[kde-linux] how to get kde applications version with commandline

[James Tyrer]

On 02/28/2016 06:42 PM, Duncan wrote:
> teppisti-xpla posted on Sun, 28 Feb 2016 09:47:02 +0100 as excerpted:
>
>> On 27/02/16 19:29, Kevin Krammer wrote:
>>> On Saturday, 2016-02-27, 18:53:59, yahoo-pier_andreit wrote:
>>>
>>>> many thanks duncan,  :-) , sorry, but I intend KDE application as one
>>>> of the three branch in whitch kde splitted itself as KDE-framework and
>>>> plasma.
>>>> so with kf5-config --version I get version of kde-framework and with
>>>> plasmashell --version I get the version of plasma which is the command
>>>> to get the version of KDE-applications???
>>> By querying --version of an application, e.g.
>>> kate --version dolphin --version ark --version
>>>
>> hi kevin, it doesn't work ... :-)  :-)  :-)
>>
>> googling
>> in august 2015 kde applications was:
>> KDE Ships KDE Applications 15.08.0
>> and I cannot see any bigger or similar to this
>>
>> pla at suseST-pla:~> kate --version
>> Qt: 4.8.6
>> KDE Development Platform: 4.14.17
>> Kate: 3.14.17
>> pla at suseST-pla:~> dolphin --version
>> dolphin 15.12.2
>> pla at suseST-pla:~> ark --version
>> Qt: 4.8.6
>> KDE Development Platform: 4.14.17
>> Ark: 2.19
>> pla at suseST-pla:~> konsole --version
>> Qt: 4.8.6
>> KDE Development Platform: 4.14.17
>> Konsole: 2.14.2
>> pla at suseST-pla:~> systemsettings5 --version
>> systemsettings 5.5.4
>> pla at suseST-pla:~>
> Those Qt 4.x, kde 4.14.x, versions, are still the kde4 (4.14.17, here
> based on qt 4.8.6) versions.
>
> It is worth noting, however, that with kde/frameworks5 and kde apps 15.x,
> applications are switching from the older qt/kde4 versions to the new qt/
> kde5 versions individually, one at a time as their maintainers consider
> them ready.  This is quite unlike the kde3 -> kde4 switch, as kde4 wasn't
> as modularized as kde/frameworks5 is, and everything that at the time
> shipped with kde core had to sync on the same kde core version, so the
> choice was either use all the new versions even when some aren't ready,
> or use all the old versions even tho upstream isn't updating most of them
> any further and they're effectively unsupported.
>
> So kde apps 15.08 still shipped with a lot of kde4-based apps, and even
> kde apps 15.12 ships with a significant number, tho a few more apps have
> switched to their frameworks5 versions in 15.12, compared to 15.8.
>
> FWIW, I'm running kde apps 15.12.1 here, tho I only have select apps
> installed and kate isn't one of them, tho kwrite is.
>
> $ kwrite --version
> kwrite 15.12.1
>
> $ dolphin --version
> dolphin 15.12.1
>
> $ ark --version
> ark 15.12.1
>
> $ konsole --version (as posted earlier)
> Qt: 5.5.1
> KDE Frameworks: 5.19.0
> Konsole: 15.12.1
>
> $ systemsettings5 --version
> 5.5.4
>
>
> All of those but systemsettings5 are part of kde apps, with
> systemsettings5 being part of plasma, thus the differing version there.
> And all reported --version outputs correspond to the package versions I
> have installed, here on gentoo:
>
> kde-apps/kwrite-15.12.1
> kde-apps/dolphin-15.12.1
> kde-apps/ark-15.12.1
> kde-apps/konsole-15.12.1
>
> kde-plasma/systemsettings-5.5.4
>
> And at least in kde apps 15.12.1, all of those are qt/kde/frameworks5
> based.
>
> Here's a few examples of 15.12.1 packages still based on qt/kde4, however
> (with the list of deps on kdelibs package-manager queried first, since
> all kde4 apps dep on it, while kde5 doesn't have a kdelibs package, it's
> broken into various individual frameworks packages, then a few of them
> picked as examples to post here):
>
> $ okular --version
> Qt: 4.8.7
> KDE Development Platform: 4.14.17
