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General Support - Small Package search GUI without install-function: kio-apt

zulu9 - Aug 25, 2007 - 05:57 PM
Post subject: Small Package search GUI without install-function: kio-apt

Here is a neat little thing I found.
It is a search-gui for packages without any install or upgrade options, so users don't get tempted.

Code:

apt-get install kio-apt

then navigate your konqueror to apt:/
you can search the package database on- and offline and it also makes nice summary pages with the infomation from apt-cache policy and apt-cache show. as sidux means using apt maybe this could be included in the next release (if not already in!) to provide a search- and info- gui without dangerous functions that could break things.

Please discuss kio-apt only here and don't turn it into another "why apt?"-thread!

RRowan - Aug 25, 2007 - 08:23 PM
Post subject: RE: Small Package search GUI without install-function: kio-a

Hi Zulu9

That is pretty COOL thanks.

RR

zonker - Aug 25, 2007 - 08:35 PM
Post subject: RE: Small Package search GUI without install-function: kio-a

now that is a really nice tool, thx for sharing

shame - Aug 25, 2007 - 09:37 PM
Post subject:

Well I went to install kio-apt only to find I already have it installed and never knew. Interesting...

justakiwi - Aug 25, 2007 - 11:03 PM
Post subject:

Very useful! Many thanks Smile

craigevil - Aug 25, 2007 - 11:05 PM
Post subject:

Very cool, already had it installed. Never knew what it did.

zulu9 - Aug 26, 2007 - 12:23 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Small Package search GUI without install-functio

pls move the sysinfo stuff to another thread.
this one is about kio-apt and I don't want to confuse new users reading this by stuff about inofficial debs.
thanks

h2 - Aug 26, 2007 - 12:46 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Small Package search GUI without install-functio

http://sidux.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-5559.html has the sysinfo stuff now. Let's keep this on topic to what zulu9 is doing.

craigevil - Aug 26, 2007 - 01:03 AM
Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Small Package search GUI without install-functio

A little more info on kio-apt:
Description: an apt-cache ioslave for KDE
kio-apt is an ioslave which provides the apt:/ protocol. It
integrates apt-cache functionalities into Konqueror, making
browsing the packages easier. It provides:
- apt-cache search: apt:/search?expression
- apt-cache show: apt:/show?package . The show? target
prints the policy too.
- apt-cache policy: apt:/policy?package
Homepage : http://lpnotfr.free.fr/

Very cool tool, thank you zulu9 for bringing this neat tool to everyone's attention.

shame - Aug 26, 2007 - 01:12 AM
Post subject:

And this should DEFINITELY be part of future sidux releases by default

zulu9 - Aug 26, 2007 - 01:20 AM
Post subject:

shame wrote:

And this should DEFINITELY be part of future sidux releases by default

The feedback I got so far (here and on IRC) looks like this will be the case, at least for the kde-full flavors.

zulu9 - Aug 26, 2007 - 01:28 AM
Post subject:

I created a wiki page for it. Currently it only contains the text from my fist post here.
I will improve the article soon so we got nice documentation for the manual long before next sidux release.
Feel free to contribute!
http://sidux.com/index.php?module=pnWik ... tag=kioApt

slam - Aug 26, 2007 - 07:43 AM
Post subject:

This incredible cool little thingy might be the key to get people staying away from synaptic, kpackage, adept, aptitude & friends. Very nice!

By the way, look around for other kio extensions. Many of them are very helpful:

Code:

# apt-cache search kio-

kdebase-kio-plugins - core I/O slaves for KDE

kdemultimedia-kio-plugins - enables the browsing of audio CDs under Konqueror

kdepim-kio-plugins - KDE pim I/O Slaves

kdesdk-kio-plugins - subversion ioslave for KDE

kdesvn-kio-plugins - subversion I/O slaves for KDE

kio-apt - an apt-cache ioslave for KDE

Greetings,
Chris

UncleDeadley - Aug 27, 2007 - 05:51 PM
Post subject:

Nifty! And they want us to switch away from konqueror?! They have to be crazy. Who would want to give this up?

severin - Aug 27, 2007 - 06:09 PM
Post subject:

I'd assume all the kio-slaves work in dolphin as well

actinic - Aug 28, 2007 - 12:41 AM
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The June, 2006 issue of Tux Magazine has a nice overview of some of the basic kioslave functions.

