Integrating available packages in the tree

The KPackage Handbook
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# 2.3. Integrating available packages in the tree

Access to available is setup via the Location menu entries for each package type under the Settings menu.

For RPM packages KPackage can read a directory containing packages and add these to the package tree as either new or updated packages. It is possible to examine or install these packages from the package tree. By default the information about the packages is extracted from the standard format of the file names and so it is necessary to use the Examine button to see the full description, it is possible though to set an option so that for local directories each package file is read, this is slower but gives a full description.

For Debian packages that are handled using dpkg there are three ways of accessing available packages, these can be selected in three different types of location setting panels.

- Specify the location of the Debian package tree and select the distribution and architecture, KPackage will look in the standard places for the Package files describing the available packages, these packages are then added to the package tree and can be examined or installed

- Specify the location of the the Debian distribution along with the Packages files for the parts of the distribution that are of interest. If the dselect program is being used then the file `/var/lib/dpkg/available` can be used as a Packages file that describes the distribution that dselect uses.

- Packages directories can be handled in the same way as with RPM packages.

For Debian packages that are handled using APT the location of uninstalled package repositories is set in the `/etc/apt/sources.list` file, the Location menu can still be used for directories containing Debian packages. These packages are fetched and cached by APT itself, not by KPackage

For Slackware packages there is very little information stored on installed packages, but it is possible to use a `PACKAGE.TXT` file as a source of information about the installed packages. The `PACKAGES.TXT` file is the equivalent of a Debian Packages file and Slackware distributions are structured with a directory tree containing the `.tgz` packages and a `PACKAGES.TXT` file that describes the packages.

As with Debian distributions the packages in a Slackware distribution can be integrated into the package tree. Unfortunately the Slackware packages don't carry version information so it is not possible to tell with available packages are newer than installed ones.

For BSD packages KPackage will understand a packages distribution directory that contains an `INDEX` file (which describes all the packages) and also contains an `All` directory (with all the package files in it).

For remote directories and package files (i.e. those fetched via FTP) KPackage will do caching, the packages are cached in `~/.kpackage` and the directories in `~/.kpackage/dir`

| For the handling of remote (FTP) directories to work it may be necessary not have the FTP Proxy set in the Browser Settings.

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