> Okular: 0.24.0
>
> But that's from the kde-apps/okular-15.12.1 package.
>
> Similarly, a lot of the old kde-games packages are still kde4 based:
>
> $ palapeli --version
> Qt: 4.8.7
> KDE Development Platform: 4.14.17
> Palapeli: 2.0
>
> But its package is kde-apps/palapeli-15.12.1
>
> And:
>
> $ kreversi --version
> Qt: 4.8.7
> KDE Development Platform: 4.14.17
> KReversi: 2.0
>
> But its package is kde-apps/kreversi-15.12.1
>
>
> So as you see, apps that have been kde/frameworks5 ported show the
> 15.12.1 version that corresponds to the kde apps package they come from,
> while apps that are still kde4 based still report kde 4.14.17 (the kdelibs
> version) and whatever package-specific (or perhaps kdegames module
> specific) version number, whether that's the 0.24.0 of okular, or the 2.0
> of palapeli and kreversi.
>
> If your distro is still running kde apps 15.08, quite a few more of those
> apps will be kde4 based, and while I don't know for sure if the specific
> ones you listed are, there's a pretty good chance that in 15.08 they are,
> tho by 15.12, as I demonstrated, many of them are kde/frameworks5 based,
> tho there's still quite a few kde4 based apps left to port, and some may
> never get ported.
>
> (One of the still kde4-based apps I continue to use that I know is in the
> "won't be ported" category is superkaramba.  While it was part of the
> 15.08 releases, it was still kde4 based there, and it's not part of the
> 15.12 releases.  Fortunately, the old kde4-based kde-apps/
> superkaramba-15.08.3 still works for now, but eventually, I'll either
> have to rewrite my superkaramba theme to qtquick, thereby porting it to
> plasma5 directly, or switch to gkrellm or konqy and rewrite to their
> widget types, since superkaramba is now officially a dead end, and it's
> only a matter of time now until superkaramba either breaks, or most of
> the rest of my kdelibs4 based apps have been frameworks5 ported, and the
> rest abandoned and left for dead, and either kdelibs4 itself is abandoned
> and breaks, or I've so little stuff left using it that I want it off the
> system so I don't have to worry about it as a dep any longer.)
>
The situation becomes even more confusing with the current 5.20.0 
release and the 15.12.3 applications.  Some of these will still build 
for only Qt-4 while others will build for either Qt-4 or Qt-5 (with KF5) 
some depending on whether Qt-4 or Qt-5 is available and a very few 
having to be told to use KF5 even if they can't find Qt-4 because I 
removed it from the PATH as per BLFS instructions.

So, I wouldn't really say that the version of the application is the 
important thing to know.  What is important to know is whether you are 
using a KDE-4 or KF5 application -- presuming that unless something went 
wrong that you should be using the latest installed application for the 
respective KDE-4 or KF5 systems.

This does leave a user with a problem.  If you have both KDE-4 and KF5 
versions of an application installed, there is no way to tell them 
apart.  The desktop files do not have different names for the 
applications (e.g. Konquror-4 & Konqueror-KF5) and the desktop files do 
not have paths in the "Exec" statement so you always get the same One 
dependent on the PATH.

So, I think that I will have to install the KDE-4 versions of the 
missing KF5 applications in the KF5 directory and remove the KDE-4 
directory from the path.  Special cases will have to be made for Kalarm 
which has a TimeZone problem with KF5 and Konqueror which I what to have 
both versions of available.

-- James Tyrer

Linux (mostly) From Scratch

-- 
James Tyrer

Linux (mostly) From Scratch