Are gimp plugins safe?

T

The Matt

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1,642
Edit My Images
Yes
Gimp is my photo editor of choice but I've never used plug ins before. I've just seen one I want to try, however it is 6 years old with precisely zero user ratings or feedback. Something about downloading an unrated file of unknown provenance and a file extension I don't recognise is setting off alarm bells for me... Can these be malicious? Anything I should look out for?
 
If it's a python plugin it's possible to open it in a text editor and see which commands it uses. If they are all image related, you will be OK. If they perform file commands, then you might want to look closer.
I usually use the plugins from the Gimp Registry (http://registry.gimp.org) and have not had any problems.
 
Gimp plugins are separate files installed in a plugin or script directory. Some are python, some script-fu, and a few are .exe. The first two can be inspected using a text editor. I routinely do a virus scan on all files I download, whatever the format. I have never seen any thing on the gimp website that they are unsafe, and given the nature of the Gimp community, I would have thought that such matters would have been highlighted in the plugin registry. I have been using Gimp and its plugins now for about 8 years. I think probably the worst I have experienced is a few just haven't worked or have crashed. More commonly is a lack of documentation.
 
It was one of the plugins in the pack I downloaded. It'll take me a while to sift through everything I think!
 
Ah yes. I guess if you used the Gimp program for long enough you get over the sniggering.
 
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