KDE Package Manager Muon 5.8.0 Released

A few days ago a new version of KDE Plasma's package manager Muon was released. Mainly a bug-fix release, the new release does add a new feature. For those not familiar with Muon, it is a KDE Plasma 'Package Manager' for Debian (apt)-based systems, akin to GTK's long-standing Synaptic package manager.

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KDE Neon's User Edition Updated - Adds Exciting New Shiny Things Including Muon

Today KDE's Jonathan Riddell announced over at his blog that the KDE Neon User Edition iso was re-spun and added a few new items that many users (and developers) will appreciate.

On the developer front, the new iso image includes a shiny-new KDevelop 5 release for all your development needs. For those not familiar with KDevelop, it is described this way:

"Built on modern open source technology, the KDevelop IDE offers a seamless development environment to programmers that work on projects of any size. It is built by coders for coders and helps you get the job done while staying out of your way."

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With GetDeb and PlayDeb Back Online Should Kubuntu Have A Service Like This?

With the recently announced resurrection of both GetDeb and PlayDeb services, I couldn't help but wonder if the greater Kubuntu community would benefit from a service like this. For the uninitiated, GetDeb and PlayDeb are Ubuntu repositories that aim to "provide the latest open source and freeware applications for the current Ubuntu Linux release, in an easy to install manner". Additionally, these services provide a great way to browse releases and obtain software in a manner that users of that other operating system are very used to: Installing software with a mouse click. 

This service offers a great way for users to browse and install software they may not be aware of. Furthermore, the versions present in these services are often newer than the ones in the standard repositories. The downside, at least for the GetDeb website, is that the applications are geared towards Ubuntu and *not* Kubuntu. Meaning, you will not find Kubuntu / Qt apps there. Of course, that doesn't stop someone from installing these apps anyway, as they should work just fine in Kubuntu. It's just that we in KDE-land often tend to prefer KDE apps when possible.

"But we already have Muon Software Center"

Yes, Kubuntu ships with Muon. It's a great app! However, it is limited to the software sources that it has access to (and rightfully so). But utilizing the GetDeb and/or PlayDeb services, you install the repositories for the respected services. This gives the added benefit of having the ability to install these applications via Muon Software Center or Muon Discover, in addition to installing directly from Get / Play.Deb websites. This way, however you install the application(s), they will stay current automagically via the Muon Updater as part of the normal system updates.

The Case For A Kubuntu-Flavored GetDeb

Let us examine the options that exist today for a new Kubuntu / NetRunner / Linux Mint KDE user looking to install a program not in the standard repositories today. There are a few options:

• Search Google
• Pretty hit-or-miss, often outdated information
• Search Launchpad
• New users may be unaware of Launchpad's vast repositories
• New users may be unaware of how to add / remove / manage repositories
• KDE-apps.org
• Usually no Kubuntu version available, forcing a user to compile and often landing in dependency hell
• Many users are not aware of kde-apps.org
• Limited user base = limited testing and stability
• The app's website
• Same as above: If no official repository exists, the user may be left to compile

Plus, all of the above assumes that the user knows what application they want to install. There is no easy way to browse and read about all of the great software out there not in the standard repos.

Having a GetKDEDeb.org (sample name for discussion's sake) would allow a great way to both expose and distribute both newer upstream versions of software and new applications that are deemed good enough to include but at that time are not available via standard channels.

I have often seen an application on kde-apps.org or qt-apps.org and wanted to try them out, however for whatever reason compiling failed and installation was not successful.  Another potential user unexposed to a developer's beloved project.

As Usual, It Comes Down To Demand And Manpower

Of course, nothing is stopping me or you or anyone else from doing this. It comes down to if there is really a need for such a thing, and of course the big question: What person or team would manage it? Would it gt enough funding and donations to survive?

What do you think? Should something like this exist? Or is it overkill in a world of often understaffed projects already?

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Looking To Make Muon Discover Even More Versatile And Install More Than Just Apps

Since I had earlier reported on the latest Muon release, which inlcuded Muon Discover, the author has come up with a few new ways in which to use this versatile front end. If you are new to Muon Discover, it is basically like the Ubuntu Software Center except it is for Kubuntu! See my linked post above for installing.

Alex Pol, the program's author, has stated:

"The first Muon Discover iteration was centered into building a new GUI to figure out your system’s available applications. The second iteration though, was meant to be an engine overhaul. The GUI wouldn’t change much but technically it changed a lot. Muon’s internal library was repurposed into a backend-based system where APT is only a backend, which means basically two things:

• Now we can have multiple backends
• Now we don’t depend on QApt"

What the author has done already is to create front ends that allow for installing plasmoids as well as one for installing comics to the comics plasmoid. What this in essence means is that Muon Discover could be used for almost anything we can think of - from installing plasmoids to maybe being a front end to DiviantArt for searching for photos and wallpapers and the like. Some other uses that come to mind are, for example, being as front-end for:

• KDE-Look.org wallpapers, fonts, and color schemes
• KDE-Files.org for downloading templates and sample documents
• DiviantArt.com, as listed above
• Any good GPL-licensed sound and/or clipart websites or databases

Muon Discover, KNS Backend from Aleix Pol on Vimeo.

