Xsane as Gimp plugin

If xsane is started as Gimp plugin, the scanned image automatically is transfered to the Gimp.
 
 
 
 

 

To start xsane as a gimp plugin, you have to set a symbolic link from the xsane binary to a GIMP plug-ins directory. If xsane is located in /usr/local/bin  and you use-gimp-1.0.x do:

ln -s /usr/local/bin/xsane ~/.gimp/plug-ins/

if you use gimp-1.1.x, you have to do:

ln -s /usr/local/bin/xsane ~/.gimp-1.1/plug-ins/

You can start xsane from the GIMP menu Xtns/Xsane if GIMP-version < 1.1.9, since GIMP-version-1.1.9 you can start xsane from the GIMP menu File/Acquire. It contains short-cuts to the SANE devices that were available at the time xsane was queried.

Note that gimp(1) caches these short-cuts in ~/.gimp/pluginrc. Thus, when the list of  available devices changes (e.g., a new scanner is installed or the device of the scanner has changed),  then it is typically desirable to rebuild this cache. To do this, you can either  touch(1) the xsane binary (e.g.,"touch  /usr/local/bin/xsane") or delete the plugin cache (e.g.,  "rm  ~/.gimp/pluginrc"). Either way, invoking gimp(1) afterwards will cause the pluginrc to be rebuilt.

If xsane is started as GIMP plugin it always sends the scanned image to the GIMP, copy- or fax- mode can not selected when xsane runs as GIMP plugin!