Index: app/file/file-utils.c
===================================================================
--- app/file/file-utils.c	(revision 22465)
+++ app/file/file-utils.c	(working copy)
@@ -109,12 +109,13 @@
   gchar *absolute;
   gchar *uri;
 
-  g_return_val_if_fail (GIMP_IS_GIMP (gimp), NULL);
+  g_return_val_if_fail (gimp == NULL || GIMP_IS_GIMP (gimp), NULL);
   g_return_val_if_fail (filename != NULL, NULL);
   g_return_val_if_fail (error == NULL || *error == NULL, NULL);
 
   /*  check for prefixes like http or ftp  */
-  if (file_proc_find_by_prefix (gimp->plug_in_manager->load_procs,
+  if (gimp &&
+      file_proc_find_by_prefix (gimp->plug_in_manager->load_procs,
                                 filename, FALSE))
     {
       if (g_utf8_validate (filename, -1, NULL))
@@ -140,13 +141,23 @@
 
       if (! strcmp (scheme, canon) && g_ascii_isgraph (canon[0]))
         {
-          g_set_error (error, G_FILE_ERROR, 0,
-                       _("URI scheme '%s:' is not supported"), scheme);
+          if (gimp)
+            {
+              g_set_error (error, G_FILE_ERROR, 0,
+                           _("URI scheme '%s:' is not supported"), scheme);
 
-          g_free (scheme);
-          g_free (canon);
+              g_free (scheme);
+              g_free (canon);
 
-          return NULL;
+              return NULL;
+            }
+          else
+            {
+              g_free (scheme);
+              g_free (canon);
+
+              return g_strdup (filename);
+            }
         }
 
       g_free (scheme);
@@ -180,7 +191,7 @@
 {
   gchar *uri;
 
-  g_return_val_if_fail (GIMP_IS_GIMP (gimp), NULL);
+  g_return_val_if_fail (gimp == NULL || GIMP_IS_GIMP (gimp), NULL);
   g_return_val_if_fail (filename_or_uri != NULL, NULL);
   g_return_val_if_fail (error == NULL || *error == NULL, NULL);
 
@@ -704,27 +715,27 @@
       c = *in;
 
       if (c == '%')
-	{
-	  /* catch partial escape sequences past the end of the substring */
-	  if (in + 3 > in_end)
-	    break;
+        {
+          /* catch partial escape sequences past the end of the substring */
+          if (in + 3 > in_end)
+            break;
 
-	  c = unescape_character (in + 1);
+          c = unescape_character (in + 1);
 
-	  /* catch bad escape sequences and NUL characters */
-	  if (c <= 0)
-	    break;
+          /* catch bad escape sequences and NUL characters */
+          if (c <= 0)
+            break;
 
-	  /* catch escaped ASCII */
-	  if (ascii_must_not_be_escaped && c <= 0x7F)
-	    break;
+          /* catch escaped ASCII */
+          if (ascii_must_not_be_escaped && c <= 0x7F)
+            break;
 
-	  /* catch other illegal escaped characters */
-	  if (strchr (illegal_escaped_characters, c) != NULL)
-	    break;
+          /* catch other illegal escaped characters */
+          if (strchr (illegal_escaped_characters, c) != NULL)
+            break;
 
-	  in += 2;
-	}
+          in += 2;
+        }
 
       *out++ = c;
     }
Index: app/main.c
===================================================================
--- app/main.c	(revision 22465)
+++ app/main.c	(working copy)
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 #include "config/gimpconfig-dump.h"
 
 #include "core/gimp.h"
+#include "file/file-utils.h"
 
 #include "widgets/gimpdbusservice.h"
 
@@ -346,7 +347,7 @@
     {
       if (error)
         {
-	  gimp_open_console_window ();
+          gimp_open_console_window ();
           g_print ("%s\n", error->message);
           g_error_free (error);
         }
@@ -715,12 +716,26 @@
           for (i = 0, success = TRUE; filenames[i] && success; i++)
             {
               gboolean retval;  /* ignored */
+              gchar *uri;
 
-              success = dbus_g_proxy_call (proxy, method, &error,
-                                           G_TYPE_STRING, filenames[i],
-                                           G_TYPE_INVALID,
-                                           G_TYPE_BOOLEAN, &retval,
-                                           G_TYPE_INVALID);
+              uri = file_utils_any_to_uri (NULL, filenames[i], &error);
+
+              if (uri)
+                {
+                  success = dbus_g_proxy_call (proxy, method, &error,
+                                               G_TYPE_STRING, uri,
+                                               G_TYPE_INVALID,
+                                               G_TYPE_BOOLEAN, &retval,
+                                               G_TYPE_INVALID);
+
+                  g_free (uri);
+                }
+              else
+                {
+                  g_printerr ("conversion filename -> uri failed: %s\n",
+                              error->message);
+                  g_clear_error (&error);
+                }
             }
         }
       else