What do you think? What good uses could you see from this? Most importantly, what do you think of Muon Discover?

Resources:
Follow Muon development here: https://projects.kde.org/projects/extragear/sysadmin/muon/news
Alex Pol's Blog, The Blind Cow: http://www.proli.net/

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Muon Suite 1.4 Release Candidate Announced

Recently the latest release candidate for version 1.4 of the Muon Software Suite was announced. For those new users out there or those considering installing Kubuntu coming from another Linux variant, Muon is the flagship software manager in Kubuntu that is composed of  a software center, package manager, and an update manager.

The Packages That Make Up The Muon Software Suite In Kubuntu 12.04

This Kubuntu Computer Is Currently All Up To Date Via The Muon Updater

Starting with the first release after the last stable one four months ago (1.3), here is a cumulative change log showcasing the work that has went into this 1.4 Release Candidate:

 Features:

• Introducing Muon Discover, a new type of software center focused around finding applications. Uses QML and will be the eventual successor of the Muon Software Center.
• The Muon Software Center can now reload the APT database without kicking the user back to the home page. (BKO: #278721)
• Use the KDE proxy, if defined (BKO: #284167) (Common)
• Add the ability to filter by package architecture (BKO: #290437) (MPM)
• Add the option to filter out (uninstalled) foreign-architecture packages that duplicate their native-arch equivalents, and turn it on by default. (MPM)
• Add support to the Muon Software Center for fetching additional pages of reviews.
• Add an "In Progress" view to the Muon Software Center, to show in-progress and pending transactions.
• Display the archive component of the selected package. (LP: #883996) (MPM)
• Added support for Debian's "education" and "introspection" package categories in the Muon Package Manager.
• Added a "busy indication" throbber to the central view of the Muon Software Center to denote initialization progress. (BKO: #295045)
• Keep a local cache of the ratings file for use without internet connections. (libmuon)
• Add sorting capabilities to the Muon Sofware Center. Software can be sorted by name, rating, buzz, usage. (Also by relevancy in the case of searches)
• Add an option to the Muon Software Center to display technical items. (BKO: #297700)
• Show the package name for technical items in the Muon Update Manager and Muon Software Center. (BKO: #294172) (LP: #976071)
• The Muon Software Center and Muon Discover now can automatically utilize the check-language-support utility shipped with Ubuntu's language-selector to automatically install localization and internationalization files for the package being installed.
• The color-coded columns within the Muon Package Manager now take their colors from the KDE color scheme.
• The Muon Update Manager has been given a version column
• The updates within the Muon Update Manager are now sorted alphabetically by name.
• Miscellaneous layout improvements to Muon Discover UI elements.
• The applications list in Muon Discover is now keyboard-navigable.
• Plasma Search-and-Launch integration for Muon Discover. 

Bugfixes:

• If a user manually clicks the package name column header, sort alphabetically even if we are showing relevancy-based quicksearch results. (BKO: #284181)
• Fixed language pack support not installing the proper packages due to incorrect arguments being passed to check-language-support.

Optimizations:

• Do not create package/application objects if we know before hand that there aren't any updates to display. (MUM)
• At startup, the Muon Notifier will wait 2 minutes before showing update notifications, helping to make the login process less busy.

As you can see, the team has been busy getting Muon better and more polished all the time. Great work!

You can try out the latest Muon release candidate in Kubuntu by heading over to Launchpad and adding Jonathan Thomas' QApt Experimental software repository.

Coming soon: A detailed look at Muon Discover, which in the future will look to provide more of a software center like experience in Kubuntu. Stay tuned.

 



Source: Muon - News

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Muon Suite 1.3 Beta Released - Kubuntu PPA updated

Over on Jonathan Thomas's blog it was just anounced that the Muon Suite has been updated to 1.2.8 (1.3 Beta). This release brings both improvements and bug fixes. Per the release announcement, highlights to Muon include:

Features: Instead of just showing a blank view when no updates are available, show a little message in the window saying that the computer is either up to date, or has not been checked for updates in a while, and advise accordingly. (MUM) Added keywords to allow Muon to be found easier via KRunner. (MPM) Bugfixes: Fixed a memory leak in the new Updater where Application objects would never be deleted. (MUM) Fixed a bug where the new Update manager would complain about desktop computers being unplugged. (MUM) LP: #894123 Fixed the progress widget in the new update manager hiding immediately after being shown, the second time it is shown. (MUM) Fixed a bug where the Muon Package Manager wouldn't catch an uninstallable dependency as making the dependent package uninstallable. (MPM)

There are also bug fixes to the LibQApt back-end as well. The original post is here.

Kubuntu 11.10 users can install this latest version from the author's PPA, found at QApt Experimental PPA.

We have it up-and-running here, and all seems well!

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