894f3db3b8f1baba55329720bc12d49d1709

[Bruce Dubbs]

I think an alternative to the gvfs patch is to use both

-Dhttp=true
-Ddnssd=true

If you have avahi installed. It built for me, but I havn't tested gimp-help with it.

[ken@…]

With the patch (and without avahi), using the meson switches in the book it works for me. Thanks.

To clarify for any bystanders reading this: gvfs-1.50.1 fails to build without avahi. The patch has been merged.

[Bruce Dubbs]

When the next version of gvfs is released, we can add back -Ddnssd=false and demote avahi back to optional.

In the meantime I will close this ticket.