KGoldrunner

KGoldrunner - Installation

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If you can read this, you have probably already installed KGoldrunner. This section is to help you solve any problems you may have (e.g. with missing files) and to document how installation should go.

Installation Steps

First check whether you are installing into the KDE 1 or KDE 2 desktop (in KDE 2, the "Help, About KDE" menu option of many applications shows the KDE version). Now log in as the super-user "root" (or use "su root") and set up a command-line window or Shell (e.g. "Konsole" or "Terminal").

Change to a suitable working directory and get the compressed KGoldrunner software for KDE 1 or KDE 2 into it (file "kgoldrunner-V-kdeN.tgz", where V is the KGoldrunner version number and N is 1 or 2).

Now enter the following commands:

  1. tar xvfz kgoldrunner-V-kdeN.tgz
  2. cd kgoldrunner-V-kdeN
  3. ./configure
  4. make init
  5. make
  6. make install
Commands 1 and 2 uncompress the software and change to a directory where you can run the other commands successfully. Command 3 configures the software to fit your system's directory structure, operating system, compilers and other software (e.g. the Qt object and GUI library), then generates all the "Makefile"s you will need for the "make" commands.

Command 4 adjusts the source code to compile correctly with Qt 1 or Qt 2. This step gets around a known problem with the Qt pre-processor (the Meta-Object Compiler or MOC).

Command 5 compiles all the source code and builds the "kgoldrunner" binary executable file and command 6 copies that file, the documentation, the games and levels, the icons and the KDE link file to their proper places in the KDE directory structures.

You should now be able to run "kgoldrunner" as a command, to verify the installation. KGoldrunner does consistency checks when it starts and will report any serious problems.

Menus and Desktop Icons

In KDE 1, you can find KGoldrunner on the KDE Games menu after installation. You may have to log out and in again to get it to appear.

In KDE 2, you use the KDE "System, Menu Editor" menu option to put KGoldrunner on the Games menu. You should find the KGoldrunner icon (a green figure and a bag of gold) in the list of available icons.

In KDE 1, the KGoldrunner icon appears on the desktop if you have a copy of the file "KGoldrunner.kdelnk" in sub-directory "Desktop" of your home directory. You may have to log out and in again to get it to appear. In KDE 2, you need the file "KGoldrunner.desktop" in sub-directory "KDesktop". It is not clear how you use KDE to get the file there, so just copy it from where it gets installed (i.e. "/opt/kde/applnk/Games" or "/opt/kde2/applnk/Games"). To remove the icon, right-click on it and use the popup menu.

You can get the KGoldrunner icon onto the "panel" at the bottom of the screen just by using the mouse to drag a copy there from the desktop. Alternatively, you can use the facilities on the KDE menu to add the icon to the panel. To remove the icon, right-click on it and use the popup menu.

Components of KGoldrunner

KGoldrunner has the following groups of components:
  • Source files in C++ (*.cpp and *.h),
  • Image files for Play and Edit modes, in XPM format (*.xpm),
  • "Makefile"s used to compile, build and install KGoldrunner,
  • Configuration files (config* and others),
  • The KGoldrunner executable (kgoldrunner), desktop-link and icon files,
  • Data files to define games and store high scores (*.dat),
  • Level files (*.grl) in subdirectory "levels" to store levels of games,
  • This documentation's HTML-text and image files (*.htm and *.png),
  • Package documentation files (e.g. README).
The first four groups will be used only if you are compiling and building from source files. The last five groups are typically what will be installed as a "package" from a Linux distribution (e.g. from a SuSE Linux distribution using YaST).

Flavours of KGoldrunner

KGoldrunner has been based on the KDE desktop and the Qt object library. Both of these changed substantially between their respective versions 1 and 2.

There are thus two flavours of the KGoldrunner executable file (kgoldrunner), one based on KDE1/Qt1 and the other based on KDE2/Qt2, using completely different object code libraries and having differently compiled source code. The KDE1/Qt1 flavour will not work in a KDE2/Qt2 environment and vice versa.

There are also two flavours of the desktop-link file, which links the icon images to your desktop, the games menu and the KGoldrunner executable. The desktop-link files will not work in the wrong environment either.

Where Files are Installed

Apart from the executable and the desktop-link files, all files are the same in the KDE1/Qt1 and KDE2/Qt2 environments, but they go in different places. The base directories used for installing packages are different in KDE 1 and KDE 2 and the data and levels sub-directories KGoldrunner uses are different too.

The base directory for KDE 1 applications is "/opt/kde" and for KDE 2 it is "/opt/kde2". Below that, they have similar sub-directories, as follows:

  • bin - Contains the KGoldrunner executable file (kgoldrunner).
  • share - This is the base for other sub-directories.
  • share/applnk/Games - Contains the KGoldrunner desktop-link file ("kgoldrunner.kdelnk" for KDE 1 or "kgoldrunner.desktop" for KDE 2).
  • share/icons/kgoldrunner.xpm - Contains the large (desktop) icon for KGoldrunner in KDE 1.
  • share/icons/mini/kgoldrunner.xpm - Contains the small (menu) icon for KGoldrunner in KDE 1.
  • share/icons/locolor/32x32/apps/kgoldrunner.xpm - Contains the large (desktop) icon for KGoldrunner in KDE 2.
  • share/icons/locolor/16x16/apps/kgoldrunner.xpm - Contains the small (menu) icon for KGoldrunner in KDE 2.
  • share/apps/kgoldrun - Contains the games data files for KGoldrunner in KDE 1.
  • share/apps/kgoldrun/levels - Contains the game levels files for KGoldrunner in KDE 1.
  • share/apps/kgoldrun/system - Contains the games data files for KGoldrunner in KDE 2.
  • share/apps/kgoldrun/system/levels - Contains the game levels files for KGoldrunner in KDE 2.
  • share/doc/HTML/default/kgoldrunner - Contains the default-language (English) documentation and graphics files for KGoldrunner in KDE 1.
  • share/doc/HTML/en/kgoldrun - Contains the English documentation and graphics files for KGoldrunner in KDE 2.

Working on KGoldrunner as a Developer

If you would like to work on the source code as a developer, please contact the authors first, to make sure you have the latest versions (email addresses are in the "Help, About KGoldrunner" menu option message). Also, have a look at the Technical Details section of this document.


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