k3b question

This thread is inspired, so to say, by business_kid's thread about alternatives to k3b.
In his thread, business_kid writes: "I have the basic k3b working but I have to install half of kde to get it all working." This made me curious.
I don't have the full KDE installed, only k3b, kde-runtime, and kdelibs. I've used k3b for creating/burning video DVDs, audio CDs, and iso DVDs without any issues. business_kid's comment nevertheless made me wonder if there were options I didn't have access to.
Taking a closer look at the k3b settings (settings > programs) I noticed that the following programs are listed as "not found":
eMovix
transcode
vcdxbuild
vcdxminfo
vcdxrip
I don't have eMovix or transcode installed, but vcdimager is there and vcdxbuild, vcdxminfo, and vcdxrip are all to be found in /usr/bin/ (which is among the set searchpaths)
So why are they not recognised by k3b? And what are the consequences for k3b's functionality?

Yes, I imagine there are. I balked at installing kde-runtime when I found 7 dependency-heavy executables being installed for kcmshell4, and it's library. So I installed them manually, and added them to k3b's package file. Then I got a notice about other stuff missing. That's when I blew a gasket.

Many folks allot partitions bigger than my hd (250G ssd). So it's your distro, your rules.I inst6alled xfburn, which uses gstreamer codecs. I burnt an audio cd, which sucked. I added the bad ans ugly codecs and mean to retry.

Guys please allow me to gently suggest that PV writes in ALL CAPITALS that Full Install is RECOMMENDED, especially on a distro that doesn't have Gnome by default. Even if you "waste" 2.5 GB (highly unlikely) that's only ONE PERCENT of your space, which seems to me a small price to pay for full, unfettered functionality. Even if for some reason you absolutely hate KDE, it is nonetheless still important to have those libraries, unless you enjoy being hobbled. Cost/Benefit guys.

Forgive me, but I cannot see the point in installing the whole KDE section since that would mean installing a number of programs I will never use. It is of course possible that some missing KDE package can explain why my kde3 doesn't recognise installed files, but I find it improbable that it's the lack of calligra or kate that causes it. But if some missing part of KDE could, I would gratefully accept suggestions/answers so that I can try it out.
Also, the SSD in my laptop is only half the size of buesiness_kid's, and whit the current partitioning there's 11GB free space on /. So adding 2.5GB would mean a considerable change.

Originally Posted by kgha Forgive me, but I cannot see the point in installing the whole KDE section since that would mean installing a number of programs I will never use. It is of course possible that some missing KDE package can explain why my kde3 doesn't recognise installed files, but I find it improbable that it's the lack of calligra or kate that causes it. But if some missing part of KDE could, I would gratefully accept suggestions/answers so that I can try it out. Also, the SSD in my laptop is only half the size of buesiness_kid's, and whit the current partitioning there's 11GB free space on /. So adding 2.5GB would mean a considerable change.

Of course that would be a very limiting issue but I have to ask, is that the only drive on your laptop? Personally I couldn't live with such a limitation. I don't want to have to research what I must live without given the low cost of hard drive space. Granted, SSDs are not yet that cheap but I don't see why /home can't be on a slower, cheaper drive especially if I can just click once or twice during installation and problem solved. It doesn't take very long for avoided problems to pay for that drive space.

Originally Posted by enorbet ...I have to ask, is that the only drive on your laptop?

Yes (128GB in all), and I have never felt that limitating. I could probably remove some of my 10 GBs of documents, or put them on an external HDD, and resize / and /home partitions if necessary.

But again, I can't see that drive space is a relevant issue here.

I found information on k3b dependencies here - I already had everything marked as required installed. Missed two of the recommendend (libkcompactdisc and audiocd-kio) and added them for good measure (only 640K). But no difference - k3b insists that the vcdx* files are "not found".

My 250G ssd has a large /home, a 'Save My Ass' distro just in case, and 100G for VMs, dvd copies and other useful stuff. I also have a 500G usb disk for backups.

I also object to being told to install things I will never use: Dozens of obtuse editors, irc clients, network servers, useless (to me) bloatware (e.g. seamonkey, thunderbird, kde/*, kdei/*). I like to keep it simple. k3b links into more stuff every version. Is the guy in some competition I don't know about?

Originally Posted by kgha Yes (128GB in all), and I have never felt that limitating. I could probably remove some of my 10 GBs of documents, or put them on an external HDD, and resize / and /home partitions if necessary. But again, I can't see that drive space is a relevant issue here. I found information on k3b dependencies here - I already had everything marked as required installed. Missed two of the recommendend (libkcompactdisc and audiocd-kio) and added them for good measure (only 640K). But no difference - k3b insists that the vcdx* files are "not found".

