kPackageKit

[riksweeney]

Am I the only one who thinks kPackageKit needs a LOT of work? The font and icons are far too big and just waste space. The list of packages to be installed and removed looks cluttered, but the biggest problem is that it simply doesn't tell you how much needs to be downloaded or how long it will take. I only got a percentage bar, which doesn't tell me much.

Have I missed a setting or is it really this basic?

[Nate]

Re: kPackageKit

It is really basic right now, but I expect a lot of improvements in the near future. Just the fact that there is an entire team of developers actively working on the program is a huge leap ahead compared to Adept. I think kpackagekit is a lot like kde4.0 was. A lot of new technology and futureproofing is going on, and the usability and polish will come later.

Despite its deficiencies I really like it.

[dibl]

Re: kPackageKit

It is kind of half-assed at the moment, but I agree with Nate that it has a bright future, or seems to as of now.

If you need a way to cope while you're waiting for a better kPackageKit, you can do like I do: install synaptic to use for looking at package info, but use apt-get to actually update and install on the system.

[Aries K]

Re: kPackageKit

Does kPackageKit still block updates or is that fixed now? I am still using Adept since it installs all updates.

[flarson]

Re: kPackageKit

I think you are misunderstanding the function of adept and kpackagekit. They are both just frontends to apt and dpkg and the blocking of packages depends on unmet dependencies that are controlled by the packagers and watched by apt/dpkg.

[Vistaus]

Re: kPackageKit

It is true that KPackageKit has a whole team of developers, while Adept is only maintained by 1 person. But Adept is by far more developed then KPackageKit, plus Adept is more realiable. I just keep using Adept for as long as possible and I hope that Canonical sees that KPackageKit isn't that good and turns back to Adept for 9.10 And else... Adept, I will never forget you.

But I have to admit that KPackage (for installing .deb and .rpm manually) is far better than GDebi.

[dibl]

Re: kPackageKit

This is the story of "what happened" with Adept Manager:

http://web.mornfall.net/blog/farewell__44___adept.html


However, there are recent indications that Canonical intends to pick up and support further development of Adept, instead of a long term commitment to KPackageKit:

http://www.milliways.fr/

Check out #6 on the "Shortlist".

[Oceanwatcher]

Re: kPackageKit

Does kPackageKit still block updates or is that fixed now? I am still using Adept since it installs all updates.

It is a known bug. Check this thread:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3102937.0

I never tried Adept, but by the sound of it, the handling of updates is a lot better than KpackageKit (what a name, btw. Anyone tried to say it fast, 10 times in a row?).

[Aries K]

Re: kPackageKit

Does kPackageKit still block updates or is that fixed now? I am still using Adept since it installs all updates.

It is a known bug. Check this thread:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3102937.0

I never tried Adept, but by the sound of it, the handling of updates is a lot better than KpackageKit (what a name, btw. Anyone tried to say it fast, 10 times in a row?).

Yeah Adept was the heat, it was stone reliable (I can see why they are picking up the development on it). KpackageKit is getting there though, the blocking problem seems to be fixed. It blocked the Amarok2 update earlier today but as soon as it downloaded the rest of the dependencies it installed just fine. I did a test today and re-installed Adept to see would it install that one blocked package and it did not even show up on it, so that tells me it wasn't Adept or KpackageKit's fault but missing dependencies by the packagers. I am starting to understand how KpackageKit and Adept are frontends to apt and dpkg like mandohacker mentioned. So basically if it will not work by typing apt-get in terminal it will not work in any gui package manager. Hope the clears things up for ya. The reason you cannot find Adept is because it was never in your apt cache, I started using Jaunty in Alpha 4 (while Adept was the main package manager so it's still in my apt-cache) and you used it later on in the release cycle (where KpackageKit took over).I like KpackageKit's simplicity and it is starting to grow on me. You learn something new everyday.

[merlyn.the.mage]

Re: kPackageKit

For what it's worth I don't have a problem with kpackakit telling me that packages are blocked, as these same packages are also indicated as blocked when doing apt-get upgrade, (usually).

I don't however like the fact that between update-notifier and kpackage the number or reported updates differs.

But that is more an irritation than anything else.

Ok it's early days yet, so give it some time.

My biggest bug bear is stability.

If update notifier indicates that updates are available I do not click on it in order to install said updates but go though System Settings > Add Remove Software > Software Updates.

Otherwise the majority of the time my system locks up immediately after the packages are installed.

Locking up in the sense that I am unable to restart x, access the command line via <ctrl> <alt> <f#>, and nothing short of a hardware reboot works.

I'd be willing to consider that using ext4 might be a contributing factor here if it weren't for the fact that my ancient laptop runs Fedora 11 (KDE) on ext4 and I have no problems whatsoever with kpackagekit, not even blocked updates.

It makes me wonder what the Fedora folks are doing differently.

[Oceanwatcher]

Re: kPackageKit

I am using Kubuntu 9.04 and my KDE is now 4.2.4, but when installing I chose to use ext3 as I am hesitant to trust my data to a new technology. Seems like that was a wise choice :-) I can not remember when I had a system freeze like that.

I still will not use ext4 on any system I install until I know that all these problems have been ironed out, even if it is even just an imagined problem

[merlyn.the.mage]

Re: kPackageKit

Hi Oceanwatcher,

that's a fair comment, and I can understand where you are coming from.

As I mentioned in my post though, I'm also running Fedora 11 on a laptop that is much older than my desktop system.

Both are using ext4, and to date I have experienced no problems with data loss etc, whatsoever.

Therefore I still have to point out that kpackagekit running without instability problems on my older laptop.

It stands to reason that ext4 is not the problem but the implementation of kpackagekit in kubuntu needs some serious love.

[marciovinicius]

Re: kPackageKit

I still don't see that bright future for Kpackagekit, to me it is only a shame.
I changed to Kubuntu recently, and by far kpackagekit is the worst surprise I found in KDE.

[Rednex]

Re: kPackageKit

Aft upgrade to 9.10 Synaptics and Adept were automatically removed. Now I can not figure out a way to make KPackageKit to show me, what packages I have installed...

Am I a dumb user or - such simple functionality is just missing?
What I'd like to see is a simple (1) way to see all packs, that I have installed, w info about available updates/upgrades, and (2) ability to browse available packs by categories w option to select for installation.
Synaptics was close to this, but missed out just slightly. I don't get why choice has been made towards KPackageKit vs Synaptics (or Adept in worst case) : KPackageKit has waaaaaaaay to grow to catch up w them...

[dibl]

Re: kPackageKit

Aft upgrade to 9.10 Synaptics and Adept were automatically removed.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install synaptic