No, Krusader does not need the KDE window manager to run on your computer but Krusader's natural environment is KDE, because it relies on services provided by the KDE base libraries. Only some shared libraries are needed e.g. KDE libraries, Qt™ libraries, etc. This means that Krusader runs on GNOME, AfterStep, XFce and other window managers provided the appropriate libraries are installed on your computer. All this is not a problem since the apt-get world can resolve these dependencies instantly.

You do not need to switch to the KDE window manager to use Krusader; you can still use GNOME, AfterStep, XFce or another window manager. However, the configuration of the Krusader fonts and some behavior is done by running systemsettings.

A lot depends on what you want to do with Krusader. You should know that Krusader uses the KDE KIO Slaves to access remote file systems, and support for only a limited number of file system types are shipped with KDE libraries, most of the KIO Slave are bundled with KDE base (including fish, sftp and tar). However, if you want the property-dialog to show EXIF-data for .jpeg's, you need KDEgraphics. If you want ID3-infos, you need KDEmultimedia, and so on.

To summarize, if you want a working Krusader - install KDElibs. If you want a functional Krusader then you need KDElibs + KDEbase. For maximum functionality, Krusader needs all of the KDE package libraries, but the KDE window manager is optional.

For running Krusader (e.g. when you have installed Krusader with a binary RPM) you need less libraries than if you compile Krusader from source. e.g. you only need the C-compiler gcc when you compile Krusader from source (see the next question).

Take a look at the Krusader dependencies paragraph of our install chapter.

If you need more details please take a look at the Krusader requirements on Ubuntu. The "depends" are required, the "suggests" make Krusader more powerful.

Install the missing packages.

Take a look at the Compilation requirements paragraph of our install chapter.

Most RPM-based distributions separate the headers from the libs. The headers are needed to compile Krusader. Look for packages in the form foo-devel-*.rpm (e.g. kdelibs-devel-foo.i586.rpm) or foo-dev-*.deb for Debian® based distributions. These are usually included with your distribution.

As far as we know, there are no issues. Krusader is also available on many other architectures.

Since we only prepare (and use) the source, we have no way of knowing this. Did you test the binary RPM before installing?

$ rpm -i --test </path/to/rpmfile> krusader-x.xx.dist.rpm

If the prompt returns without any message, then everything is OK. RPM's downloaded from our website are usually provided by Krusader users. Visit your distro website and search for an updated RPM.

If the RPM is not OK, try to find another package at Linux® software archives such as freshmeat.net or KDE-APPS.org. If you still cannot find the appropriate package for your Linux® distribution, we recommend searching for it with rpmfind or rpmpbone.

In general, a package for an older version of your distribution or even for another distribution might work on your computer (e.g. FC RPM's often work on Mdk and RH, and vice versa), but it is always the best that you install only RPM's that exactly match your distribution. If you cannot find a package that matches your distribution version, architecture or distribution, then use a source RPM. When you use a source RPM, the Krusader sources will be built, on your computer, guaranteeing a suitable binary RPM for your specific distribution and architecture. In addition, this method results in maximum system speed, since the resulting binary is customized for your computer. Please read the previous question, it explains how to install a source RPM. The best solution is explained in the next question.

Check if your distribution provides Krusader, if it does not then contact your distribution creator and ask them to include Krusader!

Did you take a look at the URLs on the Installation procedure page? If you have and found nothing, you can always compile Krusader from source. Even if you feel you have not got the necessary skills, you will probably succeed in compiling Krusader: we provide a very detailed installation procedure. This HowTo enables newcomers to compile Krusader from source, even if they have never done a compilation from source before, just follow the instructions carefully. Feel free to post a help request if you encounter problems.

In this case only the Help menu is visible and all other menu items like e.g. File and Select are missing. This is because some distributions put the krusaderui.rc file in the wrong directory. To solve the problem, just copy the krusaderui.rc file from the package krusader_kde3/krusader/krusaderui.rc to $KDEDIR/share/apps/krusader/krusaderui.rc and ~/.kde/share/apps/krusader/krusaderui.rc and re-run Krusader. If you have compiled Krusader from sources this is often caused if the KDEDIR - QTDIR environment variables are not correctly set. The result is that the krusaderui.rc file is installed in the wrong directory. Please read the following question, as well.

The krusaderui.rc file is stored in $KDEDIR/share/apps/krusader/krusaderui.rc. When you change the Toolbar, KDE makes a copy of that file in the home folder at ~/.kde/share/apps/krusader/krusaderui.rc. If Krusader was previously installed on your computer, and you install a newer Krusader version the ~/.kde/share/apps/krusader/krusaderui.rc file must be replaced with the newer version. Note: this will also reset all your changes on toolbars and shortcuts!

The first line of krusaderui.rc contains the version number. After installing a newer Krusader version, KDE will automatically replace the old ~/.kde/share/apps/krusader/krusaderui.rc with the newer version when starting the new Krusader for the first time (KDE will detect the newer version number in the first line).

If you install a development or beta version and Krusader was already installed on your computer then you should delete the krusaderui.rc file from your home directory to activate the new menu entries $ rm ~/.kde/share/apps/krusader/krusaderui.rc

If the ~/.kde/share/apps/krusader/krusaderui.rc file is older, then the new menu elements will not be shown. Read the previous question for information on how to update the krusaderui.rc file. If krusaderui.rc is missing or in a wrong directory, only the Help menu appears, please read the previous question.

This problem occurs when you use the NVIDIA® installer and not the official NVIDIA® packages of your distribution. Krusader is based on Qt™ which can be linked against the X OpenGL libraries. As a result Krusader may look for OpenGL as well. The problem is that the NVIDIA® installer (prior to version 7xxx) does not perform its task properly: it replaces the OpenGL header files (which get included into Krusader) but does not set the libGL links correctly. The best solution is to use the NVIDIA® packages provided by your distributor or a new NVIDIA® installer, the current version at the moment of writing is 7114. If, for some reason, you must use an old NVIDIA® driver, one solution is the following hack, the exact commands depend on the distribution used and the version of the NVIDIA® driver (6111 in this example), but it should read something like this:

$ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGLcore.so.0
          $ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGLcore.so
          $ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGLcore.so.1.0.0
          $ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGLcore.so.0.0.0
          $ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGL.so
          $ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGL.so.0
          $ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGL.so.0.0.0
          $ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGL.so.1
          $ ln -s libGLcore.so.1.0.6111 libGL.so.1.0.0
          $ ln -s /usr/lib/libGLU.la /usr/X11R6/lib/libGLU.la
          

Please read our detailed installation procedure and the FAQ. If you cannot find a solution to your problem then feel free to post a help request at our Krusader forum or use the Krusader-users mailing list. But before posting a help request, please try the following:

Thank you for your co-operation!

If you have experience with compiling from source, you will probably be able to build a Krusader RPM too. Information about RPM can be found at rpm.org and in the RPM Guide by Eric Foster-Johnson. The following is the short procedure howto on building an RPM.

Because we only change the version number just before we do a new release. Krusader-git will show an older version number, so ignore the version number and check the download date. We simply have not yet decided what the next version number will be.

Please read carefully the macports.org installation instructions. Do not forget to start dbus.

##########################################################
# Do not forget that dbus needs to be started as the local
# user (not with sudo) before any KDE programs will launch
# To start it run the following command:                 
# launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist
##########################################################

######################################################
#  Programs will not start until you run the command
#  'sudo chown -R $USER ~/Library/Preferences/KDE' 
#  replacing $USER with your username.             
######################################################