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

[Duncan]

yahoo-pier_andreit posted on Sat, 27 Feb 2016 03:56:06 +0100 as excerpted:

> I'm using opensuse leap 42.1 and I would like to have a way to know kde
> applications version using commandline.
> how Ican get this??

In most cases, like this (using konsole as my example, no idea what the 
qapplication object complaint is about, but the versions are returned and 
konsole works just fine =:^) :

$ konsole --version
QCoreApplication::arguments: Please instantiate the QApplication object 
first
Qt: 5.5.1
KDE Frameworks: 5.19.0
Konsole: 15.12.1

$ kwin_x11 --version
kwin 5.5.4

(That doesn't give the frameworks or qt version, but it does give kwin 
version.)

There are, however, some executables for which that doesn't work.  Just 
doing an equery files plasma-desktop | grep bin (on gentoo, equery is a 
package manager query tool), to get the bin files in the plasma-desktop 
package, yields several binaries.  The first one I picked, solid-action-
desktop-gen (picked as it seemed reasonably obscure), yielded a version:

$ solid-action-desktop-gen --version
solid-action-desktop-gen 0.4


But the second one I picked, from the same bin list, kapplymousetheme, 
didn't:

$ kapplymousetheme --version
<nothing returned, except an exit status 1, indicating an error>


However, kapplymousetheme, while an elf executable (not a shell script or 
some such), seems to be a pretty simple one, as ldd says it only links to 
about 10 libraries, generally generic X libs, not the several dozen 
including qt and kde-frameworks libs that real kde-based executables 
link.  So it's apparently a small and simple single-purpose executable, 
without the usual qt and kde-frameworks linkages that more complex kde 
and plasma executables use.

Which also explains:

$ kapplymousetheme --help
<nothing but an exit status of 1>

Normally, kde apps will have a help output listing their own options and 
parameters, with two such options being --help-qt and --help-kde, which 
list the generic qt and kde options they inherit via the qt and kde libs.  
Obviously, kapplymousetheme is too small and simple for that, not 
inheriting the libs and thus not responding as usual to the --help option.

Not too surprising, considering kapplymousetheme is under 10 KiB (10024 
bytes, here), and links to so few libs.  A strings run on it doesn't 
output a lot, either, maybe 40 lines or so, and no interesting error 
messages or help output of any sort, so again, pretty simple, designed 
for one purpose only, no user help output and likely no options, so you 
gotta know how to use it to use it.  I guess it's designed as a helper 
binary to be called by the relevant kcontrol panel (aka kde system 
settings) applet, probably not for direct use by humans.


So in general, the --version option should do it, but there are a few 
binaries it doesn't work on.  There, simply querying your package manager 
to see what package the app belongs to, and what version of that you have 
installed, should work.  Here's how it would work on gentoo, for 
kapplymousetheme:

$ equery belongs kapplymousetheme
 * Searching for kapplymousetheme ... 
<some complaints because I don't actually have the filesystem with the 
packages tree in it mounted, but it can still give me an answer from the 
installed package database>
kde-plasma/plasma-desktop-5.5.4 (/usr/bin/kapplymousetheme)


So in that case the package and version is plasma-desktop 5.5.4.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman