Hack 30 Point-and-Klik to Install Applications

Install extra software on your Knoppix live CD just by clicking a link on a web site.

Knoppix offers a broad variety of software, but due to space limitations on the Knoppix CD and licensing issues, some software cannot be included with the Knoppix. There is an easy way to get additional software from the Web while using Knoppix from a CD. With the klik software store (a web interface for klik recipes), a plug-in for Konqueror allows you to execute the klik installer just by clicking on a URL that starts with "klik://".

Before you install software with klik, you must install the klik client itself. Go to http://klik.sf.net and follow the instructions. (I don't repeat them here, because by the time you have read this book, the installation of the client might have become even easier.) Once you have installed the klik client, a new window opens to http://klik.sf.net, and you can start installing software from the point-and-klik software store.

For example, to install KPlayer, the powerful KDE media player, click on the Kplayer link. Notice that the URL of the link is klik://kplayer. You can easily remember a klik link and also email it to friends or post it to discussion boards. Click on the link with Konqueror, and the klik client begins to download and install the KPlayer software along with any dependencies. You can also enter klik links into the Run Command window (Click K MenuRun Command or press Alt-F2). Once the download is complete, klik automatically runs the software and places a new entry into the KDE start menu. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, you should have KPlayer up and running in a few seconds or minutes.

When you install software with klik, the application and all additional software that it needs to run (libraries, help pages, icons, etc.) are placed within a single directory per application within your home directory. KPlayer, for example, is installed to ~/kplayer. This concept makes it extremely easy for you to manage software. You always know what gets installed where, and if you want to uninstall an application, you simply delete its application directory, then remove that application's files under ~/.kde/share/applnk/klik/ to remove the application from the KDE menu. Every application is self-contained in its own directory (at least relative to the specific Knoppix base system). It is important to know that you can safely play around with klik and try as many applications as you want without the risk of breaking the system.

Klik installs all software into the current user's home directory by default. Knoppix uses a ramdisk for the home directory, so if you want to keep the software that you have installed with klik to stay across reboots, make your home directory persistent [Hack #21] .

—Simon Peter