I've been using the Measure Segments LPE for a project I'm working on. Details at this thread.

I am getting indications that the Measure Segments LPE actually just gives you the length of a straight line between the endpoints of the segment.

To illustrate:

Now, what I want of course is the length of the curve. But the procedure I am following (in the thread indicated above, particularly the last post), indicates that the length of the curve is quite a bit longer than 44.11 mm. It's off by approximately the 12.61 mm. The greater the curvature, the greater the discrepancy.

Is the Measure Segments LPE designed to measure the length of the curve or just the straight line distance between the two endpoints? If the latter, okay, it's working correctly. If the former, it's not doing its job, at least in the Mac version of Inkscape 1.3.

Thanks for any clarification!

Not sure "Measure segments" is meant for measuring curvatures like extension "visualise Path" can but having an interactive representation of units displayed like here for instance: https://inkscape.org/forums/questions/how-do-i-put-measurements-on-the-screen/#c17636

It's working correctly. It measures straight-line distances as in architectural drawings. If you want to measure a path, use the measure tool and hover over it. Or use the extension Polygon mentioned, if you need it printed out.

Okay, thanks much!

I do wish there was a way to tear off the window of the Measure Tool and leave it next to the path, but most people probably can remember long enough to make use of the information. (I don't mind not being immortal, but aging really stinks!)

Interesting idea. I guess you could make a screenshot? My own screenshot app allows me to pin screenshots on my screen, for example (using Flameshot on Linux Mint).

This also sounds like it would be useful to be implemented as a program feature. You can open a bug report for your feature request here: https://inkscape.org/report .