I accidently stumbled upon this feature while trying to run skype via krunner when something else I did not quite intend showed up as I was typing skype into krunner

I wasn’t quite interested in beneath-a-steel-sky (whatever that is) but the fact that I could install an application (or app as they are called these days) via krunner caught my fancy.

This functionality did not come out of the box with Kubuntu 11.04, but a little investigation revealed that it was added when I tried out the latest release of Muon Suite (The awesome Package installer which should replace kpackagekit on the next version of Kubuntu) I must have installed a package called plasma-runner-installer and probably forgot all about it.

In any case it has gone a long way to enhance my workflow on kubuntu. I can now install any package I want right from Krunner without having to open a package manager or Terminal.

Installation

The package is in a 3rd repository and would need to be added.

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:echidnaman/qapt-experimental

Once added refresh your software source

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install plasma-runner-installer

I don’t remember doing this, but incase it does not work for you a little post install set-up might be needed. Go to the settings section of krunning and enabling “Installer” Plugin should do the trick.

Now everything is all set up. Simply use the keyboard short cutÂ “alt + f2″ to start krunner and type the name of the app you require

Hope someone finds this useful