How do I get the latest GIMP version available?

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, 17.10, 18.04 LTS

You can do this through the Terminal:

1. Uninstall GIMP

   sudo apt-get autoremove gimp gimp-plugin-registry
   

2. Add the following PPA

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp
   sudo apt-get update
   

3. Reinstall the latest GIMP

   sudo apt-get install gimp
   

Ubuntu versions prior to 12.04

Currently there is no method to install Gimp 2.8 on any version below 12.04.

In terms of is it possible ...

Unlikely for the following reason:

The dependencies of the latest versions of Gimp require a-lot of the latest underlying libraries that you will not find by default in any version below 12.04. Thus, you will need to recompile and rewrite portions of the code to get it to compile. The further away you get from 12.04, the larger the change required.

A maintainer of the Gimp package (ppa:matthaeus123/mrw-gimp-svn) mentions in the description that it needs the latest Gnome-3 PPA as well as some other testing libraries. Both of these will not install on gnome-2 environments (below 11.10). Looking at the dependency lists for 12.04 version of Gimp, these are also not available in 11.10.

Will it ever be available in a PPA for versions below 12.04? Its probably safe to say unlikely unless there is an enterprising developer out there who wishes to port this to this.

Until then, UbuntuForums has an interesting thread on how to compile from source.

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Thus - if you definitely want Gimp 2.8 - look to installing 12.04 + one of its many desktop environments.

Ubuntu 14.04 and later

To install the latest stable version of GIMP as a snap package in all currently supported versions of Ubuntu open the terminal and type:

sudo snap install gimp

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Notes

1. If you need an incrementally newer version than the latest stable version (e.g. GIMP 2.10.2 instead of GIMP 2.10.0) install it from edge channel.

   sudo snap install gimp --channel=edge
   

2. If you need GIMP to have full access to external media (such as USB flash drive, SD/MicroSD card, additional mounted hard drive and so on), run the following command:

   sudo snap connect gimp:removable-media
   

   $ sudo snap connect gimp:removable-media
   $ snap connections gimp
   Interface              Plug                  Slot                            Notes
   content[gtk-3-themes]  gimp:gtk-3-themes     gtk-common-themes:gtk-3-themes  -
   content[icon-themes]   gimp:icon-themes      gtk-common-themes:icon-themes   -
   content[sound-themes]  gimp:sound-themes     gtk-common-themes:sound-themes  -
   cups-control           gimp:cups-control     -                               -
   dbus                   -                     gimp:dbus-gimp                  -
   desktop                gimp:desktop          :desktop                        -
   desktop-legacy         gimp:desktop-legacy   :desktop-legacy                 -
   gsettings              gimp:gsettings        :gsettings                      -
   home                   gimp:home             :home                           -
   network                gimp:network          :network                        -
   opengl                 gimp:opengl           :opengl                         -
   removable-media        gimp:removable-media  :removable-media                manual
   unity7                 gimp:unity7           :unity7                         -
   wayland                gimp:wayland          :wayland                        -
   x11                    gimp:x11              :x11                            -