---
name: "Gimp::Net"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "libgimp-perl"
version: "2.0.dfsg+2.2pre1.dfsg-5"
release: "Debian 5.0 (Lenny)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Gimp::Net"
---

# Gimp::Net(3pm)

Communication module for the gimp-perl server.

## NAME

Gimp::Net - Communication module for the gimp-perl server.

## SYNOPSIS

```
  use Gimp;
```

## DESCRIPTION

For Gimp::Net (and thus commandline and remote scripts) to work, you first have to install the "Perl-Server" extension somewhere where Gimp can find it (e.g in your .gimp/plug-ins/ directory). Usually this is done automatically while installing the Gimp extension. If you have a menu entry `"<Xtns"`/Perl-Server\> then it is probably installed.

The Perl-Server can either be started from the `"<Xtns"`\> menu in Gimp, or automatically when a perl script can't find a running Perl-Server.

When started from within The Gimp, the Perl-Server will create a unix domain socket to which local clients can connect. If an authorization password is given to the Perl-Server (by defining the environment variable `"GIMP_HOST"` before starting The Gimp), it will also listen on a tcp port (default 10009). Since the password is transmitted in cleartext, using the Perl-Server over tcp effectively **lowers the security of your network to** **the level of telnet**. Even worse: the current Gimp::Net-protocol can be used for denial of service attacks, i.e. crashing the Perl-Server. There also \*might\* be buffer-overflows (although I do care a lot for these).

## ENVIRONMENT

The environment variable `"GIMP_HOST"` specifies the default server to contact and/or the password to use. The syntax is \[auth@\]\[tcp/\]hostname\[:port\] for tcp, \[auth@\]unix/local/socket/path for unix and spawn/ for a private gimp instance. Examples are:

```
 www.yahoo.com               # just kidding ;)
 yahoo.com:11100             # non-standard port
 tcp/yahoo.com               # make sure it uses tcp
 authorize@tcp/yahoo.com:123 # full-fledged specification

 unix/tmp/unx                # use unix domain socket
 password@unix/tmp/test      # additionally use a password

 authorize@                  # specify authorization only

 spawn/                      # use a private gimp instance
 spawn/nodata                # pass --no-data switch
 spawn/gui                   # don't pass -n switch
```

## CALLBACKS

- *net()*

  is called after we have succesfully connected to the server. Do your dirty work in this function, or see Gimp::Fu for a better solution.

## FUNCTIONS

- *server\_quit()*

  sends the perl server a quit command.

- *get\_connection()*

  return a connection id which uniquely identifies the current connection.

- set\_connection(conn\_id)

  set the connection to use on subsequent commands. `"conn_id"` is the connection id as returned by *get\_connection()*.

## BUGS

(Ver 0.04) This module is much faster than it ought to be... Silly that I wondered wether I should implement it in perl or C, since perl is soo fast.

## AUTHOR

Marc Lehmann \<pcg@goof.com\>

## SEE ALSO

[*perl*(1)](/perl/1.md), Gimp.