Is it possible to download and compile just kde3's krunner for use with kde4? i'm sick to death of krunner not running things.

Alt+F2 kwrite [enter] = nothing
Alt+F2 kwrit (e autocompleted) [enter] = kwrite launched

usually it goes like this:

Alt+F2 [type in command] [enter] = ... wait ...nothing
Alt+F2 [Up arrow] [enter] = program if i enter is pressed before the dropdown shows up and selects the icon

I HATE KRUNNER. I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT!!!!! :-@

Because Kickoff ( the KDE 3 KRunner ) is based on Qt3 ( and KDE 3 ), it is not possible to compile it for KDE 4 ( based on Qt4 ). It also would not integrate with KDE 4 either.

I'm not sure what is wrong with your krunner, I definitely do not have those problems. I can't say for kwrite specifically since I do not have it installed (I always use kate), but it has never happened for any other application I have tried to launch. Perhaps you should submit a bug report.

But I know the old krunner is there in some manner, since it appears in some instances (like adding applications to "file type associations" config area). At least I think it is the old krunner.

:lightbulb:

Thinking I know whats causing it:

enabled krunner plugins: applications, command line, locations

Apps with a unique enough name to not cause focus to shift from the first selected icon when typing their name

Alt+F2
k
w
r
(kwrite icon shows in the dropdown and i is shown in grey)
i
(nothing shown in grey)
t
(e shown in grey, run kwrite shows up on the right of the kwrite icon)
e
[enter]
... waiting
(nothing is executed)

app with name that causes focus to shift

konsole works fine because the focus shifts:

k
o
(n in grey, konqueror, konsole and konsole shown)
n
(nothing in grey)
s
(konsole is the only icon present)
o
l
e
[enter]
(app starts)

Interesting Case 1: App that has never been run before

first run

Xgmplayer (script, only run through dolphin's mime type settings, not in krunner)
x
g
m
p
l
a
y
e
r
(shows the command line icon with xgmplayer)
[enter]
(gmplayer video starts)

second run

Xgmplayer
x
g
(auto-completed mplayer in grey)
m
p
l
a
y
e
r
[enter]
(nothing!)

Interesting Case 2: Gnome Baker

g
n
(autocompletes to gnomebaker)
(the first icon shown is the run gnomebaker icon, the second icon is the gnomebaker with kde's icon from the icon theme)
o
m
e
b
a
k
e
r
[enter]
(nothing happens)

So the order does not matter.

I have very little installed on this system so when i run kate, kwrite, gwenview their names are such that the focus never moves from the first icon thats shown, so it doesn't work. same for firefox (script /usr/local/bin/firefox which runs firefox).

This effects kde3, kde4, command line apps with or without arguments (for example kquitapp plasma & sleep 1 && plasma) gnome apps and xorg apps and doesn't appear to be app specific.

in conclusion krunner is br0ked.

Anyway, back on topic, i didn't want to compile kde3's krunner for kde4, i want to only compile kde3's run dialogue and whatever it needs from all the whole of kdebase.

I've got the same problem. Glad to know I'm not the only one imagining this.

The core problem is that KRunner searches synchronously as you type. This leads to the situation where I can actually type faster than the computer. The last computer I was able to type faster was a PDP-8. This is embarassing! It's made even worse that on one of my systems the rendering is so slow you can see KRunner draw. (Yes, I have bugs logged).

Compare this to KDE3 MiniCLI: it doesn't start searching until you hit return. I think the new functionality in KRunner is good, but it comes at the expense of the very basic functionality that KDE2 and 3 came with. The Kickoff search bar has the same functionality and is faster, so it can be done!

i'd be happy if someone just created a kde3 plugin for kde4's krunner which makes it do exactly what kde3's run dialogue would have done

I've compiled and install kdebase and kdelibs 3.5.10 into /opt, but there doesn't seem to be a krunner in the bin folder

I think the component is called minicli in KDE3.

Try disabling the "Applications" runner. The locations runner needs a path / URL, so it shouldn't do anything, leaving it all to the command runner.

Solved!!

installed kde3 to /opt to get its run dialogue

I think the actual problem isn't the retrieving of searches ( given that Kickoff can do it, and bash is instant as well ) but it is the SVG rendering. I suffer from this with the Systray notifications.

-> Notification triggered
-> Black area appears, Hard Disk activity shoots up
-> Area renders ( +secs later )
-> If I am lucky I get to read the message