Bug#525621: Help for KDE 3 apps no longer works (patch included)

[Ben Burton <bab@debian.org>]

Package: kdelibs
Version: 4:3.5.10.dfsg.1-2
Severity: normal
Tags: patch

Hi,

Now that debian has switched to KDE 4, the standard "Help -> Handbook" menu
entries fail for KDE 3 applications, typically with an error such as
"Could not find service 'khelpcenter'".

If you wish to explicitly reproduce this bug, you can install regina-normal,
run the program regina-kde, and try Help -> Regina Handbook.  However, I
expect the same thing will happen for almost any KDE 3 app.

It seems that KDE 4's help centre is indeed able to read KDE 3's docbook
help files; it's just a matter of pointing KDE 3 applications to the
correct help viewer.  The ubuntu people fixed this in jaunty by patching
KApplication::invokeHelp() -- the relevant patch is
kubuntu_98_fix_khc_invocation.diff, and I have included it below.

I would be grateful if debian could apply this to its kdelibs packages
also -- this would be a great help for the usability of KDE 3 apps,
by restoring easy access to documentation.

Thanks - Ben.


diff -Nur -x '*.orig' -x '*~' kdelibs-3.5.10.dfsg.1/kdecore/kapplication.cpp kdelibs-3.5.10.dfsg.1.new/kdecore/kapplication.cpp
--- kdelibs-3.5.10.dfsg.1/kdecore/kapplication.cpp	2008-08-19 20:18:18.000000000 +0200
+++ kdelibs-3.5.10.dfsg.1.new/kdecore/kapplication.cpp	2009-01-18 16:25:42.000000000 +0100
@@ -2236,20 +2236,14 @@
      url = QString("help:/%1/index.html").arg(appname);
 
    QString error;
-   if ( !dcopClient()->isApplicationRegistered("khelpcenter") )
-   {
-       if (startServiceByDesktopName("khelpcenter", url, &error, 0, 0, startup_id, false))
-       {
-           if (Tty != kapp->type())
-               QMessageBox::critical(kapp->mainWidget(), i18n("Could not Launch Help Center"),
-               i18n("Could not launch the KDE Help Center:\n\n%1").arg(error), i18n("&OK"));
-           else
-               kdWarning() << "Could not launch help:\n" << error << endl;
-	   return;
-       }
-   }
-   else
-       DCOPRef( "khelpcenter", "KHelpCenterIface" ).send( "openUrl", url, startup_id );
+   // TODO this should check if cmd has a .desktop file, and use data from it, together
+   // with sending more ASN data
+   if (kdeinitExec("khelpcenter", url, &error, NULL, startup_id ))
+     if (Tty != kapp->type())
+       QMessageBox::critical(kapp->mainWidget(), i18n("Could not Launch Help Center"),
+             i18n("Could not launch the KDE Help Center:\n\n%1").arg(error), i18n("&OK"));
+     else
+       kdWarning() << "Could not launch help:\n" << error << endl;
 }
 #endif