Originally Posted by business_kid My 250G ssd has a large /home, a 'Save My Ass' distro just in case, and 100G for VMs, dvd copies and other useful stuff. I also have a 500G usb disk for backups. I also object to being told to install things I will never use: Dozens of obtuse editors, irc clients, network servers, useless (to me) bloatware (e.g. seamonkey, thunderbird, kde/*, kdei/*). I like to keep it simple. k3b links into more stuff every version. Is the guy in some competition I don't know about?

Guys I am not attempting to convert or offend you or your sensibilities. I'm merely trying to point out the scope of why PV recommends Full Install. To say you don't need or will never use these items is a bit myopic when you are reporting difficulties that would entirely disappear on a Full Install. Why do you care if some library rarely or even never gets used as long as the package of libraries makes your life's work easier by not having to deal with what by comparison are trivial issues? ... trivial in that they wouldn't even exist with a Full Install?

Granted I am heavily biased since I not only like much of KDE but I have terabytes of harddrive space so gig's are no big deal and especially if a few of those gigs makes my life easier and more productive. So if that extra effort is worth it to you, then by all means have at it. I like simplicity too but I'll take a gimme where a few libraries I imagine I'll never use are just there in case I, or more accurately, some app I like, ever does. To me that is simpler than having to second guess and deal with problems I would in effect have created by not allotting that seemingly dead space.

Before on-demand loadable modules I used to spend days paring down my kernels as if my PC was, in effect, an embedded system. There are many hundreds of modules I will never use or need but I accept they are there and that loadable modules have made my life and the performance of my PCs far more effective, and I no longer have to waste days of my time to get good performance. Is that not a parallel?

@enorbet: In principle I agree with what you write about HD size, it's great not having to worry the slightest about running out of space and when my current laptop dies (not yet, I hope, since it's only 4 years old and otherwise decently equipped with an i5 processor and 8GB RAM) I will definitely go for at least 256GB. I also agree with what you write about a full install. There are a lot of threads here about issues caused by piecemeal installations/setups.
The official install manual also states "If this is your first time installing Slackware, the “full” method is highly recommended. Even if this isn't your first time, you'll probably want to use it anyway."
But in the manual's previous section ("Select") one can read that "the installer allows you to chose which sets to install. This allows you to easily skip packages you may not want, such as X and KDE on headless servers or Emacs on everything. Please note that the “A” series is always required."
So my install is a "full install without KDE" if that makes sense. And it made sense for me when I installed, since I've never taken to the KDE desktop.
But again, this is a digression from my original question why my k3b-2.0.3 can't find some files?

In answer to #Post 1: k3b prides itself on using whatever you have, so it can accomodate several packages, or the libs from them. For instance it was ready to use cdrecord or cdrdao, which I had,and I know from other posts it also uses xorriso.

I don't have that stuff you mentioned, but while I had k3b, it would burn away, although I never tried an audio cd.

@enorbet: My first ssd (back in their early days) was 50G. Maybe I got into bad habits; but like the OP, I object to being told to install loads of crap which I have to wade through when looking for something, but object to. How big is a full install anyhow? I'm at 18G on /, with Multilib, and plenty of extra stuff in /usr/local & /opt, 3G at a guess, maybe more. I have it hijacked by Bedrock linux, so that runs loads of --bind mounts and the picture is confused.

@business_kid: as you say, k3b is flexible and when testing today I couldn't find anything that wouldn't work, including ripping audioCDs (which I normally do in asunder) and DVDs (handbrake). And since the vcdx files seem to relate only to the VCD format, which is competely irrelevant for me, I'll stop bothering.
I would guess that a full install (without KDE) takes around 10GB. But then of course you may want to install an office suite, a pdf editor, vlc, another browser, wine... I use 22GB on /.
My first steps into the Linux world and Slackware was made with an Asus eee 900 with 16GB SDD, and maybe, just as for you, the limited space got me into bad habits.

In the back of my mind is that if I get involved in an Electronic project there's an fpga package to go in. They have masses of chip data, a vhdl/verilog IDE, a simulator, and some form of chip programmer and are typically ~15G! Of course, when I started with linux, there was a 512MB limit on hd size if you could afford a 512MB drive, (Sectors x Cylinders x Heads), memory was ~32MB, and expensive, kernel 2.0 was real new, internet was a 9,600 baud or 14,400 baud dialup modem and that forced very different habits. PNP (Plug & Play) was still in the future ...