Feel free to pull it down from my ftp server:

ftp://oberon.gotdns.com/Linux_Publicati ... ne2006.pdf

muchan - Aug 28, 2007 - 09:37 PM
Post subject:

Today, I installed kio-apt (with apt-get) but couldn't find where it is, and how I can start it.
Can anyone tells me how?

zulu9 - Aug 28, 2007 - 09:52 PM
Post subject:

muchan wrote:

Today, I installed kio-apt (with apt-get) but couldn't find where it is, and how I can start it.
Can anyone tells me how?

sure.
just open konqueror and type the following into the location-bar:
apt:/

that's it Very Happy

muchan - Aug 28, 2007 - 10:17 PM
Post subject:

Thank you very much. Now I see it.

muchan

zulu9 - Aug 28, 2007 - 10:28 PM
Post subject:

updated the wiki page (draft for future manual entry):
http://sidux.com/index.php?module=pnWik ... tag=kioApt

piper - Aug 29, 2007 - 12:12 AM
Post subject:

Thanks zulu9 Smile

Dutchy - Aug 29, 2007 - 07:50 AM
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Wow! That's so much nicer looking than apt-cache, and being able to just click on the package name to get the info sure beats having to type another command.

I am all for the CLI, but sometimes, GUI apps are just plain handy, and this is such a case.

Thanks for sharing.

dan0ne - Sep 03, 2007 - 08:08 PM
Post subject:

just read this thread and had to install this kio-apt thing! Looks really cool! Just one drawback: German umlauts (ä,ö,ü,...) from the localized package descriptions are not displayed correctly. So I had a look at the sources and found in aptcache.cpp, line 40:

Code:

buffer += QString::fromLatin1(input, input_len);

which I changed to

Code:

buffer += QString::fromUtf8(input, input_len);

Now I get the right Umlauts. But I don't know if that's the best way or if one should check the encoding of the underlying system at runtime (how?)...

P.S.: I just filed a bug on bugs.debian.org ...

dan0ne

ava_odoemena - Feb 06, 2008 - 08:55 PM
Post subject:

This is useful, albeit inducing alienating feelings at first into this ex-Kubuntu former adept user. I had installed kpackage before, though not intended to use it but just for looking. I don't know yet what commands are used to do this job on the console. Until now when I wanted a new application I changed onto the first console, logged in as root and typed the name of the app after the install. Often that works, but sometimes the name of the package is not identical with the name of the application. In this case I just websearched the application for the package name.

Kio-apt will eradicate the need for these searches.

One thing confusing me is when I do an online search, I get an error message on the Debian page that I followed an old url.

I would like to understand the functions that craigevil talked about:

- apt-cache search: apt:/search?expression
- apt-cache show: apt:/show?package . The show? target
prints the policy too.
- apt-cache policy: apt:/policy?package

What does this mean?

muchan - Feb 06, 2008 - 10:10 PM
Post subject:

In sidux manual: (English): http://manual.sidux.com/en/sys-admin-ap ... #apt-cache

If you prefer other language version, you can just press the icon of a book with flags.
In each language, the 2nd from the bellow has manual page for apt. Worth reading through.

ava_odoemena - Feb 07, 2008 - 02:27 PM
Post subject:

Thanks, I guess I just got caught reading tfm not all the way through... Whoopsie.

I also discovered that it is even possible with this to bookmark a search for a particular package. This is great because often, an application is not immediately needed but interesting. At a later point when it is needed, the name has evaporated from the memory into the nirvana and seems to resist all attempts to be found again. This way interesting applications can be bookmarked and stored in an kio-apt folder. Cool.

cas - Jun 29, 2008 - 01:31 AM
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the online search seems to be buggy: whatever I put in the field named "packages.debian.org", it searches always for "search" ( http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=search ), which is useless.

I also want to make a suggestion for improvement: Change the caption

"packages.debian.org"

to

"Online search
(packages.debian.org)"

When I first used this tool, I became confused, where the differences between all these fields where.

aus9 - Aug 02, 2008 - 07:06 AM
Post subject:

zulu9

Thankyou for the wiki and info on kio-apt
Assuming you do not mind me asking newbie questions

1) I can run kio-apt in Konqueror but when I was looking at it

Code:

find / -name kio-apt

/usr/share/doc/kio-apt

/usr/share/lintian/overrides/kio-apt

and peeking into that last folder gives me

kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-file.desktop:2 Charset
kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-file.desktop:4 Keys
kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-file.desktop:6 Query
kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-files.desktop:2 Charset
kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-files.desktop:4 Keys
kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-files.desktop:6 Query
kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-search.desktop:2 Charset
kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-search.desktop:4 Keys
kio-apt: desktop-entry-contains-unknown-key ./usr/share/services/searchproviders/apt-search.desktop:6 Query

Do you have any idea why this is or if I should be concerned by it etc?

Am I missing some kind of debconf config file for it?

I have copied and pasted....it looks suspect to report
dot/usr/share.....instead of......./usr/share

Could this be a bug?

I repeat it works....but if I can help trouble shoot any errors that might improve your wiki....feel free to be as blunt as you like.

I am an intermediate user of Linux but a newbie at Debian style distros.

cheerio

davewt2006 - Aug 02, 2008 - 10:24 AM
Post subject:

cas wrote:

the online search seems to be buggy: whatever I put in the field named "packages.debian.org", it searches always for "search" ( http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=search ), which is useless.

I get exactly the same problem -whatever I type in it searches for "search".