[plug] The Joys of Kpackager

[Colin Rothnie]

For those that run KDE, I can strongly recommend Kpackager.  It wasn't part 
of the KDE core that I downloaded in January (1.1pre), but I think it is 
one of the "neatest" KDE programmes I have.

Clearly RPM is a far superior application loader/unloader to anything in 
the DOS/Doze world.  However, having the GUI front end makes RPM that much 
more interesting and accessible.  I went through most of the packages 
installed on my RH5.2 system (pretty well everything I have running is a 
"package"), learning what they all did and what files they have.

I am astonished at the speed of RPM.  When you see a 10 Mb package with 
hundreds of files install in seconds, it makes me think of all those times 
I used the Microsoft Install Shield, and worried about "uninstalling" 
shared DLLs.

For me the real benefits of KPackager were:
 o  being able to see the packages in a graphical hierarchy
 o  seeing a good description of each package
 o  seeing the complete file listing for each package including a green 
tick for those files that matched the original RPM file and a red cross for 
those configuration files I had modified.
 o being able to install and uninstall packages with a of a button.

Cheers