LinuxQuestions.org - Kopete configuration unclear in RH9 after rpm install

I am running KDE 1.1-10 on a RH9 installation with the 2.4.20-8 kernel. Unfortunately, I know just enough to be dangerous at this point :-) I believe I was able to successfully install kopete-0.7.3-1. When I run kopete, no plugins are shown in the configure kopete wizard. The Kopete install tips recommends the following:

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Installation tips
If you don't see any "plugins" listed in the "plugins" page of the configuration dialog after installing Kopete you may have installed it in a directory where KDE doesn't look for additional resources like plugins.
KDE applications by default look in all directories listed in the /etc/kderc file, the $KDEDIRS environment variable, in $KDEDIR if this variable doesn't exist, and ultimately in the directory where kdelibs is installed. Unless you take special precautions applications will _NOT_ look in other directories, even if you install additional software (like Kopete) there.
The best solution is to add the following to /etc/kderc (create the file if it doesn't exist yet):
[Directories]
prefixes=/the/prefix/I/used/for/kopete

If you don't have write access to /etc/kderc, or if you want to use more parallel builds of KDE and/or Kopete you need to rely on the environment variables instead. If $KDEDIRS currently points to /opt/kde3 and you installed Kopete to /usr/local then you need to set $KDEDIRS to '/opt/kde3:/usr/local'. You need to store this change in a file that is picked up by all shells and for all users, like /etc/profile. The name of the preferred version varies from system to system. After changing /etc/kderc or $KDEDIRS you'll have to update your system settings with 'kbuildsycoca'.
*Remember, Kopete only works with KDE 3.1.1 or above!
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Unfortunately, I'm unsure of where the rpm -i installed kopete. I'd be glad to add the appropriate entries in the /etc/kderc file or add/create the $KDEDIRS values. Does anyone know what steps I should take to get kopete to work? Any help would be most graciously accepted!

Cheers,
corso64

The following is some of the output generated by the rpm -ivv command where I believe the various kopete files were written to:

kopete-0.7.3-1
D: ========== Directories not explictly included in package:
D: 0 /bin/kconf_update_bin/
D: 1 /bin/
D: 2 /lib/kde3/
D: 3 /lib/
D: 4 /lib/
D: 5 /lib/
D: 6 /share/applnk/Internet/
D: 7 /share/apps/kconf_update/
D: 8 /share/apps/kopete/
D: 9 /share/apps/kopete/icons/hicolor/16x16/actions/
D: 10 /share/apps/kopete/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/
D: 11 /share/apps/kopete/icons/hicolor/22x22/actions/
D: 12 /share/apps/kopete/icons/hicolor/32x32/actions/
D: 13 /share/apps/kopete/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/
D: 14 /share/apps/kopete/icons/hicolor/48x48/actions/
D: 15 /share/apps/kopete/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/
D: 16 /share/apps/kopete/pics/
D: 17 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/BoxedEmoticonSet/
D: 18 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/Default/
D: 19 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/KMess-Blue/
D: 20 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/KMess-Cartoon/
D: 21 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/KMess-Violet/
D: 22 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/KMess/
D: 23 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/RedOnes/
D: 24 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/Yazoo-Smileys-16/
D: 25 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/Yazoo-Smileys-22/
D: 26 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/ccmathteam.com/
D: 27 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/greggman.com/
D: 28 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/phpBB/
D: 29 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/plain/
D: 30 /share/apps/kopete/pics/emoticons/set1/
D: 31 /share/apps/kopete/styles/
D: 32 /share/apps/kopete/webpresence/
D: 33 /share/apps/krichtexteditpart/
D: 34 /share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/
D: 35 /share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/
D: 36 /share/icons/hicolor/22x22/apps/
D: 37 /share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/
D: 38 /share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/
D: 39 /share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/
D: 40 /share/locale/bg/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 41 /share/locale/ca/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 42 /share/locale/cs/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 43 /share/locale/da/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 44 /share/locale/de/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 45 /share/locale/en_GB/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 46 /share/locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 47 /share/locale/et/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 48 /share/locale/fi/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 49 /share/locale/fo/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 50 /share/locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 51 /share/locale/he/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 52 /share/locale/hu/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 53 /share/locale/ja/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 54 /share/locale/nl/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 55 /share/locale/nso/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 56 /share/locale/pl/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 57 /share/locale/pt/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 58 /share/locale/pt_BR/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 59 /share/locale/sv/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 60 /share/locale/tr/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 61 /share/locale/ven/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 62 /share/locale/xh/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 63 /share/locale/xx/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 64 /share/locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 65 /share/locale/zu/LC_MESSAGES/
D: 66 /share/services/
D: 67 /share/servicetypes/
D: 68 /share/sounds/
D: 69 /usr/doc/kopete-0.7.3/