Crashes when working on extremely large files
GIMP version: 2.8.16
Note: bug reporters are expected to have verified the bug still exists either in the last stable version of GIMP or on updated development code (master branch).
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro x64
Package: From GIMP website
Description of the bug
My computer has 16 GB RAM Gimp uses all of it causing slow downs as disk is used instead. This is not the issue. The issue is that sometimes, when saving or when adjusting something like using the selection tool, GIMP crashes, likely because there's not enough resources available.
My canvas was 40.000 x 40.000 and I was nearing the point where I had to expand it, so I saved just in case, and then it crashed. The save file is useless as only the small layers were saved. I am stitching together (or was) 130 images into one big image, but got to around 60 when the crash happened. All image files are 3840 x 2160 so you can imagine I need a big canvas, and merging the images to one layer, apparantly is resource intensive.
I just lost 6 hours of work by the way. Yay, thank you very much.
Reproduction
Create massive layers or canvas size, then plop some 4k pictures in there with 8-16 GB of RAM and see the crash eventually.
I believe optimisation is in order of this program. My disk used was nVME so plenty fast. Surely I shouldn't have to buy a 64 GB kit just for this one specific task.
Last thing I remember was that at the bottom in the status line, it said around 15 GB file size of the current project